Altec Lansing has a good reputation for making powerful, yet inexpensive, sound systems. The 251 speaker/sub-woofer set is no different, but the difficulty of rigging it up to your TV, GameCube, and other components may outweigh its best qualities.

That’s because this 5.1 sound system is really designed for PCs with high-end sound cards. But it does come with connections that, after some initial confusion and perhaps an extra cord from Radio Shack, allow it to be used with your home theater. Altec’s comparable system designed especially for console gaming costs twice as much (and doesn’t look nearly as cool), so it’s worth taking a look at the 251 to see if it might work for you.

The five satellite speakers are box-shaped and about six inches tall. They come with rubberized stands that make it easy to plant them just about anywhere, and they can also be wall-mounted. The center satellite has a special stand that lets it grip onto the front edge of the top of your TV. The sub-woofer, which also houses all the connections, is about a foot tall and half as thick. It’s a big, heavy unit that calmly states, “I mean business.” All six pieces are black with silver trim; they look modern but very conservative, and they fit in well with a black- or silver-themed home theater setup.

This system was tested with several games and movies, but most rigorously with In the Flesh Live, a Roger Waters concert DVD. Roger plays bass guitar, so I thought his concert would be a good test for the system’s range. The subwoofer won’t exactly melt your insides, but at the higher settings it can be quite potent. The speakers output clear, potent sound from just about any source, and they can be set to a very high volume. If you’ve been playing games through your TV’s speakers, you’ll notice the difference immediately. Everything just sounds more distinct and immersive, and that’s the case even with simple stereo input from the GameCube.

The system is controlled via knobs on the front-right satellite, and because that speaker would presumably be within reach for a PC setup, there is no remote control. In your living room, this omission means you’ll have to get up off the couch to adjust the volume…not exactly convenient. Likewise, the satellite cords feeding to the sub-woofer were designed with a small bedroom or office in mind, so you may have trouble positioning them if your living room is very big. Installing the system shouldn’t be too much trouble for most people though, until it comes time to plug everything in.

Altec’s 251 system would be perfect for console as well as PC gaming if it weren’t so lacking for inputs. Namely, it has only one set of RCA audio jacks (the red and white type found on almost all modern televisions and home theater components), and using them requires an included Y-adapter. If you’re feeding audio from the television, GameCube, DVD player, etc. directly into the speakers, you’ll have to switch audio cables frequently. It’s a major pain in the butt. You could buy a switcher box, but those can be expensive and cumbersome. There’s another solution, but it won’t apply to everyone. If you’re using a high-end TV, it may have “Monitor Out” jacks in the back. In that case, you can buy a set of RCA cables and connect them from the TV to the speakers. Then, the audio signals from all your components are running into your TV and back out to the speakers. This setup is fairly cheap and easy to pull off, but many TVs don’t have output jacks.

What’s worse is that, in all likelihood, you won’t be able to connect a surround receiver to these speakers. There aren’t any posts for connecting speaker wire, the most common way to get signals from a receiver to the speakers. It may be possible to splice in speaker wire to this system after some wire-stripping, but the warranty would probably be voided. You should really only consider the 251 for console gaming if you just want to replace your TV speakers and aren’t using a surround receiver at all.

The bottom line is that this sound system is just not designed for home theaters, and making it work with one can be a complex business. Still, at $99 USD for a powerful and stylish 5.1 speaker set, the hassle may well be worth it. I recommend you look at your gaming rig and do some research on the kinds of cables and other equipment you’ll need before purchasing the Altec Lansing 251. You may very well be able to mod and hack the system to fit your needs. Of course, these speakers are probably exceptional for use with a PC, but that’s for the PC experts to decide.