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The
Subwoofer comes in a rectangular, black finished, wooden
enclosure. Wood is used as it generally provides better
quality bass and less distortion than other materials (at
least the cheaper ones). Design wise, its appearance is
similar to those of previous Inspire systems, though both
size and weight are greater than in the Inspire 5300’s.
The system also uses a ported design as opposed to a
down-firing one as seen with the MegaWorks 510D reviewed
previously. As stated before, using a ported design allows
for improved bass efficiency at much lower
frequencies.
Thankfully
enough the Bass level control is now located on the remote
controller rather than on the rear of the Subwoofer along
with all the other connections. This is a nice improvement
and should make on the fly bass volume adjustments much more
convenient.
The Subwoofer
enclosure also houses the amplifier and all connections,
like in most other multimedia systems around the same price
level and some of the ones we
have covered before. The SNR for the system is rated at
75dB for the Analog Inputs. Performance wise, the subwoofer
offers 22 Watts RMS of power with a response range of down
to 40Hz. Technical specs give us a hint that this subwoofer
should offer a somewhat better performance than the one in
the Inspire 5300’s, the 5.1 sibling of this system.
Now from what I could
notice during tests, the overall output of the sub was
fairly decent and I would say, noticeably more powerful than
the 5300’s, which I always felt was somewhat lacking in
Bass punch. Perhaps not a huge difference, though a
respectable improvement. Similarly to its predecessor
though, the bass did come more ‘boomy’ once its level
was set above 50%.
The Inspire 6700
comes with 6 satellites, 5 identical ones and a different
front center one. The 5 satellites appear distinctive enough
thanks to the slightly over-sized grilles placed in front of
the drivers (2.25 inch). The drivers’ cone is made of paper & is surrounded by foam.
The
front center satellite differs in design to the others,
sporting a semi-circular shape when viewed top-down & a
much greater weight. The driver it uses is around 2.75
inches. A similar, though corrected, portioned curved grille
covers the driver.
The
satellites offer 8 Watts RMS of power (20 Watts RMS for the
Front center), which puts them slightly ahead of the Inspire
5300 (6 Watts RMS per satellite). That said, qualitatively
(ignoring the front center for the moment) the satellites
don’t sound noticeably different to those used with the
Inspire 5300, meaning that the mid-range is somewhat muddy
& bass/treble are acceptable enough (Though I did feel
that the sound quality improved a little after I used the
system with the Audigy 2). The front center satellite fares
better & offers a much more detailed mid-range. If
anything it might be a bit mismatched for the system given
its tendency to stand out above the other channels.
Distortion in the satellites isn’t noticeable until the
master volume level has been raised to about 1/3 or greater
(This will depend on the volume level you set your Soundcard
too also of course). Overall the satellites performed fine
enough for the price of the system.
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