Just over a year ago, I bought an XM Satellite Radio receiver to shuttle between my car and my loft. I just traded my car and cannot use the adapter in the new car (see my review of the 2003 Jaguar X-Type).

So, I decided to discontinue my XM Radio (which, by the way, I loved) and listen instead to Web radio as I work.

I love the selection of Web radio that is available (seems to offer as much variety as satellite radio). And because I tend to like jazz-particularly Latin/Brazilian jazz and house mixes (strange combination?) I felt a need to buy speakers which would substantially exceed the sound quality of the built-in speaker in my Macintosh G3.

I went to Circuit City intending to buy a lesser priced set of Altec Lansing speakers which had been well reviewed. But as the sales associate was searching for the speakers (she found them in back and brought them out), I decided on the Altec Lansing Model 2100 speakers--mostly, because they looked cool (I only saw the picture on the box).

Set-up was super easy and would have taken only about two or three minutes if I could have found the audio-out jack on my computer. My computer is backed up to a wall and has 3 hard drives, a modem and an ethernet hub sitting on top along with lots of cables. Trying to get my head between the wall and the computer and focus my eyes was the problem.

Since I've never had any other external computer speakers and because I don't play games my references to the quality of these speakers is limited to listening to Web radio (using RealOne Player and iTUNES) and a couple of audio CDs (Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall and Moulin Rouge).

There are two satellite speakers each fitted with two, one-inch "Neodymium Micro-drivers" and a subwoofer fitted with two, four-inch woofers. There is, also provided, a nifty remote control for speaker power (on/off) and speaker volume. The back of the subwoofer, additionally, has an attenuating knob specifically for the woofers.

With everything connected I powered up my computer and tuned in a jazz station (Radio Reposado out of Cuernavaca, Mexico) using the iTunes player. It sounded pretty bad--the bass was booming and there were lots of tinny-sounds at the other end of the audible spectrum. I then tried Real Radio and tuned another stream of Latin Jazz (JazzRadio.Com out of Esslingen, Germany). The story was the same. The sound was rather pathetic.

I was thinking of returning the speakers but they were so cleverly packed, I figured I'd have a tough time putting them back in the box.

So, I first turned down the base using the knob on the back of the subwoofer cabinet. …Better. Then, I decided to move the satellite speakers further away. I originally had one placed to each side at the front of my monitor. Now, I put them all the way back against the wall (behind my computer). For some reason that also tended to improve the sound quality.

Back to my iTunes player: it has a preamp and a graphic equalizer (software). It has nearly two-dozen built-in presets for varying kinds of music (classical, hip hop, jazz, vocal, etc.) as well as manual (custom) settings.

Varying the settings using the equalizer certainly changed the perceived sound quality, allowing me to bring up mid-range and generally control the various frequencies.

The Web stations to which I was listening were generally streaming at 56 kbps or less (though I did tune to some at 128 kbps). And, too, I listened to a couple of CDs.

Well, I no longer want to return these speakers. Of course sound quality is going to be rather subjective…particularly in the absence of an ability to compare directly (to other speakers).

My feeling is that instrumentals (particularly with fewer instruments) play better than vocal songs. The base and treble frequencies are "clean" and there is not much apparent distortion unless you pump up the volume considerably. I have, for instance, heard the trumpeter (Miles Davis) take a breath, which rather amazed me. And too, I've heard other surprising sounds…very subtle brushes (drummer) being used in the background. At moderate sound levels separation and imaging are quite good.

Perhaps, this will provide the best perspective on the speakers. In terms of base response…there's as much as any one likely would hope for. The sound quality is way better than most home radios that I've heard and, I'm thinking it probably compares well with some bookshelf systems. It's not as good as my $800 home stereo but then it cost ten times less.

The apparent quality of the sound can be improved by finding the best placement for the speakers and other tweaking (adjusting the base response from the subwoofer).

The system is visually appealing. And the audio control, placed next to my keyboard, is great!

As I write this review and I listen to some lovely jazz on Web radio, I'm thinking this is a pretty good system. It keeps sounding better and better! Is it that I am growing into this speaker system--or is it just growing on me?!