Genius SP-HF800A 3-Way Wood Speakers Reviews

Introduction

Over the past year or so that we have been working with Genius and the reps that get us the products from them, we have seen some really good and interesting things from them. The Death Taker gaming mouse was well worth it and the Ring Presenter was pretty interesting product as well. Today, we will be taking a look at a new product from them and this time it is in the audio department.

On tap we have the SP-HF800A 3-way speaker system. Don’t get this confused with a 2.1 audio system as this set is only two speakers with three drivers in each. Genius is aiming to give the audiophile in you all the frequencies between 80-20k Hz using two 2” woofers and a single 1” tweeter. We will see today if they achieve this with the HF800A.

Genius’s take on the HF-800A

Complete your listening experience with the Genius new classic wood speaker set, SP-HF800A. The 3-way elegant design delivers clear and balanced sound. Total 20-watts output is just perfectly suitable by connecting to iPad, tablet PC, desktop or Notebook. The 2-inch high-performance speaker units cover the full-spectrum of sound and the one-inch tweeter gives the SP-HF800A crystal clear treble sound. Not only providing good sound, SP-HF800A is a fine boutique beside your PC with the copper-coated cones and golden-plated ring. For personal sound preference, just adjust the Tone controls. SP-HF800A also has a secondary line-in jack on the front panel for connecting to any playback device with 3.5mm jack without disconnecting the speakers from the PC. Contact your local sales representative for more details.

Specifications

Features

• Copper coated cone
• Three-way speaker design
• Ideal for iPhone/iPod/MP3 Player
• Easy-to-use controls
• Great for PC users
• Perfect for iPad or tablet PC

Closer look

Genius is showcasing two HF800 models with lot of similarities and quite a few differences.  They are the “A” and “Pro”.  The Pro has a more laidback design while the “A” is more upright. The “Pro” covers a slightly larger frequency range which is from 80-24k Hz instead of 80-20k Hz. The last of the bigger reasons the two are different is the “Pro” offers a set of line-in RCA as well as a 3.5” jack, “A” only offers the 3.5” variation. But has a MSRP of $49.99.

The HF800A design is classic considering how us old-timers remember speaker boxes. They both are wrapped in pretty sturdy MDF board giving them a classic wood styling. This is slightly different from the plastic aesthetics we are seeing with all the new speaker system being released. This could be good for those that plan on using the setup outside of the PC room liking in the living.

The front of each speaker is made of sturdy plastic which is molded to house the dual 2” woofers and one 1” tweeter. The right speaker only has the tone and volume knobs as well as the 3.5mm jack for other media device like a MP3 player or even a cell phone.

With the 3.5mm jack up front there is no reason to have to disconnect the speakers from your PC in order to connect something else. You will have to provide your own cable connectivity to the device yourself.

Looking at the rear of the main speaker you will see that all the wiring is permanently connected. This means you don’t have to worry about losing any cables including the power cable.

And speaking of cables there are a total of three. The 3.5mm is for connection to whatever is producing the sound, a RCA to the opposite speaker and the power cable.

Testing

Are the HF800A loud? No. Do they sound good? Yes.

And to elaborate more one each, we begin with the total output. The HF800A cannot be mistaking for an audio system that will blow out your eardrums. But they are loud enough to fill out a decent sized room or two. And depending on the type of music you are listening to sounds good from the minimum levels to the higher range. If the music has a lot of lows it really stresses the system a little but one has to remember the frequency range does not cover the deep lows.

The sound quality is very surprising. I wasn’t looking for much coming for a $50 set of audio speakers. But once again depends on your music preference. Listening to slow RnB, classical and several of genres I enjoy the whole experience. One song that I was listening to that really made we like these speaker was Mariah Carey’s version of ‘I Want to Know What Love is’ and it was very good.

The last point I want to talk about is using other devices with the HF800A. I played around with my HTC mobile phone and my ASUS Transformer table with the system. Neither of them is not enough to push the speakers which were a good thing in this case. The levels were enough to really enjoy the music within the space I was in. Kids even enjoyed it after hooking them up to their portable CD player to listening to their nursery rhymes.

Conclusion

The Genius HF800A is a nice set of speakers if you want to enjoy good music within a decent size room. The sound quality as well as sound level is enough for the casual music listener that is not a complete audiophile. The tone and notes from 100Hz to the upper 20k range are well reproduced but it will take a little of messing with the audio settings within your sound card drivers. We used the default Microsoft setting and disabled the Loudness Equalization and these speakers really wake up.

At $50, the Genius HF800A is not a bad set of speakers if you are not looking to blow off the roof.

{aseadnetadblock|Genius speakers|2.1 computer speakers}