Looks, Easy to Buy

Poor sound quality when compared to better speakers

This is a follow up to my review of 3-22-00. I gave in and purchased a pair of floor standing monitor audio silver 5i ($750.00). I'm sorry to say that the Ensamble's can't compare to the more expensive speakers. As I said in my previous review, the Ensembles sound fine when you don't compare them to anything else. That doesn't mean they are bad, they just can't deliver the same listening experience as a more expensive system. But consider the price difference. After comparing them to my new speakers it is fair to say that the Ensebles sound more like a good table radio than a high quality speaker system. Again, I don't mean to totally trash the Ensembles, they will sound fine for non-critical users.

On a positive note, the Ensables are built very well and are easy to position. If you are not a sound fanatic you can consider the Ensembles and you'll probably be happy.

Small, unobstrusive

Weak bass, not "full bodied" enough for my taste, tripod stands kept getting knocked over by kids

My husband and I are clearly not audiophiles, but we were looking to have a home theater in our 20X23 vaulted ceiling family room. Cost was an issue so we decided on the Ensemble II with the Surround II 5.1 speakers for around $1000. The salespeople told us they would fill our room just fine. You know, the demo in the store always sounds awesome. We took them home, hooked it up and it sounded OK. My husband was satisfied, but I always felt like they were not getting the job done. We had to crank the volume on the Harman Kardon AVR20 II to try to get decent sound for Home Theater viewing. We tried out a powered subwoofer with the system and it was totally unbalanced. Way too much bass for the weak highs and mids of the Ensemble II's. Finally, after two years of disappointment we moved the Ensemble II's and the passive subwoofer down to our kid's playroom. I don't even think they are getting the job done in the smaller room either, but its something. To replace them, we tried out the Polk RT2000i powered towers so far and the difference was incredible!!! It's like going from a Honda to a Mercedes. I'm reading everyone's reviews about the speakers so I can learn from you all what to listen for before we settle on our new ones.

I'll try to find some !

Sound quality is all hype

I agree 100% with Stuart from Arizona and Deane Cahoon for
MA. I too have the Microworks pc audio system and it sounds EXCELENT. With this in mind, I bought the ProLine II from PartsExpress with extra satelites for a total cost of $190.
Thinking that the ProLine will sound just as good if not better with my Sony Amp, my first listening experience was
disappointing.
I should have come to this web page sooner!!!