How is this product different (inferior?) to the much more expensive R2000db model?

The R2000DB has two obvious features that help produce a superior sound as compared to the R1700BT. 1) a 5" main speaker (woofer) as compared to the 4" speaker found on the 1700. Yes it's only an inch larger but with small speakers an additional 1" is large bump up. (Just as a 3 inch speaker would be a huge step down!). The inch increase brings a substantial increase in deeper base and more room filling sound. It will also offer higher quality music reproduction at a higher/louder volume with better separation of midrange sounds. So you can play it louder than the 1700 before any real notice of compromising sound quality. 2) The R2000 has a considerably larger amplifier. 120 RMS as compared to the 1700's 66 RMS. This supplies the power needed to push that 5" speaker and provide quality sound. I personally feel the amplifier size is more important than speaker size. Don't be fooled by underpowered "Powered" speakers. There are additional benefits of the 2000 covered by another answer. Size, range of the BT, and plug in options are all better and bigger with the 2000. I've chosen to speak to the 2 options that make the biggest contribution to better sound when comparing the two.

are these good enough without a dedicated powered subwoofer?

These speakers are really just glorified computer speakers!! There's even a designated input just for your PC, that's why they're only $99!! And they only have 4" driver/woofers. These were not designed to be so called a 'theater 5.1 Dolby surround sound system'! I'm not saying that they are not good speakers but a lot of people don't understand that when you are spending $99 on a pair of speakers that have Bluetooth built in and it actually has a designated RCA input labeled 'PC'! And the reviews that I've read about them not being that loud and I read one about how it was louder hooking it up to your computer than it was when you had it hooked up to your TV!!!! First of all I'm going to guarantee that these are consumer rated at -10dB for the line input, which means that they are not going to perform like professional +4dB line level speakers! When hooking them to your TV, I don't know exactly what you did but you also have to make sure that you go into the settings on your TV and find your audio out settings and change it from the built-in speakers to 'line out' or external speakers, or whatever your TV labels it as, because if your signal doesn't know where to go or how it should react when it gets there, it's probably the reason that it sounds louder coming from your PC because the speaker inputs are built and rated to match the rating of the computer outputs and they are most likely both rated at -10dB which is a consumer rating! If you're looking for a theatre system performance ..... you're going to have to spend more than $99!!!

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