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A Closer Look

To be honest, at first glance, the palm sized 3-inch full range satellite speakers didn’t particularly set off any bells for me. First, they weren’t very aesthetically impressive. Not to say that they were ugly, but they were quite plain, taking on a mundane rectangular shape and the usual PC grey, like most PC peripherals. In essence, they didn’t ooze with style, unlike many of the curved or flat panel speakers coming out of companies, like Altec Lansing or Polk. Secondly, at 3-inches, I was doubtful of their audio performance. I was afraid they would leave me with a feeling of inadequacy, as some small speaker just don’t seem to generate enough volume, even at the highest settings.

To my delight, the MS-900’s satellites did not fall into this category. With these speakers, I found that good things do indeed come in small packages. Individually, the 3” speakers themselves were quite powerful, pushing enough volume to fill an adequate sized room. They could easily compete head-to-head with many larger mini-system speakers out there. As well, at full volume, there was no deterioration in the sound quality or muddied effect. Music still came out detailed, and crystal clear as ever.

The 5 ¼” wood cabinet subwoofer also performed well. At full throttle, the woofer was still very capable and produced deep and rich bass. It wasn’t overbearing and didn’t take over my R&B or Rap tracks. Neither did it produce any extra “fuzz”. Also, I found the subwoofer to be excellent in re-creating the subtle bass found in most classical tracks. It helped bring forth an added depth to the piano and string pieces.

I did find that the subwoofer was somewhat lacking in power. Some woofers tend to completely take over and drown out the high and mid frequencies. But, the MS-900 was quite the opposite. I found myself always cranking the subwoofers to the max and still not fully satisfied. More “boom” would’ve been nice, especially with tracks that were heavy on bass. Explosions and rocket grenades were, as well, less floor shaking than I would’ve liked.

Overall, the six speakers together seemed to do a good job of re-creating surround sound effects. They were certainly great with games. Five person machine gun battles were much more adrenaline pumping, especially with bullets ricocheting in all directions. The MS-900 also did a great job of bringing out the more subtle effects like an enemy sneaking up from behind, wading through the murky waters of a sewer, and the simple clicking when reloading a pistol. However, I did notice that the rear speakers would generate a detectable amount of distortion or white noise, especially in classical tracks. This is quite annoying when you’re not in the mood for hip hop all the time.

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