Well Priced, Crisp Sound. Audio Nutcase Approved.

First things first, I need to let you know where I'm coming from on my review. I did not purchase these speakers as an *upgrade* to my sound system. More accurately, I purchased the VS-4121 as a *replacement* for a very high quality 5.1 surround system that had finally reached its end of life. I am an absolute nutcase when it comes to sound quality and have a very good ear. Unfortunately when it came time to purchase a new set of speakers, the money just wasn’t there for the top-of-the-line system that I would normally gravitate to.

While shopping for new speakers I did some research on brand comparisons online but for speaker shopping the only true way to know what you’re getting is to listen intently to the demonstration models in-store. For that I went down to my local Future Shop.

My Needs & Usage:
I use my computer speakers more often than most people do. I work from home and about 90% of my work-time is spent listening to music of varying volumes. I crank up the volume on songs that are meant to be listened to loudly. I also listen to the softer side of things with classical music. I also do the background music from time to time and need things quieter.

My taste in music strongly varies. I listen to some heavier bands, some country crossovers, opera, new age, jazz, classical, and even some rap.

I am no longer an online gamer so 5.1 surround sound was not something I required with this speaker purchase.

Since sound quality can be greatly affected by room size: The room these speakers reside in is not large by any stretch. It is 11' x 11' and carpeted. This makes it difficult to listen to a system in a great big store then try to imagine how it’ll do in your den or office.

Out of the Box:
The packaging this system comes in is fairly eco-friendly. Nearly everything in the box was recyclable material. If memory serves me right there was a thin non-recyclable foam bag that wrapped around the subwoofer. Other than that it was all twist-ties and plastic bags and the spacers that were used to hold everything in place were a cardboard material.

Setup is very simple on these speakers. You plug one wire in to the back of your PC and that goes in to the sub woofer. From there, a wire comes out and goes to each of the satellite speakers The wiring is good and sturdy and I doubt my cat will do any damage to these ones (part of what led to the demise of my previous speakers). The other nice thing I noted about the wiring is that you can't really set these up incorrectly. Each plug is drastically different from the other so if you're not very technically inclined it makes for a very to-the-point setup. Other than that the only wire coming out of the subwoofer is the power cord.

Something worth mentioning here is that typically speaker sets have large power converters connected to their cords. My last set of speakers had a particularily bulky AC adapter that I had to hide. These speakers must have that part of it built-in to the subwoofer. It would explain why the subwoofer is the weight that it is. What this makes for is again, a nice clean installation – without anything ‘extra’ to store and hide.

Physically Speaking:
The subwoofer is tall and fairly skinny rather than fat and bulky. It takes up a fairly small amount of floor space underneath my desk. For those who are curious, it measures approx 9.5" deep, 8.25" wide, and stands 13.5” tall.

The satellite speakers are small and to the point. They are sleek but oddly shaped. I find them slightly easier to have on my desk than my old ones, and they stand very sturdy. They stand about 9.5" tall but the footprint is actually fairly sizable. The right speaker with a much larger cord (because of the control panel) has a footprint of 4" wide, and approx 6" deep. The left one is about 4" x 5" due to the cord being slightly more manageable.

The satellite speakers have 2 (1") speakers in the "tower" portion and one (3") speaker that points towards your desk surface and acts as a stand.

The right satellite speaker has the control panel on it which has controls for Volume, Treble and Bass. It also has a power button.

One minor 'annoyance' is that the feet on these speakers is a foam based material instead of a rubber based material. The difference is only that of grip. If you push the power button, the satellite speaker moves back a few inches before the button gives in. It isn’t a big deal, and if I wanted to I could replace the foam feet with rubber. It has not annoyed my that much as of yet.

The volume, treble, and bass controls are very simply to use and turn nice and smoothly. They "feel" like a higher end speaker when turning the knobs. Not sure how to explain it beyond that except that I have seen lower quality speakers that have rougher dials and knobs and a physical feel to them.

Audio Output:
My first impression of these speakers was "WOW". There is a definitive wow-factor when first listening to some boomy music. The subwoofer has a nice crisp woof to it and the satellites produce a nice clean and crisp sound that fills the room nicely.

Once you listen for a while, however, the wow-factor wears off and is replaced by a bit of a problem for these speakers. The 'tunnel' effect on certain types of music is evident here. It seems to happen most when the subwoofer overpowers the satellites making it sound at times like listening in a fish tank, and at times like the speakers are at the end of a tunnel.

My first reaction was to turn down the bass. That doesn’t work. My second attempt to address this issue was to use my computer’s soundcard to apply a sound scheme and essentially put to use an equalizer I've never needed to use. This is a great solution, but unfortunately must be repeated with virtually ever new type of music you turn on! It’s not worth the time or the effort in my opinion.

I finally settled on what I thought to be good equalizer settings for ‘every’ type of music but still had that fish tank effect happening from time to time. I was starting to think about returning these speakers for a different set… After 2 weeks, however, I found a solution!

Turning up the treble to near maximum and leaving the bass setting to about the middle makes these speakers shine. I’m not sure why but the dynamic just changes as soon as that happens. Suddenly all music plays very well on the speakers and the balance between treble and bass finds a perfect resting point. I think it gives just the little bit of extra ‘oomph’ that the satellite speakers need to match the very powerful subwoofer that comes in this set.

I do still play with it from time to time for particular songs or styles of music but it isn’t nearly as troublesome as the first 2 weeks of listening. I also wanted to make sure that my ears just didn’t 'adjust' to the sound of these speakers so I hooked up my old speakers for a short while just to compare and as I suspected I didn’t notice much of a difference from my old high-end speakers to these new lower-end speakers.

The subwoofer has yet to "crack" in terms of low bass songs. Things in the room rattle before things get too loud for the subwoofer.

Value for Money:
I would say these speakers boast an excellent value for the money paid. I bought this set for $99 CAD + tax. They slightly outperform my old high-end speakers with crystal clear lows and well spoken highs. They also look exceptionally nice and have easy to use controls.