Brookstone audio

[Do I Make You Horny?]

I'm looking at getting a small CD shelf stereo. I'm no audiophile but I'm looking for a compact system that will play in my tiny apt and whenever I move, into a study/computer room. Here is a system from Brookstone that I'm checking out

Anybody have any experience with these types of shelf systems? Is Brookstone a decent place or overpriced for their name?

 

[NickDanger]

My impression of Brookstone and Sharper Image both are that they tend to be fairly expensive, gimmicky, and fairly low quality. That's just a generalization. I got nothing to offer on the system.

 

[Do I Make You Horny?]

That's the same impression I've got on those places as well, Nick. I've been looking for a micro system for a while and just wandered into one of the stores to check out what they had. It may be gimmicky but it fits my needs: tiny shelf system that also looks nice. Price might be a little high but I could settle with that if its decent quality. Mainly I want to know if the audio quality is ok and/or if the thing will fall apart in 6 months.

 

[next2naus]

JVC, Phillips, Sony all make nice bookshelf models, however I suggest that you look into the Bose Wave or the maybe a Bose or JBL speaker system for your iPod if you use one.

 

[NickDanger]

I bought a speaker system from Radio Shack that works with mp3 player or with dvd player, etc. It was around $50 and it sounds amazingly good. I think it's around 60 or 70 watts. Even has a subwoofer. They have another one for around $30, also with subwoofer, that sounds pretty decent as well.

I have always felt that Bose exacts a premium that is not commensurate with their quality. They make good stuff, but not as good as they charge. It's a pretty subjective deal so I understand if someone feels differently.

I'm a slut when it comes to audio. It doesn't take much to please me.

 

[Ags_EE]

Don't buy anything that's flat or made by NXT. It'll most likely be more expensive than normal, and will also likely sound ******.

Get something like this instead.

Model One is 100 bucks, Model Two is 160. Depends on whether or not you want stereo sound. No built in CD player, but it has a line in for a cheap personal CD player, or MP3 player. A hell of a lot better sounding than the stuff in it's price range, unless you're a basshead.

Then get these.

Yeah, they're computer speakers, but they're (relatively) cheap, sound good compared to everything else in this class, and have more than enough bass to annoy the hell out of your neighbors.

 

[Do I Make You Horny?]

So NXT=****?

I saw a different flat panel system at Best Buy last night. $120 w/subwoofer. It was NXT as well.

Anybody have any more info on these flat panel systems? I really like the look and size and I don't need a monster system. I'm just curious how well made they are...

 

[Ags_EE]

NXT tech is a mess of tradeoffs that usually ends up being overly expensive, without sounding that good. The problem is that it's difficult to get midbass, much less bass, out of the things. Which is why the usually come in sub/sat combos. Midbass and lower is routed to the "sub" and anything higher is routed to the NXT sats. This gives problems as you can tell that a large portion of the sound is coming from somewhere else, other than the sats.

This disturbs some people more than others, and if you're going to be pretty far from the speakers when you listen, then you probably won't notice.

How well made they are depends on the company you're buying from. It's possible to buy 20 buck cardboard NXT speakers or 3k+ NXT "home theater buff" grade speakers. But, in general, if they sound fine to you, then they'll work well enough.