Genius SW-G2.1 1250

Genius SW-G2.1 1250 2.1 Speakers

We don’t bring products into the Lab just to beat them up, so we almost didn’t bite when Genius pitched these speakers. We also try not to prejudge products, but we didn’t have high expectations for this 2.1-channel speaker system: It looks cheesier than a wedge of Vermont cheddar and sells online for less than 50 bucks. We were fully prepared for a craptastic audio experience. Wow, were we ever off base. Corsair needn’t worry that Genius will bump its exceptionally good SP2500 speakers off our Best of the Best list—the SW-G2.1 1250 isn’t that good—but it is better than we thought any $50 speakers could be. We’re not sure if the weird hourglass shape of the ABS plastic satellite cabinets is supposed to serve a function or is just an odd design decision, and we hate the hardwired speaker cables that connect them to the subwoofer. But we have no complaints about how they sound. We’re also not sure what Genius sprayed on the one-way drivers to achieve that shiny red finish. These are simple 3-inch paper cones with inexpensive foam surrounds, so we were quite surprised with their capacity for reproducing both midrange and high frequencies without dedicated tweeters.