Hi guys! Today I’ll be reviewing SonicGear Titan 11 BTMI speaker. This speaker has a unique appearance compared to its siblings (Titan 5, 7 and 9). The satellite speaker has a wavy appearance to match with the look of the subwoofer. The Titan 11 a 2.1 speaker system that can play music via Bluetooth, SD-Card, FM-Radio, USB Flash Drive and the common auxiliary 3.5mm audio cable. The speaker suggested retail price is RM210 (approximately $55 USD) which is priced affordable for budget to mainstream audiophiles. Before diving into the review, let’s take a lookt at its features and specifications.
Features
- Stylish Ripple Effect with matching curved buttons.
- Backlit digital display with audio confirmation when switching audio modes (AUX/Radio/Bluetooth A2DP).
- Power and volume control.
Specifications
- Satellite Driver: 2 x 3
- Satellite Driver Impedance: 6 Ohm
- Subwoofer Driver: 5.25″
- Subwoofer Driver Impedance: 8 Ohm
- Satellite Output Power (RMS): 2 x 12W
- Subwoofer Output Power (RMS): 26W
- Total System Power (RMS): 50W
- Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20KHz
- S/N Ratio: >= 70dB
- Separation: >= 35dB
- Distortion: <= 0.5% (1KHz, 1W)
Packaging
Packaging-1: The front of the box presents the an overall setup (dual speaker satellites + subwoofer + remote control). It also shows the audio input capabilities and the output power of 50W total combined. The wavy ripple effect isn’t my cup of tea but your preference might differ to mine.
Packaging-2: The rear of the box shows the technical specifications of SonicGear Titan 11 speaker as listed above for your convenience.
Packaging-3: On the right side, it repeats the speaker technical specifications. I was hoping it could provide other details about the speaker.
Packaging-4: On the left side, it displays the speaker’s satellite and also ensures that it does not have “Pop” sound upon turning speaker on/off and has lowest static distortion which it’s a good thing! This issues commonly occurs on cheaper speaker.
Unboxing
Unboxing-1: The top of the speaker does not have anything special except for SonicGear’s slogan “Trust Your Ears”.
Unboxing-2: Opening up the box reveals the white protective hard foam.
Unboxing-3: Removing the top foam cover shows the subwoofer and twin satellite speaker wrapped in plastic to avoid unwanted scratches and dust.
Unboxing-4: Extracting these speakers reveals the accessories and user manual guide.
Accessories
Accessory-1: SonicGear Titan 11 provides a 3.5mm audio jack to splitted left-right (white-red) audio cable to be connected from PC to speaker. The audio source can be either a PC (computer), smart phone or music player via the 3.5mm audio jack.
Accessory-2: This speaker comes with a remote control, as large as the ones found with TV.
Design
Design-1: Here is the front of the satellite speaker. It has the ripple effect appearance which makes them quite unique compared to the other Titan speaker series. This design matches with the one found on the subwoofer.
Design-2: There aren’t any buttons/knobs on internal sides of the satellite speaker. The material used on this speaker is wood with black vernier with front plastic cover with metallic mesh. The mesh isn’t removable, so avoid accidentally spilling liquid into it as it would be difficult to clean it.
Design-3: There aren’t any buttons/knobs on externals sides of the satellite speaker too. Each satellite speaker weighs approximately 600 grams.
Design-4: The satellite speaker cable length measures 38 inches which is a little short when they are placed far apart on desk shelf. With this limitation, the subwoofer had to be placed in the center underneath of the desk. If the cable were 50% longer (50 inches), then the satellite speakers can be placed without being constraint by the position of the subwoofer.
Design-5: Each of these speakers has 4 anti-slip pads on the bottom to provide additional friction to prevent it from sliding off the desk. I placed these satellite speakers on it’s sides under the dual monitor as I do not have sufficient space and cable length.
Design-6: The top of the subwoofer speaker has 2 inputs (1 USB + 1 SD/MMC). The front of it has 6 buttons, starting from top to bottom (Mode, Previous, Play-Pause, Next, Volume Down, Volume Up.) There are 3 modes you can switch to which are Auxiliary (AUX), Radio (FM 100.8) and Bluetooth (BLUE). Your music source (example: PC) will need to have a Bluetooth feature to transmit audio wireless to the speaker Bluetooth receiver. There will be a red L.E.D. display to indicate the type of mode, volume, track, FM frequency etc.
Design-7: Here is an overview of the top-side-bottom of the subwoofer. It’s raised high 4 durable plastic feet with anti-slip padding.
Design-8: The rear of the subwoofer provides the interface to connect to the satellite speakers and also to the audio device via the auxiliary cable. There are no treble volume controller except for the bass. You can fully disable the bass by turning the knob all-to-the-left.
Design-9: The power cable length measures 53 inches which is sufficient to connect to a power plug if it’s located on the table or floor.
Testing and Conclusion
This is one of the best affordable mainstream 2.1 speaker system I have tested with it’s quality matching with other speaker system within the $70~100 USD range. The bass is quite balance, does not overly produce tremor effect nor too bouncy. It does not sound that great with Bluetooth but when paired it with a device that has excellent sound driver such as Realtek ALC1150 with Sound Purity via auxiliary cable, the speaker produces amazing sound quality. There are a couple of things which I dislike about SonicGear Titan 11 2.1 Speaker System. The first is the satellite speaker cable length is a little short, preventing me from placing them further apart on double-decker table. In addition, the subwoofer had to be placed in the center instead of the side of the table in order to have the satellite speaker cable length to be equally distributed when distancing them apart on table. Next issue was the speaker resetting mode and volume. It always starts in standby/idle mode instead of the previously set mode (example: Bluetooth/AUX/FM), so each time you turn it on, you will need to manually change into the mode that you want to listen in. The speaker resets to volume 15 (max is 32), which is approximately 90% loudness and I had to set it back to volume 8 (50% loudness). Power consumption of this speaker on idle/standby is approximately 3~3.3W and 9~12W when playing heavy bass music at volume 8. Light instrumental song consumes less power approximately below 5~8W. If you are looking for a budget 2.1 speaker system that produces great audio quality for money and the issues I mentioned above is a minor concerned for you, I would highly recommend you to consider this speaker as it does sounds much better in overall aspects than branded ones when compared at the same price range.
Pros
- Excellent treble, mid and bass for its price compared to other products at same price range.
- Has various audio input sources to play music.
- Light-weight 2.1 speaker system makes it easy to transport.
- Does not emit annoying pop-noise upon turning on-off.
Cons
- Short speaker satellite cables.
- Volume settings and audio input is reset to default upon turning speaker off.
- Volume settings seems to be inaccurate (volume of 10 is similar to 100%) and max volume can go to 32.
- Standby mode consumes a little more power compared to other speaker in market.
SonicGear Titan 11 Videos
SonicGear Titan 11 BTMI Speaker Test (Instrumental, Techno, Bass)
[youtube url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2VFH9icN4o]
SonicGear Titan 11 BTMI Speaker Closeup View
[youtube url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CrGzdU1XVU]
Gene SonicGear Titan 11 BTMI Speaker (Music, Game, Movie)
[youtube url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juetCiIGZww]
Hi,
I just bought Sonic Gear Pandora Classic 1100QC radio.
Under FM mode, I noted that the current Default Volume is 15 which is too loud. Everything after switching on radio, I need to set the volume to 10.
Any idea how to set Default Volume to 10 ?
Can it use with a chromebox that has usb port that can be connected to the usb port of titan 11?