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When reviewing a £35 set of speakers, we really do need to keep our expectations realistic. People who are looking in this specific price range will be more tolerant of weaknesses. If I start to compare these against other products in the £200+ price sector then it ends up a futile process.
Initial audio impressions were certainly more positive than when I first took them out of the box during the photography stage – while the appearance is rather rough in places and perfectly indicative of a product in a lower price bracket, the lashings of floor shaking bass caught me by total surprise.
We played a wide cross section of compressed music through the speakers to judge the overall balance and performance. A 256kbit rip of MatchBox 20's ‘Back To Good' delivered a sizable amount of bass which was initially a little bit of a shock. I realised that the bass knob was set to maximum, so I set it to just past half way.
The overall audio quality was fairly impressive, although I couldn't remove a certain level of sibilance which was clearly apparent, particularly after listening to the Corsair SP2500 speakers. These are are in a much higher price bracket, so some time was necessary for adjustment.
Next, we listened to several tracks from the self entitled Alias album from the late 80's. Alias were a musically competent Canadian rock band formed from ex members of Sheriff and Heart. The tracks ‘Say What I Wanna Say' and ‘After All The Love Is Gone' were able to resolve a substantial level of bass and wide open sound staging, although when we pushed the volume higher there was audible clipping and distortion from both satellites and subwoofer. To be fair however, the volume level was rather high before this happened, and certainly enough to cause concerns for people in another room. Ideal for a small or medium sized bedroom, but lacking a little dynamic power within a larger living room.
We tested with some audiophile grade recordings, such as Vivaldi’s Concertos for Two Violins, with Viktoria Mullova and Giullano Carmignola. This recording was less impressive as the sound staging and dynamic range seemed slightly disjointed, failing to deliver an emotional connection between the listener and the musicians. Again, there are very few computer based speaker systems able to deliver a wonderful experience with some of these recordings, although the Corsair SP 2500 remain currently at the top of the pile.
We also tested with the 20 bit remastered version of Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene 8 and the bass depth forced the table underneath to vibrate. Unfortunately, unless the bass control is dialed down a little, the subwoofer will lose composure and focus. Bass freaks among you will certainly find this more appealing than a reverse situation, because you obviously can't add bass that isn't there in the first place. Generally, the sound was slightly compressed when compared to a more expensive product, but the budget oriented audience would be more than satisfied.
We played some bluray movies such as Taken and Avatar and they worked fairly well through the speakers. Compared with our Razer Mako speakers they did sound slightly flat in the complex passages, but generally the subwoofer helped to produce a bigger than life sound. Vocals were clear and while we could detect a little sibilance in the upper frequencies, the overall presentation was not lacking.
Testing the C40 with games was a favourable experience. Titles such as Crysis Warhead, BioShock 2, Home Front and Left4Dead2 all sounded great through the speakers, with the hyper bass helping to create a bigger than life atmosphere. Racing games such as Hot Pursuit were equally entertaining.
It is clear that what the C40 speaker system lacks in refinement and ultimate power, it makes up for with bass response and a willingness to create a large soundstage. If you are looking at these for classical music playback then they will not be a suitable partner, but for those people wanting powerful bass for rock or dance music, then at the price, they will be hard to beat.
To get the cost into some kind of real world perspective, I recently spent more on a quality in-ear set of headphones for my MP3 player.
