Are you tired of listening to sound come out of your computer with the quality of a $25.00 portable radio? Do your computer speakers rattle when you turn them up a bit? That is what the sound system for my computer was like. "Ok, time for new speakers".

When I decided to buy new speakers, I went to every computer store in the area. After a week of shopping I came to the conclusion that if I wanted rich stereo sound, I would need to be prepared to part with the better portion of $150.00. As I walked up to a display at the local Best Buy, I heard the sound that I was looking for. After putting my ears to each speaker system to figure out which of the high dollar speakers was playing, I was stunned. It was an inexpensive speaker system.

They were the Altec Lansing model ASC54. The price?
$69.99. And for that price you receive two main speakers, two surround sound speakers, and a sub woofer.

Hooking up the speakers was made simple. All the wires are colored, and you simply plug them into the matching input of the same color. So all you have to know to hook up the speakers are your colors.

The Sound

I was very surprised by the rich sound that came out of the speakers. The main speakers put out plenty of treble and mid range sounds, while the sub-woofer supplied deep thundering base. "Ok, too much base, lets turn it down a bit."

In my initial look at the speakers I forgot to check on one main feature. There is no base and treble control. Well, now I understand how they kept the price of the speakers low.

Then I remembered, I don't need base and treble control on the speakers. The sound card on my computer has an equalizer and I can use that. After adjusting the equalizer, I found that these speakers can be adjusted to a much superior sound to what I heard in the store.

Controls

There are two controls that you can operate on the speakers. On the main right speaker is a control for volume and adjusting the level for the surround sound speakers. More controls would have been nice on the speakers, but then I guess they would not have the bargain price that I was needing.

I will admit that I am very hard on speakers. While I write on Epinions, I love to crank up the old mp3 files. And when I play a computer game like Rainbow Six, the whole family knows what I am playing. No matter what abuse I have put these speakers through, every time I boot up my computer I am greeted with clear, crisp, stereo sound.