Skytec 170.170 Studio Monitors

Skytec 170.170 Studio Monitors are billed as "Heavy Duty..with high power and deep bass response" they are really nothing of the sort. Starting with the sound quality, there is enough volume for small home studios, but the main drawback is the complete lack of bass response. They come with a 5.25inch bass driver which in a well designed speaker is fine, but in this application give little or no bottom end. Using these speakers to create a mix in a studio would give frankly awful results when played back on full range equipment. However most self respecting studios would spend more on their monitors than the £50 these cost!

On the plus side they are active so you don't need a seperate amp. Only one speaker houses the amp, the other is passive. The cable connecting them together is phono to bare wire which is awkward to wire up - phono connectors all round would have been much easier. Input to the main speaker is by phono.

They seem well made, look ok, solid enough that they should last well.

The supplied brackets are useful, and the powered speaker has a useful volume control on the back, but that is the only control, there is no EQ.

Buy these if you want a cheap pair of small active speakers for basic monitoring of a sound source - you could use them with a PC / MP3 player / keyboard or for background music for a small pub or club etc but beware of the limitations in the bass region. Frequency range is apparently 32Hz - 22kHz which sounds a bit optimistic to me, as does the claimed 150watt peak power!