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Best Prices
Altec Lansing inMotion™ iM7 (021986950806) Docking Station
Altec Lansing iM7 |
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iPods are great but they can be a whole lot greater with the right add-ons. Gary Mazo, rabbi, professor, and assistant editor of Gadgetnutz, sifts the wheat from the chaff Click to view Top 5 iPod Accessories.
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Best Home/Office Speakers (Altec Lansing iM7) |
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 The Altec Lansing InMotion iM7 speaker system is beautiful to look at and listen to. It offers with a big, big sound that will fill your sitting room or office. And, as a bonus, it can be run on batteries for use outdoors, at, say, a barbecue or wherever. (Compare Prices) |
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| Many of the best names in loudspeaker technology, like Bose, Klipsch and Altec Lansing, are now designing “high-end” systems for the iPod. The Altec Lansing iM7 takes a similar, yet slightly different approach from Klipsch and Bose. The iM7 is actually portable, witha nifty handle in the back to enable you easily to take it wherever you want. (Compare Prices) |
Design |
 The iM7 is very classy – actually beautiful to look at. It is white and rounded; there are no sharp corners. The iPod sits in the middle in a nifty retractable tape-deck-like iPod cradle. At the back end of the retractable cradle is an adjustable dial which changes the depth of the cradle so it can fit just about every iPod - the only model that didn’t fit in the cradle or in the included adapter was the Nano. After visiting the Altec Lansing website, I saw that a brand new adapter could be ordered for, get this ... free (including free shipping.)
When the iM7 is plugged in, it will charge the iPod while it's in the cradle. On either side of this slot, behind the protective grille, are two 1in tweeters and two 3in mid-range drivers. A 4in side-firing subwoofer and a 4in passive radiator sit behind the screens on either end of the cylinder.
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On the back side of the iM7 are lots of jacks. There is a headphone jack, a composite video out and an “S” video out and an auxiliary out jack. So, with the included cable, any mp3 player or anything that puts out an audio signal can play through the auxiliary jack. The cool thing about this unit is that with the new iPod video or an iPod photo, you can have your images play through your TV or monitor.
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Big Bass |
This is where the iM7 shines. Somehow, this little device puts separate tweeters, mid-range drivers, subwoofer and passive radiators in a small space to deliver big, really big sound. The high frequencies are crystal clear. The stereo separation is probably as good as it can be when speakers are so close together. Vocals were rich and smooth and instrumental solos were a pleasure to listen to.
The bass is just not to be believed. In a relatively large room, the bass was tight and full and could be felt. It is better bass than any portable speaker system I have ever heard. The subwoofer fires a huge amount of air making bass full and believable. The iM7 is capable of filling a large room with loud, full and accurate sound.
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Versatility |
 In addition to the great sound, it is truly portable. The carrying handle makes transport easy and the design is very sturdy. The addition of the video out jacks was terrific. I was able to show photos on my TV and watch video from the iPod on a bigger screen with the beautiful sound of the iM7.
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Value |
PC Magazine said: "It is cheaper and more versatile than the Bose unit, and in combination with the high-quality audio output of an iPod, the iM7 offers plenty of value and style — and portability — without sacrificing output power or (much) sound quality." The magazine gave it four out of five stars.
CNET gave it an 8 out of 10 (Excellent) and said: "The Altec Lansing InMotion iM7 is a solid audio performer in just about every way. The system gave us no noticeable background hiss, provided crystal-clear highs, and delivered dynamic sound across the board."
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Sleek Design |
This is, hands down, the best portable speaker system I have yet to hear for the iPod. The design is sleek, the sound is huge and clear and the ability to connect to a monitor for video/photos is just icing on the cake.
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| TYPICAL PRICE - £165/$250 |
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