Why I buy this one ?
- 5.1-channel surround sound system designed specifically to enhance video game audio
- Includes 5 satellite speakers with 3-1/2-inch woofers and 3/4-inch metal dome tweeters
- 100-watt 8-inch matrix cone subwoofer with MaxxBass augmentation
- Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Pro Logic II decoding; 3 digital audio inputs, 1 analog input, and USB 1.1 port
- 300-watt digital DDX amplifier; 10-year limited warranty

What our customer's say!

"A Decent 5.1 System For Those On A Budget", Don't let the "Xbox" name fool you; This is a decent surround sound setup. The sound is good, the setup is easy, and the remote actually has more buttons than you'll need.

Pros:
* Color-coded wires make setup easy.
* Remote is comprehensive.
* Bass is strong, Trebles are also good.
* High quality sound for a low price.
* Built-in handle on woofer/receiver is very useful.
* Plenty of inputs, including optical, coax, and analog.
* Speakers are solidly built and disperse sound evenly.
* Handles DTS quite well.

Cons:
* VERY heavy.
* Speakers are large and heavy, and could be difficult to place (especially center).
* Supposed USB update ability seems to have been scrapped.
* Remote has extraneous buttons reserved for "future use" that don't do anything ("future use" never happened).
* Remote is not universal, so DVD controls on remote are useless.
* Digital display can not be dimmed and must face forward.
* Certain modes seem to have a quiet hiss when no sound is being produced.
* Flakes out and stalls, requiring cold reset every once in a rare while.
* Interferes with OTA digital broadcast signal strength if too close to OTA antenna.

I'd recommend this unit for anyone who wants surround sound for their entertainment center, but who doesn't want to spend a lot of money. This sounds as good, and offers as many options as some $300 systems at half (or less) the price.

"Almost perfect", I have been using this system for more than 2 months. It's great for the price I paid. Only problem I see is the surround sound is very weak, I have to up the volume to almost 40 to properly hear front & center speaker output. At this high volume, Bass and rear speakers are too loud. I tried changing the individual speaker volumes, but no luck.
However, sound is perfect for stereo and Dolby PL2 modes. Problem is only when input is in 5.1.


"Great setup for small home", I had purchased mine in the begining of the year for $ 99.00 from cosco. Great buy at that price. I recently was using a Panasonic dvd receiver which was great when played dvds that were DTS,Dolby Digital, but could not use that feature for Xbox or 360. This item is great for what i use it for. There is one thing that im still not sure about that many more have mentioned before me is that exspansion slot for future device or something. ?????? When were there be any info on this. I recently purchased some Kinyo KY-100 5.1 Surround Sound Headphones which i cant wait to try it out on this sound system.

"Great product", I bought this a few months ago for $150 and i would say its the best system available for such cheap price. I am not a tech genius but iam very happy with the system. The setup was a breeze and the sound was very good. I had the same problem with the remote, mentioned by another reviewer. The system suddenly doesnot respond to the remote and i have to switch it off using the switch in the back of the subwoofer. This has happened quite a number of times to get me annoyed. Since if i switch it off, i have to setup the surround speakers again and it takes a while. I use this speaker for my Xbox 360 through the optical input and it sounds wonderful. I started playing call of duty 2 the first time i bought it and i was amazed at the sound and effects. i could pretty much hear where people were shooting at me and also whether grenades were exploding to my left or right or front. It was amazing. I havent owned any other surround sound systems before but i am very happy with this one. Hopefully we would get more updates from the website, especially for the remote. Overall i would rate it a 5/5 (provided a update for remote is available pretty soon)

"Review of Xbox Spherex 51000", Great sound system!

Well built and designed by engineers for the "user." One particular feature that demonstrates its design quality is the absence of speaker "boom." When powering up the system, after inadvertently leaving the volume on high, the volume automatically begins at a low setting and slowly steps up to its last setting to prevent speaker damage. The remote is well built with many personalization settings to taylor the sound.

The price is reasonable and I can't imagine any buyer being disappointed.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"ASTOUNDING SOUND QUALITY AND VALUE", I actually do not own a XBOX. I want a SMALL surround sound system for my living room and I don't want too many bulky electronics. I decided to for for Spherex based on many raved reviews. The satellite speakers are based on the highly-regarded Omnipolar technology developed by Mirage system.

