Speakers Reviews

These are okay speakers but not if you are serious about good sound, especially with headphones. Anytime the headphones were plugged in, I was listening to static and lots of it. I even tried different sets of headphones. These are not good computer speakers.

The sound quality is surprisingly good. I took this for granted and only realized this when I bought the Yamaha YST-MS201 thinking I was upgrading. The Yamahas sounded like those cheap computer speakers that come free when you buy a computer. In contrast, these Advent speakers produce sound similar to speakers on a decent home stereo system.

I purchased these speakers on a whim at PC Richard, without checking consumer reports or any other review services. I connected them to my office computer and was impressed by the sound quality. Co-workers had spent the equivalent on speakers that were truly inferior- (small size, battery powered, tinny reproduction). These Advents are quite powerful - I have yet to crank them past 1/2 power, and usually keep them at 1/4. This is probably due to their relatively large size, and to the curved faces that seem to angle the sound directly at the user. One speaker has small dials that control volume, bass and treble. There is also a mute button and a headphone jack. There is an input for a subwoofer if you decide to add one.

They also look very good with the standard beige desktop unit; they resemble modern sculpture. Plus, they are tough. I dropped one of them while installing-no damage. The guy who designed these put his heart into it.

Bass reproduction could be improved, but without a sub-woofer what do you expect? The Advent name badge seems flimsy. That's it. All in all, I don't understand how Advent is able to produce these speakers at this price point. They are a real pleasure-I would be happy to bring these speakers home.

I currently have Bose 201s and 601s - and I found the 601's very satisfactory. Thus when the time came to buy a 2/2.1 computer speaker system, bose was the first choice. Sound quality, size, and complexity were the criteria.

The Bose mediamate sounds very impressive for its size - can certainly fill a hotel room - and are portable enough for use while travelling.

The drawbacks are:
a. The "clarity" of mids and highs is noticably poorer than a good home system.
b. Cheap feel of the plastic controls,
c. The lousy connection between the primary and secondary speakers that creates enough noise to disturb your music listening
d. No power off button - one has to unplug the adapter from the wall
e. Bass is not deep - but given the size of the speakers it was an acceptable compromise.

Therefore, I was back on the hunt with a budget of upto $150. I heard the Altec Lansing MX5021 THX. Against my criteria, it was bulky, not too complicated and sounded excellent at all levels. I compared it on the shop against similarly priced speakers from Kiplisch, Creative, other Altec Lansings and some others - and found that much better. So that's the one I have now instead of the Bose.

I have experienced some audio products, in the home theatre arena, that includes Yamaha, Onkyo, Klipsch, Infinity, and some JBL stuff... nothing fancy, and I have had somewhat a loaded past with multimedia speakers, from early days of Altec Lansing ACS54 to cheap TDK tremor series, to Klipsch 4.1, Logitech Z560, Altec Lansing powerhouse 641, to Logitech Z-2200 (worth every penny if you want power), to my current flagship Klipsch Ultra 5.1 which I just sold on ebay (check my id: phreeco), my roommate owned Gigaworks S750 which he just sold as well (check his id: UW_Madison). My other roommate has Logitech flagship Z680. I don't claim as audiophile, but with my fair share of experience, I can wholeheartedly recommend Bose MediaMate for people who have limited space but want big sound.

I have been shopping for 2.1 small footprint speaker for my laptop recently, so my comparison incl. only spk of this category. I tried Companion 3, the sound is too thin for me to recommend it, and it's even more overpriced. Altec Lansing VS4121 is also good, but sound is not as balanced, you need to tweak it around with the treble and bass button. If you have more space and / or want more power, get Klpsch 2.1, the sound field is not as wide open as MediaMate, but it's small difference that the bass module more than makes up for it. Two things that surprised me about MediaMate: 1) the wide sound field, very good ambience 2) the integrated woofer is much more potent than it looks 3) the sound is surprisingly balanced and clear. couple that with very open airy ambience sound, I believe the money is worth it. Oh and if you want power, Megaworks 250D is also a very good choice. Altec Lansing MX5021, FX6021, JBL Creature, Yamaha YST-MS50, Monsoon PlanarMedia 14 are also good choices, but I am not going to comment on those because although I sampled some of those in store I have not had enough time to evaluate the sound extensively in a better environment.

And for those that want 5.1 surround sound, do yourself a favor get Klipsch Ultra 5.1, the redesigned Dual 8" subwoofer is titanic and unbeatable, but make sure to sell it fast if you received a few citations / complaints from your neighbors... next thing you know they're calling police.

Hello fellow Road Warriors.

I travel a lot and sorely missed full spectrum sound. Earphones seemed the only option for portable sound with good bass but they are too encumbering. I tried a cheaper subwoolfer system but it was too big to carry and had too many parts. I was thinking about the Bose Wave radio sound, and found the MediaMate computer speakers. For the size and weight they do not disappoint.

