Corsair SP 2500 First Impressions

Hi everyone,

First thread here, and the reason I'm posting here is I'd like to talk about Corsair's first speaker system's musical performance.

I read really positive reviews around the internet, so I decided to buy them because I needed new speakers. I chose the 2.1 format because I don't have a lot of room and didnt feel like going with 5.1 or 7.1 (and also have limited budget). I had a 2.0 "computer" speaker before.

Actually I was using Sony's CMTCPZ3 as computer speaker before. They have a really satisfying sound for the price. They provide good sound for music, games, anything. But since I recently moved I left them in my previous location and so had to look for new speakers.

Ok, so I got the Corsair speakers yesterday in the mail. The box is quite big. The subwoofer is indeed big.

The design and build quality is ok. The design is nothing special, but I wasnt looking for anything special. It's black and simple.

Corsair have a good reputation for computer parts, I built my own PC and have a Corsair power supply which has worked fine so far. But when it comes to speakers, they have no references.

I plugged the speakers and played a Weezer song. The sound was metallic. Trying other songs and types of music, I was disappointed by the musical performance. It sounded cheap.

I know these are branded as "gaming" speakers, so I should'nt expect outstanding music. But I thought that they should sound at least as good as the Sonys, since they're more expensive.

I started playing with the settings and equalizer to see if things could be improved. First, reducing VLC to 75%, Windows sound volume to 45% (a little less than half) and increasing the volume of the speakers seemed to reduce the noise and hiss. I was hearing a lot of hiss and noise the first time I plugged them in. It is a bit surprising, because I have HD Audio on the motherboard (Realtek audio) so the sound coming from the PC should be ok. Also, I'm using only lossless files (FLAC).

In the Realtek HD sound setup I tried the 5.1 setting with muted central and side speakers. It didnt change much, so I switched back to the default stereo setting.

I tried setting the subwoofer 2 bars above the overall volume, because it seemed like I could only hear the subwoofer at very loud volumes. It was a bit better, but the low frequencies are making me dizzy pretty fast.

With all these tweaks, it definitely sounded better, almost ok, but still the music seemed "flat". Especially the mid-range seemed really weak. And the bass was only powerful at really loud volumes, where I had to be out of the room to bear it.

Then I tried changing the equalizer using the corsair remote provided with the speakers. I had read in an online review that these settings were useless and only made the sound worse, so until then I had not bothered changing the default settings.

Well actually switching the "program" setting to "dynamic pop" seemed to really improve the listening experience. With that setting, the sound is similar to what I experienced on the Sony speakers before. Maybe just a little less clear and detailed.

Other than that, the subwoofer is really powerful. A fun thing to do is disconnect the two smaller speakers, put the volume very loud, and play a bass heavy track ("Onslaught" by Mind Vortex is a good one for that). You can then use your subwoofer as a deadly vibration beam! It makes various things shake in the next room, depending on the exact frequency being played.

Hope this was helpful for those interested in these speakers. Also, if you own them, let me know of your experience and settings!

UPDATE 2011 08 22 : Just bought the M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 sound card. I have to say the sound is crystal clear now. So the answers below suggesting that the reduced quality comes from the Realtek HD Audio onboard chipset seem to be correct.

Even at high volume, the sound is perfect. So my new conclusion : this is a very good set of speakers, high fidelity. HiFi also means that if you feed them crap, they will output crap... Using FLAC and the M-Audio soundcard, it's incredible sound quality, I am re-discovering my music. And best switch to "Program: none" and "EQ: reference"

The problem with professional reviews is that 1) the guys make a living of out of them and 2) they don't pay with their hard earned money for the products they review. Add to this that they might be somehow financially dependent on your reaction to the review, either because of ads on their website, or because there are affiliate links on their website for the reviewed products. => Bias.

Back to the speakers, they don't sound bad at all, they're just not music oriented, which means you need to tweak them to get the sound you want from them.

Yes, at the first listen, I thought I had wasted my money. But with the tweaks described above I get a sound similar to what I had with the Sony CMT CPZ1 that I was using before. I read other reviews on the internet saying that you should select "dynamic pop" program setting if you want the sound to be warmer and if you find the default setting to be boring.

Maybe you just need to break-in new speakers, like with new shoes. These speakers really show their strength at very high volumes and with bass oriented music.

Bottom line : I'm satisfied with this purchase, my neighbours are not!

I was using exactly the same source before with the Sony speakers, and the sound was crystal clear.

It's not the source.

Anyway, I said the problem is sort of solved by setting the DSP program to dynamic pop.

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