Rockville TM80B Powered Home Theater Tower Speaker System, Black, 800W, 8″ Subwoofers, Bluetooth, USB/SD Playback, FM Radio, Remote Control, Karaoke Ready, Perfect for Home Entertainment

Need more time before I can give a definitive review
I bought this as a replacement to a Vizio surround system that just recently had the mid ranges blown out while I was playing around with an equalizer app on my phone (thanks, Neutralizer). As I like listening to my music in good quality speakers, meaning, speakers that work the way they were intended out the box and not necessarily high end or expensive stuff, I wanted to buy another system stat. (And needless to say, I learned a valuable lesson about playing with equalizer apps. I will now only use said apps with speakers that do not come with one built in, and whatever sound I pick first go around is stuck until the unit fails.)I want to start with the good before I get into the ugly. Oh, and this review is eating up schoolwork time, so it won’t be edited. We’re getting this review done in one take — no revises or edits. I’d first like to speak of the Bluetooth connectivity. Smooth and difficult to interfere with. Now, I have read some reviews speaking about the shoddy Bluetooth connection (bad potential consumer first impression), but I have yet to experience it. In fact, I had worse connection on my V-series Vizio surround system before upgrading to the M-series, and even then, the M-series still had some connectivity issues. The Rockville TM80 has yet to cause me any connectivity issues (good personal impression). This can certainly be chalked up to phone compatibility. I have a Motorola Tracphone specifically for music. Maybe Vizio has a difficult time staying connected to cheap phones? I don’t know. All I know is that the Rockville TM80’s Bluetooth hasn’t caused me any issues yet.Next, I’d like to speak about the aesthetic. A freaking +. This system is a beauty and a beast (we’ll get to that soon) all in one. She’s a rough and tumble, sleek and robust, ragtime gamine of a gal, and she’ll steal your heart (men, women, and non-binaries alike). This system looks so great — especially cherry (the one I purchased).That’s where the good ends. Onto the meh and the frustrating. The remote is horrible. There is some kind of delay from when the buttons are pressed and the system response. Not only that, but you have to hold the remote in a specific way if you want it to work JUUUUUUUST right. It’s annoying… Then there’s the sound. It’s not bad. Not bad by any means. But it’s apparent this unit is a bit of an acquired tase in the sound department. There is a lot of bass, like, for days. The built-in equalizer only exacerbates the speakers’ odd sounds. In fact, when I first started playing with equalizer, I wondered to myself if perhaps it was three or four bands instead of the self-reported 8 in the user manual. I like to get my music to where I can hear the highs, mids, and lows in a ratio that give me goosebumps and the tingles. Unfortunately, that is not possible here with this unit because of the system’s innate sound. Swap from country to jazz preset and the mid ranges get REALLY soft. Swap from NOA to AOC and the highs nearly fall off completely. Presets just seem to drag sounds forward and push sounds back (I mean duh, that’s what equalizers do, but this is to the extreme). And as an aside, there seems to be one speaker that cannot handle certain frequencies on the NOA equalizer preset SPECIFICALLY: it’s weird. It’s fine on every other preset, yet distorts when in NOA… Again, weird, but not a fatal flaw. I just chalk it up to the built-in amp, since a metallic ring (you know, that old school speaker metallic ring that should be a thing of the past) seems to be coming from this one top speaker and the same on the other speaker, though, assuming again, I believe the other speaker does not distort due to hitting handling different frequencies(?). Finally, since I’ve rambled long enough. THE WEIGHT. She. Is. A. Beast. I’m thirty years old, live alone, have 115LBS to my name during summers and 125LBS (on a GOOD day) during winters, and I’m only 4’11”. This unit was heavy. I’d go so far to say it was heavier that the self-reported 40 something in the user manual. I can lift 50 pounds relatively fine. That’s not really an issue. But these speakers almost blew my backout, and they didn’t even offer to wine and dine me first. Now, this is only a personal pet peeve, and by no means is this a part of my review, so to speak. But they were heavy enough to the point where I considered returning them. Thankfully the postman was there, and even a neighbor was there, to help me put the box on a cart and haul to the elevator. But I prayed and prayed the thing would work right out the box, because it was so heavy that I had a difficult time removing it from the box. Welp, it’s set up, it works, and it looks nice. So, I guess that’s all that should matter. Despite all the cons I mentioned, however, it is a good system overall. Can’t speak to its longevity at the moment, as I’ve only had it a few days (oh, but boy did it come way, way earlier than expected). I can’t speak to the connectivity of the RCA or coaxal inputs, as I am only using Bluetooth, since my blown-out midrange Vizio system has since been delegated to TV duty. But it is an overall great sound system, albeit with a few kinks that need some ironing out. Rockville has the potential to be a heavy hitter if they only upped their quality assurance. I can see them being my first pick alongside Vizio. Do I regret branching out from Vizio? No. But would I ever buy from Rockville again? Maybe. Depends on if they ever decide to dial their quality up to eleven, so that they have fewer unfavorable reviews on Amazon and everywhere else for their products. You can do it, Rockville! Just look at what the competition is doing and do it better or in an interesting and fun way.