Speakers Reviews

If you have any other sound card than an extremely basic one, this is not for you. As stated in another review you lose stereo sound when this device is hooked up. I have a high quality sound card with 5.1 and when this device is set to speakers, it only comes out of the left channel speakers. When it is set to headset, it comes out of the headset and the right channel speakers. There was not enough info on the product to find this out before you hooked it up and tried it. Mine is going back.

I purchased the said item and it was a gift from above. I could play games with the headset, then listen to music through the speakers.
Then I realised that it eliminates Stereo sound.
This means that I don't know if that bad guy is coming from the left or the right of me.
Not very useful at all.
It is now unplugged, and i'm back with headset only.

Other reviews claiming mono are wrong - when I first plugged it in I too noticed all the sound coming out of only 1 channel. However I then pushed the plug fully and firmly in and it works fully in stereo confirmed by several tests and hasn't reverted back.

Sound quality?

I bought 2 of these, since I have surround sound headphones (Zalman 5.1s) and good speakers (Klipsch Promedia 4.1s) to switch between. This is combined with an Audigy 2 ZS sound card so I was very concerned about losing any quality. After comparing several sources (mp3's, speaker tests, games) with and without the switch, I'm personally not able to discern any difference in sound quality so far in the hours I've used it.

In short works in stereo and can save a lot of hassle constantly changing plugs in the back of your PC. Definitely recommended.

The speakers stopped working after 4 months and then the customer service was terrible. I couldn't get a hold of anyone. Don't buy unless you want your speakers to break and then not have anyone help you!

I bought these speakers for my wife as a Christmas present .

My wife is a art director and has considerable knowledge with the Mac OS and networking. She installed the speakers on Christmas morning and immediately RAVED about the sound quality. I have no problems with the sound quality or outward appearance of this speaker system.

OUR problem is customer service. This is the first electronic purchase for which we have had a problem--ever. AND WE CAN'T GET SOMEONE TO RESPOND.!!!

The subwoofer part of the system that also serves as the base (brain) overheated last weekend ( it is less than 2 months old) --after just 4 hours of continuious use. The sound was not overly loud nor were the trebble or base controls set above a normal level. The system now no longer functions. My wife has barely had the chance to enjoy the speakers because she works so much.

Herein lies the problem-- we have repeatedly tried to contact the company by email and support phone number for service. A company as large as Harman and JBL does not have an automated support line nor do they appear to have the ability to allow you to stay on hold while "they assist" other customers. Your only option is to leave a phone message which I have now done 4 times in the past 3 days. I have called numerous other times without leaving a message in an attempt to get a "real" person.

Additionally, My wife has emailed the support line with all of OS and situation specifics several times without an acknowledgement.

NO ONE has contacted us.

I ordered the system from APPLE since I was ordering other Apple products. I am sorry I did not purchace from Amazon since it looks like it would have been 40.00 less.

We are both VERY disappointed.

If someone wants to get a good low priced surround sound speaker system the invaders are your best bet. They are stylish at the same time emmit great sound. It is enjoyable made to look different from other speakers and its sub is powerful. Look into it, BestBuy does not carry it anymore so her is a good price for the speakers.

the labor warranty is only 90 days. the cost of repaire is more than the value of the product.Aiwa hides this fact and asks you to ship the product at your cost and than asks you for repaire authorization

Has a nice, clear sound. Perfect for the office because the tape cassette and cd player are located on top, allowing you to place desk items directly in front of the unit--eliminating the need for leaving space for the opening/closing of cd trays or cassette tape loading.

Are you looking for a New CD boombox?

You can't miss it. It has cool functions on great sound quality.
You gatta see and get it today!

Whoever thought of this set up for speakers should be shot. The subwoofer does not disconnect from the small speakers so it makes most desktop configurations difficult at best. And to beat that, the sound quality is poor. There is a lot of static like I'm listening to a car radio. It's just not balanced sound. I guess you get what you pay for though.

I've used... Cambridge Soundworks (2 speaker + 1 subwoofer) for 5 years with 3 different desktops. Finally, I decided to get rid of my old & precious Soundwork - at some point it started producing static - but didn't want to spend big money. I spent hours looking at speakers on Amazon.com realizing how inexpensive they became. Somehow, this Benwin looked OK to me and it was for sure affordable. ... After a week, I'm a very happy buyer! This is just a great value if you're looking for an inexpensive speakers for your PC or low end audio system. I'm satisfied with its sound and looks too.

Definitely 5-star for the money.

