I have a MSEE (Master's in Electrical Eng) - this sound system is flawed from the ground up - there is a substantial 60 Hz hum that will not go away no matter what volume level or wiring configuration you use. The company has the nerve to print in its op manual that such hum is "normal" - and therefore will not do anything to remedy it - I returned mine to Amazon within a week - I hope they have the decency not to charge me for shipping back such a defective unit. I just received a Creative Inspire 3000, which is head and shoulders better than anything I've heard from Altec Lansing. and it's $25 cheaper.

I concur with J. Osborn (Sacramento, Ca), but I am still happy with the purchase as it was for my girlfriend and she LOVES them! I agree that the highs seem to be getting lost and I often turn the bass down, however I also realize that the bass is about 8 inches away from my head. We are evaluating how and where to place these speakers for better performance, and I think that will help. I also noticed the buzz that J. Osborn spoke of.

So I deducted 2 stars for those critisism's and then I gave 1 star back for styling and price. They are attractive speakers, if that is important to you. Amazon had these for $66 at the time, plus with the $30 credit for signing up and using the Amazon credit card, and the Amazon Associate kickback and the SuperSave Shipping, they came in under $35.

So I would say even in the $70 range, these are pretty nice speakers if you can deal with the slight buzz. Certainly you can spend more, but when can't you? We tested them first at local store and comparred with Logitech speakers in the same range and these sounded better to us there. I have a $300 surround sound from Logitech that I think is the best purchaes I have ever made, but for this price range, these are nice speakers and outside of the buzz issue (if you have it) I think you will be happy with them. As with any audio purchase, the best thing to do is listen to them before you buy them.

I just received this set today and I must say they are well worth the money. The sound is unbelivably clear and the bass is just awesome. Great for gaming and listening to music. Not to mention I got it at a very great price using a coupon from cybuys.com. I did a lot of research to find some good quality speakers at a decent price and these turned out to be the best in this price range.

As a replacement for an old set of CS 4-Point Surrounds, these are remarkable. The soundstage is palpable, highs shimmer (with proper treble adjustment of around 70%), lows are well-defined and punchy (with bass turned down to around 25%, this thing can go a little crazy), and the convenience of having volume, bass, treble, power, AND a headphone jack on the right speaker is HUGE.

I was aware of a potential dip in low to mid-midrange frequencies due the downward firing driver; it's there, but very VERY slight. I do have a highly reflective soft pine desk, though. Volume, while not room-demolishing, is great, and distortion isn't a factor until well beyond comfortable listening volume.

Appearance is great, and the speakers themselves feel solid. This is one of the better ways I've seen the slim profile handled; like it or not, speakers size is directly proportional to their ability to move air and generate midbass frequencies. By including a 3" midrange, Altec has made a speaker than balances form and function perfectly. I can't recommend these enough, espescially at the price!

I was looking to upgrade my computer speakers from the 3 pc Yamahas I had. The Yamahas were good, much better than the 2 pc HK's that came with my Dell. But I wanted SIGNIFICANTLY more bass response. I narrowed my search to the Cyber Acoustic A3640, the Logitech Z2300 and these Altec's. My initial concern was the Altec VS4121 is only rated at 31 watts with a 19 watt sub. The others in my selection were significantly more powerful. The Logitech is powerful and has a great balanced sound, but to my ears it didn't sound as good or as "bassy" as the Altec. The Cyber Acoustic sounded good. Good bass, but I need something that will fit under my computer desk. I already have a Home Theartre system with a 150 watt sub. The Altec sub is compact enough to fit either under the desk(without constantly kicking it) or on the desk. The sound is great. The bass is unbelievably good, deep and loud. I don't know how this can be with only 31 watts, but it is totally excellent. At only 1/3 volume the desk is rumbling and the bass is pounding!! Highly recommended.