Labs

The wooden veneer and the sheer size make this set more suited to living rooms than PC setups. We don't normally like subwoofer-mounted controls, but they're fairly accessible here. There's no headphone output, though.

Three stereo and two 5.1 surround inputs accommodate a range of sources, but DVD players need internal Dolby Digital decoding as there are no digital inputs or a built-in decoder. PCs using the analogue 5.1 inputs need a bass-redirection option on their sound card's utility software. When using 5.1 inputs, the subwoofer reproduces only those sounds fed to it on its dedicated input; the other surround systems use the subwoofer for low frequencies from all channels. Front, centre and rear channels will sound weak unless you have a sound card with bass redirection. Tests revealed detailed front satellites and enormous bass to rival Logitech's Z-5500, but stereo music was lacking in mid-frequencies, the surround channels were worse, and the centre sounded muddled.