I put down 2000 for model year but that's just a guess. I wanted to weigh in on these speakers because they are noteworthy. They are certainly not high end speakers even with a subwoofer, but they testify to the genius of their designer Henry Kloss. Note that these speakers are not at all like the KLH 17s that Kloss designed. The KLH speakers are much bigger and will go deeper and play louder. They are much closer to a full range speaker and were much more expensive if you do the inflation calculation. But the CSR 17s have certain traits that are remarkable. First of all, like all Kloss designs, they are very tight and cohesive ('fast') sounding. They have the best channel separation of all the speakers I have owned, for some reason. And they sound fantastic on Jimmy Smith's "Walk on the Wild Side" a piece for jazz band with a lot of brass and drums. If you have a pair of these and want to sell them for a lot of money invest in a copy of the Smith disc. It is guaranteed to wow whoever listens to it. The bass for these speakers is obviously compromised. You can use them against a wall to help the bass, but don't position them where you'll lose the clarity of sound that Kloss built into them. These are pretty cheap speakers and my final impression of them is that they tantalize: they make you want to hear a more expensive version of themselves. For that you would obviously turn to other Kloss designs, but which ones? The CSW Model Six (pre-Chinese) or Ensemble or Ensemble II are possibilities, or perhaps the Tower, which I haven't heard.Of course Kloss has passed away and these designs are no longer made but you can pick them up on ebay. Though not as easily as you might think. Perhaps that testifies to owners not wanting to part with them. Long live the memory of Henry Kloss!

good value and sound, exceptional sound for the size

low power handeling, (could just be my crappy pioneer reciever distorting)

I got the speakers to use as monitors for my dj setup, they have worked out pretty good. I paid 92 bucks for them, and got the shipping free because of a promotion that hifi.com was running at the time. They have tight bass, which was a suprise for the size of them, and crisp highs. If they are placed close to the listener i would recoment turning the treble down. They sound the best with the bass turned down and with a powered sub, because bass tends to distort at higher volumes. I thought that the grates weren''t removeable for the first few months i had them, but i eventually got them off. Undernieth is nothing special, paper woofer with rubber suround and a tweeter that looks exactly like the ones on my klh 12 inchers.

reasonable detail in sound, size

none, really, at this price

For the size and price, these are pretty good speakers! I have them hooked to a NAD L-40 receiver and a CSW Powered Subwoofer III. I have them set up at ear level when I sit in front of a computer monitor and they are about 3 feet away from my ears. The sub sits down next to my desk. I listen to a mix of classic rock, jazz and symphonic music. The speakers themselves don't have alot of bass as you'd expect from the size and that is why I got the PSW 3 at the same time. The 17's tend to favor the mids without being nasal while the treble sounds even without being overly bright or harsh. I don't play them very loud which tends to keep the definition at a reasonable level. In fact, the 17's don't like to be driven loud as I've found out. I would not try to fill a large room with them. Above a certain level, the musical definition simply collapses into distortion. Bear that in mind should you think about buying a pair.

BTW, the PSW-3's are pretty good too, in a nearfield setting. They seem to be discontinued from the CSW catalog but you can find them on ebay for about $80. They're small, with a 6 1/2 inch woofer and a 40 watt amp built in. Again, don't expect alot of thunder from these; they seem to cut off at about 40hz but they will fill in where the 17's don't.

In summary, I would recommend this setup to someone in a small office (mine's 12x15) or dorm room where "party" sound levels aren't needed.

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Radio Shack STS-620 :(
Radio Shack STS-620 :(

I just bought a pair of these, they said that they are improved over last year. I am using them as a second pair, they were inexpensive and I have no complaints.

Price. Size. Availability in white. Clarity.

Lack of bass.

I bought these for extension speakers for my daughter's new house. I wanted to buy a pair of Atoms for her, but the best price I could find for a pair in white was $185.
After getting these I set them up alongside my extension pair of Atoms for a comparison. Here are my impressions.
-Seventeens don't have nearly the amount of bass that the Atoms have.(Atoms are ported, Seventeens are acoustic suspension.)
-17's are more forward sounding, less dimensional.
-17's have crisper highs, louder midrange.
-With use of tone controls or loudness button the 17's can sound similar to the Atoms. Raise bass level quite a bit, lower mirange a little.
-In all cases the Atoms sounded better- smoother, more dynamic, more bass, more spatial definition, etc.
-17's are acceptable for the price, they do sound pretty good for extension speakers on a budget (1/2 the price of the Atoms), built well, 10 yr. warranty.
-I think they would sound pretty good w/ a small inexpensive subwoofer.