I was not disappointed

Out of the box there's MINIMAL adjustment needed - just hook up your TV's analog output and your DVD player's digital output to the subwoofer. There are 2 optical and one coaxial digital inputs and one analog input (total of 4 inputs). No need to buy bulky receiver / amplifier. After breaking-in the satellite speakers for a few hours (this is very important) and then put the subwoofer in the corner of my living room (where it should be placed), I fired up the system for critical listening.

My first impression is that this is a SUPERB, neutral sounding system. I also have a Rotel / Vandersteen surround system in my theater room (over 10 times the cost of the Spherex) and I have to say the Spherex system held on its own. Its sound stage is incredibly wide and deep, especially for my small living room. The treble is smooth, not fizzy. The subwoofer is full and tight-sounding, perfectly matching the satellites. I then hook up my home theater PC to it and play my classical MP3 collection ripped at 256 kbps via the Dolby Pro-logic II mode - again superb sounding.

For movies the Dolby Digital and DTS works superbly as well. The sound stage is again incredibtly wide and immersive. Try to watch the Lord of the Ring with Spherex and you will see what I mean.

Now the down-side. There's some mild static noise when no music is playing - it does not bother me at all, considering there's nothing in this price range (surround receiver + surround sound speakers) that can match the Spherex (I paid $380 shipped). Secondly, it doesn't look like audiophile product - then again it's only $380. Third, it doens't use regular speaker cables (it use RCA plug speaker cable - go figure.) I need more than 20 feet for my rear speakers so I have to go to Radioshack to buy longer cables.

Overall I am thrilled by the sound quality of the Spherex system.
Five Mirage Omnipolar speakers + a subwoofer + a receiver easly cost over $900. I have not compared it to the Logitech Z-5500 system which is probably Spherex's closed competition but it does not have the Omnipolar technology.

Bottom line - anyone looking for a small surround sound speaker system and don't want bulky electronics should check the Spherex out. YOU DON'T NEED A XBOX TO ENJOY THIS SYSTEM.

"Had everything I need ... however", Ok, to start off I'm not an audiophile. I have used and dived into tens, if not hundreds, of audio and video devices and systems. I get to know what I buy and don't stop at just getting a component to work.

So far, this system is performing well, but the sound quality I was expecting, expectations can jade ones experience if they are too high, was not quite there. Part of this is definitely related to the room of use, which is less than optimal for surround. However, I was hoping, based on reviews, that this system with its non-direct focus of sound would help null that out. I also, jsut recently got the system, so its hardly been tuned to its best performance. It far surpasses my fairly new TV's speakers, but that's not really hard to do, since most TV's have mediocre to poor speakers at best.

Overall, the sound is very good. The system installation is trivial. It has 2 optical and one coax digital inputs, which was perfect for my three digital sources; XBox 360, Showcenter 200 (HD video/audio client), and an HD digital cable box. There is an additional analog input (2 coax for left and right and a cable that will convert that to a 1/8" stereo plug for MP3/Computer/.... Also included is the currently non-usable USB port for firmware upgrades as well as playing digital audio from a computer; no new firmware is posted and the PC drivers for the digital audio does not appear to be ready. One final output port allows attachment of headphones or other audio recording device. As I mentioned in my title, that was absolutely perfect for me and my wife; now all our audio is through one "receiver" and can be heard through speakers or headphones. The rest of the plugs are for speakers; all standard RCA type jacks. The speaker wire was surprisingly thin. I would have thought that it would have been a little beefier. Then again, they are only putting 55W/channel front and 16W rear, so I suppose the thickness is relatively trivial at that relatively low wattage. They are upgradeable, since every cable is RCA on both ends. There is also a big expansion slot, but I've not seen any info about probable uses from the company. This could be a source of more inputs, output channels (7.1) although I doubt that, THX filtering maybe, all on an expansion card. The speakers are small and decorative, however, despite wall mounting holes built into the case, they strongly recommending that you not do that; despite all the demos they show at their site places the speakers on the wall (go figure). The reflective sound nature is deadened by position so close to the wall (they recommend 3 feet between speaker and wall) reducing the effectiveness of the surround effect and overall sound quality. Also on this note, placing them in a confining space like a low book shelf or audio/TV cabinet/stand shelf will have a tendancy to make the speakers sound muddy (which was my first experiece with them.) That makes the placement of the center channel speaker difficult; the best would be on top of a tall TV cabinet with the TV inside, if you have one, or on top of the TV, which is impossible for me since me DLP's case is too thin on top. The Sub wofer is good and somewhat adjustable. The included remote is adequate, but a multi-device remote becomes a big help when you start turning on and configuring three devices (TV, Video (DVD), and audio receiver.)

