Acoustimass-3 Manufactuerd by Bose Retail Price $399 Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20kHz Satellite Power: 20W+20W Subwoofer Power: 50W

Well, the name Bose is no stranger to the speaker industry. Their direct reflecting speakers are some of the best out there. Now, with their Media Mate and Acoustimass-3 series, their product lineup have been expanded to include speakers for PC users. So we selected the Acoustimass-3 from their lineup to be included in our roundup. One thing’s for sure- if you’re not accustomed to Bose pricing, the $399 price tag may come as a shock.

The Acoustimass speaker system is not specifically designed as a computer speaker system alone, 
but is a dual-purpose system of sorts. It may be used with your home stereo system or with your computer. That means there are no software utilities. However, the speakers do come with adequate installation instructions and all the necessary cables. All the master controls are located on the front 
of the heavy 50W (RMS) subwoofer, and you can access them quite easily if you place it on your desktop. On the other hand, if you plan to keep it somewhere less accessible, the lack of remote control may be irritating at times. The two magnetically shielded satellites (20W RMS each) are small (3x3x5 inches) and blend well on your desktop. 

Well, these are Bose speakers. When we tested them, quite a few of us were almost expecting them 
to blow the competition straight out of the water. To a certain extent, they did. The speakers are compact, but they are incredibly powerful. Stereo imaging is virtually perfect and very articulate. 

Movie dialogue was crisp and clear on the Star Trek: First Contact DVD, explosions and gunfire in Half-Life & Quake II have to be heard to be believed. The A3D 2.0 sound effects in Half-Life really came alive, making all the gamers want to immediately play the game all over again with these speakers. 

(Of course, we had to stop them- reviews gotta get written around here) But- and there is always a but- when it was time to test digital audio, we found that though the mid-range frequencies were very strong, the overall sound quality at high volumes was not exactly all we would expect from  a four hundred dollar system. In the end, the majority of us came to the conclusion that this system would have been a much better buy if it were priced at least between $300 and $350. At virtually $400 and without any software features or control utilities to make it especially attractive to computer users, we didn’t think this would have been a suitable option for most people.