I bought my first pair of HT300's to use as surrounds with my three HT400LCR's. Then I bought another pair in case I want to use them as back surrounds. Finally, I bought one more single speaker just for a spare.

First, I'll admit I was a big a/d/s/ fan back in their glory days. Only a fan, though...I never owned a pair. But I always wanted to, so in 2004 when I was looking for some high quality, affordable speakers to do 5.1 surround with, I found these. a/d/s/ was still in business then. I bought them without having heard them first and was not disappointed. They really are built like a tank. I've never seen an affordable speaker that was built like these. Heaven help you if you drop one on a toe! And they look great to me. I can see how some might not take to their looks as they do look kind of "techie" I guess, but I like them. I've always been a sucker for metal grills and the grilles on these look real nice. They are super heavy and solid. The term brick-like comes to mind.

Enough on build quality. What about sound? OK, I'll get the downside out of the way. The polymer tweeter is not the best I've heard by any means. Highs seems to lack air. It's not bad, but it's just not that great. I'd rate it a 7 out of 10 on the top end. The mid/bass driver, on the other hand does a great job. The sealed design of the enclosure allows it to really dig down lower than you might think considering the speaker's size. I've had the auto set-up functions of two good receivers declare these to be "large" speakers! In spite of that, these shine best with a good sub or two. I'd rate the midrange performance 8/10. Bass performance, if you consider their tiny size, is a solid 9 but factoring out size, maybe a 6.

In conclusion, a set or two of these, especially when used with and a good sub, can make a killer HT set-up. And a pair with or without a sub can for make a real nice stereo, especially with jazz and smaller scale music. They're not head banger speakers, after all.

One thing to remember: These are 4 Ohm speakers. I've driven them with a couple of A/V receivers that weren't rated for 4 Ohm loads and never had a problem, but your results may be different. Best to stick to a high quality receiver or amp.