Ever since I first saw the HK Soundsticks on the apple website, I knew I was going to buy them.
I mean, let's be honest. They're damn cute. They were pretty much made to sit on some fast-forward nouveau glass desk next to a shiny-happy iMac- who cares if they sound good? We're talking visual coordination here, people.
Of course, the $199 price tag is generally enough to scare away all but the staunchest of mac addicts- especially given that you could purchase an equal or better performing unit for about half the price with plenty of choices to spare.
But they're cute. So I bought them.
Setting it up was the easiest thing ever- you simply plug the subwoofer into its AC adapter, plug the speakers into the subwoofer, and plug the whole unit into one of your USB ports. Since this set is designed to work through USB using software already included in OS 9.0, there is nothing to install and I didn't even have to restart my computer to get them to work.
Once all is set up, this unit is quite a piece of work. The subwoofer glows blue when turned on, and the speaker mini-towers can be adjusted to most any angle. You basically do get in build and visual quality what you'd expect for the money.
Overall, it sounds as good as any computer speaker system I've ever heard. Those who've previously complained about the iSub's lack of bass response must've not put it under the desk where it belongs- mine often overshoots the bass frequencies that are asked of it (especially when I'm watching a DVD movie). The midrange response is also great- the only part of the sound spectrum that is slightly unresponsive is on the high end...but this is hardly something you'll notice when listening to mp3s or any other compressed audio files which tend to not reproduce high and midrange tones completely accurately anyway. For basically all different kinds of computer playback, the sound response and depth overall is fabulous.
One big problem, however, is the lack of an independent volume control. There is one located on the iSub (I usually keep it turned up to 10 anyway) but it doesn't do anything for the desktop speakers which are controlled entirely by the macintosh system volume control. The problem with this, of course, is that it limits how loudly the system will actually play- at full volume, it's plenty loud enough if you're sitting right in front of the computer, but even then it won't exactly blow you away. You can get around it by using the 'preamp' options contained in some mp3 players, but that usually defiles the sound quality. What bothers me most about this is that it seems to hardly be working the speaker system at all when you're at full volume- it seems like it *could* play a lot louder if you had some way to turn it up more.
The other, less-annoying problem- since this set operates through USB (and we ALL know how stable USB is...plug and play? more like plug and pray), it will occasionally crash and lose sound...especially if you have it connected via a hub that contains other peripherals. As if you don't have enough things already that can bring your system down, a speaker set that can also do it isn't exactly a happy thing.
Overall, I'm satisfied with it. It makes me feel like a bona fide mac user, it looks great on my desk, and overall it performs wonderfully. While it's not exactly a value for the money, it's certainly been a great thing to own and has made a great addition to my system.
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