Real Value, Great sound for price, BUT Caveat about Wiring!

Well, I have wanted some surround speakers for years now, but I have a terrible budget (but definitly a champagne taste). I am really into all things audio and am a former musician. Well, a person on Craig's list had a set of these Creative Labs Inspire p7800's.

I had hunted all around to compare, and in my price range, these seemed like they were good but that there were plenty of reports of people getting defective units. Furthermore, Creative evidently has a reputation for abysmal warranty service. But, heck, the guy selling them has tested them, so what the heck...

I learned after doing the deal that they are wired in a funny way, though, that THIS IS IMPORTANT, and I am irritated that NO ONE ON THE WEB has done a review explaining how the wiring is set up, nor is it done well on Creative's site, you really have to hunt down answers, and forget the moderators in their forum, they are useless.

The "Composite" (a cable of cables) cable that does the run between the Amp/woofer AND the Sound Controller (sound card/on board sound connections) is wired in a unique way, such that IF you don't have, say, a recent model Creative Labs sound card, you won't get 7.1 audio, and likely not 5.1 or not even proper sound at all. Here: There are basically 4 Stereo channels, technically speaking, in a 7.1 setup: there is the Center/Woofer "stereo", the Rear L and R "stereo", the side L and R "stereo" and, finally the Front L and R "stereo". I say stereo, becuase they use a stereo type mini phono jack, 3.5mm, the one with a tip and two ring contacts (two channels and the return/common).

Well, the back of the power unit/woofer IS wired normally: a female stereo 3.5mm jack for center/woofer, Rear L&R, Side L&R, and Front L&R. And, yes, the end of the "composite" cable that connects to the woofer is done that way. HOWEVER: The wires on the cable change into just three cables, rather than four stereo jacked ones on the woofe side. One the sound controller side of the composite cable there are ONLT ***3*** 3.5mm phono mini jacks. **AND** TWO of those ARE NOT STEREO, but Quad lead (a tip and 3 rings), with the last one a stereo. This is what NO ONE ANYWHERE, after 5 days of searching online, or going to creative's site, explained!!!

This composite cable prevents you from using an ON(mother) BOARD audio controller. Well, sorta. What you have to do is go online or to ratshack and order 3 or 4 (depending on if you want it neatly done) cables. The cables will need to be of the stereo type, be about 12, and have stereo 3.5mm mini phono jacks, male on both ends. This is a super common wire, but not at the length you'll need, you won't find it at wally world, for instance. You'd have to buy a short one and an extension, and it would get expensive quick.

NOW: on to the speakers themselves: They sound, well, great! Let's face it, these are low margin speakers, around $100 retail, less on sale. The upper mids are clean and complete, the highs are almost crisp (but, as I am an audio person I can't say crisp, since I know that there still is better), the bass on the woofer end is rich, deep, and plentiful, but a little less than truly punchy, and the lower mids are slightly flat, even hollow, but that is normal for such small speakers, after all, these are NOT living room speakers, folks.

I can play this set pretty loud with no noticable distortion and listening is a joy, even for my snobby ears. Furthermore, the wired remote has a bass gain control dial on it (along with the volume/switch and Headphone female jack, 3.5mm size). I would like a longer remote wire. In fact, I would like it if all of the speakers wires were 5 feet each longer, but they are, admittedly, at least adequate for most uses, certainly better than a LOT of other units out there.

A bonus here: There is a female jack (3.5mm phono) for an secondary/auxiliary input. HOWEVER, they put that jack on the woofer's rear. They should have put one on the remote, too!!! It would have been even neater if there were mid and treble gain controls, too.

In fact, were I to redisgn these speakers, I would have made the speaker's wires where they plugged *IN* to the speakers, rather than permanently attached, that way if a wire goes bad, or you need more length, or what have you, your ok. Also, I would have color coded the wires and speakers. Instead they give you these cheap stickers you put on, sheesh!

One other thing that would have been neat, but would have increased the price, would be if they had made the front 3 speakers radially Dual driver designed, so that a better lower mid range could be achieved. This is where Klipsch speakers rule over some of the others, the lower mid.

I was lucky, I got thse for 50 and they were hardly used. Shipper shipped fast.

I highly recommend these speakers UNLESS you are stupid and can't figure out wires and are a snob and have to buy the fancy name brands. I have been really enjoying them.

Oh, and BTW, they DO do 5.1 and 7.1 upmix, FWIW, as well as straight connect, a real plus, but, once again, they should have put the control on the remote, rather than on the back of the darn woofer!

ENJOY!