A couple of years ago XtremeMac entered the Mac platform with a vengeance, entire lines of iPod accessories, earphones, and cases, all carefully designed, and marketed. Last year they showed a new audio system, the Tango, but it was in short supply. Luckily not only is it now easily available, it might be one of the best bargains on the block.

One of the reasons is that they chose to use discrete speaker elements, so it has two tweeters, two mid-range elements, and a sub-woofer, so the sound quality is on par with far more expensive units. As expected from XtremeMac, the attention to design is evident, with a clean, minimalist approach. It provides visual feedback when using the remote via LEDs on the unit, and the sound it rich and detailed. I felt it important to dial down the bass a bit, which also helped open up the mid-range, and killed an occasional bass related rattle.

With a street price of under $100 from Amazon as of the time of this review, the XtremeMac Tango is a unit to seriously consider. Other units may have more raw power, but the Tango is refined in it’s use of power. And remember what Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben said about the responsibilities of power!

Harris Fogel, Posted 12/20/2007

For more information on the Tango: www.xtrememac.com