Dell by Altec Lansing ADA 745 Speakers

Now that you've taken the speakers out of the box, you need to hook them up to your computer, right? With some speaker systems, this can be a hit or miss prospect. With the ADA 745, the wires and the jacks are color coded, so there's no guessing required! Feel free to insert a "So simple, even _______ could set it up right!" joke here.

The subwoofer is non-directional, which means you can place it almost anywhere and get the full effect of the bass tones. Keep in mind, however, that the subwoofer is not shielded! This means you do not want to place the subwoofer right next to your monitor, for instance. Also note that the subwoofer has its own volume control, separate from that of the satellite speakers.

This picture shows what I meant about the satellite speakers having their own volume control. The really nice part about the control on the satellite is that it also controls the power to the whole system, once you've flipped the main power switch on the back of the subwoofer. That means no crawling around on the floor to turn the power off. You can also see that the little dots around both volume controls get larger as you go clockwise. That's to let you know that things will get louder if you keep turning the volume knob in a clockwise direction.

One other aspect of the satellites I would like to mention, aside from the fact that each one is labeled with its position in the setup, is that they can be wall mounted. In the back of each satellite speaker is a molded hole and slot arrangement whereby you could just use a nail in the wall to hang the speaker on, once the base has been removed.

Removing the base is pretty simple, too, just like everything else about the ADA 745. When you look at the bottom of a satellite you'll notice a couple of things. First, the base is made of metal, cast aluminum, not plastic. Second, you'll see that the base is attached to the satellite by two small Phillips head screws. Once you remove the screws you're ready to mount the satellite on that nail you pounded into the wall. The satellites have a little heft to them, so you might want to use a wall anchor instead of a nail.

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Select a Page Page 1: Introduction Page 2: Setting up the speakers Page 3: Testing and Conclusion