Creative T5400 5.1 Speaker System

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Kurtis Kronk
Brian
Case-Mod
May. 31, 2004

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Testing

To thoroughly test the speakers I played a variety of music, a couple of DVDs, and a few games...

Music

The music I listened to while testing includes (but is not limited to...): Evanescence - My Immortal / Bring Me to Life, THX - Deepest Bass, Linkin Park - Reanimation CD, Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle CD, Slipknot - F#$% it All, Papa Roach - Last Resort / Obsession / Broken Home, ATB & George Acosta - Castles in the Sky, Craig David - Fill Me In, Daniel Beddingfield - Gotta Get Through This, Korn - Blind / Falling Away From Me / Children of the Korn, Nintendo - Donkey Kong Country Remix / Mega Man Theme, Carl Orff - Carmina Burana O Fortuna...

I started off testing with THX - Deepest Bass. When I played this song, I was really surprised just how well the T5400s performed. Granted, the bass didn't make it hard to breathe, nor were the mids or highs extremely powerful, but the sound quality was higher than what I would have expected for a 5.1 system under $100. The next sound test was a selection of rock (Evanescence, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Korn...). While listening to songs like Linkin Park's "Somewhere I belong" from the Meteora CD, it became painfully obvious that the mid-low range is severely limited on these speakers. The same holds true for pretty much all of the other rock songs I listened to. I proceeded testing with some techno music (George Acosta, Mega Man Theme!) and I was pleasantly surprised. Although the sound quality wasn't astounding, techno sounded far better on these speakers than rock. The mids and highs sounded pretty nice and the bass was good but not great. Basically, all of the non-rock selections followed along the same lines as the techno - overall pretty good quality.

One small thing to note is that while listening to 2.1-encoded music, I was unable to get sound from all satellites. This is expected of course, but a feature to extend the sound to the rear speakers would have been a welcome addition (this and more is available on more expensive systems like Logitech's Z-680s). Again, this is a budget system, so you can't expect too much.

DVDs

I chose to use the original Matrix and Saving Private Ryan for the DVD tests. In Matrix I used the lobby scene, and in Saving Private Ryan I used the beach scene.

Playing DVDs is when these speakers really began to shine. In both Matrix and Saving Private Ryan, the sound quality was awesome. The mids and highs came through crisp and clear. When you play DVDs with these speakers, you will forget how little they cost. The only thing that was noticeably lacking (though still not bad) was the bass. Explosions still sound very cool, don't get me wrong, but the bass does leave something to be desired! I really can't stress enough how pleased I was with the sound quality when playing DVDs. At this price point I never would have expected them to fare so well! Again, they won't blow you away, but they really do sound nice.

Games

I used a variety of games to test out the T5400s... I played Need For Speed Underground, Call of Duty, and Unreal Tournament 2004.

When I started up NFSU, I was surprised at the sound quality right away. In the main menu in NFSU (and while playing) there is background music, and it didn't sound bad at all. The reason I was surprised is that music didn't sound very good when playing CDs, but in-game music sounds great, perhaps because it plays on all speakers instead of only the front. In-game sound effects also sounded great. Like with the DVD tests, NFSU sounds great. Next up was Call of Duty! While playing Call of Duty I set the audio to use EAX. My biggest concern going into game testing was the bass, but I must say that the sub did much better than I expected while gaming. Like NFSU, Call of Duty sounded great. For UT2004 I set the audio to use 3D Audio. I tried using the 3D H/W + EAX setting, but for some reason it didn't sound as good. Weapons weren't as loud as they should have been, and overall this setting just seemed a little buggy. I'm pretty sure it is an issue with the game and not the speakers though! UT2004 also sounded great, perhaps even more-so than the other games. The sound of the rockets launching, blades extending, tanks firing, missiles exploding and players taunting was much better than I expected when I first started testing these speakers.

Conclusion

When it comes down to it, the only things I really don't like about the T5400 system are the bass and the fact that when you crank the volume past half way on the remote you get distorted sound. That said, both of these things are to be expected at this price point. All in all, these speakers are a great deal at under $100. While the T5400 system most definitely isn't your solution for listening to music, if you're looking for something that will sound great when playing DVDs or games in 5.1 without ruining your budget, Creative's T5400 speaker system is for you.

Pros

Affordable
Sound great when playing DVDs or games
Look cool
Wired remote

Cons

Weak bass
Sound distortion at high volume levels
Not good for music listening

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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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