Monoprice 5.1 Channel Home Theater Satellite Speakers And Subwoofer - Black

I'll start this by destroying my credibility. I am not an audiophile, and this is my first surround sound system worth the name. I did, however, do a massive amount of research before buying these. This is going to be long, so the TLDR on this is:These are great speakers for the price, and will probably be more than adequate for the needs of anyone who is not an audiophile. They are also better than many $600-$800 sets in terms of frequency response curve and general sound reproduction. They will not have the same build quality or design aesthetic as these premium sets, but look fine, and are made well. You won't regret buying these unless you have much more exacting standards than the average person, and even an audiophile would be satisfied with these as a second room/vacation home setup.So, the rest:I was originally settled on the Energy Take Classic 5.1 set. (which has become the long standing gold standard of affordable 5.1 speaker sets)Energy 5.1 Take Classic Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black)But, a price bump on those right when I decided on them led me to do some re-shopping. After reading and watching the CNET review on these, I started looking in to them seriously. I suggest you check out that review.These speakers are actually the replacements to the Monoprice 9774 5.1 system. The reason those were replaced was due to a patent lawsuit because they were exact clones of the Energy Take Classic 5.1 speakers. Nearly identical form factor, Identical internal components, and most interestingly, identical performance and frequency response curve. But over $100 cheaper than the average price of the Energy speakers. So that wasn't going to last, and it didn't. For a while there, they were hands down the best speaker per dollar that could be purchased. These Monoprice speakers are just enough different to dodge another lawsuit. The surprise is that in some respects, they are better than the speakers they replaced. The consensus seems to be that they provide a more satisfying over-all sound than the Energy Take Classic. I can't speak to this because I'm not in a position to directly compare them. But everybody that has seems to agree that these are either equivalent or better. The fact that they're cheaper doesn't hurt one bit.Another advantage is that if you want to add two speakers and make this a 7.1, Monoprice actually sells you two more matching speakers for about $80.Monoprice Premium Home Theater Satellite Speaker - Black (110800)Energy only sells the satellite speakers for their set as a package. And though exactly matched speakers in a 7.1 isn't mandatory, it certainly makes it easier for your receiver to blend.These are a recent purchase, so I can't speak to how long they will last. I can say they sounded great to me right out of the box, and the spring connectors were super easy to use.Important notes:Break in Period: Don't blast these things full volume until you've been using them for quite a good little while. A couple of weeks of regular TV watching should do it. This type of speaker needs time to loosen up and mellow out. Skipping this step is a really good way to permanently damage your sound quality. They're actually supposed to sound even better after being broken in, as well.Subwoofer Cable: if you order these, you need to get a shielded RCA splitter subwoofer cable. (one male connection that splits to two male connections) It will actually run ok off of a single RCA into the white input, but spend the extra $6 and do it right. They're all over amazon. I almost took off a star for them not including this, but I just couldn't make myself do it. The speakers themselves are just too solid.Speaker stands: A lot of people make the obvious (and incorrect) assumption that the Monoprice speaker stands will fit these Monoprice speakers perfectly. (go figure!) They don't. They work, but only if you mount the speakers upside down. I ordered some that are on the way. If those work out, I will edit this review.Edit: They didn't really work out. I'm using them, but they aren't ideal.Anyway, you should just go on and buy these unless the Energy Take Classic set is at one of the periodic low dips to $250 range. At that point they become a serious contender because of a 3 year warranty vs the 1 year that Monoprice offers. (or if you have a fascination with gloss black finishes) But that's about the only things that distinguish them from these. AND they might actually not sound as good.FYI - there are some known problems with the dust covers tending to have the little plastic bits break off inside the speaker when you try to remove them. So, if you want to use these without the dust covers, slow and steady wins the race. I intend to leave mine on, but it is something to be aware of.

Been meaning to do a review of this system for a while. Had the 10565 system since Oct '18 in the upstairs gameroom where its main duty is being connected to the xbox. Additionally, I stream music via bluetooth to the AVR and it does a great job for that as well (receiver is only putting out about 80-90W/ch, and over about 50W/ch it starts to break up, so no sense pushing it anyway).It's 200.00, or was when I got it... for a 5.1, powered-sub system. It sounds perfectly fine at that price point. You're not expecting to top a $1500 Klipschissplittlixblah-blah system for this price-point. Accept that, enjoy the great sound this puts out at reasonable volume levels, and carry on. I wouldn't crank this up to '11' for a party and expect it to survive... but I wouldn't do that for any stereo I have either... I have sympathy for my stuff I guess. I've had it at 50% volume for hours playing music though.. plenty loud (rock, metal, etc...).. though 'plenty' is of course subjective.In the 20x12 room it sits in, it will give pretty decent thump for sound-effects and movies w/in reason. Again.. price-point here.I paid at least $100 more than this 20 years ago (so, really, like ~$400 in today's money) for something way less 'good'... w/just a passive subwoofer, and less power-handling ability and it sounded like empty wooden boxes being klonked on by a swarm of agitated beavers vs. some pretty nice sound out of the monoprice setup.I don't know if I would push these speakers to the 'rated' power.. but surely they could hang with 50'ish nice, clean watts per-ch (you know, before your $300 receiver really starts to push out a lot of distortion anyway).I suspect the target buyer is someone in an apartment where noise-levels have to be rational. I think it'll do a great job filling an apartment living room with nice sound and the sub isn't so crazy that your neighbors will kill you (it has adjustments to set the levels and so on.. if you tick off your neighbors, that's on you).I'm saying all this stuff about 'bang for buck' and so on b/c I'm assuming anyone looking at this is on a budget and isn't packing a $2000 tube-amp at home waiting to connx to this thing. You're like a lot of us,.. got a budget AVR rated to somewhere between 70 and 100'ish Watts/ch for movies/music and want something that will at least compliment that setup. This will do that. Remember your budget AVR(eceiver) may be rated to 100W/ch, but it'll really give up doing that job distortion-free/low somewhere ~30W south that of that number (on a continual basis).Finish Quality: Again.. price-point-wise... it's exactly what I expected.. not fancy in the least, but clean. Some small imperfections in the finish.. nothing I can spot from more than a foot or two away that makes me upset. These are not 'lookers'.. though they look nice enough w/the grills off vs some other offerings in this price range I think. They actually disappear visually pretty well honestly... and I would think that has a different kind of appeal to the folks that don't -want- a showy, in-your-face system.Use/Assembly: Easy peasy... 5.1 systems have been around a while now... this is no different than the vast majority. You plug the wires from the appropriate channels off your AV Receiver into the various speakers, and your sub-out to the sub's inputs. Four of the speakers are identical, makes no difference which of those four goes where (front L/R vs rear L/R). The center channel is specifically made/intended to be such.. it's obvious, can't mess it up. The powered sub does not have the '5' outs itself.. it just takes either RCA inputs or speaker-level left/right from stereo. So, it won't necessarily turn an old-school 2-channel stereo into a 5.1 system... not in any easy plug/play way that I am aware of anyway.. but I'm hardly an expert. Seek YouTube Gurus for that kind of info. There's instructions in the box.. read those, I may be completely lying about the 2->5.1 thing... I did not read them, but my setup was blindingly-easy, even for me.So, there's my 5-or-so month update... still quite pleased, don't have any regrets for the type of use I've put it through.