VR-Zone

Remember Pioneer? Well, the company hasn’t been doing great in the past few years has pulled out of several product categories and has of lately been focusing on its audio products. Now the company has decided to launch a pair of PC speakers to try and grow its audio product range, but we’re not if the company is going to be able to break into what’s already a very competitive market.

The two new speaker models are the S-MM301 and S-MM751RU, we’d really hoped for some more memorable model names, but alas that wasn’t to be. The S-MM301 is a pair of stereo USB powered speakers that are targeting the laptop market, but Pioneer didn’t supply a picture, so we don’t know what the speakers look like. They’re said to have metal grills, triple coil drivers and built-in audio controls for volume and a mute button.

More interesting is the S-MM751RU which is a set of 2.1-channel desktop speakers. The press release talks up the bass as it features what Pioneer calls “MAXX Bass Dynamic Sound with DSP Bass Enhancement” which is mean to improve the sound from the bass speaker. The entire system is rated at 40W, 20W for the subwoofer and 10W for each of the satellites.

But what makes this set of speakers interesting is the volume control, or rather the additional features built into it. Pioneer has not only added a large volume knob and an audio line input, but there are also playback controls in the shape of play/pause and forward/rewind buttons. Add to that a USB port and an SD card slot which allows for playback of WMA and MP3 files from suitable storage devices without turning on your computer and you have something a little bit different.

We’re not so keen on the design though, as not only do the speakers look cheap in glossy black plastic, but the angular design isn’t very attractive. The S-MM301 has an MSRP of US$49 with the S-MM751RU coming in at US$129. Both models are available in the US now and are expected to be available in other markets shortly.