Bose is a fascinating case study of what the power of advertising can do for products that are acknowledged within the audio industry as being cheaply made and technically outperformed by all of its competiters. Based on audio theories from the 1960's and parts of lower quality than what can be bought at Radio Shack, Bose has built an incredible empire out of poorly designed products driven by a huge advertising budget creating an aura of "Bose".

Consumers should do their research before shelling out money for Bose speakers. A google search will bring you to epinions or audioreview websites where you can find review after review, mostly negative, from buyers of Bose products.

The commonly accepted wisdom in the audio industry is that Bose makes low audio quality products and sells them at very high prices. In other words those Polk, JBL, Wharfedale or Infinity mid-fi products you can find at Amazon are usually higher quality at much better price points.

Compare the sound if you ever get a chance. Make sure you DO NOT depend on volume, in other words volume is a bad indicater of quality. Listen for the high and low notes and to the clarity of the music. Tough to do in a showroom at Circuit City or Best Buy, but even there the differences will show up. Bose attempts to prevent consumers from doing this by segregating their products away from the competition.

After this you might look at online audio magazines (do a google search), Audioreview (one word) and Audiogon. You'll find whole NEW world of audio products such as PSB, Paradigm, Vandersteen, Quad, Sonus Faber, ACI and many more who's products will put you on a much higher level of audio than you'd ever imagine. Usually these speakers are SEVERAL times more electronically sophisticated than Bose at the same price! What you won't find in these websites of magazines are Bose articles. Bose just isn't taken seriously by the industry.

Good luck and happy hunting!

We bought several pairs of these 161 speakers when they were first introduced a little over a year ago. We use one pair for the surround speakers in our theater system, and a pair in each of the other rooms of our home.

Although we are longtime Bose fans, we decided to audition these in an audio store as we had been disappointed in a Bose center channel speaker we had purchased previously, (based on reputation, we didn't listen first!). We were favorbly impressed in the store and have been very pleased with them in our home. Regardless of room decor, the speakers produce clean, stereo sound. (Its possible to identify orchestral instruments and their location!)

These speakers are very linear above 80-90Hz, to the audible limits. They drop off rapidly below about 80Hz. Bass frequencies are adequately reproduced for orchestral music but will need to be augmented for heavy bass or special cinematic effects. (sub-woofer)

These speakers are intended to be wall mounted and are easily installed with the included brackets. They do not sit well on a shelf!

Bose is a fascinating case study of what the power of advertising can do for products that are acknowledged within the audio industry as being cheaply made and technically outperformed by all of its competiters. Based on audio theories from the 1960's and parts of lower quality than what can be bought at Radio Shack, Bose has built an incredible empire out of poorly designed products driven by a huge advertising budget creating an aura of "Bose".

Consumers should do their research before shelling out money for Bose speakers. A google search will bring you to epinions or audioreview websites where you can find review after review, mostly negative, from buyers of Bose products.

The commonly accepted wisdom in the audio industry is that Bose makes low audio quality products and sells them at very high prices. In other words those Polk, JBL, Wharfedale or Infinity mid-fi products you can find at Amazon are usually higher quality at much better price points.

Compare the sound if you ever get a chance. Make sure you DO NOT depend on volume, in other words volume is a bad indicater of quality. Listen for the high and low notes and to the clarity of the music. Tough to do in a showroom at Circuit City or Best Buy, but even there the differences will show up. Bose attempts to prevent consumers from doing this by segregating their products away from the competition.

After this you might look at online audio magazines (do a google search), Audioreview (one word) and Audiogon. You'll find whole NEW world of audio products such as PSB, Paradigm, Vandersteen, Quad, Sonus Faber, ACI and many more who's products will put you on a much higher level of audio than you'd ever imagine. Usually these speakers are SEVERAL times more electronically sophisticated than Bose at the same price! What you won't find in these websites of magazines are Bose articles. Bose just isn't taken seriously by the industry.

Good luck and happy hunting!

Unbelievable and incredible are just two of the words that can only begin to describe the superb clarity, depth and range of sound the Bose Acoustimass 10 Series III Home Theater Speaker System delivers to your home theater! For years now, I've been using Bose 401's, 301's and the VCS-30 Series II Home Theater Surround set to bring that theater feeling into my home and have been proud and satisfied with the performance of these speakers but, after installing the Bose Acoustimass I had absolutely no idea what I was missing.

