Philips DS8500 Fidelio

Phillips DS8500 Fidelio Dock

When the Philips Fidelio DS8500 speaker ($199) landed on our desk, our expectations were low. Reflexively, our eyes rolled a bit at the sight of the box, picturing what appeared to be the same lackluster Philips SBD7500 speaker we reviewed last year. To our surprise, the speaker that we pulled from the box was like nothing we've seen or heard from Philips in recent memory. The white, rounded design with gray grille cloth conveyed refinement--not mediocrity. The speaker's heft and ported enclosure hinted at its robust sound. Even the included iPod-size remote control showed a level of thoughtfulness that's rare for this product category and price range. After taking a minute to reset our preconceptions around Philips' iPod speakers, we sank our teeth into this refreshingly powerful and affordable product. The most surprising design aspect of the Fidelio speaker is its depth, stretching back 5.5 inches. For a product that measures 6 inches tall and 16.5 inches wide, that's a lot of junk in its trunk. Fortunately, Philips does its best to visually minimize the depth by rounding and tapering the white plastic back.