Stereo music sounds great, too; the speakers conjure up a warm, pleasing tone that suits rock, jazz and classical music equally. But with the high-frequency-absorbing grilles on and the speakers’ mellow-sounding fabric-dome tweeters, these speakers do not produce the highly detailed treble that many audio enthusiasts crave. Nor do they produce as much of the enveloping, wraparound stereo effect I hear from very high-end speakers. Overall, the sound seems wonderfully balanced and well-suited to any music or movies I play.

And SLAPS works wonders—I have never heard slim tower speakers like these produce such pure, deep bass. Even the deepest bass notes in my DVD collection come through clearly, when practically any other speaker of this size would discard the bass or self-destruct trying to reproduce it. The speakers cannot play deep bass as loudly as a good subwoofer can; they will distort when pushed to very high volumes. But in most home settings, the bass of the tower speakers will easily suffice.

I try using the PN-1411 monitors as surround speakers, placing one on each side of the room, and get a nice effect. The PN-1411’s sound is quite similar to that of the tower and center speakers. The main difference, obviously, is that it cannot produce bass since it contains only a single 4-inch woofer. Nor can it play as loudly. The PN-4521 towers deserve a more robust playmate.

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