Altec Lansing FX5051
Nevertheless, this system can offer a great listening experience if you keep in mind that it's not going to shake the plates out of your cupboards. The Altec Lansing FX5051s are quite capable of delivering very good sound at higher-than-necessary volumes, but this is not a speaker system that you are going to impress your friends with in the raw power category: pushed too far, the distortion is quite distracting. In my opinion, Altec Lansing should have capped the volume to 90% of its current dial; it's simply too much for the system to handle above that, and it makes it seem a bit worse than it really is.
Still, the bottom line is that the Altec Lansing FX 5051 system is at least 3/4 as good as the more expensive competition, for less than 2/3 the price. As well, for a laptop user who's looking for 5.1 sound card/speaker combo that doesn't have to shatter windows, the FX5051 is absolutely perfect.
Author's Opinion
I imagine that some readers out there will consider it wishy-washy of me to recommend all three of the reviewed products in a 5.1 speaker system comparison. What I can say in response is that I was really impressed with all three of these products, and I refuse to diss any one of them just for the sake of claiming a victor. If a buyer knows what his or her needs are and buys one of these systems accordingly, I can't imagine he or she being disappointed with any of them.