AC Powered 2.1 Speaker System with Massive Subwoofer and Remote Control 140W Piano Black (AR508)

You know, it's not often that I take the time to come to a site just to rate some speakers (or anything for that matter) but these pair of Eagle Arion brand speakers deserve it. I will say this is my second pair of eagle speakers because the first one blew for absolutely no reason but I will get to that later. Now for the quality of these speakers, almost near perfect especially for the price. These bad boys deliver the definition of the best "bang" for your buck. I am in awe how well these 2.1 speakers perform. Owned quite of few good computer speakers and consider myself to be an audiophile and I am telling you, I guarantee you will not be disappointed when you purchase these. If you LOVE "bass" you will fall in love with these. These things will rattle your house if your not careful. And don't get me started if you pair these up with a high end sound card, these things will blow way more bass than you would ever need. I consider myself a bass junkie so that is saying something. I currently have these paired up with a "Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro Series" sound card which gives you a whole lot of bass buttons to tweak with to deliver the best performance out of any speakers especially these. Bass is smooth, tight and has a great punch to it. Treble is average. But then again I don't expect high quality treble out of mid-ranged speakers around this price range but doesn't in any way take away the extraordinary quality of sound produced by these speakers. High quality treble will be found on the higher end speakers and suggest looking elsewhere if you plan on wanting a higher quality treble end component. Volume is nice and loud. Can't go beyond 40% or it will be too much. So considering the loudness of these speakers you wouldn't have an issue with. In fact, these speakers may be too loud and if you are not careful you might get a knock on the door (if you live close to residents such as an apartment) by the police. And any pair of speakers that can do that is good thing in my opinion.When I bought these, they were priced at $59.99 for amazon which is amazingly cheap considering the quality of these speakers. Seems amazon and other consumers took heed of the potentials of these bad boys and raised the price but even with that said it's still worthy of it's price range. Now for the replacement I talked about earlier these are my second eagle arion speakers. The first one blew out within a month of use, (1) day past the warranty. No sound would come out of the speakers and the sub-woofer seemed fried. It sure smelled fried. The smell that came from the sub smelled like the coils have buckled. Called eagle support and explained the situation to them and how unhappy I was about the issue and asked for a replacement. Customer service immediately sent in a new speaker set even though it was over the warranty, but I had to pay shipping charges to send back the broken speakers. For this, I give customer service thumbs up. So as far as reliability is concerned I am not lenient with. Had my 2nd pair of speakers well over a month now and have not experienced any problems so far yet so stayed tuned.The build quality seems nice and sturdy. Built over a wooden frame with a coated black finish to add better sound acoustics to overall bass and sound. Has a nice touch of extra features on the front of the sub-woofer that includes the tweaking of treble, bass, a master volume, a mute button and a reset button. Overall, these speakers deliver more sound then you will ever need. Unless you consider yourself a high end audiophile junkie person who wants nothing but top of the line sound quality, these will please most of the average wide audience looking for a great set of speakers to produce great sounds. Those looking for more will need to look into the high priced sets. But in all honesty I don't see why you would want more than what these speakers have to offer unless you are looking to create a theater or studio. You will have to double the price to find speakers that beat these. For a mid-ranged pair of speakers these are not bad at all and I dare say these actually qualify to compete with those speakers of the higher end. All in all, these are probably one of the best 2.1 speakers you will find on the market.Pros:- Excellent bass. Maybe too much for it's own tooty.- Nice solid frame build and the range of the remote that come with the speakers work pretty good.- CHEAP- Competes with higher end speaker systems even those of the surround sound build- Nice bonus of added extra features on the front of sub-woofer- Nice LCD display on sub-woofer- Able to satisfy even the most pickiest audiophile.Cons:- Power switch is on the back of the sub-woofer. Might be a pain if you have to put your sub underneath a desk and have crawl under it every time you want to turn it off. Should of put it on the front at least so whoever designed it that way deserves a *smack* on the face.- Crackling noises can be heard if speakers are left on for long periods of time during my experience using them. Restarting computer and turning them on and off seems to fix the issue. Can become quite irritating after awhile. Unless there is a fix for this I take a point off for this- Front speakers are pretty bulky. Will need a good amount of room to store these speakers.- Not wireless. Wires are not long enough for me to place the speakers where I want them. And where I want them is not that far... Minor issue is not major enough to be considered a point deduction, however an added feature of wireless technology for the speakers wouldn't have hurt- Would have been a good idea to add casing over the woofers on the front speakers. So be careful to set them somewhere safe.Other thoughts:- Rule of thumb: For best sound bass response and sound from these speakers I recommend placing the sub-woofer near the corner of the wall if possible. Corners heighten low frequency waves and gives it that thump. If not, the next best place would be to place them underneath the desk. Don't recommend it though considering how big the sub is and the overall quality of the bass sound is lossed, but will still provide you with better bass then you would get from regular computer speakers.

After reading other reviews on this product i was hesitant to order back in late march. I'm reviewing now approximately 3 months later to tell that my apprehensions were completely unfounded. I purchased these speakers with the intent of keeping them at my work, in the kitchen of an internationally franchised steakhouse, where they would be in use 5-14 hours a day/ 7 days a week. With this in mind, i kept the speakers at my home to properly break them in (not going above half volume for the speakers as well as the input device (5th gen ipod classic) for the first few hours of use) they are absolutely perfect for home use. i would hook the speakers up to my ipod and the speakers are powerful and rich enough to fill my entire house (a tri-level) while i clean. These speakers really stood out while studying, gaming, watching movies, and most importantly partying.I kept them at home for about a month before taking them to work where they are to this day. I haven't had any of the problems other people have claimed about the e.q. going out or one or both of the speakers going out. If you're wondering if the speakers will be effective for the kind of music you prefer, believe me when i say they will. I have played everything from brutal death metal, klezmer, afrobeat, hip-hop, classic rock, bluegrass to dubstep. All in all these speakers are amazing, the built in e.q. is great, especially at work when a manager comes back and says they can hear the rumble of the bass at the front of the restaurant, even over all the kitchen equipment. For the price, you won't find better speakers. If you're on a really tight budget (i understand i'm a student on my own with a mountain of bills) i would still recommend the et-ar506-bk which i purchased a few weeks ago to replace 508 for my home use (and as someone said about those speakers the mute button doesn't mute, it just takes the volume down to 1) But if you can shell out the extra 20 for the ar508, do it.