Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2500 High-Power 2.1 PC Speaker System (CA-SP211NA)

Note* Look for my last Up-Date below on April 17, 2013.I was replacing an older Model Logitech Z5300.The Audio Controller went bad so could not adjust any of the audio functions.It had worked for years and I thought I would try another Brand this time.Read reviews for days on end and decided to give the Corsair SP2500 a try !!!Below is how it went this afternoon with the Corsair SP2500.Well this sure looked like an awesome computer audio system.I was fired-up seeing it an UN-Packing it carefully and installing it piece by piece.Seriously it all looks great and was so looking forward to hearing it.Little small issue though.It has No-Audio at all !!!As in No-Sound comes from the speakers period.I checked and have re-checked my re-checks and all the cables are right where they are suppose to be.I have even done multiple re-boots with my computer.I just now held the left speaker up to my ear and turned the Corsair On & Off and do hear a Click.So there is power to the system but No-Audio.Now that I am taking the time to type this review and 1st impressions of this Corsair SP2500.I looked on the Corsair (Quick Start Guide) and got the 1-800-205-7657 Tech Support Number.Now your thinking like me that I should be all set, right?Little snag in that and here is why in case any other New Buyers try it.What you get is to sit there and listen to, ( Your phone call is very important to us and the next available Tech will be right with you).Heck I can relate to the Tech/Techs being busy and don't mind waiting in line for the next one.But, you don't get a Tech, what you do get after sitting there listening to all the messages is something like this.(Leave us a Message and we will return your call as soon as humanly possible)Oh and for you might be thinking this.Just call that 1-800 number again and see if a Tech will answer.I did try that four (4) times back to back and the exact same thing took place every time.So I did leave them a lengthy message that went like this.{I suggest you tell your customers what days you are actually open and a tech is available.Also it would be really helpful to us the customers if you give us the Time Zone and Hours the Tech is available to answer the phone}.I thought to myself since they also want you to go On-Line for their (Assistance).Okay give that a try as the Tech Line sure did not go anywhere.After going through the Registering etc.I did leave the On-Line tech help a message.Guess what ???We received your On-Line Message and will be back to you in {eight (8) Hours}.So here I sit with a brand new whiz-bang Corsair SP2500 Dead as a Door-Nail !!!So New Buyers be "WARNED" of what to possibly expect.I have no idea what is going to be involved to send this back for a Full "Amazon" Refund but I have a feeling that is what might very well take place.If it does I will then do this the easy way that I almost did in the 1st place.Go to Best Buy here locally and get what they have in their Store.If it does not work simply put it back in my car and give it back.Personally I hope Corsair (Customer Service) reads this Review and knows then what their customers go through for HELP.And I am a Big Customer of Amazon and do write reviews and they are Factual.I don't write Negative Reviews just for the heck of it.And I happen to be a 67 year Ole Fellow so I am an Adult.I will Up-Date this review based on what takes place with Corsair on this matter.But right now this is exactly what has taken place, (Blow by Blow).Up-Date:Friday April 12, 2013Just spent the last 76-minutes on the phone with Corsair Tech.No they did not call me back I called and thankfully got a Tech to answer phone.I still have No-Sound from my computer to the Corsair SP2500 system.So I decided to call Best Buy (Geek Squad) and place a service call.I purchased the computer from them and they have supported it.Tech will arrive here on Tuesday before Noon to trouble shoot Audio issue.If he cannot figure out what is going on.I will then just purchase an Audio Speaker System from Best Buy here locally.Then ship the Corsair back to Amazon.I'm hoping I don't have to do that.Next up-date this coming Tuesday April 16, 2013 after The Best Buy (Geek Squad Tech) comes.April 17, 2013Here is the complete rest of the story on the Corsair SP2500:This is what you really want to know is why there was No-Audio.The Best Buy (Geek Squad) Tech did come yesterday morning.He was here for about one (1) hour.Now to get right to the point on No-Audio.Let me mention this.Now I don't have a $210.98 cent Corsair unit.I have to add the service call from the Geek Squad which he gave me a break on, $87.39 cents Total.So I now actually have a Corsair SP2500 at