The sound is typical Bose, high quality and balance, something some people have to get used to after being blasted by boom boxes for their developing years. It is amazing what Bose got out of a 2.5" driver in a small bass reflex cabinet. There are no tone controls but you don't need them because they are well compensated and have a balanced spectrum at all levels including real soft but can play at moderate room-level if desired.

They travel well, occupying about as much space as a pair of large men's shoes and weighting less than 5 lbs. The controls are neatly recessed but accesable, the cases are sturdy but of reasonable weight. There is a metal speaker grill. If you want to carry just one, not a bad compromise, you can drive both channels by plugging both L and R sides to the right speaker and mixing the A-B input balance.

Bose tends to be pricy but these speakers are well worth the price. Real bass again! Now if I can just find my old Gov,t Mule CDs . . .

This radio is by far the best sounding table radio I have ever heard. It rivals the sound of similar radios that cost $80.00 more! The bass response is superb, the highs are crystal clear, and it has good station pulling ability on FM. The stereo separation it very good, and it has plenty of volume. The controls are simple to use, and I must say, that I recommend this radio for space-limited areas. I have an ear for good sounding and mediocre sounding radios, and this one sounds great!

I was looking for a radio for my office, and I went to the local Target and found this radio. I liked the retro look (it reminded me of the radios my grandfather had on his table)! I took it to the office and everyone was commenting how cool it looked. The sound quality is good and for the price you can't beat it.

This is probably the best sound system I've ever bought. I never thought anything could be this high of quality... and for the price!



It has very good sound, good reception, big dials and a lit up display, and good bass. The best part is the audio input jack. Now I listen to my mp3 player with out the headphones. I'm amazed at how you can crank up the volume and still have great sound, especially considering how small it is. Wow!



I highly recomend this!!!

I bought this unit used from a friend of mine and regret the purchase. The speakers themselves sound very thin and the highs are too bright. I would definitely tell people to spend a bit more and buy something with more sound quality. There are many other manufacturers of small speakers that have a much better overall tonal quality.

These are an excellent choice as a rear channel speaker. takes up no room and you can put a 16x20 poster print in them to cover the white panel. (this does not affect the sound). plastic frames...yes, but a little simulated wood-grain contact paper and an exacto knife and you got a psuedo-wood frame.

Now to the speakers themselves: Good sound with the PASSIVE subwoofer attached...without the sub, they sound thin and bright.

These don't even begin to sound right till you give them some real watts...(not a speaker for someone with a 50 wpc receiver). Now when they get linear you have a speaker (sub attached) that i would rate between a 3-4... If you add too many watts the sound worsens (rated at 70 watts, and thats pretty accurate). I tested these as both stereo speakers and HT rears. as fronts I wouldn't put them in a room bigger than 12x12. the sound is non-directional, so there is no soundstage, but they arent that bad for casual listening.

OK for home theater as back or side channels (where soundstage isn't an issue); they do a very good job...they dont need a symetrical placement like box speakers. as a rear speaker compared to other HT rear speakers, they rank a solid 4. If you have a high-powered system that you usually crank up...these will be a disappointment... But at 50-70 watts of input these will do a very good job... sure, they are 'inexpensive' looking, sorta 'inexpensive' sounding, but remember one key point...they *are* 'inexpensive'...and like others before have commented, they really are cool.

I was intrigued by the prospect of these virtually unnoticable speakers and the reviews I read seemed promising. The main complaint seemed to be lack of bass response despite claims from the manufctr. otherwise. I wasn't overly concerned because I could hook up a self-powered sub. They sound very good though I would not recommend them to someone who has very expensive sound tastes. However, they make great conversation pieces, also. If I hadn't purchased a high end satellite system, they would be perfect rear speakers. If you can find them for under [money], great buy...

I bought this unit used from a friend of mine and regret the purchase. The speakers themselves sound very thin and the highs are too bright. I would definitely tell people to spend a bit more and buy something with more sound quality. There are many other manufacturers of small speakers that have a much better overall tonal quality.

These are an excellent choice as a rear channel speaker. takes up no room and you can put a 16x20 poster print in them to cover the white panel. (this does not affect the sound). plastic frames...yes, but a little simulated wood-grain contact paper and an exacto knife and you got a psuedo-wood frame.

Now to the speakers themselves: Good sound with the PASSIVE subwoofer attached...without the sub, they sound thin and bright.

These don't even begin to sound right till you give them some real watts...(not a speaker for someone with a 50 wpc receiver). Now when they get linear you have a speaker (sub attached) that i would rate between a 3-4... If you add too many watts the sound worsens (rated at 70 watts, and thats pretty accurate). I tested these as both stereo speakers and HT rears. as fronts I wouldn't put them in a room bigger than 12x12. the sound is non-directional, so there is no soundstage, but they arent that bad for casual listening.

