Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1 Surround Speaker System - Short Review

Balancing style, price, and sound quality can be tough when choosing loudspeakers. If you are looking for a compact loudspeaker system to complement your HDTV, DVD and/or Blu-ray Disc player, check out the stlyish, compact, great sounding, and affordable, Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1 Surround Speaker System. The system consists of 5 compact satellite speakers which can be set on a shelf or wall mounted (even in a corner wall space), and a compact 8-inch powered subwoofer. After reading this short review, for additional perspective and closer look, also check out my Full Review and Supplementary Photo Gallery.

I found that the the Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1 Surround Speaker System delivered clear sound across a wide range of frequencies and well-balanced surround sound image.

The center channel sounded better that I expected it would, especially since the speaker design is so much smaller than any center channel speaker I have used. On the other hand, the diminutive size of speaker did seem to contribute to a lessening of strong impact on some vocals and dialog. A modification of the design for the center channel such as employing two mid-range/woofers and one tweeter, might add more depth. The size of the speaker would not be significantly larger than the satellites, but may provide a better presence for dialog and vocals. However, that being said, the center channel does integrate well into the rest of the system. With a little center channel tweaking using a home theater receiver, I obtained good listening results.

The rest of the satellite speakers, which were used as both left and right mains and surrounds, performed their job well. Although very compact, they held their own in reproducing both front and surround, and balanced well with the powered subwoofer.

I found the powered subwoofer to be a good match for the rest of the speakers. Despite its compact size, and lack of effective bass response below 50Hz, in real world listening, the subwoofer provided a good sounding low frequency transition from the mid-range and high-frequency response of the satellite speakers.

Although I would, by no means, consider this a true audiophile speaker system, Boston Acoustics has delivered an affordable, good quality, system for a more mainstream user who may also be concerned about size and affordability. I give the Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1 Surround Speaker System a solid 4 out of 5 Star Rating.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.