a Real-World-Cost of $298.37 cents.The reason was the Light Green (Audio-Out) that the Corsair SP2500 instructions tell you to use.That will "Not" always work for all customers.If you have like I do an optional (High-End Sound Card) in your computer that Light Green (Audio Out) will {Not-Work}.The Corsair has to be plugged into that (Sound Card) and also go in and reconfigure the settings for that.Once this was done by the Tech the Corsair came on instantly.Speaking of calling Corsair 1-800-205-7657 for Tech Support.As I said above I did do that and was on the phone with them for like 76-minutes.Nothing from that call accomplished anything other than they had no idea why it would not work.All they know to tell you are the basics and after that you can forget it.Now I will add this regarding them, (Corsair Tech Support).He was very friendly and did try to help.He went through all he knew and giving them and him a break maybe that is all we can expect.Now that I have said that I also have my on personal opinion.They should certainly be aware of customers having computers with (Sound Cards) installed.That is not all that unusual I don't think.I say that because my computer is a gaming computer with lots of additional cards installed to run the games.And also a High-End sound card as I said.And yes I told the Corsair Tech it had an optional sound card.I think it is like so many companies now that have New Techs with little Real-World-Experience.Moving on and now let me tell you what I do think of the Corsair SP2500 and the way it sounds.This unit sounds incredible and that friends is an understatement.Seriously it simply just "Rocks".The highs are Crisp.Mids are right on target.And the Bass, (Sub-Woofer) will I assure you get the job done nicely.I have room on my desk to spread out the satellites so the separation works perfect.Under my desk I have the Sub-Woofer in the corner against two walls and believe me it is an Awesome Unit.I will mention this regarding the Sub-Woofer and it's output.It really depends on what you are listening to.But given you are listening to something that has Bass content there will be No-Disappoinment with BASS.Oh you might also be wondering if it will play LOUD enough.Yes it will Crank-Up and put a Smile -:) on your Face immediately if you turn it up especially.The speakers sitting on their stands raises them up to where the sound comes right to you sitting in a normal computer chair.The speakers look very nice as well as the Sub of which you probably want see as in most cases it will be under a desk.I also have tried this out playing one of my Games and it is "Killer" !!!If there is any one wanting to know anything else just post a (Comment) to me and I will reply.I went back and did {Edit} my Star Rating.This unit deserves a (5-Star Rating) and that is what I give it.It is certainly worth the Amazon Price without having to call out the (Geek Squad).Even though I had the Geek Squad come out with that added expense I am still completely satisfied with the Corsair SP2500.Terry Honaker

At first, I was surprised to find a Corsair speaker system. Before I found this listing on Amazon, I didn't even know Corsair was in the computer speaker business at all. In fact, the SP2500 is their ONLY speaker product on the market. Luckily, Corsair's first and only foray into speakers is largely a success. The SP2500 delivers quality sound across the frequency spectrum. At $200, it's probably pushing the higher end of the price continuum for consumer 2.1 systems, but you get great results for the price.PROS- Excellent sound quality. Midrange is strong and clear. The tweeters do their job nicely at the higher frequencies; I can hear things while gaming (like shell casings falling to the ground) that just get absolutely drowned out when I use my crappy earphones. And of course the bass is just pounding. I mostly listen to rock music, where there's not that much bass involvement, but even here the bass guitar and drums are so much clearer than they were with my older pair of Bose speakers (not a 2.1 system). Where it really makes a difference (for me at least) is during gaming or watching movies. When an explosion goes off, the bass sounds just amazing; if I have the volume turned high enough I can feel my entire desk shaking.- These speakers can get very loud with little to no distortion. I haven't even fired these up at 100% volume yet since I'd probably get kicked out of my apartment if I did. The highest I've dared go was 60-70%, and I could really feel the bass from anywhere in the room with everything staying crystal clear.