Bose Companion 2 Series III Multimedia Speaker System

I use these with my laptop headphone jack. No adjustment, but they are practical and have a true Bose sound, which I like. Well happy with these speakers.

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!!!!

This is the first time I have trusted my cash to Bose. I've seen the marketing for years and always assumed that they would be overpriced tat. Having been impressed by the power (if not the transparency) of the Creative Gigaworks T20 speakers I was all set to upgrade to the T40s when I started reading the reviews for these Boses. I liked the idea of having the power and the price bracket of the T40s with a more neutral, transparent sound so I took the plunge.I work a lot with sound in my regular job and occasionally freelance as a sound recordist/dubbing mixer using a variety of professional studio monitors costing many hundreds of pounds so I know that "neutral" is slightly subjective, but I have always maintained that with the correct filtering and engineering it is possible to get a flat - if limited - frequency response from cheaper domestic speakers. Bose seem to be striving for the apotheosis of this ideal.The units that I received are slightly smaller than even the Gigaworks T20s and considerably less impressive to look at. Everything has been pared down to an absolute minimum so they aren't flashy at all, which is an approach that appeals to me. The clip-on 3-pin power adapter seems worryingly flimsy and the provided audio cable cheap but adequate. I get the impression of cheapest possible materials being utilised intelligently for a superior sound.Played at quiet levels - I prefer to listen to things at a modest volume to keep my ears attuned and unfatigued - the bass does gently swathe and slightly dominate the higher frequencies but the mid and treble details still come through clearly like lights through a faint mist. I think this is a result of using the internal acoustics of the speakers to accentuate the weaker bass response of the budget speaker cones. It works but at the slight expense of accurate bass detail. Turned up to a level that can be heard across the room the lower mid tones start to dominate slightly. The higher frequencies are still present but not impressively detailed. These are not speakers you would buy for critical clarity but it would be optimistic to expect that level of perfection from a pair of 2.0 desktop speakers in this price range.For this sort of product they are not bad. Bose have not achieved entirely neutral sound but they have squeezed the best that they can from the cheap components that I suspect they use. I have read fairly recent articles by people who have dismantled their Bose speakers to find single-driver paper cones doing all of the work. If they could tame that slightly amateurish mid-frequency hump I would be more impressed.I am not sure that these speakers are entirely worthy of their price tag as I definitely found my old T20s to be just as enjoyable to listen to in spite of their exaggerated bass response however - and this is worth paying attention to - the full sound spectrum definitely carries more completely over distance and to other rooms with the Boses due to their comparative neutrality. The niggling minor mid-range hump may well mellow over time as the speakers are burned in and I can create my own corrective EQ filter in VLC (free media player) in the interim. If they were about £15 cheaper I'd give these 5 stars.A respectable sound from such a compact pair of 2.0 desktop speakers so a solid 4 stars.