Creative Inspire 4400, the gamer's speaker system without the real price.
Written: Mar 02 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Affordable, booming bass, crisp trebles, great for movies and many more.
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: The Inspire 4400 are excellent speakers for gamers, audiophiles and videophiles alike, because it offers a high quality audio like no other in its price range.
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| lavoisier's Full Review: Creative Technology Inspire 4400 4 Speakers |
For those who would like to use their computer for gaming, 2-piece speaker systems definitely will never cut it. Then there are some 2.1 speaker systems that are offered on the market, but again there are some that would like to have more power and more of a gaming experience. Finally, there are many that would like to have surround sound for their audio experience, video viewing experience and most importantly of all, gaming experience. That is what 4.1 speaker systems we're designed for, as gaming speakers. What's would be the best solution to that at a great value and price? The Creative Inspire 4400 is your solution to that.
What comes with the box?
The package contains one wood enclosed subwoofer, four magnetically shielded satellites, one wired remote controls, manual and setup guide. The magnetic shielding is crucial for speakers, is because when you're placing the front speakers near the monitor, chances are for the non-magnetically shielded speakers, it can cause a distortion or discoloration of the images being produced from the monitor. Plus with the optional surround speaker stands, you can even have greater surround sound experience, ideal for intensive 3D gaming and movie viewing. With the surround speakers, they have longer wires, so that you have a greater flexibility on the placements of the surround satellites.
Experience
As for installation, it is a very simple process of only about 5 to 10 minutes. Just plug the speakers that have the shorter wires (main satellites) into the front output outlet and the surround satellites into the rear output outlets in the back of the subwoofer. Then plug the remote control into the subwoofer, and it's very easy to find the location, as it is very logically labeled. Then plug the audio cables into the audio input of the subwoofer and the output of the sound card. Finally plug the power on and you're ready to adjust the bass. To adjust the bass, the bass controller is on the back of the subwoofer and adjusts the bass to your ideal level and experiment here. Once you've found your ideal bass level, you may now place the subwoofer near the wall for the best bass production. But remember, the subwoofer shouldn't be too close to your monitor, as it isn't magnetically guarded to protect the monitor from distortion and discoloration of the images.
The speakers themselves are light and they produce a lot of decent power. For every satellite, it produces 6 watts RMS (4 channels) of audio, plus the subwoofer producing a power of 17 watts RMS, it isn't cutting edge, but it does do what the package or brochure says, that's what counts.
When it comes to producing great sound out of these speakers, it sure does that with the Inspire 4400. With ground shaking bass out of the subwoofer, well not as ground shaking as those movie theatre systems or desktop theatre systems; it produces an appropriate amount of bass, ideal for gaming, audio playback and movie viewing. With the trebles, the speakers also produce a remarkable amount of treble to really make the sound very crispy and clear. With the bass and trebles going along together, it produces a great sound for the money and unlike the competition, which offers a rather weak bass, the Inspire 4400 will ensure that it provides more than adequate bass for any setting. With such dramatic results, these speakers are really worth the small price for gaming, audio and DVD movies.
Even with the THX movies, the speakers still produces great sound, even though these speakers are never THX certified. For any movie, it even has sufficient bass for the effects of explosions, gunfires and tire screeching. The same thing goes for games too, because games and movies alike are bass demanding and many 4.1 speaker systems tend to miss the correct amount of bass for just the games and movies alone to produce the finest audio.
The volume control is also very easy to fine tune and at the lowest setting, you can feel when you're at the lowest setting on the volume controller knob on the remote. This is because if you do turn your speakers on and off constantly over a period of time, the fuses will break and the speakers will emit scrambling sound. But the LED on the remote does show you when the speakers are on with the green light. But some people wished that the speakers could have a balance control on the remote if they're placing the surround satellites on the rear of the room for a much better control in audio playback.
Plus, with the extra long wires of the surround satellites, you have the privilege of hanging the speakers for a better surround sound experience, compared to the surround satellites placed on the desk.
Just because I've mentioned that these are computer speakers, it doesn't mean that these speakers are strictly for the computer. You can use these for your MP3 players like the Creative Nomad and Set Top gaming consoles like PlayStation 2.
Recommendation
With these speakers, anyone can easily have the quality of surround sound for a fraction of the cost. At about $50 for these speakers at a local computer hardware store, you can really afford these if you have the space or would like to heighten your experience in computer gaming. So, for those who are looking to really replace their old 2.1 speaker systems or those plain 2-piece speaker systems, the Creative Inspire 4400 is your economical solution to surround sound.
Recommended:
Yes
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lavoisier
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Member: Hugh Jazz
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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