Labs

At 188mm high, Alesis's entry-level studio speakers are half the height of the 620 set. The back of the right speaker houses stereo mini-jack, phono, in jack and USB inputs. The latter lets users bypass a PC's built-in sound without resorting to a musician's sound card. You can even use the speakers' other inputs to record line-level sources to the PC. The 115cm cable joining the two satellites is too short, and the mini-jack speaker cable isn't easy to replace.

Sounds from the 320 USB were precise and authoritative, but while a Bass Boost switch provided extra low-frequency punch, bass wasn't that deep. Very high frequencies were lacking, too, and the top volume was tame.

The compact design and USB connection make this an attractive prospect for musicians working with a laptop, but sound quality is only narrowly up to the demands of music production. M-Audio's AV 40 costs just £12 more and offers a huge leap in sound quality.