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Boston A40, Paradigm Atom.

Small, comes in a variety of colors.

"Shouty". Grating on the ear for more than 3 minutes at a time. I shall now buy some REAL speakers. A pair of JBL s412 should more than fit the bill. More money yes....but life is too short to listen to crappy speakers.

If you like AOL and Budweiser, these speakers are for you.

Good sounding compact acoustic suspension speaker. 10 year warrenty.

None - at this price range.

These are great compact bookshelf speakers that put out very pleasing sound. I was suprised at the high volumes they can produce. While there are better speakers on the market, most people will be very satisfied with the way these speakers sound. These speakers are hard to beat for the price.

I bought these as refurbished speakers for my workshop at an ebay auction via hifi.com. They look and sound brand new to me. Hifi.com has since established an Ebay $60.00 minimum bid price for these. You can also get them new for less than $100.00 from hif.com. Hifi.com provides excellent service and an easy method to try out these speakers out at home.

These are smaller versions of the Cambridge Soundworks Model 6 speakers and they generate a similar sound.

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Cambridge Soundworks Model Six, Mirage AVS 500 surround system.

Very Inexpensive, good sound, decent bass, good mids

highs could be better, lack of deep bass, the probably fall out at about 80Hz (sub helps though)

Well, I got these speakers as my brother for a christmas present. And I was sitting there staring at the box for about 5 min after I got them via UPS 2nd day air from Hifi.com's ebay division. I just couldn't resist it being the audio enthusiast that I am; I had to take a quick listen. Well this quick listen ended up being an a couple hours of breaking in the speakers and then just relaxing and critiquing them. I listened to some Rock, Pop, Alternative, Punk, Rap, R&B, Techno, (pretty much just name it). I thought that it did a decent job handling a broad variety of music, but hey let's be realistic here, they aren't quite like my $600 Klipsch Tower Speakers. I listened to them also with a subwoofer (Klipsch KSW-12, I know for anyone that knows this sub, it's probably a little out of these speakers class, but why not), and it really helped where these speakers left off in some of the rap and techno music that i listened too. I was impressed though by how much bass these speakers put out when correctly positioned and tweaked. When they were placed in corners firing in at about a 70 degree angle the bass got much deeper and noticeable! I had them hooked up to both a Onkyo TX-DS595 (75Wx5) and a Onkyo TX-DS787 (100Wx6), sounded about the same on both. For the price these speakers won't dissapoint you as long as you just want them for casual listening at volumes where you aren't trying to wake up the whole neighborhood (i.e. parties). If you think you may want a speaker that is still a good price but has a little more bass then take a peak at the Model Sixes. Happy Listening.

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Cheap Radioshack Optimus bookshelf speakers, and some older Miller & Kreisel's bookshelfs, newer synergy klipsch bookshelves

Price, appearance.

No removable grills, binding clips.

Cheap set of speakers that sound pretty decent. Good frequency response and bass response for an acoustic suspension speaker with only a 5 1/4" woofer. Treble is limited, but that's no surprise in a sub $100 speaker. Don't pay retail of $150-200 (whatever it is)--at that price you can do better, but during sales at Hifi.com and on ebay, you can lock into a pair for under $75--they're a great deal for the basement, the garage, bedroom, etc... or if you don't require great sound.

These can run straight up against their competition (Bose, Polk, JBL, KLH, Sony), and outperform most of the sub-$100 speakers. These are far better than the sub-sat combo's these companies put out (including the entire Cambridge Ensemeble series, which all are very fatigueing and have gaps in freq. responsiveness). Perhaps not as strong an image as the acoustimass series, but don't pay Bose inflated price for a bunch of paper tweeters that cost $10 to build. These will give you a better overall performance, particularly on upper mids which the acoustimass series misses entirely (as does the Cambridge ensemble series).

If you're going to spend over a $100 look at the Paradigm Atoms or equivalent.

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Everything--realistic, optimus, JBL, Bose, AR, Polk, and the good stuff too (B&W, M&K, Paradigm, etc...).

I bought this pair around nov 98. Mostly disappointed. Lacks hi end and mid-levels. Pretty boomy. Well constructed and solid though. They at CSW recommend this as a second pair. I couldn't agree more. They really lack depth and clarity. Sadly, this is in comparison with less expensive speakers (wholesale club grade). Avoid unless you want a 2nd pair to fill a room . Leave at low heights to avoid the boom.