The Bottom Line: Best 4.1 speakers money can buy. Comparing them to the Logitech Z-560s, you are trying to compare a bitter apple to a sweet, juicy mango. It's just THAT much better.

I needed to replace my old, outdated, horrible-sounding Altec Lansing ACS54 4.1 speaker system.

I was locked in a battle between the Logitech Z-560s and these 641s. Reading many reviews and opinions, I heard about the lack of quality control in the making of the Z-560s (apparently 1 in 5 systems needed to be RMAed due to the subwoofer blowing up). As well, the bass on the Z-560s was much too strong and muddled and the satellites' midrange was far too outspoken compared to the treble frequencies; a big no-no in speaker systems.

So I decided to buy the 641s, hearing good things about all components, and having owned numerous Altec Lansing speaker systems in previous computers, I knew their quality was excellent. What I didn't know was HOW excellent this particular product was.

When I took the box home, I was just worried that I'd fall taking this monster up the stairs. When I got them into my room, the box took up half the living space. I opened them suckers up, took out the four satellites and gasped. They were BEAUTIFUL! The plush, professional finish was breathtaking and my first impression was that they would fit perfectly into my room setting. I then took one look at the length of the rear speakers' wires and asked my dad if he had any spare speaker wire; they were just TOO SHORT. Six metres seems plenty if you are going straight from speaker to woofer, but knowing that I would need to reroute the wire around my entire room perimeter, I was disappointed that the wire was not replaceable. This was, however, fixable.

After unpacking the satellites and recovering from the beauty that my eyes beheld, I again looked down and almost fainted. The subwoofer, the beast, the monster, and the entire weight and size of that huge box, swept across my eyes like a hornet, and I was spellbound. I knew from that moment that this was the most incredible piece of hardware I would ever have the pleasure to use.

Unpacking the subwoofer and putting under the same desk as my fulltower case, I discovered that it was maybe 5cm shorter and the same girth as my monster case. This posed a minor problem as the underneath of my desk is only so wide. But pushing both units to both sides, I was able to fit my scrawny body between the beautiful protection of both machines and bask in their glory.

I hooked everything up; the speaker wire was indeed thin and non-replaceable, but was extendable, and that is exactly what I did with the rear speakers. My father had some 16-gauge monster cable for his old speaker system that is no longer in working order (blame the move from 220v to 110: South Africa to Canada).

After everything was plugged in and attached to my mediocre-sounding Soundblaster Live! 5.1 Value, I turned on the power located on the wired remote, which I must say, is the a very useful piece of equipment, and played an mp3. My world has been changed forever since that moment.

The sheer improvement over my old speakers coming out of the same sound card was, in a word, breathtaking. The bass came out clear and proud from the monster woofer, and the satellites had no trouble waking up the entire neighbourhood.

I turned on my usual sound benchmark to make comparisons between different settings: Incubus' "Warning", a hauntingly well recorded and irresistable song to listen to, especially with speakers such as these. I was blown away. Words cannot describe the clarity that these speakers reproduce sound. I did notice, however, that the satellites produce a quite-audible hissing sound when there is no music playing. At higher volumes, the hissing did not increase, however. Increasing and decreasing the "Treble", though, made the hissing more and less audible, respectively.

I made a few phone calls and discovered that this anomoly was caused by the signal to noise ratio of my Soundblaster Live! and not by the speakers themselves. My next purchase, then, is a new soundcard, one called the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, which houses a much clearer and more satisfying sound and less hiss.

After a few months, these speakers have yet to disappoint, and coming back to the bass and treble adjustments on the remote, as well as having a headphone jack, everything I need is right at my fingertips.

Games and DVDs on these speakers are a pleasure. My advice is playing Jedi Knight II with EAX turned on and listening to the positional audio. Un-freakin-believable.

After that, watch the movie "The Fifth Element" and tell me these speakers are not your new God.

My only complaint is the lack of better quality speaker wire, but that is a worthless nagging sound in the back of my mind because I cannot imagine these speakers sounding any better. As a matter of comparison, my father recently bought a $3000 Nakamichi 2.1 speaker system and when he heard my $150 641s, he asked where I got the money for such a brilliant system. He, nor I, could tell the difference between sound quality. These speakers are just THAT good.

I'm sure there are better speakers out there for the audiophile that wants the absolute best, such as the Klipsch 4.1 or 5.1 systems, but for those who don't want to spend that kind of money, this is the best speaker set for the money.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Check out my other reviews by clicking on my name at the top of this review. I am just as passionate about my other products as I am about this one.