General_Chris
New member
Basic info
It's a relatively new 5.1 entry level PC speakers set, clearly an upgrade replacement for Inspire T6060 model. Package consists of 2 front speakers with two way speaker mode (tweeter + mid), 2 rear speakers with mid driver, center speaker and wooden subwoofer. There are also 4 desk stands for satelittes, center has it already "integrated". There is also no remote control of any kind as there is volume and on/off control on right front speaker. But i'll talk about that a bit later...
Output power
Speakers are rated as follows:
Center: 18 Watts
Satelittes: 4 x 8 Watts
Subwoofer: 26 Watts
Total: 76 Watts (RMS)
If we compare them to some other speakers they are somewhere in range of Logitech X-540 with ~6W advantage over X-540.
If i compare them to ~6 years old Cambridge SoundWorks FPS1600 4.1 that i had before, i can clearly see that only raw RMS power doesn't really make that much of a difference. However good speakers design and materials do (along with RMS power increase). That especially applies to subwoofer which can output some serious undistorted bass. And it's not really that much bigger compared to FPS1600 cube box.
Output power #2
This part will cover the practical part of output power "test".
I haven't used any specific tests or methods, just stuff that i usually do.
Movies, music and games. Speakers are meant for that after all right?
I hooked up Inspire T6100 speakers to Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music soundcard and tested those 3 things mentioned above.
Movies:
I've tried 3 movies so far, SG-1/SG-A, Equilibrium and Madagascar Penguins In A Christmas Caper. Stargate is just a regular source of sound effects, nothing too punchy or special. Bass was good and voice dialogs played nicely on center. Can't really complain. Equilibrium however was already a decent test for the T6100. Music with lots of striking and repeated cut bass sequences kept subwoofer pretty busy. Yet it never started "fluffing" because of too much bass. Gun kata fights were impressive with lots of action on center speaker, especially in the end including katana fight. I was really impressed here as it felt like i'm sitting in a theather and not in my room. And in the end, Madagascar penguins with lots of funny voices, funny dialogs and of course all sorts of effects. It was very enjoyable with certain effects standing out nicely, making them very realistic (especially metal and glass sounds). Ricco blasting the hotel doors in the end was just a cherry on top of everything with ultra deep and punchful (interesting word ) explosion.
Movies (DivX) played through Windows Media Player 11 using FFdShow Filter using 5.1 speakers preset
Music:
First thing you'll notice after switching to these are much cleaner high freq. sounds, most probably thanks to tweeters on fronts. Piano and acoustic guitar has never felt so real, almost like someone actually plays it right in your room.
Quiet impressive. Bass is very powerful with some serious punch but also with very high tolerance for distortions, much higher than i could ever reach with FPS1600. They can also survive very high volume levels without any kind of distortions, most likely thanks to Bass redirection that keeps low freq. sounds off from reaching satelitte speakers that are generally meant for mid and high freq. and are not doing too well with low freq.
Music (MP3) played through WinAMP 5.32 using 24bit playback and detailed Extreme AudioBurst FX resampling to 96kHz
Games:
First thing and probably the most important in games is 3D positioning. And its very good indeed. First i thought that lack of tweeters on rear speakers will cause sound to be less vibrant, but now i see the purpose of them (or shall we say lack of them). Sounds that happen in front of you are meant to be clean and distinct without any modifications to how they sound. Sounds that happen behind you, however sound different. And T6100 just makes this difference a bit more noticeable, making it perfect for very detailed 3D positioning. You'll hear a clear difference between sounds played on rear and front speakers, making you much more aware of stuff in 3D game environment. CounterStrike Source, FEAR and Prey confirmed that nicely.
NFS:Carbon car engines sounded awesome and when opponents tried to pass me by on canyon i could clearly hear them as they traveled along me.
Gun shots, explosions and engine sounds were always very deep and clean, making them very realistic and powerful. Especially rifles which sound is usually split between subwoofer and center speaker, covering almost full spectrum of frequencies.
Sound preferences were always set to max possible detail with EAX HD enabled if possible.
Speakers positioning
This is quiet important, however you can get used to also other less optimal placements. THX Console usage is quiet important in such cases.
4 satelittes have desktop stands (removable stands) but they can also be placed on wall. They are quiet high and relatively slim but they are very stable. Center speaker has the stand integrated which can't be removed, but you can also mount it on wall just like you can mount satelittes.
LCD users can place center by moving stand all the way back, creating somekind of hook that holds it on top of LCD display.
Center stand (as well as all satelittes) have some kind of rubber buttons under the stands so they don't move around at high volume levels and they also don't produce funny sounds because of vibrations. This very same rubber adds a very good grip to center speaker so you can place it without any worry on very steep sloped CRT displays (like my Philips 107E5 CRT display).
You'll have to keep front pair of speakers relatively close to you in order to make volume control comfortable to use. Placing them to far away will force you to stand up from chair in order to change master volume on speakers.
There is also a headphone plug on front right speaker for easy headphones connection without need for reaching behind your PC.
