Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Overall? It's a great value if you pay less than $50. Bass and midtones sound beautiful, but Trebles (16000-20000Hz frequency range) do sound 'flat'. Adjusting the equalizer on the computer to increase the treble about 33% is an adequate workaround. And now, for the story: My previous set of speakers started to sound a tad tinny, so it was time to replace them. (JBL Duet, (60-20000Hz frequency range). I went to a big box store to get a good listen at available models. I should let you know: Standing around and pointing your ear at 7 different speaker sets WILL draw the attention of any number of blue-shirted floorwalkers... unless they sell bionic ears or want me to go out on a date with them, they cannot help. After 45 minutes of sampling various models, I came to a few conclusions: * Buy from amazon.com when possible. I'll explain why in a moment. * The Klipsch Promedia 2.1 model, at $150, had the BEST sound quality (at 31-20000Hz and well-sized speakers, that is incontrovertible), and whose volume could be ramped up to deafen everybody in the store. I mean, that's 200W - even if 135 of which is devoted to the subwoofer. Of course, people living in apartments would not appreciate a big subwoofer vibrating from a unit at the opposite end of the complex (oh, this subwoofer has POWER), and user reviews for this company, about product longevity and particularly build quality, turned me off. * The Insignia NS-PCS41, at $60, were actually very good (48-20000Hz frequency). This set even includes a separate volume control for the subwoofer. The problem is, despite being a listed product with their website claiming every store in the metro area carried them, no store location actually had them in stock. Oops. * The Bose systems were NOT hooked up to the same channel as the other speaker systems. If I am not allowed to make a fair comparison between models based on identical criteria, then something isn't legitimate. (besides, the Companion 2 system sounds muddy compared to the other models and the Companion 3 is reported to have a lot of build-quality issues too. ) * All but one of the other systems I listened to were muddy-sounding. At $30, that's not surprising. I chose the Logitech Z313. Under $50, frequency range 48-20000Hz, this can be a very good value. Bass comes through crisp and rich. Midtones are also well-represented. But the trebles and high-end are somewhat flat-sounding. This is where the Klipsch outperforms, but not at a $100 difference! What DOES help for the Z313 is using the audio player's equalizer to increase treble output - by about 33%. All in all, I am happy.