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- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 7 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"DAMN good for games & movies; decent for music, too"
Pros: Clean sounding satelites;low distortion bass available
Cons: Kinda big, not cheap, slight hiss from speakers at all times
Summary: I'm an audiophile; I design my own speakers and have ability to measure speakers, etc. For $225 incl. shipping this system is damn good for games & movies in a home office, and decent sounding for nearfield music listening. Not really a monitor speaker for semi-pro or home recording studio, but nice for listening to CDs or streams. Subwoofer capable of decent low-distortion fundamental bass down to 30 Hz, with output falling off below that. You won't get 30 Hz at acceptable levels of distortion from ANY 6.5 or 5 inch sub. So, set up properly, the bass is as it should be- clean, accurate, powerful. And, aside from room modes, the sub is not "tubby" or "bloomy" in the ~80 Hz region, either. A well designed sub.
The electronics - the amplifiers driving the satellites- need to be quieter. It's a shame they don't have maybe 6 or 10 dB better s/n ratio for the amps, 'cause otherwise this would get a little better rating. Come on, Creative! Use a better design for the amps! It's not a LOT of hiss, but if you have a DEAD SILENT PC like I do, you can hear a slight hiss at all times from the speakers if you are quiet. The hiss level is just above "quiet room ambience" and DOES vary with volume control setting. You can minimize it by judicious setting of levels from your sound card (sound card should be WFO!) but there's still a little hiss. By comparison, for example, my other PC speakers: Cambridge Megaworks and also the venerable Cambridge DTT 2250- there's NO hiss.
Sound from the satelites is good, with an ability to sound warm on things like banjo or oud that many smaller sat's lack. Highs are OK but not super detailed; but they're not harsh or shrill either. HF extension sounds OK, but transient response isn't optimal from 4000 Hz and up; this is a full-range single driver satelite, after all, so you can't expect it to compare with designs using separate tweeters. Don't get me wrong, there's highs to be had; they just don't have the "sweetness" or "air' you'd associated with good home audio systems - but then this whole shebang costs less than a pair of small Polk RT-series speakers, and it's 5 channels plus suyb plus amplifiers, so you gotta keep that in perspective.
CONCLUSION: Good overall sound with REAL bass that's impossible to beat at this price.
- 1 reply to this review
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I have a set of Altec Lansing speakers that creat a hiss as well. Mine also output the hiss when they are powered off. Not sure how that works but I agree that it can be very annoying especially if they are located in a bedroom like mine are.
