It’s amazing what you can do for $50 nowadays. I remember a 5.1 speaker setup used to cost hundreds of dollars not too long ago. I bought these speakers about 5 months ago I’d say, and I’ve been amazed ever since. Sure, I could do better, but for $50, you can’t go wrong. Logitech makes pretty impressive speakers for the money, and I encourage you to pick up a set of these. Each speaker is hardwired with an RCA connector at the end. You connect all of the speakers into the subwoofer. The right speaker has a serial-port connector that screws into the subwoofer, and contains the volume control. The subwoofer itself has a dial for the bass, and I have to set it down most of the time to keep the neighbors nice. Also, I should state that these are computer speakers. If your soundcard doesn’t support 5.1, you can easily buy one for as low as $7, although you may want to splurge for an $7.50 or $10 card instead. And of course, like most things, the more you spend the better performance you’ll get. Heck, a pretty decent 7.1 card only costs $22 currently. 5.1 is (sigh) being phased out, which is part of the reason why this is so cheap, but hey – most DVDs are only encoded up to 5.1.

The satellite speakers aren’t all that heavy, so don’t expect them to jump through hoops. If you’re really ambitious, you can easily throw in female RCA jacks if you want to use your own wires (ah, that would require real work though). Bottom line – if you’re currently stuck with a 2.0 or a 2.1 setup, do yourself a favor, skip the strip club for a night, and throw some money into some real entertainment. Sure, it’s not THX certified, but who needs to go deaf anyway? With my current (and recent) setup, I don’t hear any noise, and sound is as crisp as I’d ever want it. DVDs sound awesome, 3D gaming has never been better, and my MP3s now surround me. Of all of the stupid stuff I’ve bought in the past, I am definitely glad I jumped on this one. This is money well spent, and I don’t regret a penny. Go on to Newegg.com and get you some fun!

Edit (Jan 12, 2007): Currently the price is now at $60. Is it still worth it? My answer is yes. In fact, I think I actually did pay $60 for these, but the price was at $50 when I wrote this article. I was recently at an upscale mall (Sommerset) and I noticed the Sony store used these speakers to demo one of their water-cooled blu-ray computers along with a widescreen 30-some inch high-resolution monitor. I’m probably looking into this too much, but I wondered why they didn’t use Sony brand computer speakers instead. Would I pay $70 for these speakers? Probably not, but I think you would still be hard pressed to find a better deal even at $70.

Edit #2 (January 21, 2009): These things crapped out on me about a year ago. Basically I was hooking up my computer at my new apartment and accidentally plugged in my 19″ LCD monitor into the subwoofer (subwoofer uses a VGA connector). Stupid mistake, didn’t think it would actually kill my subwoofer. Awesome how the fuse is soldered to the component board on the inside. I found the same fuse online (with pigtails), and now the speakers work, but only 3 of them. Well, I’ll keep the speakers around I guess, but the subwoofer with built-in amp are just about junk now. They were really freakin awesome when they lasted, but unfortunately they’re not really built to last.

Ah, and some specs for those of you who care (from Newegg):

Looking for a cheap LCD? Well, if you’re reading this in time, you can get a ViewSonic 17″ for $99 after a $40 mail-in rebate. If you do your math right, you’re paying $140 up front (excluding shipping of course). The downside? Well, the deal ends this Tuesday (Oct 17, 2006). Also, it doesn’t say what kinds of connections you’re getting, so it’s probably analog. It’s got a 25ms video response, which is kind of high compared to most newer LCDs. Either way, you’re getting a freakin LCD for $100, and it’s a ViewSonic. For those of you who aren’t in the compu-know, ViewSonic makes some of the best monitors you can buy, and they’ve been in business for a long time. This may be an older generation LCD, but that doesn’t mean they skimped out on quality.

The offer I bit though is basically the same deal as above except it’s $20 more, with an 8ms video response and analog and digital inputs. Also, you’re getting a $50 rebate back, so it’s really only $10 more ($110 AR). For ten extra dollars, it’s definately worth it, even if you are just going to sell it again. Get it here.

While we’re at it, there is also a Samsung for $180 after rebate (8ms) that ends on the 19th (Thursday) and an HP for $190 AR that ends January 14th, which is also 8ms. So, there’s the lowdown on some good deals for now.

EDIT: My monitor came in, and I’ve been using it for a few days now. It’s got crappy speakers (they all do), but at least it gives me a way to listen to my other computer because they’re slightly amplified and my KVM switch doesn’t support sound. The digital input is about as bad as my other monitor, but with these monitors, analog usually works pretty well. There is 1 dead pixel that I can notice at the moment, but it’s off to the side and took me a day to actually notice it. I have a lot of excuses, but you can’t ask for much more for a $110 monitor. One thing that impressed me the minute I took it out of the box is how easy it is to get to the inputs on the back, with a removable panel. Can’t say much else about it other than it works, it’s not too dim, and it a freakin $110 LCD that I’m thinking about keeping rather than selling. Well, at least until I get an offer I guess. I decided to break it in a bit so I could tell someone exactly what I’m selling. Also, I’ll have to take the UPC off the box, they weren’t going to get that anyway.