great buy

My husband received these speakers as a birthday gift. They are marketed as being good-quality, classy speakers that won't break the bank, and for the most part I agree with the hype.

I was impressed by the sound quality. It took us a few days to adjust to the speakers, but once we all got familiar with one another we really started to like them. They provide almost a surround-sound experience while watching movies, and we enjoy being able to turn these speakers up to listen to music and podcasts while we work around the house. I've never experienced any sound distortion, no matter how loud we crank 'em.

I also like how the volume is controlled by a separate controller. It would be nice to have an on/off button that was independent of the volume control, so that we wouldn't have to search for the perfect volume every time we turned the speakers on, but the separate control gives us more flexibility. We can tuck the speakers away almost anywhere without having to perform acrobatic feats in order to switch them on or adjust the volume. The controller is very small, which is another bonus in my book. It doesn't make the desk look cluttered at all, and it also has a headphone jack on it, which is very convenient.

I do have some problems with the bass. We've had to give up turning it on at all, because even on the quietest setting it is just too powerful for apartment living. That would definitely not count as a problem if we lived in a different setting!

Really, my only complaint about these speakers is that they tend to tip easily. We have a glass desk surface and a very active cat- really not the best combination. We have ended up laying the speakers on their sides, because they were tipping over and crashing against the desk several times a day. The design looks nice, but it's just a little top-heavy. I'm guessing this wouldn't be such a problem for people in a less active environment, but it almost drove us crazy.

All in all, however, I really like these speakers. They just sound good, and seem to get better with time. I'd definitely recommend these to a friend.