Fortissimo

Check out my first birthday present from my cousin (Ms Guitar).
The Creative I-Trigue 3600 2.1 Speaker System. Of all the Creative 2.1 speaker systems, the only other model with an apparently better feature is the I-Trigue L3800, because of the Lateral Firing Transducers, which 'widens the soundstage and enhances mid tones'. If you didn't understand that you could either look up the word 'soundstage', or settle for this pathetic alternative explanation of 'better sound lor'. Or as the bengs say, 'more better or-lio'.

It was a choice between a speaker system, or the X-Fi sound card. Both were $199. Thing is I don't like the integrated sound card on my com. Coupled with a basic speaker set, the sound that was produced was totally flat rubbish.

However after being taken on a tour by a very good sales assistant and having my strange questions answered, little thought was needed to decide that the speaker system would be better now than a super sweet sound card. Why? If I get a sound card and install it, it still comes out through the same (now I can say) shit speakers. Furthermore, since the on-board card will be disabled, I can no longer plug up my earphones in the front jack. This renders the sound card quite a sad waste of money. Whereas my speaker model, if you look at the picture, has a headphone jack on its wired remote, and an auxiliary jack to plug up my Zen Micro after my com has been turned off (late night studying.... like real hurhur). Therefore the problem is solved if I get the speaker system first, as I did, then the sound card later, after saving up, and the day I install the sound card is the day I shall die happy thereon.

Before I review my speakers, a brief account of choice events. My brother's school Hwa Chong conducts a practice known as sabbaticals for one week every end of term. This is where a list of interesting programs are offered for the purpose of increasing one's general knowledge. The range of choices ensure you pick something that interests you.

So my brother signed up to be attached to a law firm for one week. And just this morning he received a notice through his school's electronic message board that students taking part in this attachment program are required to prepare a blazer or jacket of some sort, since they will be attending court cases.

Ms Guitar was mortified to hear that my brother had no jacket whatsoever, and was throwing his luck on my father's old coat. So she bought him a smart jacket. 99 bucks, but with a discount cut was slashed to 85.

My father, seeing this double whammy was livid. Lucky he never insisted that I pay my cuz back for my speakers.

Creative I-Trigue 3600 2.1 Speaker System Review

I copied the picture down for you lazy folks.

The Creative I-Trigue......

God bless you if you just scrolled up to prove you are not lazy.

The Creative I-Trigue series is the highest of Creative's three speaker standards, SBS, Inspire, I-Trigue, in order of quality. Since I have linked to the website, prices are subject to change, but at this point of time, the 3600 model is the second most expensive of the I-Trigue 2.1 systems, the only higher model being, again as mentioned earlier, the L3800, which costs a much more painful $269, making the 3600 the ideal 2.1 speaker system right now.

The selling point (or as Mass Comm would term it, Unique Selling Proposition) of the 3600 is the patent pending Acoustic Loaded Module technology. This link will take you to the microsite explaining the details of this technology. I originally wanted to extract the superb Flash animation off the microsite so you lazy people wouldn't have to visit the microsite and come back again (or maybe you won't, I lose out you know). But my piracy skills have failed me. Must have been some Javascript function I had no way of adding.

Basically it works like a trumpet (or tuba, as you might prefer after I explain the ALM's use). Sounds waves are put through concentric snaking chambers, creating the effect of a long amplifiying port in a very small space. This allows the production of upper bass audio (accented bass drum hits is one very important example) from the satellite speakers itself, creating a more natural audio experience, instead of the sensation that the bass drum is coming from the side or from your legs.

The different in quality as compared to my previous set of speakers is stunning. And for 4x the price, perhaps it should be. The 3600 tolerates high equalizer settings very well, showing minimal signs of overwhelmed distortion, if any at all, perhaps I imagined it. Because of the warm nature of the speakers (auditively speaking). I have had to push the higher-mids and the trebles on the iTunes equalizer higher up than I expected, to achieve the quality of sound I have come to expect. To prevent complications I avoided maxing out any of the frequencies of the equalizer. Although there are some albums which won't sound as good as I would like, because I tune to a single song and once I've achieved what I feel is the optimum quality, I save the settings and hope for the best.

I tuned to Tender Surrender.

So. If you have money on your hands, and you dunno what to do with them, give them to me. If you would prefer to spend it on a luxury, the 3600 is something to consider. And if you have too much money, give half to me. But if you prefer to spend them all on yourself you selfish arse, get the 3600 and the X-Fi sound card also priced at $199. Audio enjoyment will never be the same again.