I got to admit that price was the main driver when I got this set of speakers. So, I was not expecting anything near-Bose quality, ok? In fact, I was replacing a nice set of JBL speakers I had for a long time and they were in a pretty bad shape. I did read the reviews and the claims about the poor craftmanship on these speakers and even so, I decided to run my chances. The reviews were right on the money. The speaker came nicely packed, but the quality of material was less than average. While unpacking, I've noticed a rattling sound inside the center speaker. So, I decided to unscrew one of the cones to find out where is rattling coming from. Surprise!, I found several of the screw that were supposed to hold the speaker's cone out of place, but hanging from the cone's magnet. Second, after I removed the cone, I've discovered there were loose "wood" pieces inside the center speaker. Anyway, after this ordeal, I finally put everything together and I must admit the sound was better than I expected. Thank God, otherwise I would have seriously considered to return this set of speakers. One very positive note, they came with a nice long set of audio cables. Bottomline, they are cheap because they CHEAP.