Speakers Reviews

I bought these speakers thinking "hmm... with USB i wont need a soundcard" .. well things dont always work out like they are supposed to. Yea, you dont need a soundcard to use these speakers. What you do need is a 800000 mhz computer with a few gigs of RAM. Seriously, these things ate up so many of my computers resources that I was unable to multitask anything. I couldnt even surf the net when i was listening to music, and if i even had the things plugged in i could forget about burning a CD. I wasted 5 blank cds before i realized what my problem was. I am running a P3 800 mhz with 128 megs of ram.. i should think i have enough power to listen to music AND check my email, but with these speakers its not possible. I finally took them back and bought a Turtle beach Montigo 2 Quadzilla soundcard and Some AWESOME monsoon flat panel speakers.. save yourself some greif and stay away from the yamaha USB speakers.

These are seriously some of the best speakers I have ever owned. I bought them because they are USB, and a soundcard is not needed. Considering I have a laptop with a not-so-good sound card (as most laptops have), I did my research and jumped on these.

It's a three piece system with 80W of power (20W for each satellite and 40W for the sub). The satellites produce the cleanes purest signal ever, and the sub a powerfull, yet not overwhelming, punch. And they're loud! I listen to them with the volume at about 1/5 the maximum.

And no you don't need and 800000MHz computer. I have a mobil P3850 with 384MB ram, and the USB seems transparent. There's no skipping and no slowing down of my system. The USB interface is like an external sound card, and the quality is superb. Before I bought my laptop, I had a PC with a SB Live! hooked up to a Yamaha Natural Sound system, and I must say the sound quality of the Yamaha YSTMS55D is about equal. I think these speakers are only *officially* for use with Win98, but the drivers that come with Win2k work great.

The only downfalls are the midi synth which isn't great (but who cares about midi?), and the fact that it doesn't have any 3D gaming support (such as A3D or EAX). But I highly recommend the system for listen to music and activities of that sort. Perfect for a laptop.

This system is like a Radio Shack type in that it is average quality and the tuner system isn't very advanced. It often hisses and conflicts with the 900MHz phones that you may have in the house. It is ok for a small room and doesn't look that bad. It does come with a charger so that's nice.

The sound quality is good and looks good on the computer table. But it has no bass control and so many a times the bass is much higher than what you require and drowns the actual music.

The sound on this system isn't very good. But if you were like me and looking for something that doesn't take up the entire desk and don't need to crank the volume then these speakers are decent. But the sound value goes down the farther you turn up the volume. If you are looking for speakers to turn up and let the whole building listen, then this is not the right system for you. If you like just a mild to low sound then they are good mainly because they are cheap.

The little cubes are amazing, especially since they spread the sound to so many areas of a room (each speaker twists into two directions- for a total of 10). This is nice for me because I don't want it too loud (my walls are paper thin), but music just isn't the same on a Sat. afternoon when I want to rock out. My advice is to save your pennies and get something that carries more mid-range and bass in the satellite speakers. If it's movies that you want to enjoy, your in the right place. Lastly, the wires that Bose supplies are long and can accommodate a decent size room, but they're kinda flimsy.

Cambridge SoundWorks makes these relatively inexpensive speaker stands for their ensemble IV satellite speakers. They are adequate for the job, but less than desirable. The 31" fixed height is shorter than the ideal height of speaker stands. Since most surround sounds pros advise speaker height to be at the level of one's ears when sitting, these stands fall a bit short of that. The stands are very simple in design: wooden base, metal pole which can conceal the speaker wire, a few screws that tighten w/ an allen wrench. I bought the Ensemble IV system b/c it was so inexpensive and I just started out in the surround sound experience, and I'm quite happy w/ it. However, I do wish these speaker stands were eaither fixed at a taller height, or even better, were adjustable.

the USB cable provides the power only. the sound still comes through a separate "headphone jack" cable. i was trying to get around a defective sound card with these. so i have to return them.

These speaker stands are fine. The problem is the description on the site. The description says that these stands are perfect for home theater speakers. I have home theater speakers and these stands are not perfect for them at all. These speakers are for large-ish speakers - i.e. at least 5 inches wide. Wish it had said that somewhere. Now I've got my speakers sticking to the stands with velcro and hoping for the best.

This model is RC1 - it doesn't say that in the description. The paperwork I got with the speakers says to get model RB1 instead for small home theatre speakers. Wish the description had had that too.

For a person that listens to rock, heavy metal or rap, these speakers are great. If you like your music loud and clear, these speakers are tough to beat at the price listed here.

Firstly, these speakers are huge. With their 15" woofers and dual midranges, these speakers resemble a pair of coffins! Of course, size here equals high output and dynamic bass. These speakers produce a sound pressure level of over 100 dB per watt of input. In plain english, they will play very loudly w/very little power. And because they will handle a lot of power (over 200 watts per channel), they can play w/o strain at any volume you could bear to hear.

And you'd expect any speaker this large to really belt out the bass. Again, you wouldn't be wrong. No, they can't reproduce the really, really low bass, say the 20 hz region of the deeper pedals of a pipe organ. But they'll really rattle your inerds with drums and bass guitars.

The multiple drivers and dome tweeters give the 255's a real sense of ease, even with densely mixed rock played at maximum volume. They have a really lively sense of rhythm for a speaker this inexpensive.

This would likely be the best pair of speakers many music fans have ever heard. You may be very surprised by the details you've never heard before, even on CDs you've had for years.

The downside? Well, these speakers aren't really all that great for classical and other acoustic music. And while they're very dynamic, they will sound a bit muted or muffled next to a good audiophile two-way monitor. If you're old enough that you think that Limp Bizkit means you didn't wrap the bread tightly enough, look elsewhere. In other words, great rockers, but not audiophile-approved.

Hope this helps.

good alaround speakers. first ones ive had with dads old receiver its a denon form the 1990's dont know exactly how old it is ive got a sony 5 disc cd changer and a rio 600 mp3 player going through it sounds good with speakers. good bass for size. gets distorted at high volumes. recomend a sub.