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A set of good speakers will go a long way in enhancing your experience with a computer system, be it for gaming, watching movies, simple Web-surfing or listening to music. Brands like Sennheiser, Harman Kardon and Altec Lansing have established themselves as producers of premium audio entertainment systems. These high-end systems guarantee a pleasurable audio experience, but the accompanying price tags deter most but the fanatic audiophiles. Fortunately for people like me, brands like Creative, Sony and JBL have flooded the market with similar high-quality products which can be purchased with much less heartache and damage to your wallet. One of these is the JBL's Invader 4.1 Surround Satellite Speaker System.

The US$100-199 price range is home to many quality, functional speaker products, including the JBL Invader. The JBL Invader is a set consisting of four satellite speakers and a subwoofer and is a surround sound system. The design of the set itself is supremely attractive, with sleek curves on the satellite speakers and subwoofers, matched with a futuristic metallic silver and black colour theme. It gives the Invader a very extraterrestrial feel and a very sophisticated look.

The setup consists of two satellite speakers being placed in front, with the other two in the rear, accompanied by the rumbling bass of the subwoofer. Each satellite offers 12W, while the subwoofer offers 32W of power - this is considerable, and this directly results in much sharper and clearer sound. The subwoofer's bass is solid and pulsating, but it would not use 'reverberating' to describe it. However, in my opinion, it is more than enough for a home entertainment system. The sound quality showed very little deterioration even what the volume is maxed.

This is a 4.1 speaker system, thus a recommended prerequisite would be a sound card that supports surround sound, as well as both front and rear inputs. In the case where the sound card is unable to support surround sound, the Invader includes a Y-adapter cable to allow both the front and rear speakers to product stereo sounds, which is similar to the sound of a surround sound system.

Setting up the system turned out to be rather straightforward, compared to other experiences I had with other speaker systems. The satellites are connected to the subwoofer via colour-coded cables, while the subwoofer is connected to the power source via a normal 2-pin cable and connected to the computer by two audio jacks. What irked me a little regarding operation was that the treble and bass controls had no indicator markings so when I was using it for the first time, I had to experiment with trial and error with the two knobs.

One common complaint about this system is that it restricts the way users are allowed to position the rear speakers, as all four satellites have to be placed upright, so it does not come with compatible mounting brackets. The rear speakers do come with a great length of cable, more than the front two, thus giving allowance for the user to place speakers. For the more particular audiophiles, they would be pleased to note that very crisp high's and low's but it falls short when playing mid-range sounds. The deep bass is adequately resounding for gaming and music purposes, but do not expect the kind of bass that will feel as well as hear.

All in all, the JBL Invader 4.1 Multimedia Speaker System offers an ideal balance between price and quality - priced being just affordable and offering above average sound quality. When compared to speakers of the same price range, the Invader stands out, giving the best quality and thus best value for money. Sound aside, the Invader's sleek and curvaceous design also win hands down. This is truly an outstanding speaker system and a good buy in the competitive market of audio products.

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