Last fall in Las Vegas, at the computer industry's mega convention, COMDEX, I was underwhelemed. The halls were jammed full of me-too Web products, chip fans and exhibitors who had no more business exhibiting at a computer show than Godiva Chocolates would at a Weight Watchers convention.
One of the few interesting products I saw was a set of pencil-thin computer speakers from Benwin. The BW2000 speakers measure only seven millimeters thick and produce sound by using a piston-like action that causes the entire surface to vibrate, distributing sound evenly in a 360-degree radius without hot spots or a reduction in sound level.
What this means to space-challenged computer users is that the speakers are not as placement-critical as traditionally designed speakers.
The BW2000 system consists of two 5-inch-by-7-inch speakers that attach to a set of elegantly designed brackets, along with a subwoofer unit containing an off-on switch, LED power indicator, volume and tone controls and a headphone jack in case you want to play Sega Rally Championship at full throttle without waking your spouse. The cabling for the BW2000 is simple yet not flimsy, and is easy to connect--something that can be a problem with systems using subwoofers.
While style plays an important role in selecting speakers--and the BW2000 has gobs of style--it's the sound they produce that matters. Bass response is acceptable, with good mid-range and excellent high-end response and, while they don't have the warmth and depth of my Bose MediaMates, they cost almost half as much ($100). Music CDs sound good but multimedia discs and games with optimized special effects sound spectacular. From a pure sound perspective, the BW2000 system sounds better than any speaker system you will find on the shelves at a well-stocked computer store. The BW2000 simply sounds as good as it looks.
(ComputerUser Contributing Editor Joe Farace is a Colorado writer/photographer who's written 21 books about computing, graphics and digital imaging.)
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