Contrary to the trend towards 5.1 and 7.1 channel systems, the Teufel Motiv 2 (test) was presented 15 years ago with two satellites and a subwoofer for a whopping 279 euros. In a test 15 years ago, the Motiv 2 had to measure itself against its own multi-channel competition in the form of the Concept E Magnum PE, which costs half as much.
Table of contents
- 1 Lots of aluminum versus little copper
- Sounds great
- Conclusion
- There was a catch
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A lot of aluminum against a little copper
The technical data of the Motiv 2 read differently than the Concept E Magnum PE and Z-5450 Digital due to the different application compared to the 5.1 systems. While the Motiv 2 subwoofer was nominally able to provide the same power as that of the Concept E Magnum PE, the satellites offered more power with 50 instead of 40 watts of sinus power – at their peak they could handle up to 100 watts, while the satellites of the Concept E Magnum PE tolerated a maximum of 70 watts. That explained why Teufel specified a larger maximum suitable room size for Motiv 2.
Power Edition Output power 200 watts sine 315 watts sine 300 watts sine channels 2.1 5.1 satellites 50 watts sine per channel 38 watts sine per channel (front)
40.5 watts sine per channel (rear) 40 watts sine per Center channel not available 42 watts sine 40 watts sine subwoofer 100 watts sine 116 watts sine 100 watts sine inputs 2 x jack
1x stereo chinch 6-channel analogue (jack)
2 x optical SPDIF input
1 x coaxial SPDIF input 6-channel analogue (jack) Level control remote control
Software
via subwoofer software
Remote control
Control panel software
Remote control
via subwoofer Special features design
Remote control control panel
Remote control Remote control List price 279 euros from around 199 euros 159 euros
While Teufel's Concept series in particular had a reputation for being conservative in terms of design, the manufacturer was less reserved with the Motiv series. Motiv 2 came in white piano lacquer, the shape of the satellites was curved, reminiscent to a certain extent of a hen's egg and was significantly larger and more voluminous than the satellites of the Concept E Magnum PE. The large front-fire subwoofer was also finished in white piano lacquer and had a rounded shape and conical feet. On top of the subwoofer was a black brushed aluminum control panel. In addition, the system came with an infrared remote control that could be used to adjust the volume and select the audio input.
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A stunner in terms of sound
For a price of 279 euros, it was to be expected that the Motiv 2 would deliver a significantly better sound than the Concept E Magnum PE. And that's exactly what happened: The Motiv 2 eliminated the greatest weakness of the Concept E and played the mids cleanly and clearly. The depth of the bass that the satellites were able to achieve without the subwoofer was also impressive. With the subwoofer switched on, the sound was even better – a big plus was that the subwoofer and satellites were so well matched that they played as one. In practice, this meant that it was not clear at which frequency range the subwoofer started and where the satellites stopped.
The Motiv 2 also cut a good figure in films and was able to convince with a decent sound. It only had an audible disadvantage compared to a 5.1 system like the Concept E Magnum PE in very well mixed surround scenes, in which the systems specialized in film playback were able to create an unchallenged feeling of being right in the middle. A stereo system was fundamentally unable to do this. The situation was similar in games where the sound itself was convincing, but the spatiality was subject to the surround systems, especially in first-person shooters.
Conclusion
In a test 15 years ago, the question arose as to whether 279 euros was worth it for a stereo system when very good 5.1 systems were already available for half the money. The question could be answered with a clear yes, as long as music was one of the main purposes. Anyone who mainly watched films and played computer games in which spatiality was important would be better off with a 5.1 system. For everyone else, Teufel offered an impressive 2.1 system with excellent sound with the Motiv 2.
There was a catch
In the end, however, the Teufel Motive 2 had a catch, which was only noticed 15 years ago after the test: the system continuously consumed 20 watts of electrical power in “standby”. This could only be prevented by completely disconnecting the 2.1 set from the power supply using the power switch on the back. This reduced the “standby” mode that the system always assumed when there was no audio signal to absurdity. In subsequent tests, the supposedly low standby consumption of audio systems became the norm.
In the category “In the test 15 years ago”, the editors have been taking a look at the test archive every Saturday since July 2017. The last 20 articles that appeared in this series are listed below:
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- Zalman wanted to reinvent himself and failed
- Cooler Masters Cosmos at an astronomical price
- The best multimedia keyboard came from Microsoft
- Sparkles Caliber GeForce 8600 GT ran far from the norm
- Xigmatek was on the way to success with the HDT-S1283
- Movie playback on GPUs from ATi versus Nvidia
- Devil and Logitech in 5.1 battle
- Scythe's Katana 2 was the cooler king of the middle class
- An almost inaudible gaming PC for 3,100 euros
- Corsair's Voyager GT was the best USB stick for 100 euros
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- DDR3 celebrated its premiere with the Intel P35 at Asus
- ATi CrossFire was 80 percent ahead – measured in dB(A)
- Halo 2 was a flop on the PC despite Vista
- Router, switch and NAS in one from Asus
- Xigmatek stirred up the market for 25 euros with Direct-Touch
- The best gaming mouse was Razer's Death Adder
- 5D ALUs didn't help the HD 2900 XT against the 8800 either
- GeForce 8800 Ultra
Even more content of this kind and many other reports and anecdotes can be found in the retro corner in the ComputerBase forum.