13. Abit SP-60

Out of all the test candidates, the Abit SP-60 is the sound system that is the most similar to a hi-fi entry-level system. It is very smart looking, setting it apart from the usual multimedia systems. The blue textile shield and the wooden speaker housing are lovely. The speakers and the center channel power at 20 watts each and the subwoofer at 50 RMS watts, which is pretty good. The bandwidth claimed is quite surprising since it ranges from 30 Hz (which is normal) to not less than 30 kHz! Not being equipped for reproducing such a frequency, and not having a willing bat at hand, we sadly could not verify this performance. Anyway, a sound at 15 kHz is at the limit of what you can hear, and what you can bear, with the human ear. For its settings, it is really strange that such a system does not have remote control - the SP-60 had one. The settings are on the front of the subwoofer, with volume control, mute and sound level element by element, as you'd expect of a hi-fi-like 5.1. The connections are at the back of the subwoofer, with five inputs in RCA format for the six channels, plus two more inputs for normal stereo and, of course, all the outputs for linking the elements of the system. The only digital input is in DIN G9 format, a type only found on FM-801-based Abit AU-10 cards. This is a pity because this card is not the best of its kind. A coaxial or optical digital input would have been better.

With regard to quality, we should remember that Abit itself gives a signal-to-noise ratio of 60 dB, which is pretty low for the class that the SP-60 should aspire to. And indeed, fine feathers do not make it a fine bird. High frequencies saturate exponentially as soon as you raise the volume above 2/3, which is irritating, to say the least. Medium frequencies are a bit better but less marked than on the Inspire 5700, for instance. Low frequencies compensate somewhat for all this with their sweetness and depth, but because they are not percussive enough, they lack punch in games. On the whole, provided you don't raise the volume too much, the sound on the SP-60 is smooth and not at all unpleasant. But when you push it to the full it soon shows its limits. Those who like strongly marked sound for music and DVD are likely to be disappointed. To conclude, the main attractions of the SP-60 are its appearance and fairly low price. A bit more quality would have been very welcome.