The Bottom Line: Highly recommend - you will not find a better balance of sound quality, price and size anywhere, period. Properly set up, you will really be surprised.

I owned the original Acoustimass 5 set some 20 years ago and it was pretty good - but these are better. I have also owned 901's (excellent) and even a 321 GS II system (mediocre). Have owned Infiniti's and old Kenwoods (when they were top shelf). So I feel qualified to comment on speaker sound quality.

First - placement of these in the listening area is vital. If you experiment and really heed the advice of others, you will be rewarded. Second - you've got to give them lots of clean power. I'm using a high power Onkyo amp and it makes them really open up and sound 3D - esp at higher volumes. When I first hooked them up and tested with Dave Matthews, my wife (who is otherwise pretty indifferent)came in the room and said it sounded like he was doing a live gig in our living room.

The bass module is much improved and I find the sound tight and full - but not overdone or over balanced. Movie DVD's such as King Kong, offer real bone crunching sound.

I almost went with some large Paradigm towers, but came to my senses last minute. I really didn't want several hundred pounds of speakers filling my living space. I'll trade a tiny bit of fidelity for the unmatched aesthetics advantage these speakers offer.

Lastly, you cannot compare these to conventional speakers at a store. Buy them where you can return them if not happy. Take them home and experiment in your own place. Make sure you've got a real good clean amp or receiver!