Subwoofer is quiet slim and high, making it nice for placing in small rooms where you don't have much room for big cubic subwoofer. At least this was the first thing i notice when switching from FPS1600. I could place it almost anywhere i wanted. There is no sacrifice in terms of bass strenght and depth because of this, in fact it's efficiency is qiet high compared to it's relatively small size.
Annyoing things about T6100
Ok, there has been quiet a lot of positive things already mentioned. Now it's time for some bad things too.
Nothing is perfect, and same applies to Inspire T6100 speakers.
- Complete lack of any kind of remote control is one of annyoing things, especially if you're used to control volume with controller placed along your display. It's quiet funny that speakers like these lack such thing, while their older brother, T6060 has it...
- Blue diode that lits when you turn on speakers. It's pretty strong and located on front right speaker (the one with volume control), so you'll have it in your field of view. Also it lightens up the room at night, making it annoying if you like to listen to music when you go to sleep and prefer to keep the room dark. Covering it with nicely cut black isolation tape should do the trick if necessary.
- Last thing worth mentioning is the lenght of front speakers cables.
Donno if it's just my speakers placement or my huge desk, but keeping subwoofer on far right end of my desk (under it of course) and placing front left speaker on far left part of desk, all of the sudden i ran out of cable so i had to move subwoofer more toward the middle of desk. If you ask me they should be as long as rear cables, or at least 2/3 of rear cables lenght.
Final thoughts
Since this is my first review of such kind, i hope i wrote it detailed enough while kept it simple for regualar users. I was very impressed with them even though i was indeed quiet sceptical at first, because most of people always start rolling their eyes when you mention Creative speakers. I said what the heck, i'll buy them anyway as i was quiet happy with Cambridge speakers which are now under Creative Labs "leadership" anyway. For price of around 70 euros, Crative Inspire T6100 offer lots of "firepower" and detailed sound with some nicely done speakers design that fits perfectly on pretty much any desk. There are cons but they aren't that big or annoying, at least not for me. I can only recommend them.
Cons/Pros
+ price
+ output power
+ very powerful and clean bass
+ nice design
- complete lack of remote control, be it wired or IR
- powerful blue diode on front right speaker can be annoying for some
- quiet short front speaker cables
*Note for settings used in this review:
X-Fi Crystalizer ENABLED (100%)
CMSS-3D ENABLED (Stereo Surround @ 50%)
Bass Redirection ENABLED (80Hz @ 50% Subwoofer level / 15db+ bass boost OFF)
Master Volume 75% / Bass 25% / Treble 50%
Hope it helps
It's a relatively new 5.1 entry level PC speakers set, clearly an upgrade replacement for Inspire T6060 model. Package consists of 2 front speakers with two way speaker mode (tweeter + mid), 2 rear speakers with mid driver, center speaker and wooden subwoofer. There are also 4 desk stands for satelittes, center has it already "integrated". There is also no remote control of any kind as there is volume and on/off control on right front speaker. But i'll talk about that a bit later...
Output power
Speakers are rated as follows:
Center: 18 Watts
Satelittes: 4 x 8 Watts
Subwoofer: 26 Watts
Total: 76 Watts (RMS)
If we compare them to some other speakers they are somewhere in range of Logitech X-540 with ~6W advantage over X-540.
If i compare them to ~6 years old Cambridge SoundWorks FPS1600 4.1 that i had before, i can clearly see that only raw RMS power doesn't really make that much of a difference. However good speakers design and materials do (along with RMS power increase). That especially applies to subwoofer which can output some serious undistorted bass. And it's not really that much bigger compared to FPS1600 cube box.
Output power #2
This part will cover the practical part of output power "test".
I haven't used any specific tests or methods, just stuff that i usually do.
Movies, music and games. Speakers are meant for that after all right?
I hooked up Inspire T6100 speakers to Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music soundcard and tested those 3 things mentioned above.
Movies:
I've tried 3 movies so far, SG-1/SG-A, Equilibrium and Madagascar Penguins In A Christmas Caper. Stargate is just a regular source of sound effects, nothing too punchy or special. Bass was good and voice dialogs played nicely on center. Can't really complain. Equilibrium however was already a decent test for the T6100. Music with lots of striking and repeated cut bass sequences kept subwoofer pretty busy. Yet it never started "fluffing" because of too much bass. Gun kata fights were impressive with lots of action on center speaker, especially in the end including katana fight. I was really impressed here as it felt like i'm sitting in a theather and not in my room. And in the end, Madagascar penguins with lots of funny voices, funny dialogs and of course all sorts of effects. It was very enjoyable with certain effects standing out nicely, making them very realistic (especially metal and glass sounds). Ricco blasting the hotel doors in the end was just a cherry on top of everything with ultra deep and punchful (interesting word ) explosion.
Movies (DivX) played through Windows Media Player 11 using FFdShow Filter using 5.1 speakers preset
Music:
First thing you'll notice after switching to these are much cleaner high freq. sounds, most probably thanks to tweeters on fronts. Piano and acoustic guitar has never felt so real, almost like someone actually plays it right in your room.