OK for home theater as back or side channels (where soundstage isn't an issue); they do a very good job...they dont need a symetrical placement like box speakers. as a rear speaker compared to other HT rear speakers, they rank a solid 4. If you have a high-powered system that you usually crank up...these will be a disappointment... But at 50-70 watts of input these will do a very good job... sure, they are 'inexpensive' looking, sorta 'inexpensive' sounding, but remember one key point...they *are* 'inexpensive'...and like others before have commented, they really are cool.

I was intrigued by the prospect of these virtually unnoticable speakers and the reviews I read seemed promising. The main complaint seemed to be lack of bass response despite claims from the manufctr. otherwise. I wasn't overly concerned because I could hook up a self-powered sub. They sound very good though I would not recommend them to someone who has very expensive sound tastes. However, they make great conversation pieces, also. If I hadn't purchased a high end satellite system, they would be perfect rear speakers. If you can find them for under [money], great buy...

these speakers are nice for someone who is in an office but they arent very loud. you turn them up and it sounds horrible. something is missing from them.. not sure what. but what can you expect for $8 speakers? I only got them because it was all I had at the time. If you want some good sounding speakers this is some that you should definitly stay away from.

Since I didn't believe the rave reviews below about a pair of $14 speakers, w/ built in amplification no less ($8 amazon price!), I was not disappointed with what I got. These play pretty clearly, as loud as I need in an office, haven't broken, and don't produce any excessive hum, hiss, or harshness. In other words, they get the sound out of my card so I can hear it just fine. However, don't think you're getting hi-fi here. There is absolutely nothing close to bass, not even the upper bass that comes through on low-priced boom boxes. And the sound is pretty thin (I tried driving them from audio components to make sure they got a good quality input to evaluate). Thus, these little guys are more than adequate if you just need get going with some audio to hear your computer proclaim "You've got mail", use telephone features, and maybe check out a cute sound sample occassionally. But if you're going to be playing commercial CDs, or are into serious game sound effects or MP3 downloading, you'll want to spend a few more bucks to get something better. Still, I'm happy with the purchase - they're totally worth the money and I highly recommend them, just so long as you don't intend to use them for any audio-intensive applications.

Do not spend too much money on a set of speakers for your desktop computer. They won't sound as great as a real audio system. If you want to get the most out of your money, this set of speakers will be your best choice.

I got mine for a mind-boggling fifty bucks at Best Buy online, and have been quite happy with them. I use them mainly for watching DVDs and the occasional CDs.

For dedicated and discriminating music listening, I probably would recommend spending about four to eight times the price if you are especially picky about sound quality. The mids are not very well-defined, and the highs can be a bit harsh at really high volumes.

Otherwise, these are more than adequate for most people. With an impressive 91db of sensitivity, they "sound" louder and more alive than most speakers 2-3 times their price, and deliver impressive bass, probably the result of the enclosure being quite deep.

Oh, and one other note: these are a bit oversized for the "bookshelf" category of speakers. If you really are planning to use them in a cramped position, you may want to look at the dimensions listed and use a measuring tape to make sure you have adequate room.

You can't judge the sound of these while standing in a Best Buy store as another review stated. These speakers are excellent for the price and outperform many other speakers that are more money. I have a pair of Wharfedale 7.2's and the Yamahas sound much better.

I bought a pair of these speakers at best buy for $50 and are the best speakers ive ever had. i am extremly picky about speakers and these ones sounded better than the bose! If you are picky about sound and on a budget or not, buy these speakers

all my life i have loved audio. my dream was to buy a large scale system that sounded good. With a tight budget of only 5,000 dollars (US), i began to construct this thing. Epos LS12's
were my mains, and five granite audio monoblock amps. then it came to surrounds. these klh's came free. dont even hook these up kids. overall they must have a frequency responce of 900-901Hz. what i mean is, they have no bass, bairly midrange, no highs.

I bought these as an an entry into 5.1 channel sound. The set tis hooked up to a technics dolby pro receiver with KLH main speakers. It would still benefit greatly from what will surely be my next purchase a subwoofer for the lower power ranges. All in all a lovely, reasonable way to get ones' toes in the water. Although it should be mentioned that the center speaker is a bit of a hog and needs to be corraled so the less powerful surround speakers aren't overwhelmed. By the way this set was $... dollars cheaper at ... than at a so-called bargain electronic outfit. Nice going .... Now get in a subwoofer so I can be a happy woman.

Amazing sound/price ratio! Use your existing stereo speakers and complete your surround sound system with a set of these.

