product review: Creative Inspire A200 speakers

When do someone know that they need new speakers for their PC? When your current ones break or when you can not stand the cheap speakers that came with your pre-built. Well you can say both for me. When I bought my pre-built Gateway pc 5 years ago it came with some of the shittiest speakers I have ever seen but at the time the whole thing was only 500 dollars and I was in save money mode so sound quality was the last thing I worried about. Today those speakers are starting to go bad but hell they did last me 5 good years even though they are not even shielded speakers I was saddened by their passing. This is the time for me to pick out some relatively cheap yet good speakers for my pc.

I had my sights on the Altec Lansing speakers as they are known for good speakers but unfortunately for them they were sold out everywhere. Therefore I had to settle for the same priced Creative Lab Inspire A200 series. It is a 2.1 speaker system priced roughly around 30 dollars, so it's not expensive at all but is it a cheapo speaker? Previously I have never had any experience with Creative Lab products but my first impression is that these speakers are very stylishly design, a contrast to the often boring Altec Lansing speakers. The speakers sits on a nice stand and itself looking like a miniature version of much more expensive stereo systems. Another thing I noticed right away is how big the subwoofer is. It's so huge it would not fit the side cabinet on my computer desk which is kind of disappointing since I visually planned this lay out many times before the purchase, and so now it sits on the floor.

Onto the sound quality now. The speakers are loud and clear although it might just be a sharp contrast of how shitty my old ones are. One thing I didn't like on these speakers is not only the subwoofer is physically huge it's also a cannon. What I mean by that is the default bass is so loud that I can feel my floor shaking, almost like hearing some dumbass with their bass on full blast in their car driving past your house at night...do you know that feeling? Since the subwoofer itself doesn't come with any kind of physical volume control I am stuck playing around the Equalizer that came with my sound card until I find a suitable setting. So this is a great annoyance to me, but other than that the speakers look nice and sounds nice as well all I need to worry is how long they will last since I have had no experience with the Creative Lab brand.