- Convenient LCD desktop controller. You can change a bunch of settings with the control panel: volume, input source, and equalization/program. There are some minor UI settings that you can tweak, including how long the LCD screen stays on and the color scheme. The most important probably is language, and there is a nice selection to choose from: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese.- The ability to independently adjust the subwoofer volume through the desktop controller. This is especially useful if you don't want to disturb your roommates/neighbors/whoever. If noise pollution isn't a concern, I suggest turning the subwoofer volume to 100% (or close) to get the mostout of it. Even when it is at 100%, you can still adjust the overall volume (including that of the subwoofer) with the normal volume control, and the subwoofer will get quieter or louder with the rest of the sounds coming from the satellites. So perhaps a better term for the subwoofer volume might be "subwoofer involvement".- Built-in 3.5mm audio jack on the desktop controller for headphones. Certainly more convenient than if you were to have to reach all the way to the subwoofer or your computer tower to plug/unplug a pair of headphones.- Long cables. My last pair of speakers came with cables that were barely long enough to reach my tower. I keep my tower a bit farther away from my desk than most people probably do (it's big and the positioning is mainly for ventilation purposes - plus I hate it when towers vent hot air into the space where my legs happen to be). So having cables that were long enough to comfortably reach between my tower and subwoofer, and from the subwoofer to my desk where my satellites are was very appreciated.- Capable of handling up to three different input sources: one using a 3.5mm stereo RCA cable (included), and two (one to the subwoofer, one to the desktop controller) using 3.5mm stereo audio cables (not included). You can easily switch between different input sources using the desktop controller.CONS- The subwoofer is quite large. This may or may not be a con depending on how much space you have. Still, I would make sure you can clear enough space around your desk to accommodate it before buying.- The headphone connection on the desktop controller seems to suffer some voltage attenuation. If you plug your headphones into the controller and then plug them directly into your computer's audio out jack and compare the sounds you will notice that the volume is noticeably quieter when plugged into the controller. This is exacerbated when using headphones with higher impedance. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the audio signal is being run through a SVGA connection. Luckily, I don't notice any signal degradation (warped frequency response, muffled or "flat" sounds, etc.); if you turn up the volume setting so that sounds are equally loud in both cases, they sound identical. It's more just an inconvenience that you have to turn the volume up and down whenever you use headphones.- The speakers don't come with surround sound virtualization software, which although not that big of a deal, is just a little unexpected considering these are marketed to be gaming speakers from a company that focuses on making gaming products. While virtual surround arguably does work better with headphones than speakers in most cases, I got a third-party virtualization software package (that was developed for headphones, not speakers) and with proper calibration the SP2500 can generate quite good virtual surround sound with said software package.- The aesthetics of the satellites leaves something to be desired. While they aren't ugly by any means, they don't look particularly stylish either.- GIANT packaging. Part of this is due to the large subwoofer, but still. I can almost fit my (huge) tower into the box that the speakers came in. The thing will definitely be taking up quite a bit of garage/closet space if you choose to keep it around (which I recommend in case you ever need to store/move your speakers in the future).NOTES- The SP2500 uses standard 3.5mm stereo RCA cables (or alternatively a standard 3.5mm stereo audio cable). There is no separate cable for the subwoofer, which is pretty typical for 2.1 computer speakers.- The desktop controller comes with a variety of equalizer and program settings for different scenarios. I've personally never found much use for switching between different equalization settings (I usually just set one curve through my sound card software to compensate for speaker and room acoustic idiosyncrasies and stick with it for everything), but they may be of interest to some people.BOTTOM LINEThese are an impressive set of speakers for music and gaming. While hardcore audiophiles may not necessarily be impressed, everyone else that still cares about getting quality sound and has the money to spend should seriously consider purchasing the SP2500.