Arctic Sound S361 2.1 Speaker Set Review

Arctic Sound S361

Introduction

As more and more PCs become part of the house as a media device or just in the lounge as we all become savvy with the ways of the information superhighway, then manufacturers have expended great energies in making the old beige box fit in with the modern entertainment systems.

Something that really started with Apple, and quickly found its way to PCs was to make the case less beige, smaller, to make every component seem sleek and modern to enable it to blend in. First was the case, then mice, keyboards, speakers and the whole range of components have found themselves tailored to the “piano black” lifestyle we all embrace.

A great thing to come from this is much quieter PCs, and small often equals popular. A look at the many gadgets you have, mobile phones or MP3 devices in particular, and you see how size reduction has become an unending quest.

One area that has suffered though is sound. Whilst initially the move from generic satellite speakers into curvaceous small items helped the transition from the office to the family room, once PCs became a major part of the media centres they weren’t adjusted to cope with the fact that they do more than play Freecell, but stream movies and a variety of other tasks. So you end up with tinny, quiet, small-range speakers attempting to handle the latest blockbuster.

Arctic Sound, part of the Arctic brand that brings us the excellent Arctic Cooling products, are here to try and solve this problem with a proper set of speakers. Let’s find out if bigger still does equal better.

Technical Specifications

Popping across to the Arctic website we find the specifications for the S361.

Limited Warranty 2 years
Dimensions (Packaging) 380 L x 355 H x 400 W
Subwoofer Dimensions (mm) 200 L x 335 H x 300 W
Satellite Dimensions (mm) 115 L x 273 H x 150 W
Subwoofer Impedance (ohm) 4
Satellite Impedance (ohm) 8
Subwoofer Output (W RMS) 40
Satellite Output (W RMS) 18
Item Number ORACO-SP005-GBA01
Weight 9.2 kg

 

As you can see with about a foot of height these definitely aren’t going to slide under your monitor and when we see 18w quoted for speaker output it’s something rubbish like PMPO usually. This is RMS. These will be LOUD!

Let’s take a look at them.