The price is good but is that worth it at all? It's got a hefty markdown but the tiny satelittes are throwing me away from it.
One, make sure you only get this set (the Premium version) if you pick these out:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10906&cs_id=1090601&p_id=10565&seq=1&format=2
Which is this one at rakuten:
http://monoprice.shop.rakuten.com/p...th-subwoofer/254155920.html?sellerid=37816583
You get what you pay for. Do realize that a high-quality listening experience is not something you can buy for cheap. I have heard, however, from numerous sources (including a buddy who owns the set, and a buddy who pointed said buddy to that set - also, the internet), that this set is better than budget brands from other companies at that price level or a little higher.
Now, those speakers do unfortunately sit quite high on the low-end of frequency response. The official specs say the satellites only go down to 110Hz. Which, if you set the low-pass filter correctly, that's not a huge deal because the rest of the lower frequencies will be sent to the sub, of which they claim goes down to 30Hz. If it does, that's very respectable for a budget set. And I'd rather the sub only go so low as 30Hz if it allows better accuracy, as opposed to throwing very muddy and distorted tones between 20-30Hz.
Most ears can sort of hear down to 20Hz. For many, 20-30Hz isn't so much heard, as it is felt. It can be heard by some. And some real premium subs will even go below 20Hz, simple to add more earthiness to the environment (since many things do produce those low tones in life).
Ideally, you could get satellite speakers going down as far as 50Hz, or perhaps only down to 80Hz. It is considered a better practice to try and limit the total frequency range the subwoofer is responsible for, and a subwoofer will also be less accurate with higher-frequency tones. 50Hz may be somewhat low, but it's usually better coming out of a mid-sized driver on a speaker.
This is why many rear-satellites don't often go much lower than 80 or 50Hz (rough numbers, to illustrate the point better), and are smaller, whereas good front speakers, especially towers or very large "bookshelf" models, may go down as low as 30 or 35Hz on their own. If tuned right, it's good to have the front sound stage generating more accurate but less "punchy" mid-bass tones, and then having the subwoofer overlap with more punch on those tones and the lower ones to breath life into the sound stage. Without the sub, that good sound stage would sound accurate, but somewhat "dead" or "flat". Most quality tower speakers can generate some decently punchy mid-bass tones, or even the low-end of true bass tones, but they can never replace the only component that can actually give that car crash the hearty punch you'd hear if you saw it in person.
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