Awesome... to a point.

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Summary:

What we have here is an excellent 2.1 speaker system. Antec feels the MSRP is reasonable; they're pitting the speaker system against Bose's Companion 3 and cite that in their own studies, most people preferred the sound quality of the Rockus 3D. I have no doubt that's true, but the Companion 3 is a terrible deal, and it's the wrong product to target. The 2.1 systems the Rockus 3D really has to compete with are going to be in the neighborhood of $100 cheaper. At this point, the most popular 2.1 set on NewEgg is the Logitech Z-2300. We can argue that the THX certification doesn't mean a whole lot, and the Z-2300 doesn't offer an optical connection, but you're still left asking if the Rockus 3D is better. Without having Z-2300's on hand I can't say for sure, but I can say that as a consumer looking at speaker sets I'd probably err on the side of the cheaper set.

And that's really the question: is the Soundscience Rockus 3D worth $249? If sound quality does matter to you, and you're on something of a budget, and the optical connection is important to you, AND you don't have room for a 5.1 system.... At that juncture I would say yes, the Rockus 3D makes sense. There's no question it's an excellent speaker set, but the pricetag is awfully steep for a consumer 2.1 system.