Altec Lansing 221 Amplified Speaker System

I purchased these speakers over five years ago. These were purchased as speakers for a high-end gaming system, and I selected this particular set because I had previously had great success with an older set of Altec Lansing. I've since upgraded most of my system... but not these speakers. When Amazon popped up to tell me to review them, I couldn't resist. They have been (and continue to be) excellent speakers.Specifically these speakers provide crisp, clear sound for music, movies, and games. The sub is powerful without being overwhelming, and I've had success with placing the subwoofer both on the desk as well as on the floor. They are also gorgeous looking; they look nicer and higher quality than many other, more expensive sets. One nice feature is the headphone port on the right satellite speaker. This allows you to plug in headphones quickly without having to reach around the computer, or swap the speaker cable out.The only knock on these speakers is that the top end volume is not strong enough to blow you away. I think that's to be expected with speakers in this price range. If you're looking to run these with movies in a bigger room (as opposed to sitting at your desk) I'd recommend a different set. For any other use, I think these are excellent.These are a huge steal for $50 speakers, and I'd recommend them over any other set in this price range.

Didn't work as advertised. Volume control shot.

The speakers sound good, but there is no seperate control to turn the bass down. It is set way too high and I can't find any software controls to turn it down a bit. I have seen some pretty [inexpensive] 3-piece speakers, but they always have a control for the woofer, this set assumes that you want too much bass.I wouldn't recommend it.

I bought this system last year and returned it after a few days of music listenning. The satellites were clear and crisp but the sub was just plain awfull, it has a hollow, distant bass sound. When listenning to musics, the kick drum should sound tight and punchy but on the 221 it sounded like a timpany. I got a pair of socks and stuffed them in the bass port and that improved the bass abit (people do this sometimes even on high end component speakers). The system also didn't have a bass level control. I give it three stars because it has a headphone jack and the improved sock-in-port sound. I know this is a low price set but you'll get better value at Creative or Logitech.

They work well.

I bought these for a friend after owning a pair since they were available brand new, close to three decades ago. He loved them as much as I did! They are the best little inexpensive computer speakers I have ever owned. They are bass heavy and you need to be careful about turning them up too high as the bass speaker will distort badly. The only negative with these is there is no control over high end and low end. (Treble & Bass)Also, the sound quality depends upon the quality of the sound card or the sound chip on your computer. All of my old desk top computers sound was great through these speakers. Not so on the new HP Pavilion laptop I bought last year. The sound chip on this machine is utterly HORRIBLE and no speakers can fix that and so garbage in, garbage out.It's really too bad these are not made any more.

This system is total rubbish. Too many reviewers are skirting around the lack of bass control: they are amplified speakers, so they should come with some sort of control, or advise to that effect at point of sale. I contacted them to ask for advice: perhaps I was missing something in the way of software. The person who responded obviously wasn't familiar with the problem, or the product either - I was told to keep them away from the walls, and put them on a carpet. Duh. Altec Lansing should know better than to let their name be put on such Far Eastern originated junk.Reviewers - let's be honest. They are good pro audio company's poor attempt at branding. I doubt they ever saw the inside of an AL factory, or warehouse. To say "well, what do you expect for the money" - is not good enough for the AL brand. Don't encourage others to purchase.AL - stick to pro.

I had these speakers for about five years now, and I didn't like them ever since I bought them. The bass is way too overpowering, and there is no control for the subwofer. For genres of music like rap, techno, dance...this set of speakers are not for you, unless you like to hear your walls vibrate along with your music. For rock, and classical music they will reproduce the sound fine. Even if I manually control an equalizer from a player, there is no way to control the bass.I only bought these for forty bucks, but I could have saved that cash for something better. Mostly they are forty dollar paperweights.