Never Miss a Deal.

(Monoprice provided this product free for review purposes.)

I used a Pioneer 700W 5.1 channel Home Theater Receiver when testing these speakers. Arranging the speakers around the room was easy as the satellites are very small. I tested the speakers with playing games, music and movies. With the subwoofer I used the single dedicated mono LFW input. When the system first kicked on I was instantly impressed with how clear and bright the satellite speakers were as well as how much punch the subwoofer produced.

Playing music for the first day included genres of classic rock, 1940's and 50's swing / jitterbug, Blues, Country, R&B, Rap, EDM and Pop. I had a difficult time trying to find a setting on the subwoofer because some music such as Country and Pop the bass was too much and was overbearing making other frequencies muddy yet with other music such as EDM and RAP it was hard hitting and provided a good punch.

Gaming the bass from the subwoofer was intense and gave extra depth to the experience. The satellite speakers provided amazing clarity and soundstage giving me situational awareness I didn't expect.

Movie night gave a good chance to show what these speakers can do. Played Top Gun to get the feel of the surround as the jets flew across and over head. The bass from the subwoofer gave depth to the sound of action movies however it once again needed adjusting for less dramatic movies. I found that as long as the center channel was pointed directly at the listener and the surrounding speakers were placed correctly the sound stage for most movies was shockingly open, spacious, and had you kind of wanting to look around at the different noises happening around the room.

Aside from needing to adjust the subwoofer volume / frequency for each application of audio whether it be gaming, music, movies as well as not maxing out the volume on the subwoofer I couldn't find many things to complain about these speakers. The Satellites provide a bright clear high that isn't harsh or glaring as well as a steady firm mid range in which the subwoofer picks up the lower end of the mid range and all of the bass. The bass of the Subwoofer can be overbearing at times but with tweaking it hits hard with a great punch and full depth of sound.



PROS: Satellite speakers are small and easy to concele.

None descript making it easy to blend with nearly any decor

Threaded mount on satellite speakers give extra options for speaker placement

Multiple different jacks for connecting audio to the subwoofer.



CONS: Subwoofer bass can muddle and or drown out audio.

Difficult to find a good balance setting for the subwoofer between music, movies, gaming as the bass for one thing may be overbearing for another.

Maxing out the frequency range and volume on the subwoofer caused artifacts with bass heavy audio.

I bought this to downsize my home theater system speakers (per wife's request), but did not want to sacrifice the sound quality and experience my cabinets had provided thus far. This system exceeded my expectations and I was pleasantly surprised, especially for the price.

The satellite speakers are quite compact great for saving space, but have very crisp clear high and mid-tone sound projection. The subwoofer is nice and sturdy in the build design and the 8 in woofer provides very clean and smooth bass. I was concerned from going from having four 12 in subwoofers in my old system that this may not match up, but I was pleasantly surprised with this product.

PROS: Stylish and Space saving design
Clear and quality sound
Great Price


CONS: Subwoofer connections cables not included

These are bad ass speakers for the price. I have them setup with my 60 inch Sony in my extra large bedroom and they rock!

Clean and clear. Awesome product.

PROS: can clearly hear the TV

CONS: Wired

I'm very pleased with the quality of sound coming out of these speakers. I upgraded from "home-theater-in-a-box" speakers that came bundled with a Sony Bluray player. The old set sounded OK, and was certainly much better than the TV's speakers, but it was time to move up.



Sound from the satellites is crisp and clear, and the sub is powerful enough that I had to adjust its placement to keep from rattling items in a nearby cabinet - something that was never an issue with its predecessor. It delivers a lot more punch.



The sky is the limit when it comes to prices for home audio gear, and I'm sure these are a far cry from fancy, expensive speakers. But I'm confident these are by far the best 5.1 speaker set for the money, with Monoprice's own higher-end set as the nearest competitor.

PROS: Nice quality sound for an untouchable price.

Nice system for a really good price

PROS: Excellent instruction. Up and running in minutes

CONS: none

This set is a great deal. Better than expected for this kind of money.

I am using this 5.1 system with a Pioneer 4K receiver as part of the home theater system in our master bedroom. I have a $1000 Definitive Tech speaker system for my main home theater that we got at the Magnolia Room at Best Buy. Honestly, there isn't $900 worth of difference.

I am impressed. It's a bit harsh in the upper midrange, I haven't calibrated the eq in the receiver yet with these speakers, so maybe that will tame the peakiness in that area. I also expect them to get a little sweeter sounding after a break in period.

