Klipsch, $249, only from the manufacturer at http://www.klipsch.com or 1-800-KLIPSCH

Not to get too technical with the hardware jargon, but "holy sh**t!" That's our official and expert opinion of Klipsch's astounding 5-piece speaker set. No one has ever approached 400 watts of speaker power for the desktop before, but the results are not overkill. The Klipsch set is not just loud but truly energized. The sound effects of a Quake3 rocket launcher will make your eyes blink and your shirt twitch. They carry a "THX certification," which apparently means the guys at Lucas Arts singled them out as theater-quality speakers. Whatever. All I know is that this massive subwoofer has been banging it out under my desk for a week now and I'm starting to wonder whether I'll be able to sire any more children. Hell with it. I'll adopt, just don't take away these speakers.

The Klipsch units are not digital, so you may not get that truly sanitized, hiss-free sound available in some of the newest competitors. But this set has a clarity, range of sound and sense of presence that truly blows away even the other high-end speakers we've heard from Cambridge and Boston Acoustics. This upgrade is so good, you'll reload all of the games you've played before just to hear the subtle tracks you missed before. My wife has to beg me to use the headphones now. She's either tired of the thrumming coming through the wall or she's trying to preserve my fertility.

This one is the easiest purchase of the lot because the Klipsch units are available only direct from the manufacturer (http://www.klipsch.com or 1-800-KLIPSCH). Housemates take note, the Klipsch units do not have a headphone jack on the control speaker, so the smart defensive move is to pair this present with the SBLive Platinum, which puts a jack on the CPU's drive bay. The absence of a headphone jack seems like a quaint oversight by a company that usually puts out high-end home theater equipment. It never occurred to them that anyone in their right mind would want to put on headphones after listening to these beauties.