Slashdot Mirror
Bose's iPod SoundDock Reviewed
LabRat007 writes "Playlist has a review of the Bose SoundDock, the desktop speaker system for the iPod that Bose has lately been promoting the holy hell out of. The long and the short is that it sounds great--better than any other iPod-specific speaker system--but for $300 is lacking in many features even cheaper setups have, like the ability to actually use the SoundDock as a syncing dock. Oh, and it has no line-in, so you can't use the SoundDock as output for anything else, like a PC or laptop, for instance." It's not quite as cute, but I like my Cambridge Soundworks Model 88 (now superseded by the Model 730) as a laptop loudspeaker system.
(I'll answer the question for home audio, not pro audio, because Bose makes home audio equipment.) There is no predominate brand, but here are a few that are generally highly-regarded and reasonably priced: Paradigm Magnepan Martan Logan NHT And two brands that audio snobs might look down on, but actually produce a few decent speakers: Polk Infinity In particular, the Polk RTi28/RTi38 is considered one of the best low-priced speaker sets around. I think you can get a pair for $200 or so, and a center channel (for home theater) for $150. Great sound and great construction. I have run the Polk RT series for about 5 years, and I've been happy with them (though I now have the itch for something in the $1000+ range...). Hope this helps.