A250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System

In order to replace my laptop's underwhelming speakers, my requirements were that the replacement should be extremely portable and reproduce sound fairly well. Any other feature after that was a bonus. The Saitek A250 satisfies these two main criteria admirably. When I removed the speakers from their packaging, the first thing that struck me was how light they were; about the small as a regular hardback book in my opinion. The second thing I noticed was the speaker's aesthetics - it is quite a nice thing to look it. The black finish is Sony PSP-like in quality and the LCD screen (which lights up blue) is bright, clear and provides a nice contrast with the black. It was a pleasant surprise to see Saitek crafting something that wouldn't look out of place in the kitchen or garden. As if to add emphasis to the looks, Saitek also provides a cloth to wipe away any fingerprints although it definitely isn't as bad as the PSP in this respect.

Installing the speakers was a slight problem but let me add now it was NOT SAITEK'S FAULT. On a normal PC setup, when you plug the wireless dongle in, Windows installs a generic USB audio driver and off it goes. There is no need to install any Saitek drivers, etc - the speakers are truly plug and play. My problem resulted from a prior piece of hardware replacing the generic USB Audio driver with its own, which resulted in incompatibility. I eventually removed it, reinserted the dongle into a USB port and Windows began installing the correct USB audio driver. It worked flawlessly from then on. To make sure, I inserted the dongle on a friend's laptop and it installed perfectly first-time. The speaker and dongle connect to each other within seconds; no waiting around for your music.
The speakers interface fine with Windows. I personally use iTunes, and there are no issues with playing purchased music from the iTunes Music Store through the speakers. One complaint is that for the speaker's onboard buttons to function, the preferred media player must be the focused window - otherwise they don't work. I also tried Windows Media Player and that worked with zero problems.

Audibly, the speakers are what you would expect from the price. Vocals are well-represented but the bass is perhaps a little lacking. Maximum volume is not earth-shattering but respectable. Unfortunately, I don't get to experience the speaker at its loudest because at maximum volume, the music begins skipping and jittering. This ALWAYS happens at the maximum volume, approximately 1-2 minutes into a song. It also ALWAYS happens whether the speakers and dongle are separated by 30 metres and several walls, or if they are side by side. Quite irritating - I would be interested in hearing if any other users have the same issue.
Related to this is the fact I am in a house with 4 other computers, all with wireless capabilities as well as our own wireless network. Saitek states this shouldn't be a problem as the A250 uses Bluetooth, thus Wi-Fi should not interfere. They are correct - I detected no noticeable improvements to my aforementioned problem when turning off the network and my laptop's wireless card. Neither did the audio quality become more detrimental. I also tried waving my mobile phone with its Bluetooth enabled between the dongle/speakers - no issues.

Other than the stuttering, the A250 speakers perform admirably. There are some extra features that I am pleased with, such as the line-in jack. I tried this with a friend's iPod and it worked fine. The power cord could be longer, but this is just a personal nitpick and doesn't detract from enjoyment of the speakers. Perhaps the next iteration will improve the connection stability and ramp up the power. But the portability of the speakers must be remembered - lightweight, simple to set up and you don't need a PC to enjoy music. In performance, they are out-matched by higher-priced headphones. But for price and portability, the Saitek A250 is second to none.


Great Product   January 3, 2006
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

Got one for Xmas, what a great present.

Worked straight out of the box, really nice rounded sound, unlike most other portable systems which are either tinny and harsh or over bassy.

RF link works all around the house, and no problems with my WIFI network.

Plus it looks amazing (got to keep polishing it though)

If you've got a lot of MP3s on your computer you need one of these.


Does Exactly What It Says on the Box   December 15, 2005
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

Very slick. Delivers a very impressive sound (both in quality and volume) despite its diminutive size. It lacks deep bass, but again, given the units size, that is too be expected.

Simple controls and works straight out of the box. I love the fact that you can skip tracks in Itunes.

Very impressed.

Didn't give it 5 stars due to slight lack of deep bass but that is probably a bit harsh.

Very easy to setup. No configuration required with Windows XP.