Besides, I probably don't have the nit-picking prissiness essential to an audiophile. In a perfectly quiet room, at my peak, on a good day, I might be able to detect the difference between a couple o' thousand bucks worth of audio gear and equipment costing a hundred times that much.

A few months ago, I went shopping for new speakers. I'd long ago outgrown the inexpensive 10-year old Radio Shack specials, and recently moved out of a tiny Manhattan studio apartment into a place large enough to have an actual *room* for speakers. I'd even managed to convince my wife that speakers were a worthwhile purchase.

The first thing to decide in a situation like this is your price range. Spending twice as much probably won't get you speakers that sound twice as good, so money isn't necessarily the best criteria. Another thing to consider is the type of music you'll be listening to. Is there really any point in spending a small fortune to hear every nuance of that latest Nine Inch Nails' noisefest?

Some speaker-buying pointers:

• Test results on paper are only a vague guide. The real test is how good they sound to you, a purely subjective judgement.

• In general, small speakers mean lousy bass--though Bose has made this less of a factor in some of their speakers.

• Stereo stores usually try to herd you into a listening room where all the speakers sound great. They won't necessarily sound as good at home. The best way to test speakers is in your own living room. Many stereo stores will let you to do this--or at least return speakers you're unhappy with after a short trial period.

• Speaker placement affects the sound. For example, you can boost the bass by placing your speakers in the corners of a room.

• Test speakers using music you're familiar with. The music at the stereo store has often been picked to minimize the flaws of the equipment they're demonstrating.

I decided on some test music and used a CD-R burner to make a disc to take with me on my quest. After trying a dozen sets of speakers, I had a few final candidates, but a friend convinced me to try Cambridge SoundWorks' Ensemble speakers. Cambridge sells most of its speakers directly via mail order and over the Net, and they all have a 30-day money-back guarantee. I searched for reviews of the Ensemble speakers, and even the least complimentary review called them a tremendous bargain, so I threw caution to the wind and bought my first set of mail-order speakers.

The speakers arrived in a large box just a few days later. Ah...the smell of new. The satellites were surprisingly heavy and had switches on the back to change their frequency response. In a thoughtful gesture, some speaker wire was included. The 5-way binding posts on the back accept any kind of speaker wire, even the type that ends in weird connectors. I hooked 'em up and tried my test disc.

I was floored. The speakers were among the best I'd heard. The sound had amazing presence and definition. The classical guitar selection sounded like a live guitarist was in the room. There were bass notes I'd been missing entirely. On good CDs, every instrument seemed to have a definite spatial location. I was hearing parts of my CDs I'd never heard before.

I've had the Ensemble speakers for a little over six months now and I'm spoiled. My television has stereo output, and I've gotten into the habit of listening to the TV through the stereo speakers. I could swear the picture improves along with the sound. My Sony Playstation has gone from sounding like a cheap arcade game to a movie in a good theater. A friend of mine came over to the apartment just to groove on the sounds.

Thrift and a lack of anal-retentive tendencies mean I'll never be a diehard audiophile, but thanks to Cambridge SoundWorks' Ensemble speakers, I can just imagine how the other half lives.

- Andrew Sasaki [4/8/98]

Other stereo equipment reviewed on Street Tech:

• Grado SR60 Headphones
• Realistic STA-730 Receiver and Optimus 50 Speakers
• Sony D-1000 Discman