Philips SBA1500/37 portable speaker system

These speakers are well for indoors, but outdoors requires more volume. Turning up the volume to max on these speakers decreases their quality. Thus they have the best quality at mid range volume, aka not a stereo replacement item. As far as ease of use and durability it is proficient.

Let's bear in mind that these are very inexpensive. if you are looking for studio quality sound, look elsewhere. What do these speakers have to offer? They have pretty good sound quality. For the price, they are the best I have tried. I use these when I'm camping, so I don't need them to be very loud, but I do need them to be loud enough to hear outdoors. They work best at med-high volume. At max vol they lose quality severely, but at mid to med-high they sound good. Another great feature is the compact design. They are small enough to carry in a backpack, and the cord is tucked away in the side of the amp. Cord management is an area that most manufacturers ignore. These speakers can be used without the amp, if you need. This is nice if the batteries die, or if you want to use them at very low volume. To sum-up: I highly recommend these to anyone who is looking for "good enough" sound quality, compact design and cable management all at a low price. BTW: My 5 YO poked his fingers through the cones, so I am purchasing my second set. I will guard this one better. If you have kids, beware of this.

These little speakers pack a punch. There a great for travel because of their size. They hook onto each other and can fit into a corner of a suit case. The amplifier does it's job.

I did not have the volume issues some people have complained about - even without using the amp, the volume was more than satisfactory. Something I think many people forget is to check the volume settings in their O/S's mixer. However, while the volume was more than ample, the sound quality itself was horrible! The frequency response was horrific - it felt like there were mid and high tones missing. Essentially, anything piped through these speakers sounded muffled. Loud, but muffled. And no, this was not due to the volume being set too high. At any volume, the sound quality was highly inferior. Note also that the Amazon description does not mention the frequency response - which is listed as 100 Hz - 18 KHz. I can't say I'm impressed - you can buy a $20 set of headphones with a better frequency response. But that's aside from the fact that it doesn't sound like you're getting the whole range of 100 Hz - 18 KHz anyway. I understand that these are inexpensive portable speakers - but that doesn't excuse this sound quality. Years ago, I used a $10 set of portable speakers from Radio Shack that sounded significantly better than these do. Based on my experience with these, if you're largely tone deaf, and are just looking for volume, you might be fine with these. For people who are more discriminating, I would look elsewhere. Given how many people were happy with these, it's always possible that I just got a lemon, but I don't think so.

These speakers are nice in that they are portable and easy to carry around, but the sound quality is terrible. You cant turn them up very high because of the distortion. They cannot handle any bass at all.

These are a bit large and heavier than I would like but they pack well and I've taken them to Mexico, camping and they are now being used as better speakers for my laptop. Great product for the price, sound is decent. Don't expect mega base tho.

I liked the simple design of these speakers and the way they packed away for picnics and camping. The sound isn't that great. Tinny and muffled so I only gave it 3 stars for that. They're loud enough for casual music since they're battery powered. But don't expect to blast them and have a big party around these little guys.

Pros: -Very decent sound for the price/size. Bass is not all that deep but highs come in great. These get really loud before the distortion starts, and the quality is shockingly good - u will be surprised... -with the amp turned off (passive mode) the speakers still produce very decent volume -cool look and form factor - egg shape is really cool and the speakers look really good and techie -put together the whole package is pretty portable and protected within itself Cons: -High volumes with high bass = distortion -Bulky, on the packaging it says small enough to carry "in pocket or bag" uh... even with cargo pants, these things are not fitting.. they are like a large ostrich egg... -cords from speakers dont wrap that easily in the wire holder on the amp For the price, these are some of the coolest speakers i have ever owned, i will probably use them the most with my laptop and when i travel with my Zen and Ipod... if the battery life is really 20-30hrs I don't see why ppl are complaining about the lack of A/C power... the only thing i wouldve included is what the newest generation of these have: a carrying bag - apparently Philips made these with a built in Ipod dock for the newest version... as a Zen lover I'm glad i got these...