As part of the VCS-30 Series II Home Theater Surround set, the VCS10 Center Channel speaker provides a great addition to the home theater in so much as bringing voices out to the listener but it doesn't even come close to the clarity delivered by the center channel portion of the Bose Acoustimass 10 Series III. With this system, for the first time, I was able to hear everything that was being said on the screen without having to either roll back the DVD a bit or turn on the text function, making this purchase all that much more worth the price.

What's more incredible about this system is that despite the speakers being mounted on the wall several feet above the television set, the voices coming from the center channel sound as if they're coming directly from the television set.

The bass module, where everything connects to prior to connecting to your receiver, is a true wonder, in and of itself, delivering true bass and "feeling" to watching a movie! What's more incredible about this bass module is that you can place it just about anywhere and the bass that is delivered doesn't even sound as if it's coming from the module but from the many speakers.

Another important aspect to this system is the ease of installation. I found it quite simple to install this system in conjunction with the Bose UB-20W Wall/Ceiling Speaker Brackets to get those beautiful speakers up on the wall where they could do their job best; delivering exceptional sound.

If you do not wish to install wall/ceiling mounts, fear not, Bose has already considered this. All of the speakers are magnetically shielded so you can just about place them anywhere you wish. Bose also manufactures floor speaker stands for a modest price and they even have the UTS-20 Universal Table Stands that are quite reasonably priced as well.

In short, this system is truly wonderful and I would highly recommend it to anybody that is looking for a superior home theater speaker system without wishing to spend in excess of a thousand dollars! Once you've made the decision to purchase and install this system, be prepared to be blown away by the superior quality of the beautiful sound. This system is a true investment that will easily defray the initial costs. {ssintrepid}

Bose is a fascinating case study of what the power of advertising can do for products that are acknowledged within the audio industry as being cheaply made and technically outperformed by all of its competiters. Based on audio theories from the 1960's and parts of lower quality than what can be bought at Radio Shack, Bose has built an incredible empire out of poorly designed products driven by a huge advertising budget creating an aura of "Bose".

Consumers should do their research before shelling out money for Bose speakers. A google search will bring you to epinions or audioreview websites where you can find review after review, mostly negative, from buyers of Bose products.

The commonly accepted wisdom in the audio industry is that Bose makes low audio quality products and sells them at very high prices. In other words those Polk, JBL, Wharfedale or Infinity mid-fi products you can find at Amazon are usually higher quality at much better price points.

Compare the sound if you ever get a chance. Make sure you DO NOT depend on volume, in other words volume is a bad indicater of quality. Listen for the high and low notes and to the clarity of the music. Tough to do in a showroom at Circuit City or Best Buy, but even there the differences will show up. Bose attempts to prevent consumers from doing this by segregating their products away from the competition.

After this you might look at online audio magazines (do a google search), Audioreview (one word) and Audiogon. You'll find whole NEW world of audio products such as PSB, Paradigm, Vandersteen, Quad, Sonus Faber, ACI and many more who's products will put you on a much higher level of audio than you'd ever imagine. Usually these speakers are SEVERAL times more electronically sophisticated than Bose at the same price! What you won't find in these websites of magazines are Bose articles. Bose just isn't taken seriously by the industry.

Good luck and happy hunting!

We own a Bose Acoustimass 6 Series, which we use with our home theater system... we LOVE it! Plus, the nice little cube speakers are unobtrusive and elegant.

If you set your expectations low enough, you just might be satisfied. Sony SRS-A27 speakers aren't worth $14.99 let alone $19.99. With only 1w per Speaker, don't expect to much. I recommend you shop around unless you want to waste $19.99. Overall I give them 1 Star each for participation.

For under $20 these speakers do their job. They get loud, and that's probably their best quality. They are pretty clear, but there is no bass. You are definitely getting what you pay for.
The speakers are not supplied w/ an A/C adapter and I had trouble finding an after market one to power them properly.

When I was looking for a pair of powered portable speakers, I looked at this pair from Sony, as well as a couple selections at Radio Shack, all for the same price of $19.99. Compared to the Radio Shack speakers, the Sony has these pros and cons:

Pros:
- lightweight
- better build quality (all are made in China)
- accommodates easier-to-find AA batteries vs. size C for RS
- slightly better sound with more clarity

Cons:
- no bass or treble controls as on the RS speakers
- not as loud as the RS speakers, but the latter gets distorted so bad so the maximum volume is meaningless

In the end I chose the Sony speakers for better sound and build quality as well as a longer warranty. I use them with my RCA Lyra MP3 Jukebox and also my Panasonic SL-SV550 CD/MP3/Radio player. Pretty happy so far.