Creative Technology Inspire T2900 2.1 Speakers

I didn't expect much from the Creative T2900 speakers, really. I've been increasingly jaded about PC multimedia speakers. Every set I try blows in some regard. I've been demoing speakers at BestBuy, CircuitCity, CompUSA, Staples, MicroCenter, Office Depot -- anywhere I could find PC speakers to listen to. Generally its not the best environment for testing a system, but you get a sense of their response, if not the warmth and depth of the sound. I have been pretty much dismally disappointed. Most of the speakers I checked out (from all the big names, even Yamaha) are terrible in the midrange, unless you break the $200 mark. And generally the bass is way too fat. Rather than investing in a good two-way design with a solid wood housing, Altec, Creative, Logitech, and even JBL (who I expect better from) focus on gagdety designs with lots of features, heavy on the pizzazz and electronics, and light on the sound. Plus, America is widely and stupidly brainwashed into buying the Bost hype, so most speakers are small with narrow response-ranges that need to be supplemented in the midrange by the subwoofer.

Creative is onto something good with this new series of Inspire T- speakers. These T2900s are under $50 and feature a two-way design with a titanium tweeter. The housing aren't wood, but are a nice, solid composite, which is okay: it could be a lot worse (like most of the Altec Lansing and Logitech thin plastic housing vareities). These speakers are "substantial," but not huge. They feel bulky in the hand, but they are smaller than my old Eastern Acoustics (remarkably good for their looks and price) and look slim and sexy on my desk. And they actually look like speakers of the classic, non-Bose ilk. I don't want a tiny-satellite Bose surround system that requires me to put the subwoofer under the center channel in order to get proper blending of voices, and I don't want a PC system that requires the same thing.

These T2900s don't suffer that problem, which I suspected they would not, which is why I bought them. The satellites have a good response range thanks to the two-way design (I was actually surprised at how low they go) and voices in DVD and games sound well-blended and natural. There's no subwoofer "echo" when someone with a low voice (like Morpheus) speaks. I was pleasantly surprised that the subwoofer does respond during both explosions (expected) and individual gunshots in Halo (really makes it realistic).

There is, however, some division in games, which is so far my greatest annoyance with this system. The sound doesn't seem absent in any range, but the subwoofer response in games is a little overwhelming. Perhaps these are intended primarily for music listening? I had a hard time, even using the adjustable bass response, balancing the volume of the sub and the satellites. With the bass too high, the explosions and gunfire from the sub overwhelm the sounds from the sats; with the bass set too low, the sats themselves can sound washed out. But this is relatively minor, and I'm sure I'll figure it out. It would be nice if I could control the volume on each channel independently, but I don't expect that on a PC system at all, let alone one this inexpensive.

Musically, these things kick. Rock music sounds awesome, almost as good as on the 28" JBL mains of my stereo. The two-way design really shines through, as the highs sound clean, almost pristine, while the bassier riffs sound smooth and deep. This sub doesn't deliver shallow, papery bass. I played some folk from Nick Drake, some hard rock from Trapt, some club stuff from Shakira, some techno from J. Ralph, some 80s stuff from Men at Work, and some Yoyo Ma from his Appalachian Journey -- everything sounds balanced, full, and excellently imaged, whether I was sitting at the desk or standing on the other side of the room.

Now, this may be a drawback to some, but I consider it a blessing since I live in an apartment building. The speakers, with the exception of the sub, are fairly directional. Not that you have to be in the sweet spot, but that you have to be in front of the speaker in general. The sound power really backs off as you move around and behind the speaker. Music that sounded full-on-loud while sitting at the desk was barely audible in the next room. Like I said, that's a good thing for me given my living situation -- I can listen to my music at a great volume at my desk or in the computer room, but not have to worry about whether I'm disturbing my wife or the neighbors. But the days of cranking my PC speaks and going into the next room to enjoy the music are over. The bass would just be too darned loud, and it's all I (and my neighbor upstairs) would hear.

Overall, these speakers have better response than most of the fancy systems I demoed, and the warmth of the sound has really impressed me, particularly in music. Given the competition as I've evaluated it, and the price of these speakers, they are a remarkable value, and $50 spent on these is worth more than $100 spent on those stupid I-trigues or JBL's Creatures, or Altec's 2100s.

Oh, and the remote control is very nice. Having the headphone jack right there really is handy. I taped it to my keyboard drawer, right beside the mouse, using double-sided tape. Very convenient. If I had a Nomad MUVO, I'm sure I'd dig the added connectivity there, but since I use my PDA, that a useless feature.