Quiet impressive. Bass is very powerful with some serious punch but also with very high tolerance for distortions, much higher than i could ever reach with FPS1600. They can also survive very high volume levels without any kind of distortions, most likely thanks to Bass redirection that keeps low freq. sounds off from reaching satelitte speakers that are generally meant for mid and high freq. and are not doing too well with low freq.
Music (MP3) played through WinAMP 5.32 using 24bit playback and detailed Extreme AudioBurst FX resampling to 96kHz
Games:
First thing and probably the most important in games is 3D positioning. And its very good indeed. First i thought that lack of tweeters on rear speakers will cause sound to be less vibrant, but now i see the purpose of them (or shall we say lack of them). Sounds that happen in front of you are meant to be clean and distinct without any modifications to how they sound. Sounds that happen behind you, however sound different. And T6100 just makes this difference a bit more noticeable, making it perfect for very detailed 3D positioning. You'll hear a clear difference between sounds played on rear and front speakers, making you much more aware of stuff in 3D game environment. CounterStrike Source, FEAR and Prey confirmed that nicely.
NFS:Carbon car engines sounded awesome and when opponents tried to pass me by on canyon i could clearly hear them as they traveled along me.
Gun shots, explosions and engine sounds were always very deep and clean, making them very realistic and powerful. Especially rifles which sound is usually split between subwoofer and center speaker, covering almost full spectrum of frequencies.
Sound preferences were always set to max possible detail with EAX HD enabled if possible.
Speakers positioning
This is quiet important, however you can get used to also other less optimal placements. THX Console usage is quiet important in such cases.
4 satelittes have desktop stands (removable stands) but they can also be placed on wall. They are quiet high and relatively slim but they are very stable. Center speaker has the stand integrated which can't be removed, but you can also mount it on wall just like you can mount satelittes.
LCD users can place center by moving stand all the way back, creating somekind of hook that holds it on top of LCD display.
Center stand (as well as all satelittes) have some kind of rubber buttons under the stands so they don't move around at high volume levels and they also don't produce funny sounds because of vibrations. This very same rubber adds a very good grip to center speaker so you can place it without any worry on very steep sloped CRT displays (like my Philips 107E5 CRT display).
You'll have to keep front pair of speakers relatively close to you in order to make volume control comfortable to use. Placing them to far away will force you to stand up from chair in order to change master volume on speakers.
There is also a headphone plug on front right speaker for easy headphones connection without need for reaching behind your PC.
Subwoofer is quiet slim and high, making it nice for placing in small rooms where you don't have much room for big cubic subwoofer. At least this was the first thing i notice when switching from FPS1600. I could place it almost anywhere i wanted. There is no sacrifice in terms of bass strenght and depth because of this, in fact it's efficiency is qiet high compared to it's relatively small size.
Annyoing things about T6100
Ok, there has been quiet a lot of positive things already mentioned. Now it's time for some bad things too.
Nothing is perfect, and same applies to Inspire T6100 speakers.
- Complete lack of any kind of remote control is one of annyoing things, especially if you're used to control volume with controller placed along your display. It's quiet funny that speakers like these lack such thing, while their older brother, T6060 has it...
- Blue diode that lits when you turn on speakers. It's pretty strong and located on front right speaker (the one with volume control), so you'll have it in your field of view. Also it lightens up the room at night, making it annoying if you like to listen to music when you go to sleep and prefer to keep the room dark. Covering it with nicely cut black isolation tape should do the trick if necessary.
- Last thing worth mentioning is the lenght of front speakers cables.
Donno if it's just my speakers placement or my huge desk, but keeping subwoofer on far right end of my desk (under it of course) and placing front left speaker on far left part of desk, all of the sudden i ran out of cable so i had to move subwoofer more toward the middle of desk. If you ask me they should be as long as rear cables, or at least 2/3 of rear cables lenght.
Final thoughts
Since this is my first review of such kind, i hope i wrote it detailed enough while kept it simple for regualar users. I was very impressed with them even though i was indeed quiet sceptical at first, because most of people always start rolling their eyes when you mention Creative speakers. I said what the heck, i'll buy them anyway as i was quiet happy with Cambridge speakers which are now under Creative Labs "leadership" anyway. For price of around 70 euros, Crative Inspire T6100 offer lots of "firepower" and detailed sound with some nicely done speakers design that fits perfectly on pretty much any desk. There are cons but they aren't that big or annoying, at least not for me. I can only recommend them.
Cons/Pros
+ price
+ output power
+ very powerful and clean bass
+ nice design
- complete lack of remote control, be it wired or IR
- powerful blue diode on front right speaker can be annoying for some
- quiet short front speaker cables
*Note for settings used in this review:
X-Fi Crystalizer ENABLED (100%)
CMSS-3D ENABLED (Stereo Surround @ 50%)
Bass Redirection ENABLED (80Hz @ 50% Subwoofer level / 15db+ bass boost OFF)
Master Volume 75% / Bass 25% / Treble 50%
Hope it helps
