Corsair SP2500 speaker review

You know, I was just thinking about it. It surely has been a while since we reviewed a commercial speaker set here at Guru3D.com. I mean, in the PC oriented market there's pretty much Creative Labs, Bose, Klipsch and Logitech dominating in the EU and addressing that market with the more high-end gear. Of course there are plenty of others like Hercules, Trust Philips and some others but yeah predominantly it's Logitech and Creative Labs here.

Now that's an indicator of either how difficult it to address that channel segment. I mean less people buy the kind of gear like shown today, then again... the somewhat audio aficionado's happily invest in a good quality speaker set.

As such Corsair came to us with the news that they released the SP2500 speaker set. Nothing fancy in terms of multi-channel speakers, nope... simply two quality speakers and a subwoofer. The initial price tag however was an indicator that Corsair (as they always do) deliver a quality product. That initial price tag was above 250 EUR... well, for that money, you better have something good to offer we say.

Well, that definitely is what Corsair is trying to accomplish, quality audio, after a little browsing we spotted the Corsair Gaming Audio SP2500 speaker set for as low as 178 EUR, and though that's still a lot of money it certainly offer you one of the best speaker kits we have heard in a while.

Armed with a phat sub, two satellite speakers and a very dandy LCD control DSP unit we'll today have a look at that Corsair Gaming Audio SP2500 speaker kit. It definitely surprised us away in terms of audio quality.

Even though originally dedicated in computer memory and power supply units, Corsair is no stranger to the audio scene as the company already released the gaming orientated HS-1 headset as well (review here)

So before we begin let's have a quick chat about what Corsair is offering you at roughly 180~190 EUR. The product is called the Corsair Gaming Audio SP2500, it is a 2.1 kit (two speakers and one Sub-Woofer) with a Speaker RMS of 232 Watt of of continuous power thanks to six class D amplifiers, the set pairing two bi-amplified satellites with 3-inch drivers and 1-inch ferrofluid-cooled silk dome tweeters. Alongside it you need to place a 8-inch subwoofer in your room..

Corsair SP2500
Satellite Speakers	1-inch silk dome tweeter; 3-inch midrange paper cone
Satellite Enclosures	ABS plastic
Subwoofer	8-inch long-throw driver, fourth-order bypass design
Subwoofer Enclosure	12mm MDF
Amplifier Class	Class D
Stated Power Rating	16 watts to each tweeter; 40 watts to each midrange; 120 watts to the subwoofer
Inputs	Two 1/8-inch and RCA for analog stereo
Outputs	ATX PSU sockets for speakers;1/8-inch on remote for headphones

Included in the kit is a a wired remote control which functions as DSP which has some pretty nifty features as it holds a 1.8-inch TFT-LCD color status display. The menu has multi-lingual user interface which we'll take a closer look at in this review of course.

The initial price tag of roughly 250 USD made this kit as expensive as say a Klipsch or Bose 2.1 speaker system, but since we are a few months away from launch prices certainly have dropped quite a bit. You can spot them for 199 USD / 178 EUR. This black colored kit which comes with a 2 year carry in warranty.

Specifications

• Frequency response: 35Hz – 20kHz +/- 3dB
• 232 Watts total power (measured via FTC “RMS” method)
• Subwoofer dimensions: 18.1 x 10.2 x 11.7 inches (46 x 25.8 x 29.7 cm)
• Satellite dimensions: 4.25 x 4.7 x 6.25 inches (10.8 x 12 x 15.9 cm)

Subwoofer:

• 8” 120W (IEC60268-5 24hr continuous rating) subwoofer with durable rubber surround
• Fourth-order closed bandpass enclosure design
• Bridged dual 60 Watt class-D amplifiers with integrated DSP for 120 Watts of power (measured via FTC “RMS” method)
• Ultra-efficient integral power supply with 100V – 240V AC input

Satellites:

• Bi-amplified, two-way design with detachable audio cables
• 3” 16W (IEC60628-5 24hr continuous rating) midrange drivers
• 1” 40W (IEC60268-5 24hr continues rating) ferrofluid-cooled silk diaphragm tweeters
• 56 Watts per satellite (measured via FTC “RMS” method):
  • 40 Watt midrange class-D amplifiers with integrated DSP
  • 16 Watt tweeter class-D amplifiers with integrated DSP

I/O, Controls and Programming

• PC input on subwoofer
• Dual 3.5mm auxiliary inputs (one on subwoofer, one on desktop controller)
• 3.5mm headphone output with digital signal processing
• Wired desktop controller with high-resolution color 1.8” (4.6cm) TFT display and multi-lingual interface (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese)
• Mod X™ theatrical audio processing for Blu-Ray and DVD audio that recreates the theater experience
• Dynamic DSP programs and EQ curves for late night listening, environment simulation, and optimal enjoyment of game and movie genres

Package Contents

• Subwoofer
• Satellites (Two)
• Desktop controller with 6’ / 1.8m cable
• 3.5mm to stereo RCA cable for PC input
• Two 6’ / 1.8m satellite audio cables with ATX4 connectors
• Power cable