Edifier is a brand that is probably not as well-known as it should be here in Australia.
Yet they have a huge range of speakers with the R2000DB and its $370 price point sitting about midway in the lineup.
So let’s have a look and listen to this multimedia system.
Looking…
Most speaker systems should not only be heard but seen.
After all, they usually take pride of place next to your TV, PC on your bookshelf so almost always in your line of sight.
My first impressions were very favourable even though I’m not a fan of piano gloss. But it beats the wood veneer finish of some of their other products.
Despite their relatively compact size (just under 30cm high) they were rather heavy which in my books is a good thing. They have a sleek styling with slightly curved sides and sloping front and top.
In contrast to the solid build the grilles were pretty flimsy and the material on one of the sides had started to peel away a bit. Some people might dispose of these grilles altogether and give the speakers a more industrial look but I preferred the more sedate look.
Both speakers look very “clean” – apart from the inevitable fingerprints on the glossy sides – in the sense that no volume knobs are visible.
The active speaker has all the ports and volume knobs and on/off switch on the back.
Looks great but might not be as handy if they are a bit out of reach on your bookshelf.
Fortunately, the system comes with a tiny remote control with 10 somewhat hard to read buttons which allows you to power on and change the volume or mute the system.
In addition you can change the source of the music, like Bluetooth or through an optical cable or RCA inputs. There’s a discrete LED on the active speaker that indicates what source your music is coming from, green for RCA line connections, red for optical and blue for Bluetooth of course…
Finally, you can change the sound from a Classic to a Dynamic setting. For traditional bass and treble settings you need to go to the back of the active speaker.
In the box you should get the optical cable and two pairs of RCA cables. Mine had the 3.5 mm headphone jack to RCA cable missing… Probably just an oversight.
Given the tiny remote control, my main concern is how long before it gets lost in the dark recesses of my couch? For a couple of dollars extra they could have included a second remote… Just thinking.
Listening….
We recently reviewed the Logitech Z337 which had a massive subwoofer and two much smaller speakers. The sound quality was not bad at all for the price and despite the rather cheap build quality.
So our expectations with the Edifier system was a lot higher but we were wondering whether leaving the subwoofer out of the set up would have been a mistake.
Well, we need not have worried. This is a powerful system with a beautiful, well-rounded sound and very little distortion until the dB levels are so high that it scares the roos out of the paddocks!
Total power output is listed as RMS 24W x 2 and 36W x 2.
In layman’s terms this is plenty enough for a large lounge.
I’m even wondering whether to replace my Samsung 5.1 surround sound system which is hooked up to the Blu-ray player, with this system. My wife is not happy with the ungainly tall towers in the four corners of the lounge and I concur. But I would miss the sound of horses galloping across my lounge….
Most of the time I listen to the R2000DB to my favourite soundtrack music via Spotify.
Vantage Point is one of my fave test tracks along with Hans Zimmer’s work. The speakers coped very well with the deep bass and percussion crescendos. Vocals on other tracks were also clear and classical music rendered faithfully.
It probably helps that Edifier are using the new (and aptly named) 25mm silk dome “Eagle Eye” tweeters. As expected, the R2000DB has built in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Dynamic Range Control (DRC) to minimise distortion.
Concluding…
We highly recommend the Edifier R2000DB speakers for 3 reasons.
1. Well-built units with great sound even without a dedicated subwoofer
2. Very versatile with multiple inputs
3. Reasonably priced at a fraction under 370 Aussie dollars
Also have a look at Anyware site who are the importers for Edifier to see where you can buy these.
