Wavemaster Stax Speakers Review

1. Introduction2. Wavemaster Stax 2.13. Testing and Performance4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

Having started to create multimedia speakers for PC systems in Germany many years ago, Wavemaster is a relatively new brand to UK consumers – but they are aiming to make a splash with a series of headphone and speaker launches in 2013. We have been sent a set of Wavemaster Stax speakers – aimed squarely at the entry level 2.1 market that has been dominated for many years by brands like Logitech and Creative. 

The first thing that grabs your attention when you open the Wavemaster Stax box is the styling on the tweeters. The sub-woofer is pretty much as you would expect, a lump of bass-boosting-box, but the mini tweeter towers are gorgeous.

It is worth pointing out that these Wavemaster speakers have no connection to the famous, ultra high end oriental STAX headphones and amplifiers.

All 3 speakers also feel comfortably heavy in your hand.

While there won't always be a 100% correlation between physical weight and the amount of volume a speaker can deliver, there is normally a strong link. Why?  Well think about it this way: If you're a manufacturer in the Far East and you know that you might have to ship goods around the world, then you will spend some time thinking about ways to reduce the weight of your goods – because that can reduce shipping costs and increase profitability. These speakers have a positive ‘heft' to them. A good early sign in our book.

The tweeters are also articulate, in the sense that they can swivel on their base – allowing you to direct your music directly toward your ears.

Control over volume – plus additional access points for headphones, line-in or microphone – comes in a neat desktop control unit. The cable is a decent length and should allow you to create a neat work area.

Features:-

• Satellite: 2 x 2.54 cm full-range speaker with Mylar membrane.
• Subwoofer: 12.5 cm long-throw woofer.
• Integrated amplifier: 3 channels.
• Output power (RMS): Subwoofer 22 watts, 2 x 10 watt satellite.
• Frequency Response: Subwoofer 30-150 Hz Satellite 150 Hz – 20,000 Hz.
• Cable remote control for: ON / OFF, volume control, headphone jack, separate line-in and microphone ports.
• Designer satellite speakers: adjustable metal stand and wall mounting.
• Subwoofer: Wooden casing with bass reflex technology, Bass level control and power switch.
• Internal Power Supply: 230 volts.
• Connector: 3.5 mm stereo jack or RCA.
• Dimensions (WHD): Satellites are 100 x 205 mm and the Subwoofer is 185 x 263 x 232 mm.

Here is where we open the boxes and begin to get up close and personal with the product itself.

Set-up is very simple and you should have no problem settling in with these speakers.

For the purposes of our testing, we decided to put the Wavemaster Stax 2.1 speakers in a head-to-head battle with the gamer's entry level favourite, Creative's very affordable 2.1 solution.

For a set of speakers that comes in under £60, the styling and choice of materials are very impressive.

The back of the sub-woofer is as simple as it gets.

Nice touch on the satellite speakers: Heavy metal base and angle adjustment to give you complete control of the direction of your sound waves.

We just had to include a big shot of the control knob. Having the headphone socket on your desktop means, late at night, you can switch to ‘neighbour friendly' mode without needing to swap green jacks at the rear of your PC.

Here are the combatants – ready to (deep drum and bass) rumble. While the Wavemaster Stax 2.1 speaker system is likely to cost you >£20 more than the Creative speakers, both of them cost less than a tank of petrol in a small-ish car – so we're going to play them off against each other and ask, “Has Wavemaster delivered an audio solution that's worth more than Creative's?”

These are speakers.

We can look at them all day, but the proof of the pudding comes with the sound waves.

To put the Wavemaster Stax speakers under pressure, we set them up right next to the Creative speakers – driving them with a series of audio tracks chosen to stress different aspects of their performance.

Here's a quick reminder of the Wavemaster Stax's key specifications:-

• Satellite: 2 x 2.54 cm full-range speaker with Mylar membrane
• Subwoofer: 12.5 cm long-throw woofer
• Integrated amplifier: 3 channels
• Output power (RMS): Subwoofer 22 watts, 2 x 10 watt satellite
• Frequency Response: Subwoofer 30-150 Hz Satellite 150 Hz – 20,000 Hz

With the seating arranged comfortably in a quiet room, we were able to easily swap the jacks around several times during the playback of each track and take careful note of the increase/decrease in audio quality.

We kept the volume at around 80% throughout – loud enough to stress the cones etc, but not enough to cause significant distortion.

Just in case you want to visualise which tracks we used, you will find links to YouTube versions below (we used high quality MP3 files for the testing).

Blur -Song 2
We kicked off with a track that moves back and forth between quiet, open – almost acoustic sections – which give way to thundering guitar and drums. Blur’s Song 2 might have come from a Brit Pop band, but it's still a bit of a head banger. The Creative 2.1 speakers were much more muffled in comparison to the Wavemaster Stax. When it came to the guitars solos the Creative speakers couldn’t quite handle the high frequencies, and overall the Wavemaster Stax gave us a much clearer quality. We'll call that 1-0.