But again, I am impressed.

PROS: Great deal for little money.

CONS: Nothing significant enough comes to mind.

I've helped several of my friends set up their home entertainment systems. Most already came prepackaged with the amp and matched speakers. This speaker set is a good replacement set or a good upgrade for someone with an existing system. It's definitely not for someone who is setting up a system for the first time. One needs to know their amplifiers, speaker wire and impedance.



I ended up upgrading my own system in order to fully test this system and got a nice and new Sony STR-DH520 receiver from Craigslist for pretty cheap. I ran new speaker wire around my living room and screwed the speakers into the existing mounts that I already had installed previously. There was no figuring out which speaker goes where because they were all identical. This makes it one step easier than some other systems where the cent speaker is slightly different.



I did have a little trouble with the powered speaker connected to my system. It exhibited a hum that I finally pinpointed to my cable box being connected to my receiver. I did a little research and found out I needed a coaxial ground level isolator. This is a common problem with differently grounded electronics being connected to the same system. Not a hard fix. I was just unfamiliar with the ins and outs of having a powers subwoofer.



I put these speakers through the ringer to break them in. These were hooked up to a Sony STR-DH520 system with my Cable Box, PlayStation 4, HI-Res Music Player and PC connected via HDMI, Optical, and A/V inputs. I left them on to play music in the background to break them in before I really sat myself dead center to listen.



Since I had the problem in the beginning with the subwoofer hum, I ran the system with just the satellite speakers. Those alone sounded great. They produced good highs mids, and lows. I almost didn't need the subwoofer. Explosions did sound great with the satellite speakers alone. The sound did not sound muddled at any level. Sound was crisp at all levels.



Once I got the proper cable to hook up the sub, it added a whole new dimension to the sound. It totally enhanced the sound field, but also detracted from it when it was little too high. The subwoofer is almost too powerful. Luckily it has its own volume and frequency settings so one could adjust the sound to their tastes.



I watched several movies with great surround sound. I sat myself dad center and watched Jurassic Park, Star Trek, Tron Legacy, Wall-E, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (that was long), and some Marvel Phase 2 movies in 3D. I was very impressed and felt totally immersed. These speakers definitely packed more punch than my previous set.



I listed to a lot of great music via a digital optical connection from my PC. I played with the different sound fields. Music from five speakers is way better than 2, especially when sitting dead center.

Since my receiver can actually do 7.1, I will probably buy 2 more speakers. I really love how these sound in my living room.



These are a great upgrade for someone that owns an all-in-one system. The speakers are a good replacement/upgrade for those the an existing system that can handle 8O impedance speakers.They're great for their price range and look great.



Disclaimer: This speaker system was provided to me by Monoprice for review purposes.

PROS: Efficiently packed

Look simple and great

Easy to install

5 identical satellite speakers

Powerful subwoofer

Standard mounts in the back

CONS: Need speaker wire. Only power cable is included.

Sub is almost too powerful

The finish is what you'd expect on speakers this price, don't fool yourself into thinking these are Blaupunkt or something. However they are pretty darned good for what they cost. We've got four satellites and the sub hooked up as our receiver (HK3500) won't do a center speaker. I watched a bit of American Sniper on this system last night and the sound quality was good, after a little tuning I had the sub hitting when it should. Overall a great buy for the money. We're still in the break-in phase so I haven't had them so loud that I'd know whether or not they're breaking up / distorting - however - I mean come on, do you need to play Slayer that loud at home?

PROS: Price
Sound
Size
Overall value

CONS: Still in break-in phase - don't know if they'll distort at high volume

i was a little nervous when I removed the pieces from the well packed box. "It's so little!"
After I turned it on and turned it up I am completely amazed. This little guy sounds great. Dialog it very present, I can feel explosions, and my Pandora has never sounded better.
I don't know these other reviewers problems are. I am not a sound person, I just plugged in the speakers, turned the two knobs on the sub up half way, and put the receiver on Dolby Digital. BOOM total awesome sound. Made some popcorn and watched all 6 episodes of Star Wars.

I recently ordered set of home theater speakers by mistake not realizing I needed a separate amplifier for them. There was no questions asked when I requested a return. I will definitely buy from Monoprice again.

Very Pleased with the sound and quality of these speakers - can't beat the price. Wirecutter.com recommended these as close to the next price level speakers that cost over $500!

