Until a few days ago, I thought my speakers were good. They were loud, and sounded clear but then I bought the Cambridge Soundworks PCWorks system, and now comparing my old speakers to the PCWorks is like comparing an 8-track to a Compact Disc. When I first fired these up I couldn't believe what I was hearing from such small speakers. The sound was incredibly clear and the bass was extremely deep and rich. This is probably the best $90 investment (Canadian cash) that I have ever made. For $50 US (after rebate) these are a steal.

Specifications
Subwoofer:
5.75 inch woofer,
10W RMS

Satellites:
2 inch speaker cubes,
3.5W RMS each

Now before you say "hey! I remember seeing these 340 watt speakers for only $20!" Well buy those and be made a fool if you wish, wattage isn't everything, if it was how can these suckers get so loud and be so clear?

Installation & Documentation
Installing the PCWorks is a little more difficult than installing some normal speakers. It still is easy, but there is a few extra steps before you get some sound coming out of them. The speakers are remarkably heavy for their size of only 2 square inches (roughly). Probably heavier than most speakers 2 or 3 times it's size and in case you don't know, a heavier speaker usually means high quality and for their size these are really heavy. The Subwoofer is also very heavy, and pretty compact also. To install these, 2 speaker wires go from the speakers to the sub woofer, then a wire from the sub woofer goes to the sound card, and another wire is attached which has the volume control on it. It's hard to explain, so here's a picture.

Instead of having the volume control on a speaker it is on this little thing. You can attach it to any flat surface with provided 3M double-sided semi-permanent tape. The speakers can also be attached to a flat surface (such as a monitor) in this way but also come with stands which point slightly upwards. The volume control cable and speaker cables are 12 feet long which means you'll have plenty of extra cord. I decided to place the sub woofer on a lower shelf of my computer desk which is practically touching the floor. Placing the sub on the floor, such as under your desk is the best place for it since bass isn't directional sound. It fills the room no matter where it's pointing. All of this only took me about 5 minutes to set up thanks to the short but right to the point manual. The manual also gives you speaker placement recommendations, among other things.

Sound Quality
Don't let the PCWorks' micro-size turn you away from them, the sound that these things put out is nothing short of amazing. The 2 satellites form a nice sound field in front of you and when placed about 20 inches apart at eye level it looks like everything is coming right from the screen. The satellites produce crisp, clear sound with distortion showing it's ugly head only when at very high volumes, volumes that most people wouldn't even bother going to. The sub woofer blows out very deep and low bass signals which make every explosion and beat of a drum send tremors through your body. The bass can of course be adjusted to your liking, a knob is provided on the rear of the sub woofer.

While playing Quake2 each gunshot and explosion seemed like it was happening right beside me. Not only do you get deep sound, but the air also "vibrates" so when a gun goes off in a game, you actually FEEL a gunshot or explosion. It's something pretty hard to explain. I tested this with other games like Star Wars: Rogue Squadron where John Williams musical score sounded better then ever as Imperial Tie Fighter's exploded in a ground-shaking ball of fire. Even in a game like Age of Empires the sound quality is greatly improved. The first thing I played on these speakers was some music from White Zombie, and it sounded great. I still couldn't believe what was coming from these speakers. The sub woofer only has minor distortion when having the volume really high and a very low bass tone comes out (something low, like 20hz). Once again, this was only at extremely high volumes, and volumes which are just too damn loud to stand!

This system doesn't have as much output power as some speaker systems, but still outperforms anything that I have ever heard. Obviously some $400 speakers are going to sound better than these, but these ones can contend with the $250 and below speaker market. The value is simply awesome.

Features
There are several ways to mount the speakers. You can place them on a flat surface with the included detachable stands or you can attach them to a flat, vertical surface with included 3M semi-permanent adhesive. If you have a 17 inch monitor or greater I recommend placing the speakers at eye level on either side of the monitor because you need them as close together as possible because after going about 25 inches apart they start to lose the great sound field that they produce.

The sub woofer has a "set and forget" bass control which means you only have to set it once and then keep it there. If your sub woofer is low (near or on the ground) you should keep the knob even at 12 o'clock, but the higher you move your sub woofer, the more you have to increase the bass to get the full effect. The only complaint I have about the sub woofer is that the power button is behind it and reaching back there fiddling with wires to find the power switch gets annoying.

The volume control is very convenient, I have mine right on the side of my monitor. For best sound performance I find it best to put the volume to about 35% in windows sound control, and then do all of the volume control from the speakers' volume control. This minimizes distortion at very high volume levels.

Conclusion
If your looking for incredibly high quality audio, but don't want to spend mega bucks for it, these speakers are for you. Nothing of it's price or size can produce such clear and rich audio. If you own a newer 3D sound card that will take advantage of 4 speakers, you can also get the PCWorks 4-point surround which is the sub woofer and 4 satellites and costs slightly more.

Installation: 80%
Documentation: 85%
Price: 100%
Sound Quality 95%
Features: 90%
Overall: 90%
 

Reviewed by: Adam "kami" Koebel
Date: December 7, 1998