The display unit provide, also is the IR receiver, is intersting and provides a lot of info about what's currently being played. However, it's sometimes difficult to discern which features are really lit from across the room; there are 14 total, 7 on each side, and some turn from green to red to indicate an additional mode.

The only "problem" I've experienced is the unit, when powered of by the remote (power switch on the unit is left on), will sometimes not power back up again from the remote. When this happens, I need to turn the power switch of and then back on, and the system responds normally. They do state in the manual that you should power the unit off, via the switch on the back, when the unit will not be used for a while; just like a receiver or TV. I am a little concerned about this issue, which leads me to my next point.

I like the idea that this is upgradable with firmware via the USB port. New features, fixes (hopefully for the power on one), and performance improvements are just a download away. However (I say that alot), this also leads me to believe that companies are shipping products early, letting the end user debug problems, and fixing the most serious that effects the most users. A great business model for making money and cutting costs, but I feel that gone are the days of getting a reliable product that does what it claims to do and then using it. An example here is the PC digital audio. "The software is not ready yet" is the claim. Well then, why was it listed as a feature instead of a future enhancement. This current firmware fix fascination is leading to this kind of product development; shoot for the stars and if we reach orbit, that's good enough and they'll still buy it. Ok, off my soapbox.

To sum up, sound is very good but didn't blow me away, unit sets up in minutes, wish it an input or two more (1 digital and 2 analog preferrable for a total of 4 and 3) for future needs (again it met mine right now, but I'm out of inputs), upgrades are easy, and reliability is in question (it locks up and won't respond to power command from the remote; hopeful software fix). All in all I'm pleased (mostly because I got it at a great price), but I thought it was a little pricey for the sound that I'm experiencing. I recommend it, if you have some cash to throw around and a place to run all those wires (a common problem for almost all surround systems.) Hope that helps.

"Simply great", I bought these speakers along with an XBox 360 as part of a bundled package. Now I'm more excited about playing movies, music and games through these speakers than the xbox 360 itself. The setup was simple and even my wife appreciates the wonderful, encompassing surround sound these speakers provide. I've listened to other surround sound systems of various prices and quality and the only one that equals this system was a $10,000 7.1 surround system custom made. These speakers are that good.

"get this!", All other systems are gloriously subpar; the dudes at Spherex have given mankind something to be proud of. Once you play Halo 2 and Ghost Recon2 on XBOX Live you realize that Spherex Surround does really come full circle.

For movies-it's unbriddled satisfaction; even better than gaming!! There is no sweet spot infront of your TV-all speakers can be individually volume adjusted!!!!

soon, PC to Spherex audio will be possible via USB!

check out: MaxxBass, DDX, Ti

...the remote fell in juice and it's still cranking on!

get this!

"The best value under $500", I wanted a surround sound system not just for gaming but for watching DVDs in Dolby 5.1 and DTS. After reading extensive reviews from gaming and home theatre sites, the choice was clear.

The Spherex system fits nicely in my apartment without taking up a lot of room, yet offers a sound experience much larger than its size suggests. I am impressed not just by the bass but by the clarity of the mid and high frequencies. Equally impressive is the wide sweet spot.

Gaming experience on the Xbox is so much better with the Spherex - epecially Doom 3 (you feel you are truly there with the sound immersion like when the door closes or a monster materializes behind you). Same goes for action movies.

The same sweet spot technology in the Spherex is also found in the higher end Mirage line of speakers at a fraction of the cost.

What's the con about this product? There is only one analog input but this becomes a diminishing requirement with everything going digital nowadays.

One thing I dislike is that the unit may still consume 60W in standby mode. I manually power off the unit via the rocker switch behind the subwoofer to avoid the 60W consumption.

Finally, what other product offers a 10-year warranty nowadays?