Overall, our biggest complaint with the system is the lack of control. There is no bass control. No treble control. No balance control, and so on. Basically, what you see (or hear, in this case) is what you get. Granted, the decoder can be used to give a slight boost to the subwoofer for added bass, or to the right channels to simulate a balance adjustment, but that’s hardly the same thing (particularly since it’s a line level volume), and isn’t anywhere near as easy as a Bass or Balance knob. In general, control is too limited for our preference. We’re sad to see MidiLand’s control module, which is still used on only the 4060 systems, disappearing. It would really put the finishing touches on this system.

As far as sound quality goes, the system performs well for its class, but falls behind in the treble department. Again, this is something of a trend with MidiLand systems. Since most all of MidiLand’s satellites include only a single full-range driver, they tend to lack in terms of treble performance. The relatively large 2.5” drivers are not optimal for clear treble production, particularly when they’re already required to produce the entire midrange, and so the system definitely falls short here. In the future, we’d like to see MidiLand take somewhat of a different approach, and include separate tweeters in the satellites. At very least, the front left and right channels should feature the separate tweeters, they may not be necessary for surround channels.