-Great lows for a bookshelf -Good Highs -Finish looks great -Great price for the performance

-Midrange suffers a little

Build quality Quite heavy, these speakers are sturdy and well constructed. The black ash finish is top notch and does not feel cheap in any aspect. The 5-way gold binding posts are great, offering your typical capped-ended screw based posts. I'm able to securely tighten the speaker pins to the posts and attain great connection. Sound Quality My primary use of these is music (through my computer), and also for movies and games. These speakers can really show you the difference in rips of your music files. I used to be able to stomach 128kbps LAME on my older computer speakers, but I have since bumped my standard up to 192kbps LAME, and even that gets questionable some times. Surpisingly, these speakers produce good lows, giving a good punch even without upping the bass via the receiver. Even at high volumes, there is no distortion of the lows (slotted port at bottom) The mid-range is where these seem to suffer, as it's not as full as one could hope. However, the mids do sound good, and for the price, the mids are in-check. Highs are well produced and not shrill. There is also a 3db tweeter level switch on the front of these. I usually set it to normal, but I sometimes change this based on the application. Without it on, you're presented with a more foreward sound, while having it on creates more bass extension. Price/performance I paid about $150 for my pair. These MSRP at around $599, but you can never judge the retail price by the MSRP. For the price I paid, I can't imagine a better bookshelf for less than this. These would make great rears, but I could see them as mains for a full system as well. For stereo listening, they're quite dreamy, offering great stereo imaging and a great soundstage. Overall, a great set of speakers at quite a bargain. They are quite "tight" sounding at first, but I've put about 50 hrs. of break-in on these, and the sound is constantly getting better.