MediaTheater Manufactuerd by Boston Acoustics Retail Price $299 Frequency Response: 45Hz - 20kHz Satellite Power: 15W+15W Subwoofer Power: 40W

Boston Acoustics is also a well-known speaker manufacturer, having delivered quite a few impressive models in the past. For our roundup, we chose their current high-end speaker system, the $299 MediaTheater. This system consists of a standard size subwoofer, weighing around 3kg, powered by a 6 ½-inch cone woofer (40 RMS) and can be kept anywhere you feel like because all the controls are on a satellite. So by placing the two goggle-eyed satellites (powered by 3 ½ -inch 20 RMS drivers) on your desktop, you have easy access to all the controls. Of course, this doesn’t come with any software utilities for control, because it is, like most of the models on this roundup, not a USB system. But that doesn’t mean the system is difficult to install- on the contrary, installation is very easy. All necessary installation details are in the manual and all cables are provided. Unlike most models, this product is only available in gray. 

The knob controls on the satellite are for volume, surround volume, and subwoofer volume, alongside (get this) a headphone jack. The MediaTheater performs very well in gaming, not quite so well in other areas. Movie dialogue is OK, but not crystal clear. Music sounds a little muted and muffled rather than crisp and vivid. The vocals fail to stand out compared to some of the other systems in this roundup. Some may prefer the softer sound, but most of us agreed that music lacked tonal quality. Games, on the other hand, sound better. Bass is strong, so explosions and gunfire pack quite a punch, but not as much as the Bose system. When playing NFS III in particular, EAX sounded quite nice, with deep reverberation throughout the room.

If you’re set on experiencing surround sound, there is a $99 surround sound speaker available to be added to the MediaTheater system. 
 

This will make it a complete surround sound system. We tried this out and indeed, it did make a considerable difference- but remember, doing this brings the entire cost up to four hundred dollars.  In any case, this is an add-on and we didn’t consider it together with the MediaTheater  system when evaluating it for this roundup.  In the end, there were mixed opinions among us concerning the MediaTheater system. It’s a very good system for gaming, but cannot be recommended for anyone who wants to listen to music or watch movies because it lacks strong mid-range frequencies.