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We have collected 8 reviews of the Corsair SP2500. Experts rate Corsair SP2500 8.9/10. Reviewsor.com helps you find reviews, best prices, user reviews of the Corsair SP2500 and Corsair Speakers.
A couple of weeks ago when Bob was unboxing the Corsair SP2500 High-Power 2.1 PC Speaker System he made mention of how large they were. I really did not think that much of it until I went to pick up the speakers up from Bob's place I thought he was having me review a 21 inch CRT monitor. The box is that huge. Most of the time people can claim that a 2.1 system is small enough to be semi-portable. This system, by definition is the exact opposite. Heavy and Huge. I was excited to get these boys home to hook up and play with them. Lets see what that play session yielded. Special thanks to Corsair for providing us with the Corsair SP2500 High-Power 2.1 PC Speaker System. Below you will see the unboxing video. If you haven't seen it check it out. I'll admit, even though I'm a writer for ThinkComputers I take an interest in all of the new video's. I think it's something that site has been missing for some time. Before I talk about performance lets go over the packaging. Corsair sets the standard when it comes to packaging. The box is huge, we've already established that, but it's for good reason. The speaker system is huge, yes that’s probably the main reason, but they also gave adequate room for all the cables, manuals, and controllers.
We here at jonnyGURU.com are fond of trying on other hats once in a while. Sometimes we wear heatsink reviewer hats. Sometimes we wear case reviewer hats. Other times, we take the hats off and walk around safely dancing to the Safety Dance. It's that last option I've decided on for today's review. Today, I'm branching out into computer speaker reviews just to see what it's like. Some of you may be asking what business I have listening to speakers and telling people what I think. Well, not a whole lot of people know this, but audio is my first passion. At an age where most of my peers were running around the schoolyard playing Dukes of Hazzard, I knew what slew rate was. At an age where most of my peers were walking around planning their graduation party, I was a pro audio sound man consulting on an overhaul of the school's gymnasium PA system. Folks, if you thought I was a power supply geek, you'd best strap yourselves in right now. That said, it is fitting that the subject for my first audio review is the Corsair SP2500. See, this was Corsair's first stab at the market, too. We're both trying on new hats today.
The SP2500 represents Corsair's second venture into the world of sound and here they've rolled out the big guns! The satellite speakers are unfortunately designed (rectangular, plastic and heavy looking) and, like the subwoofer, have a sandblasted, very 90s coating. Apart from this, the finish is excellent and the materials used of good quality. Even the matte, coloured plastic is a lot less cheap looking than usual. The wired remote is very practical for controlling either the general volume or that of the subwoofer. Note however that this is a pretty big kit. The subwoofer, for example, is 49 cm wide! You can use a double-RCA as the main in on the subwoofer and there's a mini-jack auxliary in with another on the remote. There's also a headphones socket on the remote and a USB. Unfortunately, the USB is only there for updating the kit's firmware. There's no built-in DAC. Another nasty surprise is that the wires linking to the satellite speakers are very short. They're also cabled to the subwoofer rather than the remote, which will make installation difficult in some cases. 90% of multimedia 2.1 kits have the same fault: the satellite speakers struggle to reproduce the lowest part of the mid-range.
It was back at the Consumer Electronics Show that we first caught a glimpse of the Corsair SP2500 2.1 channel speaker system. Dave and I were traversing the show floor while our compadres Mat and Jennifer were off gallivanting at a few private meetings at some lavish Las Vegas hotels. As we headed straight into the Corsair booth to check out some new cooling gear, new solid state drives, and a slick, white 600T case, we walked right passed the SP2500s, which were positioned on and end-cap at one of the corners of the booth. As our discussion with reps from Corsair winded down, we asked if we had seen all that Corsair was featuring for the show. The answer was no. At that point we were escorted to the SP2500 demo and became more interested as the demo progressed. In a former life, I was a bit of a wanna-be audiophile and was immediately intrigued by the use of a fourth-order closed bandpass subwoofer enclosure, integrated DSPs, class-D amplifiers, and bi-amplified satellites, among a handful of other features. Although the idea of a 2.1 speaker system isn't terribly exciting to some users in this era of multi-channel gaming audio and 5.1 channel speaker systems, the technology employed by the Corsair SP2500 2.1 channel speaker system grabbed our attention.