PROS: Great sound - connected to Denon AV reciever

CONS: None

I've had these up and running for about 2 weeks now and I have to say, for the price these are a serious set of speakers. The surround speakers are crisp and the bass is impressive for a budget set. I'm using this with a Sony receiver and I have zero complaints. This is my first real surround setup and I'd recommend these speakers to anybody else about to make the jump.

PROS: Sound great
Can't beat the price

CONS: Speakers don't have any felt or rubber feet on them but that's a $3 expense at the hardware store.

Disclosure: Monoprice provided these speakers to me to review.



I've owned a lot of 5.1 systems in the time that I've been around movie rooms and surround systems. Some were expensive, semi-custom systems that could blow your socks off and others were more humble. This system falls more into the former category than the latter.



First, let me walk you through the overview and setup. These are 3" speakers, each of the 5 speakers is identical, something incredibly practical when you're unpacking the box for the first time. You can just drop a speaker in each of your designated corners and go from there. The setup was very simple - unfortunately the back hookup connections don't seem to support banana plug configurations, but simply unspooling your speaker wire, clipping it and running it into the back is a piece of cake (far easier than some of the screw-top speakers I've worked with). Simply press down on the lever on the back, insert the exposed copper and these little wonders are hooked up. Took about 15-20 minutes to hook them all up and that's considering I had to run new wire from my existing 3.1 system to make it into a 5.1 system to fully test them out for this review.



Next, sound quality. The fidelity of these speakers is impressive. At $199 for the entire package, it almost seems too good to be true. While my current setup, with 60W per speaker does sound a bit better, I'm not sure it was worth the nearly $100 extra I had to put down when compared to the Monoprice system. The value is tremendous, especially for novice speaker aficionados and budget-minded buyers. The mid-range is just as good as equivalent speakers, the only real differences are in the high end (a bit) and the low end. On the low end, the subwoofer puts out a lot of noise, which is both a good and bad thing. On the one hand, this means you can have noise-rumbling power even at this low of a price point. On the other hand, it means that if you (like me) live in an apartment complex with sticky rules about annoying your neighbors, be prepared to turn the sub down considerably. If you favor a more acoustically neutral sound profile, the low end struggles a bit to blend into the kilohertz range of the main woofers that are in the 5 satellite speakers. In layman's terms, you'll definitely know when the subwoofer is going off versus when the low end reaches the range of the woofers (which for bass heavy enthusiasts is a plus).



Testing the system on a range of different mediums, it seems to most excel with music. I tested the system with both a vinyl player and your run-of-the-mill Spotify web stream and it handled both with aplomb. The speakers seem to have no trouble at all with music and in fact I had difficulty discerning the difference between their sound reproduction and my existing system - quite a feat for a lower-wattage system to accomplish.



For movies and games, the only thing that may benefit from an upgrade one day is the center channel, as it can occasionally get a bit tinny with voices, causing you to over-compensate on the receiver side. However, that being said, even if you went out and bought an individual center channel for your setup, it would likely cost almost as much as half of this setup currently, so bang-for-your-buck, keeping that center channel and compensating on the receiver is hands down the way to go.



Overall, I'm very impressed with these speakers. They managed to go toe-to-toe with much more powerful systems and time and time again impressed me. If you're looking for an entry-level, $200 speaker system, then this is the way to go. Only thing Monoprice has to do now is develop a receiver to go with this and sell them as a combo, then you'd essentially have a perfect place to point beginners for a complete system-in-a-box.



As a friendly reminder, don't forget to buy speaker wire with this speaker set as the box only contains the power cable for the subwoofer. You'll need 16 AWG speaker wire at the very least - sound reproduction seemed to work best when using a dedicated drop for the subwoofer versus your run of the mill speaker wire.

PROS: Speakers have a very small footprint

Large sound for their size and wattage

Shipping box is nice and compact as well

Mid-range sound quality is excellent

Incredible price value

CONS: Less dynamic and loud than 60+W speakers, but that's expected

Subwoofer is a bit too loud, even equalizing volume, tricky to get it to blend with the speakers on the first try (consider this a pro if you like a lot of bass)

I only write reviews for products that exceed my expectation or fall short of my expectations. The Premium Select 5.1 Channel Home Theater Satellite Speakers & Subwoofer exceeds my expectations. Simply put, these speakers do NOT sound like cheaply made low budget speakers. They have a simple, clean look and space saving size. They have a very good sound range with no rattling or distortion. The speakers are great for a modest sized listening environment.
This was my first order with Monoprice. The transaction was smooth, very fast and hassle free. The packaging was top notch.
I would recommend this product to a friend. In fact, I already have.


