Creative T5400 5.1 Speaker System - Articles / Reviews

Reviews: Multimedia

Creative T5400 5.1 Speaker System

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Kurtis Kronk
Brian
Case-Mod
May. 31, 2004

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Taking a Closer Look

Subwoofer

The front of the subwoofer bears Creative's stylish logo and a dual flared bass port. On the left face of the sub is where you will find the 5.25" driver covered by a grill. I attempted to remove the grill but apparently it is glued in place. On the back of the sub is where you will find the I/O plate. This is where you will connect your audio inputs, wired remote, speakers and power. I wasn't able to open up the sub, as Creative apparently decided to glue the plastic plate in place too! Note to Creative: Stop gluing stuff so I can open it up and take pictures!

Satellites

The front satellites and center are identical. Each has a midrange driver and a tweeter and trailing wires (instead of wire terminals). The rear satellites are different in that they lack a tweeter (also making them a little shorter), and rather than having trailing wires, they have wire terminals in the rear. Each of the satellites has a stand, but the stand is meant to be used only in one position, angled slightly upward.

Remote

The wired remote has dials for Power/Volume and Bass level, as well as a single headphone jack. On the remote there is a green LED which lights up when the system is powered on, and remains off when the system is off. There really isn't much to the remote at all. I wish Creative had included a wireless remote instead, but then you couldn't plug headphones into the remote! Oh well, we can't have everything, especially not with a sub-$100 system.

Setup

As one would expect, setup is quite simple with the T5400s. It's a good idea to connect the wires to the terminals on the back of each rear satellite first, so that you can then drop the wires to the floor and plug them into the back of the sub. Once you've done that, install the speaker stands and place all of the satellites where you want them. Next, decide where you want the wired remote to go, make sure you will have easy access so you can adjust volume/bass levels or plug in your headphones. Next, decide where to put the sub (usually under desk / in corner). With everything in place, plug in each of the satellites and the wired remote to the back of the sub. Then grab the audio cables and hook them up to the back of the sub and to your sound card. Now all you have left to do is grab the power adapter, plug it into the wall and into the sub, and you're ready, well almost!

The only thing left now is a software-side task. Go to the Control Panel in Windows, Sounds and Audio Devices, Speaker Settings - Advanced button, then in the drop-down list select 5.1 surround speakers, hit OK, and hit OK again. Now you're ready to enjoy some real 5.1 action!

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Page 3 of 4

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: What's in the Box?
Page 3: Taking a Closer Look & Setup
Page 4: Testing & Conclusion

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4 User Comments

1 - Posted by ikilledmyagoia on July 16, 2004 - 2:03 am

how well do you think these creative's would compare to other mid-price 5.1 speakers, like logitech's z-640's?

2 - Posted by Kurtis on July 16, 2004 - 12:12 pm

these are the lowest-end 5.1 speakers i know of, so z-640's i expect would perform better

3 - Posted by Nick on July 16, 2004 - 7:42 pm

I have a set of 640s at my desk at work and I think they are pretty kickass. I listen to di.fm (Kurtis' fault) or accuradio.com and the music comes through pretty well. The crossover seems to do a good job of keeping the bass out of the satellites and the bass is strong enough for the low bitrate stream im getting. MP3's come through pretty well too. And since the 640s are about $50 online, its a great deal.

Of course, I havent heard the 5400s so can't compare sound quality.

4 - Posted by Guest on April 13, 2005 - 7:59 am

It was very useful for me

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