Creative Inspire T2900 Speaker System

Sam checks out this new 2.1 system and likes what he hears...

While we may have wireless networking and cordless mice and whatnot the wireless revolution still has a long way to go. If like me you have a 5.1 speaker setup at home the day when all those many, many cables become a thing of the past is a day that cannot come too soon. Unfortunately these new speakers from Creative continue to rely on technology that is coming up on its 150th birthday. As they are only 2.1 speakers there is a lot less cabling to fuss with and trip over when being inattentive but in a few other ways the T2900 is a piece of kit to be reckoned with.

For a start the styling is pleasing on the eye. My current speakers, the Inspire 5100s, are unobtrusive and compact, but duller then a protest of crusties. Square was the order of the day when it came to designing their housings, a sturdy but pedestrian choice. The T2900s are an altogether more refined proposition; tall, rectangular shapes reclining back on their stands like members of the British Raj sipping their G&Ts, with a semi-transparent cloth grill allowing just a peek of the separate tweeter and midrange drivers and a volume/power controller which glows green round the outside of the dial, (more on that later). Setting them up is nice and easy. One cable from the soundcard to the sub, another for each of the satellites and a third, bundled cable for the volume selector, or M-PORT to give it its fancy moniker.

Once all things were in place it was time to take these suckers for a spin. And boy did they fly off the starting line. They deliver a depth and richness to my MP3's which is most impressive. Listening to tunes with a high bitrate through these speakers I was able to pick out sounds and layers in the mix that I haven't heard before, even played through proper amplifiers and speakers. They handled all thrown at them, from John Williams to Pavement with stops along the way for Adam Beyer, Bill Hicks, Outkast, Robert Hood and Joan Beaz. For music these speakers are the bomb, providing just the right levels of sound to make your tunes come alive. The implementation of the midrange driver really makes a difference. Most speakers rely on the sub to dish out the lower frequencies and broaden the tweeter to take on the role of the middle driver with both components trying to take on the work of that missing third member. Put the separate midrange driver back in and you can hear what is lost in the compromises made in most computer speakers. This sound quality revelation continued into the game playing. Sounds were deeper and more satisfying across the board, and musical accompaniments had a good bit more presence to them. Technically speaking the T2900s have a signal to noise ratio of 80dB and a frequency response of 40Hz-20kHz but all you need to know is they sound great.

On the other hand, the sub that comes in the T2900 package sounded a little too brutal. I had to keep the bass levels right near the bottom to stop an ugly thudding from creeping across the mix to invade areas of sound where it shouldn't be. Now if you like strong bass and aren't too worried about definition this won't be a problem, but for me the sub's characteristics meant I had to spend a bit of time fiddling with levels to get the mix to my liking. I'm not saying that the sub is bad, it is just too wild when stood next to the satellites. And this strong bass is let down by the biggest fault I found in the T2900s. There ain't enough volume. The satellites each have 6 watts of power, the sub roles into town packing a meaty 17. Great sharp, deep sounds come spilling out of these speakers; they just don't get very loud. Now there's enough volume to make raised voices a necessity, but not enough to really allow you to open things up and pump out the tunes. My current speakers seem a good bit louder, even though the RMS ratings are very similar. I feel that the T2900s would have a harder time of satisfying people at parties the way the 5100s have managed so ably in the past.

The volume control device, or M-PORT, is quite clever and deserves more than a passing mention. In addition to the separate dials for volume and bass, this boxy device has outputs and inputs for connection to portable devices, and a USB for the Creative Muvo MP3 player. Plug one of these in and its library is accessible. I didn't have one of these MP3 players to hand to test it out, but it seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, Creative insists on brand loyalty and no other USB MP3 players are supported.

The lack of volume, and to a lesser extent, the rowdy sub, slightly let down a package that otherwise exceeded my expectations. The sound quality, with some adjustment, is fantastic; I just want more of it. I know this is a personal issue, but surely most people who are going to buy speakers for their sound quality are also going to want to get that sound up good and loud. Saying this, the T2900 speakers are good looking and well built little boxes of soundtastic aural delight. If you have little interest in surround-sound gaming and prefer quality to quantity then these fellas are a great choice for shoppers in this price range. A little more volume and a better behaved sub and they would be a good choice for someone who was thinking of spending twice as much, too.

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By Sam Gibson