Corsair SP2500 Speakers Review

Introduction

This is a review of Corsair’s SP2500 2.1 Speaker System. The system has been on the market for a few years now. Was released back in 2011. When choosing a speaker system, often a lot of users choose watts over what actually matters. Many systems boast high watts of power as a marketing tactic. The problem with a high watt system is 99% of the time it just means it has a lot of power but will be heavily distorted at anything past half volume.  So a high watt system is completely useless. This is where the Corsair SP2500 has an advantage.  It’s a 230Watt system  that boasts a full volume output without any distortion. You also don’t have to worry about damaging the speaker drivers by running it at full volume which is often the case with other speaker systems.

Features



The speakers come with 2 Satellites that have a 3” mid-range, and a 1” inch tweeter (High range) and 1 8” subwoofer. You may find the subwoofer is quite large compared to other units. This is because the subwoofer unit has 6 crossovers amps built into it.

It also comes with an external volume control that has a digital screen to see the volume level. You can also control the subwoofer volume. So if you decide to do a late night drive. You hopefully won’t wake up your neighbor’s.  It comes with a built in EQ control which personally I never use, because I find these to not be pure audio and are fake effects that serve no real purpose. It’s a software modified audio effect. Like “Rock mode”  I think many speaker system use this to make up for the lack of quality audio. Something the SP2500 has no problems with. It really does play audio at the quality of the source audio you provide it. In other words you may find some music tracks you have may not be as good as you thought. I suggest investing in high quality flac files for music playing as it is lossless audio codec.

The volume control unit also has a standard headphone jack in case you do need to plug in a set of headphones.

Technical

So why does the SP2500 have 6 crossovers. What is a crossover?

A crossover splits audio into multiple frequency bands, in the case with the SP2500 it has one crossover per speaker. Plus two 60 watt amplifiers. With built in DSP (Digital Signal Processing).

Crossovers like the ones in the SP2500 have built in noise reduction systems in place. Which is what the DSP is. The challenge with crossovers is keeping the sound in phase as it makes it’s way out of the drivers.  From a technical point of view you can appreciate the technology behind the SP2500’s.

The drivers themselves use the what in my opinon is the best material for drivers. The 3” and 1” inch drivers uses a silk material, while the other 8” drivers uses rubber. While I personally think paper produces the best sound quality. For durability the rubber 8” is a good choice for a long lasting speaker that can handle the heavy volume the SP2500 allows.

The clarity of the sound from low to mid to high is very clear and crisp. You really do notice this. Where with most speaker systems for computers it all seems very blurry. Most speaker systems don’t really give you a full dynamic range, and they fall way short of delivering a quality sound experience. It’s a bit like taking a high resolution image shrinking it down to 100 pixels and then blowing it up to 2000 pixels. It will be blurry. The SP2500 gives you the full quality. You can even tell from listening to music tracks which tracks have a better recording quality of others. Which is really un-heard of in a sound system of this price range.

Pro’s and Con’s
Pros

• Amazing sound quality for the price in fact its priced low, it punches above its price class. At $249 you may find it cheaper. I’ve seen it around $200.
• Lots of volume range and no distortion at full volume
• Separate volume control that you can mount anywhere on your desk or sim-racing rig.
• Separate volume control for the subwoofer.
• 8” inch sub! Bigger is better yeah?
• Crisp clean low-mid to high range sounds
• Construction Quality

Cons

• The cable wires for the satellites are a little short. They use a standard 4pin computer connector so it may be possible to find a longer cable if needed.
• The perfect sound image range is a short area, but this is mostly due to the size of the speakers. Just make sure to position the speakers so they point to your ears, in a triangle shape, and you will enjoy the sound! What this means is every speaker system has a sweet spot. You have control of where to position the sweet spot by how to place the speakers. So make sure you mount them in a way that the sweet spot is where your head will be.
• The size of the subwoofer enclosure. While it's big for a reason, you may find it takes up a lot of space. Depending on your setup you may have trouble to fit it where you want it.

My Thoughts

The system does exactly what it boasts to do. For a 2.1 System it does the job it’s meant to do and does it better than most 2.1 systems on the market. For the quality level you get you are under paying. However I do realize that a large majority of people like 5.1 or 7.1 systems. The problem with surround sound is you are scarifying sound quality for directional sound. While it may give you a more immersive experience it won’t compare to the quality of the sound you get from a 2.1 system. Being an audiophile I’m always more interested in the quality of the sound as its part of the experience. I want it to feel like the car is in the room. Or the person singing is in the room. This is of course a matter of personal preference.  In terms of music a surround sound system makes no sense at all. It really does have some benefit in an 3d environment like gaming. A First Person Shooter, or even Sim-Racing. However for me the dynamic range of the sounds is just as important in the immersion. So it’s a trade off. It is up to you which you prefer.