The Crossfire's satellites utilize Audax drivers, a 3" cone for midrange and a 10mm polymer dome for high frequency, both of which are fully shielded.

The subwoofer uses an Audax 6.5" cone, housed in a sturdy MDF brushed cabinet.

The amplifier/control unit is large, it's about the height and length of a component-level CD player, say, a 5-disc carousel unit, but cut in half in terms of width. It fits nicely on top of the subwoofer, but it's too large to be properly placed on top of a PC's ATX tower.

The amplifier's control panel is magnificent. While it may look somewhat dour and uninviting at first glance, trust us when we say that the feel of its controls is absolutely top notch. The volume, fade, subwoofer volume, source, and quad buttons all move with absolute precision, and have a bit of weight to them as well. No plastic low-grade buttons or knobs here, just buttoned down refinement.

The Crossfire package gives the impression that it will last a good long time, no matter what abuse its user may subject it to. The sheer weight of each component communicates high tolerances, and the MDF cabinet that encloses the subwoofer is enclosed in looks able to handle a low-yield nuclear bomb blast should the need arise.

In terms of connectivity, the Crossfire shows its PC-orientation. On the back of the amplifier/control module there are a variety of RCA IN ports, as well as an LFE IN port for using the Crossfire with a DVD player.

The Crossfire will accept Dolby Digital 5.1 playback from a set-top DVD player should a user wish to go this route, but being that it's a 4.1 system and omits the center channel/speaker of a true 5.1 system like VideoLogic's DigiTheater has, we wouldn't recommend this path.

The missing 5.1 center channel can be down-mixed into the left and right front speakers of the Crossfire system via your Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder, which is adequate in our minds but not optimal.

Other audio sources, such as a CD player, MiniDisc player, or other stereo component, can be hooked directly into the powered Crossfire system via gold plated RCA IN jacks. The system works well in this fashion, as a switch on the control panel's front side allows changing between up to three individual sources easily.