i ball Tarang 2.1 with FM

I listen to songs a lot, but used to do so on my laptop. And realized that the laptop speakers were really bad (tinny sound, no bass). It was high time to "upgrade" them. The criteria were simple; the new speakers should be:
1. 2.0 or 2.1 Channel so that they can easily be placed on my small desk beside the laptop. Preferably 2.0 as they would take up lesser space on the desk.
2. Decent sound quality with good bass.

After having done quite a lot of research, unaware of what's actually available in the market, I decided Creative T20 Series II would make for the best upgrade to my totally crappy laptop speakers. They were the best rated 2.0 speakers I could find. Amazon quoted $66.27 as its price (actual cost $69). I hoped to get them for Rs. 2-4K in India.

Hence began the hunt & went to good old SP Road, Bangalore & started asking around. Found that no one ever heard of any T20 or T40 series from Creative. Upon inquiring in a few shops and looking around, all I could find were Creative SBS A300, Creative SBS A335, Creative Inspire T3130, Sony SRS D4, Sony SRS D5, iball Tarang 2.1 with FM (and without FM), i ball Raaga with/without FM, some from Altec Lansing, Intex, FronTech, etc.

Finally realized that the speakers I was looking for might not have entered the Indian market yet. Or maybe it's a totally different world! Thanks to GPRS on my friend's phone, we looked at reviews of some of those speakers. We suspected speakers from outside India are probably branded as something else and sold here. Even the Creative speakers seemed like some local brand. They weren't listed on Amazon, no reviews, nothing. Only a bunch of Indian websites trying to sell them for cheap (though, of course, aren't cheap). Finally decided it was the best thing NOT to buy anything, yet.

Since I'd to buy something, I started inquiring about whatever was available in the market and decided to do a complete research on them after going home :) I liked i ball Tarang 2.1 with FM, but wanted to see its reviews first, if any, and also its' specs before buying. Heightened interest on this was primarily because of the FM. Also, wanted to find out more about those Creative SBS series, Sony SRS D4/D5, etc.

Research began after reaching home. Most relevant one about i ball Tarang 2.1 with FM I could find was in the comments section here. Seemed promising. Looking at its specs, thought it wasn't bad at all! And, just Rs. 2K at the shop we asked. After searching a bit more, reading on several forums about other speakers, etc. finalized that this was it.

So, we went back the next day to get a set. I was hoping to get them for even lesser price, so checked if anyone else had them. Seemed like the one we saw on the previous day was the last piece in the market! Wasting no more time, bought it where we'd inquired its price the previous day, for Rs. 2K.

Testing began immediately after coming back home. We had some trouble figuring out its not-so-user-friendly menus and their naming conventions. However, once we got it working, the first impression was really good. I felt very relieved for not having to listen to the totally crappy noise from my laptop speakers anymore.

It's been almost a week since I bought it, so in a nutshell my review on i ball Tarang 2.1 with FM,

Pros/Positives:
1. Really good "replacement" to the laptop speakers
    1.1 Good build of the speakers, i.e., wood encased, looks pretty neat too
2. Remote control
    2.1 Can do everything you need. So don't need to touch the speakers physically at all
    2.2 Can control bass and treble - no controls on the speakers for these though
3. Two external inputs, excluding FM. Implies you could also connect a music system or a TV and just have to press buttons to switch between the inputs
4. FM
    4.1 Stereo with pretty good quality
    4.2 FM remembers the last played channel out of 20 presets available

Cons/Negatives:
1. A low frequency buzz when there's nothing playing. This won't matter if you live in noisy surroundings. Ours is a relatively very quiet place & I usually sit very close to the speakers so the noise is easily noticeable. However, if running the speakers for a long time, the noise becomes significant! Switching off & back on temporarily fixes the problem.
2. I haven't tested higher volumes, but reviews said it's not good. Doesn't matter a lot to me though.
3. Few complaints regarding the remote:
    3.1 Not everything can be set without the remote. For example, bass & treble can't be adjusted without using remote. It should have had the same set of controls on the speakers too, just in case the remote's battery has reached its end of life.
    3.2 Remote uses a 5V button cell battery. Though it makes the remote extremely light, I felt AAA batteries might have been better as I could use a couple of rechargeable ones, forever :)
    3.3 Remote is a bit plasticky, felt like a sub par quality. No idea how long it's going to last.

Update (June):
As suspected earlier, the remote didn't last even a few months. Even with very little usage! It isn't a physical damage, but something internal. Will have to get it fixed before warranty runs out!

P.S. Those who wish to write ugly comments, read this