We've seen stage monitor speakers for Rock Band and Guitar Hero before, but I don't think I've ever seen one made by a company with the pedigree that Polk Audio has. Until today, that is. Unveiled at CES this week is the HitMaster Gaming Stage Monitor, yet another way that music gamers can spend lots of money on additional accessories.
The HitMaster seems pretty cool. Built into the same kind of enclosure used in normal stage monitor speakers, it looks the part and should be pretty damn durable. A 6.5" woofer to pump out the bass, coupled with a pair of 3" x 5" tweeters and an MSRP of $99.99 make it not entirely unreasonable. Hell, you could even daisy-chain multiple units to make a still more realistic stage experience.
That said, it's not really that expensive to build a passable 5.1 surround system that's going to sound way better than anything this can produce, so I can't quite figure out who will buy this. It's not as though it would sound right, as you'd still have the ambient crowd noise coming through the same channels as the music. The point of monitors is to be able to hear yourself playing in an environment where the speakers are largely pointing away from you. Seems unnecessary if you're not playing an actual instrument on an actual stage.
But, hell, the volume knob does max out at eleven. That has to count for something.
Conrad Zimmerman is Destructoid's News Editor and home to the busiest mustache in the gaming press. An amateur historian and pop culture fanatic, Conrad possesses a nearly limitless wealth of videogame factoids and a passion for the power of games to teach, inspire and entertain. He enjoys reading, writing and turning things which should be fun into work.
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Contest:
3:00 PM on 01.10.2010
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NVGR :)
I have never ever liked Polk, I had a entry to mid level 5.1 set up and I was never happy with their stuff as the sound quality was never present, for a cheap great sounding 5.1 try Fluance http://www.fluance.com/shop-speakers.html#complete-speaker-system
I have a Fluance center channel speaker and their front towers and for the price they are VERY decent. My buddy has the wood finish 5.1 and you can not complain about the price/sound ratio. I will be getting a new center soon from Axiom. The sides I have are Axiom quadpolar's but they are not as near as cheap :)
If you just want a floor monitor for real gigs, there are WAY better options. If this thing interests you, I urge you to do some research and find better equipment at a better price.
And yeah, this seems entirely pointless. If you could separate the crowd noise and other sound effects from the music (or better yet, seperate each track) then I could kind of see the point, but even then this isn't a great option compared to treating yourself to a full surround sound system. There's just zero point to this.