This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
I decided many years ago to never allow anything other than my own ears to decide whether speakers are good or not... and my ears have generally served me very well; I broke that rule, however, in buying these speakers, as I had to make a quick decision, and there were none available in the store to listen to. I was taken in by the "rave" reviews.
If you want to produce the sort of bone-jarring low frequencies you experience in a movie theater--the kind of vibrations you feel in your chest more than your ears--you'll likely be very happy. If you want to reproduce the sort of pure, authentic sound you'd experience at the Morton Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas), you may have a harder time.
Initially, I was disappointed, but after much time spent "tweeking" the Equalizer settings on my music player, I finally came up with a sound I feel happy with.... There's not that much to it. Basically, I have flat setting, above 220 Hz, but have the low frequencies substantially dampened. If you try to accomplish this just with the "Subwoofer" control on the speakers, you lose these frequencies completely. I want those frequencies, but not the "thumpiness".
Aside from the exaggerated bass, they produce a clean sound. I'll keep playing with the Equalizer, as I think there's still room for improvement. .
What's great about it: Clean sound.
What's not so great: Thumpy bass; hard to balance.