PROS: Great sound range.
Crystal clear.
Small size.
Great price.

CONS: Low power handling.

I wasn't really in the market for a set but I saw the deal, looked at the reviews, and went for it.
I am glad I did- look good have good range and great sound.

Bought this "tiny" package for a more discreet 5.1 install (had towers and an enormous sub before). Needed to downsize because of the WAF (wife acceptance factor) and having little kids around.

The sound isn't going to blow anyone away, but I am more than happy at the sound they provide. Who wants earth shattering music when babies are sleeping? Oh, maybe when they are crying? Watching the movies, the sound is immersive and the sub does an excellent job at rounding out the listening experience.

The installation is easy (although binding posts would be nicer than the push tabs) but it's great having a sub that you can hide an not use as a coffee table. As other users reported, have on hand speaker wire when you do set this up, it's not included. 14 gauge?





PROS: Size, price, simple design (not cheap looking)

CONS: Speaker wire tabs are inconvenient to use, but it's a minor nuisance, not a deal breaker.

This surround system offers surprisingly well-balanced sound from an unsuspecting small footprint and low price. I ran it as my primary setup for nearly a month for video games, movies, and music and found it well up to the task.





Satellites: As the manual advises, the satellites needed a little bit of time for break-in. At first the highs seemed a bit shrill and voices sounded a tad thin, but after a few days the highs toned down and the mids became smoother and much more forward and present. They even sound great on their own without the sub despite their small size. Where they do begin to drop out is in the low-mids. This becomes noticeable with baritone voices, as you start to hear the sub trying to fill in this frequencies that the satellites cannot reach.





Subwoofer: Initially I didn’t feel like I was getting much out of the sub, but after fiddling with the crossover and volume levels a bit it really started to compliment the satellites quite well. This is not a sub that will rattle the walls (or the neighbors), but it does round out the overall sound in the frequencies that the satellites can’t reach. One minor issue I had is that the auto power-on feature of the sub isn’t quite as sensitive as it could be. I tend to keep my volume quiet at night to avoid disturbing my roommates and neighbors, but at quiet volumes the sub doesn’t always kick on until a loud bass signal (such as a movie explosion) comes through.





Monoprice graciously provided me a demo unit for this review.

MP describes this system as having: "Focused and crisp highs, pronounced and well-defined mids, lows that rumble and punch." Sadly, "Focused and crisp highs" are the ONLY sounds that come from the satellite speakers. I'm still looking for the "pronounced and well-defined mids" and the "lows that rumble and punch." come ONLY from the sub-woofer. Overall, it is an "less-than-a-hundred-dollar" system. It is worth that amount IF and only IF you can accept the tinny sound of the remote speaks.

PROS: - looks decent and sounds okay most of the time
- sub-woofer can really rumble with the right settings (only the sub-woofer, though)
- you paid how much!!?
- acceptable sound can be obtained with lots of receiver-level digital sound processing


CONS: - satellites are VERY tinny on basic 5.1 standard settings
- sub-woofer is HUGE, but limited to interspersed low frequency sounds.
- instructions are pitiful
- sub-woofer challenging to configure for average user
- No speaker wire

Came packaged nicely. Setup easily. Didn't use the subwoofer with this setup. I used the sub in my mancave. I used a small sub that I had, and I didn't experience the sub/speaker combination problems a lot of people have had with this setup. Only had it 10 months and one of the speakers has died already.

PROS: Cheap and sounds pretty good.

CONS: One of the speakers has died already after 10 months. I'm giving it 3 stars for now. I'll give it another depending on how monoprice handles it. There no clear way in the return process to get one speaker. I'll get ahold of them as soon as I can, hopefully they can fix me up.

I received these speakers and was disappointed with the construction. The black plastic finish was mis-aligned with the screw sockets for mounting on the set I received. Its a minor cosmetic thing but didn't make me feel good about quality control.



The subwoofer gave me a constant hum using the LFE and the monoprice chat support told me it was because my Amp was pushing too much power. I didn't have this problem with an older sub with the same 200watt power rating.



I decided to return them and ended up paying close to $80 in shipping. So my attempt to save few bucks with these "budget minded" speakers is going to end up costing me more in the long run.