Images
The past year has seen a deluge of budget style speaker systems, which in some ways is a bit of a shame. Good-quality home-cinema tech is now more affordable than ever, meaning that alongside a set of speakers such as these you can have a home-cinema system for relative peanuts.
So, to this Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1 package. The price box is ticked – you'll find it even cheaper online – and in terms of practicality these speakers are a definite score, too.
Stand and deliver
Not only are they tiny units that, despite their multi-sided design, sit happily on stands, they also come complete with articulating brackets for simple wall-mounting.
Available in white or black, along with a bog-standard subwoofer, they certainly look pretty smart and feel fairly solidly built. The speakers use smaller spring-clip terminals, which work well and grip the cable solidly – handy if you're planning to stick them halfway up the wall.
The sound is impressive, cohesive and enveloping – for such miniature speakers they do a brilliant job of filling a good-sized room as sound swings fluidly around between them.
Review continues after the break...
Balanced audio
Small in stature but not in sound, the satellites deliver big but balanced audio, with a treble that's clear but never bright. The sub beds in well too, delivering the necessary bottom-end power and weight without sticking its head too far above the parapet.
There's subtlety, too, with tense atmospherics conveyed confidently alongside decent dynamics.
It's been a long time coming, but finally we have a new budget style system worth shouting about. It might be XS in size, but it's an XL for performance.
Comments