Latest arrival in the "premium", range, let’s take a look at the expressionist ULTRA. The most expensive of the expressionist speakers, this set also claims to be the most powerful.

An industrial-sized trapezoid!

Don’t think that big is necessarily better! The subwoofer is no less than 40 cm tall and the satellites are almost on a par with the tweeters on the Creative T40. The design doesn’t help matters either, with trapezoid plexiglas panels and yoghurt pots like on the expressionist CLASSIC. Altec would have been better off taking a leaf out of another book, the Creative T3 or the Razer Mako for example.

The remote is also very big, in the shape of a flattened cone with the end cut off. Entirely digital, handling is nice and there are has bass and treble settings. You can check the volume by a series of LEDs that light up and increase in intensity as you turn the settings up.

The connectivity is made up of an auxiliary in and a headphones socket. Still no S/P DIF.

Clear but not very clear

The expressionist ULTRA has quite an ambiguous sound. Much more acidic than the Focal XS for example. However, if you compare it to older speakers like the T3s, you quickly notice that it lacks a bit of clarity.

They are powerful, as you’d expect, with good presence and able to fill a large room. And the satellites, equipped with mid-range speakers and tweeters, hold their form nicely even when you increase the volume. This is rare and noteworthy!

The mid-range sounds are nice and present (though a little too much in the background). Thanks to the mid-range speakers, that aren’t included at all on many speaker sets.

The ULTRA is a good product for anyone who wants a bit of power with their PC. We are nevertheless convinced that Altec Lansing can do better than this.