Digital Home Thoughts: Rocking with the TSAT-2000s from The Speaker Company

Sound Quality
Sound quality is probably one of the most subjective things you can review, so before I start off this part of the review I wanted to clarify that I am not an audiophile and have not developed the ear that those who regularly review speakers have for subtle nuances. On the plus side, most consumers haven’t either, so what you will get here is the high level assessment of what a “normal” person thinks of these. I’m going to test with music movies and games, using the optical output on my xBox 360 to send material to my amp. I’ll be doing two types of tests. First I’m just going to hook up the left channel and leave an AR attached to the right channel. This should let me do a pretty effective side by side comparison. The second test will be with all five speakers hooked up and should let me assess the speakers working together on their own merits. So, let’s get to it.

I’ll be the first to admit that my first test really isn’t a fair comparison. The ARs have a dynamic range going down to 38 Hz as opposed to 120 Hz for the TSATs. The lack of a low end was very apparent in a side by side test. However, I also noticed that the sound from the TSAT speaker was what I would describe as crisper and cleaner. I was able to hear more subtle details on the high end than I was from the AR side.

After hooking up the other four, I noticed more of the same, a very crisp and clean sound but lacking in the low end. So I fired up my sub and was disappointed to still find the low end lacking. Then my brain kicked in and realized that I had the crossover set pretty low for use with the ARs. So I experimented and found that between boosting the crossover to about 140 htz and slightly increasing the sub-woofer's volume, I was able to come up with very satisfactory results. So with a smile on my face, I auditioned them for the rest of the day. I listened to music while working around the house, watched portions of the HD versions of 300 and Serenity, and played some Guitar Hero and the TSATs performed well for all uses. I pumped the volume well past my comfort level and they remained clear and without any obtrusive hissing.

Pricing
Having not bought speakers in nearly a decade, I’ll have to admit, I had to do some research into what current prices were. Right off the bat, I knew these had to be a pretty good buy because 10 years ago, the ARs cost more each than this entire setup costs. I took a look at the pricing for some of the sets The Speaker Company indicated were competitors and found that the competition seemed to cost more and offer less in both the features and style department. However, most of these sets included a sub-woofer. My contact indicated that numerous sub offerings were going to be available in the very short term, so it looks like you should be able to add one and still stay below the prices of these other setups.

Conclusion
Once I added in a sub-woofer and calibrated it properly, I found the TSATs very satisfying. As you would expect, head-to-head, I would choose the ARs on overall sound quality, but only by a small margin. Factoring in the size, price and aesthetics along with my desire to go for something more minimalist to complement a flat panel TV, these are exactly what I am looking for. Best of all, you don’t have to take my word for it. The Speaker Company offers free shipping and free return shipping, so you’ve got no risk in trying them out, and at $449.97, I think you’ll find them to be keepers.

Chris Gohlke is a Contributing Editor for Digital Media Thoughts. He loves poker, RPGs, and Sci-Fi and loves to get his hands on real-life tech gadgets. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, USA with his wife and three cats.