The speaker works great out of the box. It has a volume knob separate from the speakers which are wired up and the volume knob also has a switch and a headphone output. The sound quality overall is great, and it can get quite loud if you crank it up all the way. A problem that I am having however is that the wires that connect the speakers are very thin and sometimes one side doesn't work and I have to move it around till it does. The subwoofer also has an adjustment knob so you can turn it off or set it all the way up. I use it daily to listen to music in my room while I study and other than one side of the speaker not turning on when moved around, there is absolutely no issues with it