Muwookie's Memories
While Muwookie's Memories might kick off with a gentle jazzy rhythm, pretty soon you have a heavy bass kick in next to a soulful woman's voice hitting notes at the top end of the vocal spectrum. The Stax managed to pick up healthier bass tones and provided an overall richer and less distorted experience. However, it’s worth mentioning that the Creative speakers didn’t fall too far behind in this test – mostly due to the configuration of the subwoofer speakers, which we will address after the test results.

Each set of speakers holds its own, we'll score 0.5 points each on this test. That's 1.5-0.5 in favour of the Wavemaster Stax.

Michael Jackson's Billie Jean
Love him or hate him, the punchy rhythm of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean needs crisp reproduction if it's to avoid sounding slurred. Everyone is familiar with the pulsing vibe and it was that vibe that drove a clear wedge between the two sets of speakers. Creative's solution is confused by a bass line that isn't as deep as drum & bass. In contrast, the Wavemaster Stax was crisp.
Score another to the Wavemaster Stax, for a 2.5-0.5 lead.

Rusko – Woo Boost
Wheldrake might be a parish village in North Yorkshire, but it has produced Christopher William Mercer, known worldwide as Rusko, a serious player in the dubstep community. By any measurement, Woo Boost is filthy dub step with uncompromising deep bass tones. While the bassline is designed to rumble, you want your speakers to be able to deliver it with minimal buzz. The audio profile of dubstep is much closer to the kind of gun fire and deep explosions you would expect in a modern game. It was all too much for the Creative 2.1 speakers as they distorted and buzzed when things got serious. In comparison, the Wavemaster Stax delivered a much clearer sound – dealing with the torture in a much more effective way.
Another win to Wavemaster Stax. We're now at 3.5-0.5 going into the final music test.

Vangelis – Love Theme from Blade Runner
For many geeks, this is the ultimate love song. Not a word is spoken, but as soon as you hear that mystical saxophone, you're imagination is instantly whisked a hundred years into the future. Shut your eyes and Sean Young is letting her hair down – playing the ivories. We used the re-mastered 2003 version of the Blade Runner Love Theme, where each of the interlinking musical themes is crystal clear. Wavemaster's Stax picked up on – and clearly separated out – each layer of sound. Unfortunately, while the Creative 2.1 speakers were warm, they were also muffled at several key moments. Overall, it was a rather inadequate experience. With the Wavemaster Stax 2.1 speakers, it just seemed that there were more instruments involved.
Again, clear win to the Wavemaster Stax 2.1 leaves us at 4.5 to 0.5 as we head to game performance.

Finally, we hooked the Wavemaster Stax 2.1 speakers up to a PC running Call of Duty Black Ops and they had no problem increasing our engagement level. That said, the bass thump of the Creative speakers also works, so we're calling this a draw at 0.5 points each.

With audio, as with most things in life, you generally get what you pay for.

Wavemaster isn't positioning the Stax 2.1 speaker set at the top end, in fact these are almost the cheapest speakers that Wavemaster makes. Their real focus, when it comes to audio quality, is on speakers in the £150-£250 range.

So what does the Wavemaster Stax 2.1 offer you?

The comparison to Creative's extremely popular 2.1 solution is fair and valid. We have all owned/lowed a Creative product at some time and the company's popularity has been built on releasing decent product at a decent price.

Across the full range of our testing, the final score was 5-1 in favour of the Wavemaster Stax 2.1 speakers – and you have to remember that Creative's point was actually two halves from draws. Those draws came from Creative's choice to point its subwoofer directly at the floor. Not a bad tactic when you're trying to achieve a low frequency rumble, but we feel that this prevented it from delivering clarity below the mid-range.

You're NOT going to be filling a living room with sound from these speakers, but if you added them to a large screen HD TV where you were only using the in-built speakers, then the Wavemaster Stax 2.1's would change your world.

In terms of styling and audio performance, the Wavemaster Stax 2.1 speakers are in a different class to Creative's 2.1 solution. Sure, they cost around £20 more – but the increase is definitely worth while. Like we said at the start, it's worth looking at the price of products like these in comparison to everyday purchases that we make. For example, with petrol across much of the country nudging £1.40 a litre – and even smaller cars needing 40 litres to fill up – you can say that both of these speakers should cost you less than a tank of petrol, but last you a lot longer and be more environmentally sound.

So it boils down to this – if you’re a gamer, love scary movies and need to save £20 badly, then something like a Creative 2.1 speaker set is a fine choice. But if you can stretch to the additional £20 and you love music, then the choice is clear.

Right now, these Wavemaster Stax 2.1 speakers are showing as £59 on Amazon in the UK.

Pros:

• Solid amplification.
• Great styling.
• Decent reproduction across a range of music and games.
• Relatively low cost.
• Neat desktop control unit with headphone socket.

Cons:

• Availability – low stock levels in the UK.

KitGuru says: Ideal first set of speakers that you're not likely to want to change for a while. Makes other budget speakers sound muffled and awkward.

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