Creative Technology Inspire P5800 5.1 Speakers

Time was when the sum total of a computers sound output was a couple of chirrups and a beep! Not anymore. Nowadays the computer has replaced the television as the integral piece of multimedia equipment in many households, with television, DVD and music playback no more than a mouse click away. Of course you have to have the equipment to do justice to these multimedia experiences, a minute CTR monitor and tin-pot speaker setup will offer a rather unsatisfactory result, which is why I found myself looking into a surround sound speaker setup for my computer. After dismissing a 7.1 setup (not enough room) and a twin speaker setup (not good enough sound) I elected for a 5.1 speaker system from Creative labs, I had used their sound cards in the past with good results so it seemed only right to try out their speakers. The 5.1 relates to the number of speakers the system contains with the 5 being the number of smaller speakers to be positioned around a room for surround sound and the 1 relating to the larger subwoofer.

What's in the box?

Firstly you get a rather large subwoofer, slightly bigger than a shoe box this part of the setup is where the various wires and sockets converge. Fashioned from finest wood it encompasses a 'flared port' for a cleaner bass sound and a 'long-throw driver' to make the sound deeper. This all adds up to twenty-two watts of sound power. Four small satellite speakers come next - each boasting eight watts of power. The two rear ones supplied with four metres of cable to the front pairs two metres - all have a universal socket to plug into the corresponding port on the subwoofer. The one central satellite speaker is similar to the others although it is laid on its side and offers a more powerful eighteen watts of sound; again two metres of cable ensure optimal positioning is not a problem. Also worthy of mention is the fact that all of the smaller speakers can be wall mounted. The wired remote control is next, which is designed to be positioned for optimal use. It boasts bass and volume controls offer superb user control depending on the sound required. A plethora of cables including a 5.1 audio cable and an auxiliary input wire are joined by a bulky looking power pack, each have good lengths of cable and are colour coded to make setup easy. Finally a quick start guide covers the basics - but not much else - while a twelve month warranty card covers your investment should there be a problem.

Setup

Of course all these fancy speakers need to be setup and positioned correctly to deliver optimum results; place them too close to each other and you may as well have saved your money! Luckily the quick start guide seems to be written in plain English so that even the most computer illiterate amongst us should find it a straight forward experience. Once the two rear speakers are determined (they have the longer cable) they should be positioned as far behind the user as the wire will allow; they plug into clearly labelled sockets on the subwoofer, which should be placed no more than a couple of feet from the computer screen. The two front speakers also need to be positioned each side of where to user will be seated, again no more than two or three feet away. Finally as far as the speakers go the central one needs to be placed as near to directly in front of the seated position as possible, this is to give the best cinematic audio experience possible apparently. Once the speakers are positioned and plugged in it is time to connect the setup to the computer; the colour coded triple wire makes connection to your sound card a simply task, the quick start guide also offers help. Plug in the wired remote control and position it handily and plug in the power pack and that's pretty much the hardware setup complete. Those using Windows XP simply need to start the computer and let the drivers update while users of older versions of the operating system should insert the Supplied CD and follow the simple installation instructions.

My thoughts

I knew little about computer speakers prior to doing some research while buying this Creative Inspire P5800 setup; I toyed with the idea of going wireless but the amount of batteries required would have been impractical, not to mention expensive. My sound card would have supported a 7.1 setup (7 small speakers and a subwoofer) but as my computer room is on the small side I considered it would be speaker overkill and not deliver a much better sound that the 5.1 setup I went for. The last time I bought speakers I used my computer for web browsing and little else so a cheap duel system was all I required. Now though it is a different matter; the advent of broadband means I listen to radio online while the recent purchase of an ipod makes downloading and listening to music a major part of my computer usage. Add to that DVD playback and video streaming and it really was time to do these various operations justice with a top notch speaker system. And what a top notch speaker system the P5800 is!

All components are good looking and deliver sublime sound feedback; the subwoofer delivers low and deep bass without any booming or humming. Voices and music are crisp and clear and are delivered without crackle or interference. Turning the solid feeling volume dial on the wired remote up high while music is playing produces a clear, and very loud, result with no adverse effects to the sound. The subwoofer is perhaps a little on the heavy side but as I do not plan to move it from its position this is not a problem. My only real gripe is that the remote control is wired rather than fully remote, this means that while watching DVD's you need to keep getting up to get the volume to the lever required - not a major problem, more a small annoyance. Available for around $60 on the internet I do not consider this setup to be overly expensive, particularly when the sound they produce is more than a match for speaker systems that are two or three times the price - all in all a good, solid set of speakers which I give four stars out of five.