The subwoofer that came with these speakers was a little disappointing. Unlike some really powerful subwoofers that come with speaker systems made by Altec Lansing, and Cambridge Soundworks The subwoofer that came with these speakers does not seem to provide enough bass to shake a room, or even provide a little rumble for that matter. You really can't tell that the subwoofer is actually working unless you put your ear right up to it, or listen to the speakers without it attached. Don't get me wrong, the bass provided by the 2 speakers alone (if you have the bass knob turned all the way up on the subwoofer) is enough for me, and certainly helps me feel any deep heavy sounds by causing a slight vibration in my desk. Games like unreal, mechwarrior 3 and Quake 3: Arena are excellent examples of games that use heavy bass.

Despite having a poor subwoofer these speakers do provide crisp, clean, sweet sound. Unless you turn the bass or volume knob all the way up there is very little distortion or hissing noise that occurs. Using the "3D surround" sound option is a mixed bag. While providing a much more realistic sound that would easily help fill up a room, a side effect is that it adds more hissing and distortion at the higher volume levels. By not using the conventional "cone" type of speaker system, these speakers can really produce true 360 degree audio that can easily fill up a room, just as I said before.

Despite this speaker system's minor drawbacks of an under powered subwoofer, and a slight hiss at higher volume levels, these are a pair of excellent speakers. The shear slick-ness of these speakers, and crispness of it's sound is incredible. I would recommend this sound system to anybody who wants a fairly priced, space saving, good sounding set of speaker. Just make sure that you can live with its under powered subwoofer.

by Ryan Wissman

Price - 9.1  Performance - 8.6  Overall - 9.0

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