onetonnemusic

Originally posted Sep 11, 2003 by DJFROGi

Firstly, no, I dont work for Creative (but I wish I did!). I bought these speakers out of a need (or a want, really) for 5.1 sound. And as always, I didnt want to blow a hole in the side of my pants. I was estatic when I found these speakers for $195.

For those who dont know, the first number in the 5.1 refers to the number of satellites (speakers) in a setup, and the second number relates to the number of subwoofers. Don't let the price for this setup fool you- it sounds f*cking awesome. The individual satellites sound crisp and clear, and while quite small, can really pump it out when working in unison.

And the subwoofer hurt my manlyhood, put it that way. (wahey!! -ed)

As with most 5.1 setups, the subwoofer acts as the hub for the sattellites, which use RCA jacks. The subwoofer is then connected to the output device (TV, computer, whatever) with three 3.5mm minijacks.

There was a little bit of distortion in the satellites at extreme volumes, but only bogans and deaf people have it up that loud, so it's all good. And also, while the subwoofer looks plastic (plastic = crap sound quality) I opened it up to find good old plywood in there.

It will work best with Creative soundcards, but with a little know how, you can use adapters to fit any soundcard/receiver. I used my Soundblaster Extigy in it's standalone mode to do this, and I ihghly recommend that you use these two products hand in hand.

You will find better sound quality in it's big brothers, the 5300 to 5700 being the next steps up, but none of these offer the great quality/price trade off as the 5200 does. Also, the 5100 is available, at even cheaper price, but I'll let you guess what the sound quality is like.

Si if you're looking for a simple, cheap, yet effective 5.1 surround system, look no further then the Creative Inspire 5.1 5200 set.

-DJFROGi