I bought mine used from ebay, but it still came in excellent condition. The bass is tight and forceful and the flatpanel speakers can really hit the notes. I was impressed with the sound quality. The only thing I don't like about it is that the subwoofer sometimes picks up radio waves (even when no input) and plays lightly in the background. overall, though, the best

I bought S60's recently because it was the only speaker system at the store that wasn't Cyber Acoustics, one step above Benwin. I know quite a bit about speakers and was fairly skeptical about how they'd sound. Most flat speakers aren't worth the money unless you need the space, but once seeing that they were made with what NXT calls "surface sound," I felt a little more at ease. I first saw it a couple years ago in a Wharfedale picture frame that was actually a speaker made by the same people. It's a totally different concept of producing sound that is capable of filling a large room with the entire frequency range. I have mine in a large open room that most speakers would have a hard time filling without struggle, but these can do it very easily. And it's all the sound, not just some of the midrange like others usually do. They might not be as loud as some other speakers, but the sound quality from a distance is really good.
The subwoofer is unique, having good and bad qualities. It does have good sound quality, especially for a 3" speaker, but you can notice that it doesn't hit far below 60Hz when listening to certain kinds of music. And don't worry, the 150 watt system just uses two of the little subs to get down to 50Hz. The design is really nice though. It can project the bass to all parts of the room fairly evenly, which is more than I can say for a lot of others. But the best thing about the subwoofer is the auto limiting circuitry built in. Once the volume gets about half way the subwoofer stops moving any more as not to blow it. Which is a good thing considering how much sound I can get out of the satelites. I was wanting to upgrade to the 150 watt system, but pairing mine with a 10" HT subwoofer seems like a better idea to get near audiophile sound out of them.

All in all I would recommend them despite any bad things that were said about them by me or anybody else. Mine sounded kinda tinny when new, but even flat panel speakers need broken in. And this isn't the system for you if you want head thumping bass. The subwoofer is only there to even out the sound coming from the satellites. But now that they're broken the whole system sounds very natural. I still use an equalizer with them, but it's not necessary anymore. Well worth connecting up to a portable cd player to have a great sounding stereo for about $50, or even your computer.

I sold my Klipsch Promedia 4.1 system because it took up too much space (I live on a boat). These TDK speakers sound even better! I can't believe the quality of sound from the flat speakers and the extraordinary bass response from the subwoofer. I'm glad I went with the 150 system instead of the lower powered options. Worth every penny.

I bought mine used from ebay, but it still came in excellent condition. The bass is tight and forceful and the flatpanel speakers can really hit the notes. I was impressed with the sound quality. The only thing I don't like about it is that the subwoofer sometimes picks up radio waves (even when no input) and plays lightly in the background. overall, though, the best

I bought S60's recently because it was the only speaker system at the store that wasn't Cyber Acoustics, one step above Benwin. I know quite a bit about speakers and was fairly skeptical about how they'd sound. Most flat speakers aren't worth the money unless you need the space, but once seeing that they were made with what NXT calls "surface sound," I felt a little more at ease. I first saw it a couple years ago in a Wharfedale picture frame that was actually a speaker made by the same people. It's a totally different concept of producing sound that is capable of filling a large room with the entire frequency range. I have mine in a large open room that most speakers would have a hard time filling without struggle, but these can do it very easily. And it's all the sound, not just some of the midrange like others usually do. They might not be as loud as some other speakers, but the sound quality from a distance is really good.
The subwoofer is unique, having good and bad qualities. It does have good sound quality, especially for a 3" speaker, but you can notice that it doesn't hit far below 60Hz when listening to certain kinds of music. And don't worry, the 150 watt system just uses two of the little subs to get down to 50Hz. The design is really nice though. It can project the bass to all parts of the room fairly evenly, which is more than I can say for a lot of others. But the best thing about the subwoofer is the auto limiting circuitry built in. Once the volume gets about half way the subwoofer stops moving any more as not to blow it. Which is a good thing considering how much sound I can get out of the satelites. I was wanting to upgrade to the 150 watt system, but pairing mine with a 10" HT subwoofer seems like a better idea to get near audiophile sound out of them.

All in all I would recommend them despite any bad things that were said about them by me or anybody else. Mine sounded kinda tinny when new, but even flat panel speakers need broken in. And this isn't the system for you if you want head thumping bass. The subwoofer is only there to even out the sound coming from the satellites. But now that they're broken the whole system sounds very natural. I still use an equalizer with them, but it's not necessary anymore. Well worth connecting up to a portable cd player to have a great sounding stereo for about $50, or even your computer.

I sold my Klipsch Promedia 4.1 system because it took up too much space (I live on a boat). These TDK speakers sound even better! I can't believe the quality of sound from the flat speakers and the extraordinary bass response from the subwoofer. I'm glad I went with the 150 system instead of the lower powered options. Worth every penny.