Bose Companion 2 Series III Multimedia Speaker System

Got these over a Creative T20.I had a pair of Creative T20 speakers which I bought about 4 years ago for around £50. They had developed a nasty hiss sound (which is not uncommon on that version). I decided I needed some new speakers and my natural instinct was to get another pair of Creative T20 which have been updated to 'Series 2' since I bought my original pair. They retail for about £50-£60. I was put off by the fact that they have an energy saving feature which turns the speakers off after inactivity and there is a delay before it comes back on - they also have an LED light on the front when the unit is powered on (which I had disabled on my original T20s by opening the unit up and disconnecting something).I decided to go for the BOSE Companion speakers instead - the main differences is that these are smaller, they stay on all the time, no hiss, there is no light, there is one knob for volume which is also the power button and there is also headphone jack at the front.The downside is the £90 price which is very steep and the wires that conenct the speakers are shorter than I expected. You probably won't be able to have the PC tower or speakers very far apart from eachother.The sound that came out of these speakers initally felt very different to my T20s. Bear in mind I had the T20s for years and listened to hundreds of hours of music. The BOSE do not have controls for bass/treble - but this makes no difference as the pre-set is fine. I would say initally that these speakers felt more '3D' in that they had more depth whereas the music from the T20s whilst very clear was probably a bit 'flater'.You do get bass from the BOSE and when the volume is a bit louder it excels and definitley beats the T20s. It particular excels in live music because you can kind of feel the depth of the music.The only time where the BOSE maybe isn't quite as good is when the music is very very quite and it isn't quite as clear.OVERALL:The sound quality is very good in my opinion and these speakers fulfil all my needs - granted they are overpriced - £50-60 would have been more reasonable but worth paying the extra in my case as I use my speakers a lot and any hiss or power saving feature/LED light would have annoyed me. That said if you are happy with the looks and features of the T20 then you might not want to pay almost double for these.

These are excellent speakers that do the job they are built for perfectly.That said, I was initially slightly underwhelmed by them. I've switched between a pair of ancient JBL duet's and a Logictech Z323 for the last decade or so (preferring the clarity of the JBL's but the bass of the Z323s, not being able to mix and match them due to incompatible connections). As I'm fed up of doing this, I finally decided to invest in something more expensive and with the Bose name attached felt sure I'd be happy with my purchase.They are far better than both my previous sets. If they lack a little of the bass of the Z323's, it is barely noticeable and the level of clarity is as good if not better than the JBL's. The sound is really good! Every instrument is crystal clear and the level of bass is satisfyingly deep.I think I was initially a little disapointed as they're not quite decent bookshelf standard and as there is no way you can extend the speaker cable (the left speaker plugs into the right with a none-standard connector). When researching, I was torn between these and the Edifier R1280T's and think probably the latter would give a more hi fi sound, especially as you can put them at either end of the room with standard speaker cable.With time, though, and upon reflecting more on what I actually want to hear at my desk, I think these are just about perfect for the task and am now very happy with them. Perhaps it is as I'm so used to having the sound of music close to me (rather than at either side of the room), when I'm at my PC, that I don't think I'd really connect to it in the same way? I love the powerful, room-filling, wide open sound of my main hi fi, but think I do actually prefer a closeness to my music when I'm working or playing PC games.They would also work very well with a TV, so long as you only expect a really good sounding TV and not full cinema surround sound. As for gaming, I mainly play strategy and simulation games with music playing in the background anyway. I did test them out with Doom, though, and they totally rocked!!One problem I had was that they initially didn't work. I eventually realized it was as I needed to set them as the speakers, which I'd never had to do previously, in my Realtek HD Audio Manager settings (that had managed to automatically open, when I attached the speakers, but had become hidden behind my music playing software whilst I was beneath my desk faffing around with the cables. Grrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!!!

These are very nice speakers. I spent a long time looking at alternatives after reading some of the negative reviews but I am pleased I stuck with Bose.Pros:They are small (well a lot smaller than I expected)The sound is full and clearThey reach the full width of my desk (others have said that the lead connecting them is too short - my desk is 1600mm)The sound is great when watching moviesYou can't tell they are powered up when there is no sound being fed to them.Cons:The lead that connects to the PC output is poor. It is too short and crackles when you move it (I have another on the way)These are not as loud as I expected them to be, although the quality is great and they don't distort.As other reviews, the plug does come apart easily but only it you give it a prod. I have already said that they are not very loud but they are much louder than their size.Why not 5 stars? I must admit I was expecting more from Bose and the PC lead is cheap. That said, they are still very good, quality sounding speakers.The first set I ordered didn't arrive but the courier said they had delivered them. I got on to Amazon straight away and their customer service was first class. They sent out another set straight away which arrived two days after the original order was due. I just hope they chase the courier to retrieve the original order!In summary these are a quality product for the price and the service from Amazon is top class as always.