5. The Speakers

Creative Labs Inspire 5700

Inspire 5700 is a 5.1 system with four 7-watt speakers, a 21-watt center channel and a subwoofer of 30 RMS watts. It has a control box for the decoder, settings and connections. It can be connected to any digital source - optical, coaxial or Digital Din (a format solely for use with Creative Labs 5.1 sound cards). When a film is played, the decoder automatically selects the detected format: Dolby Prologic, Dolby Digital or DTS. DVD video sound or music encoded in AC-3 is decoded with no trouble. Quality is good: just run "Brotherhood of the Wolf" or "Saving Private Ryan" and you will be completely bathed in surround sound. It should be said that the Inspire 5700 decoder has a specially designed decoding chip that is as good as those found on many hi-fi systems.

Creative is also clearly considerate of those who don't have a digital output on their PC or DVD player - they integrated the CMSS mode (Creative Multi Speaker Surround). This can simulate six-channel sound by using the system's two analog inputs, which are also used for 3D sound in games. The overall sound quality is very satisfactory. Creative has made great progress by using SLAM technology for its low frequencies, which are deep and percussive. This gives the very low frequencies much truer quality than did the old DTT3500s. The high frequencies are fairly clear and true and medium ones quite marked, even if not one hundred percent. However, with regard to mediums, there is a little regression compared to the DTT3500, which gave more percussive sound. Instrument distribution is nicely handled and the sound position well nigh perfect.

There are many settings for the available modes - digital 5.1, CMMS, 4.1 sound for games - and for sound equalizing, with a dial for each type of element. So you can set the low frequencies to your liking from the center channel or the speakers. The Inspire 5700 comes with an infrared remote control with all these settings on it, which can be very convenient in the home. Their top sound volume is fairly high and is just right for the average-sized room. So an Inspire 5700 can be used on a PC or in your living room equally well. Even if the speakers don't look quite right for that, they are small enough for it not to matter. Final point, these speakers with DTS and Dolby Digital hardware decoding have a very good quality/price ratio.