Well, after reading so many conflicting reviews from computer magazines, user testimonials to user forums, I decided to get the Bose Companion 2 speakers. Yep, they cost $99 at every store I checked. I hooked them up in less than three minutes and had them playing sweetly after checking the enhancement options in Media Player 11.
I have them inside a computer cabinet just slightly behind my monitor, so the sound is nice and tight. The bass is full but not overbearing, mid tones and high tones are clear. Oddly enough, I found the Reggae to be what I liked best for overall graphic equalizer setting.
I turned the speaker volume knob way down to the 9 o'clock position and did all my volume control from the computer settings right on my keyboard to get the right sound levels.
Now, let me tell you what sold me on the Bose. I went to Circuit City, Compusa, and Best Buy to listen to speakers side by side. Some were hooked up and some were not. However, the Bose speaker demo kiosk operated in every store! Good for you Mr. Bose rep for seeing to it that the retail samples worked.
I was able to get someone at Circuit City to hook up the ones that had been disconnected. I did the same at Best buy. The Creative GigaWorks T20 cracked and popped when adjusting the sound level. The sales person at the store said it was from children playing with them over the holidays. Good for me. I could tell by the way the speakers sounded that they wouldn't last. The sale person said they had been in place since September. Three months of constant playing in a retail setting is a pretty good test bed for a product.
The Logitech 2.1 sounded good, but I could see by the size of the subwoofer that it would be a really tight fit in my computer cabinet plus the overbearing bass probably could not be toned down.
Hope this info helps the rest of you to decide how to spend your money.
Daniel
