Corsair SP2500 review

Corsair may be better known for making computer components, but the company is hoping to claim a piece of the speaker market with the SP2500 2.1 set. Headsets that appeal to gamers are fairly commonplace, but this is the first time we’ve seen a set of speakers designed specifically for games rather than music or sound.

Each speaker looks like a miniature version of a professional studio monitor, and feels just as sturdy. There are two separate drivers in each one; the main driver handles the mid-range and a small tweeter should produce clearer high-end notes compared to a single speaker. They connect to the subwoofer using proprietary four-pin ATX connectors. At 1.8m, the cables should be long enough to position each speaker to your liking. The subwoofer itself is huge, which could be a problem if you have limited floor space.

The single 3.5mm input on the back of the subwoofer makes it easy to connect your PC. There is also a stereo phono input, but if your device doesn’t have phono cables you’ll need to use a 3.5mm adaptor. The provided 1.8m 3.5mm cables should be sufficient for most people.

All the controls are located on the wired remote, which has a backlit LCD screen to display volume and bass levels. It also selects and active input and changes equalizer pre-sets; as well as all the usual musical genres there are also settings to match different games. Along with a conveniently placed headphone jack for more private listening, there’s also a second 3.5mm auxiliary input at the back for connecting an MP3 player.

We were impressed with how well the small speakers managed to fill the room with sound when playing our test tracks. Even without help from the subwoofer, the left and right speakers made acoustic and classical music sound rich and warm. Every high end note was preserved with no loss of detail. All our heavier test tracks sounded fantastic thanks to the pounding bass from the subwoofer, which didn’t overpower the main speakers.

We still aren’t convinced that a 2.1 speaker set will appeal to gamers, who often rely on surround sound speakers or headsets to get the edge on their opponents. For music fans and less serious gamers however, the SP2500 is a superb high-end set of speakers. They aren’t cheap, but there are few 2.1 systems that sound as good.