Corsair has decided to break into the audio market and it's doing so in a big way. Late last year we were introduced to its HS1 USB-based headset and came away thoroughly impressed. Well, today, we've been given the delight of its next adventure into the audio world, with a high-end set of 2.1 stereo speakers - the SP2500. These speakers are not your run of the mill, over-stylized stereo set, these mean business. What makes them so special you ask? First off, a long list of audio jargon to wrap your head around. Each satellite is bi-amplified with a digital active crossover, featuring a 3 inch mid-range driver and an asymmetric silk-domed ferrorfluid-cooled tweeter. Marketing must of loved that phrase. The mid is rated to 40 Watts and the tweeter at 16 Watts. The big thing mentioned is that this is sustained output; measured by the FTC method (rather than the usual 'Peak'), and are capable of running at 100% volume for 2 whole days without distortion. Why anyone would want to run these speakers at such a level for so long is beyond me, but it's nice to know they can. The subwoofer is a beast of a speaker, even compared next to the monster that is the Logitech Z5500.
Choosing a quality set of PC speakers can be a daunting task. Just about every set out there claims to be the best, with promises of floor shaking bass and clarity through the mid-range and highs. While there's a lot of good 2.1 speaker sets out there, very few truly stand out from the crowd. Oftentimes the problem is lack of balance heavy bass output can come at a cost of poor vocals in music and movies, while speakers that provide decent mids and highs sometimes aren't powerful enough to provide thumping bass. That's the reason I don't watch movies on my PC and usually game with a set of headphones my current set of speakers is good, but not great. So what's a PC enthusiast to do? Well, those who are serious about gaming and serious about sound have a new offering from Corsair to check out. They've entered the PC speaker market with the SP2500 2.1 gaming speaker set. It boasts some pretty impressive specs and aims to correct the common problem of unbalanced sound in PC speakers. Could this be the 2.1 set we've all been waiting for?
Corsair's first speakers have to be heard to be believed. They're that good.You have to hand it to Corsair, it doesn't do things by half. Recent years have seen it branching gradually from the flash-and-RAM business into new areas, and each new product line has been approached with an eye to quality. Its PSUs, SSDs and gaming headsets may not be cheap, but by gum, they're good.After the firm's first foray into gaming audio with the HS1 headset, Corsair now has its sights firmly set on the desktop speaker sector, and its first 2.1 speaker system, the SP2500, is nothing short of a revelation.The set comprises a desktop control unit, two reassuringly heavy satellites, and a truly titanic sub-woofer, comprising six amplifiers, and capable of a room-filling 232W of output. Setup is a breeze, and the colour-coded PSU-style plugs mean you simply cannot get your left and right satellites mixed up.Each satellite features a midrange driver and silk-domed tweeter, each of which is independently amplified to avoid signal-bleed between the midrange and treble, and it's a noticeable difference to the majority of desktop audio setups; the sense of spatial separation between unique sounds is excellent.
There is absolutely nothing subtle about Corsair’s SP2500 Gaming Audio Speakers: This monstrous 2.1-channel system could start a riot. After just a few minutes listening to Les Claypool shred his stand-up acoustic bass on the Primus classic “Mr. Krinkle,” with the amp cranked way beyond sensible, we felt an overwhelming urge to start breaking furniture. So we turned the volume down and started hacking zombies in Left4Dead 2, instead. The SP2500 is an interesting mélange of strength and refinement. The subwoofer and speaker cabinets are brutishly powerful and unapologetically plain to behold, but the system delivers more features than we could ask for, it sounds amazing, and it’s very reasonably priced. The satellite cabinets are fabricated from ABS plastic, for example, but the drivers inside are bi-amplified by four discrete Class D amplifiers inside the subwoofer cabinet. The 1-inch silk dome, ferrofluid-cooled tweeters each receive 16 watts, while the 3-inch treated-paper midranges get 40 watts each. The hulking subwoofer consists of an 8-inch long-throw paper driver housed in an MDF cabinet.