Digital Trends

XtremeMac Tango April 20th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Features and Design

The XtremeMac Tango is a low-profile, compact speaker system somewhat reminiscent of the iPod Hi-Fi. The shell is made of glossy, smooth white plastic, and its rounded sides give it a futuristic/chic appeal. The speaker housing is enclosed in a suspended, black metal frame with a mesh-like front grill. Inside the housing are two 2.5" mid-range speakers, two 1" tweeters, and a 4" downward-firing subwoofer.

To prevent the unpleasant flatulent sounds of loose bass, XtremeMac designed the Tango with built-in vibration dampening. Even when volume and bass are turned up high, bass holds tight and clean. This should hold true for most music genres. (Extreme hip-hop bass may push the limits, however.)

When buying XtremeMac's Tango speaker system, you'll find nearly everything you need to begin listening to truly awesome audio. You get the Tango, remote control, power plug, five plug adapters (US, UK, EU, AUS, KOR/PPK), three iPod adapter inserts, and Tango documentation. The reason I say "nearly everything you need" is because not all available iPod dock adapters are included. The second-gen nano adapter is one example.

The Tango remote has track forward/back buttons, volume controls, and surprisingly, bass and treble controls.

All versions and generations of the iPod can be connected to the iPod dock on the Tango, except for the Shuffle. When an iPod is connected, the Tango will charge the iPod whether the Tango is turned on or not. Of course, if the Tango is not plugged into an outlet, no charging will occur. According to XtremeMac, the only standard iPod that will not charge on the Tango is the third-generation iPod (but it will play fine).

For fifth-gen iPods (iPod video), the Tango has an S-video jack and a 1/8" audio/video line out jack to send audio and video to an external TV. In lieu of buying an AppleTV, the Tango can be used as a sort of middleman or proxy for bringing video content to a television set.

The Tango weighs about 7 lbs. 9 oz., whereas the iPod Hi-Fi weighs 14 lbs. 8 oz. The Tango is much easier to move from room to room. In deference to the iPod Hi-Fi, the Tango has no battery bay and therefore cannot be used unless an outlet is nearby. You won't be able to get your groove on during a blackout. (Not that kind of groove, anyway.)

The XtremeMac Tango