Review: Really Pleasantly Surprised
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2012
Grace-Matchstick SpeakersIt seems lately, that every time I order something that is supposed to make my life easier or better, it will come with an instruction manual an inch thick AND with incomprehensible  buttons out the wazoo. The manual is usually so technical that I would need an engineering degree to understand the directions, and all the various buttons and switches usually just complicate my life too much.I am NOT a techie person, and my friends joke that I am nearly a Luddite, but I have to tell you , when this Matchstick came it was actually user-friendly. It is made so simply that I really didn't even have to read the directions to set it up and even work it.  Though I do recommend that you do since after setting it up you do need to know what the buttons do on the remote. and frankly even they are self-evident!I simply took it out of the box, stuck the male end of the cord into the female receptacle, plugged it in to the outlet on my kitchen counter, slid in my Fire and was ready to try this baby out.I admit that the cord isn't long enough if you are going to try and put this far from a plug---but lets face it, you can use an extension cord and put it anywhere you would like.I love, love, love the quality of the sound I get. No, it isn't Bose quality, but for the price you can't expect it.  What you can expect is good clear sound from your movies with the ability to turn it up loud enough to hear and not have to worry about distortion from the speakers.  (I'm a tad hard of hearing and I love that I don't have to use a head set when watching my movies now...this product took care of that issue for me).Listening to my music was another thrill for me.  I loved being able to fiddle around with the treble and bass but if I don't like what I've set then by a click of the button I can go back to the factory setting which were to my taste.Be aware that you cannot use regular batteries in the remote when you need to change them --what may be obvious to some people isn't obvious to everyone and I'm afraid that until I read that I might have made a mistake in the future...see I told you I was technologically unaware!  The directions are so easy to understand that I just want to kiss the author.You can also hook up your iPhone, iPad, Kindle Touch and the Kindle DX to it to.  I adore the idea that I can get a better quality of sound from the audio books and that you can hear the books even when moving around your room or even a  room or so away from the Matchstick.Some people may find that the power button is in a spot that is inconvenient, but be aware you can swivel the Fire to landscape mode to make it easier for those with larger fingers than I have, to turn it on.All in all I think that this is something I can live with for a good long time, it even looks good on my kitchen counter where I set it up.  Perfect for when I want to `listen' to a recipe while I'm cooking, or to simply charge my Fire.*PRODUCT SUPPLIED BY MANUFACTURER*.