Great Sound Great Looks Great Price

I decided I needed speakers as I wanted good quality sound in my office for my Sirius Satellite radio player. I spent some time in an electronic store trying out several speaker systems. I was able to direct compare these speakers with several others as they had the system where you press a button located near the system that you want the music to play from. I had a price limit so I did not try anything over $130 but these speakers sounded better that some in the $50-$130 range. I also did not try any 5.1 surround systems, just the 2.1 with subwoofer systems. So I left the store with these speakers (CA-3550) for only $49. The epinions photo of these speakers do not totally reflect the style of the speakers I have.

Key features:

68 Watts 6.5” power pro subwoofer with 2 satellites
X Bass enhancement
Headphone Jack on right speaker
Video game cable adapter


Setup

My first impression with unpacking the speakers is that they are only package protected at the top and bottom. The subwoofer has no protection against shipping damage and is located close to the side of the box.
The speakers are standard darkish silver, which will probably complement most computer setups. They are covered on the front with a nice fine black mesh cloth, which is reinforced with plastic underneath to protect the speaker cones. The subwoofer is similarly styled but has a plastic perforated grill without any cloth cover.
You are somewhat limited as to the speaker layout for 2 reasons. Firstly all cables run to the right speaker and the left speaker is wired directly to the right speaker. You may place the right speaker up to 8 foot apart from the left speaker. The subwoofer must be placed within about 7 to 8 feet of the right speaker. The second limitation is that the subwoofer should be placed on the floor as it is not magnetically shielded and can interfere with other devices. Note that the two satellite speakers are shielded.

Operation

The right speaker has the on/off button and 2 dial controls for master volume and bass volume.
When powered on each speaker has a cool looking blue light to give them that futuristic look you normally see on high-end audio/video products these days.
The sound quality is very impressive for a system of this price, even at the lower volumes.
Having the controls located on the speaker is convenient since I hardly play with them I don’t need another messy corded remote on my desk. The headphone jack is useful for when I want to listen at a higher volume without disturbing other people in the office.