Altec Lansing T612

Before you look at the $199.95 Altec Lansing T612 speaker system and yawn, you should know it has an ace up its sleeve the ability to work with an iPhone. More important, it works with the iPhone without having to switch the phone to Airplane mode a first among docking speaker systems. Previous speaker systems either weren't compatible with the iPhone or suffered from annoying GSM crackling. The T612 also works with iPods, of course, but merely average sound quality holds back this otherwise welcome product.

Setup is a 10 second affair you just plug in the 8.2 x 14 x 5.4 inch (HWD) speakers and turn on the power. A plastic adapter in the dock makes the iPhone the default device, but you can remove the adapter and dock any iPod with a dock connector.

The T612 charges the device while it's resting in the dock. You operate the T612 either by pressing buttons on top of the unit or via a small, easy to use remote control that lets you play or pause the music, turn the system on or off, and also adjust volume, bass, and treble settings.

Altec Lansing has implemented a clever system to communicate volume, bass, and treble levels. A row of blue LEDs lies behind the speaker grille in the middle of the unit. Though they are not visible during normal operation, they briefly appear when you adjust volume, bass, or treble to show you the level of that setting. We're happy for the visual feedback when making adjustments, and given how annoyingly bright blue LED's can be, we're also happy not to have to look at them all the time.

The T612 has four internal speakers two 3 inch full range drivers and two 1 inch tweeters and its output is rated at 60 watts RMS. The T612 does not have a subwoofer, but Altec Lansing tries to compensate with bass enhancement technology it calls XdB, which simulates the sound of bass tones. Although the XdB technology is reasonably convincing, it's still no substitute for an actual woofer. The T612 is capable of extreme volume despite its size, but sound gets a bit muddy when you really crank it up.