SP-T1200 Speakers

Rating: (4.5 / 5)

These were actually the first speakers I got for this roundup so I’ve been using them for the longest. The satellites are nice and small while the subwoofer is large enough to get the job done, yet still small enough to fit under your desk.

One thing I really like about these speakers is their touch control. The volume, and treble/bass controls are on the front of the speaker and they’re operated by a touch slider so there are no knobs or buttons. It operates exactly like iPod or Zune volume controls where you just slide your finger across the face of the speaker to control the functions. I like this feature a lot but it does have its pros and cons. First of all the cons...sometimes in order to change the volume significantly you have to push and maintain a steady pressure that can knock over the speaker if you’re not careful. So you end up supporting it from behind a little if you want the speaker to stay on your desk. That’s not the end of the world, but it is just a little bothersome to have to use both hands sometimes when all I want to do is change volume. That’s really the only downside to that. The upside is that most of the time it’s not only sensitive enough to be able to adjust a couple clicks without needing to support the speaker with your other hand, but it also requires a deliberate touch. I found this feature really useful to keep me from accidentally bumping it and blasting my volume. The power and mute buttons are also conveniently located on the front.

I was a little surprised that these small desktop satellites could put out the sound that they do. I wasn’t disappointed in the least in either the quality or the volume of these speakers. Of course they can’t be put in the same class as high-end expensive gaming speakers, but these middle-end speakers more than do the job. Don’t let the fact that they’re not high-end gaming speakers deter you away from them though. I found that these speakers handled everything I threw at them with more than enough volume to go around while I was sitting at my PC. They handled music, movies, and games without even blinking and I could crank the sound all the way up with hardly any distortion at all. And that’s what’s really important because if the higher volumes are distorted then they’re not at your disposal.

I then hooked these speakers up to my TV and while they added noticeable volume they didn’t have the full richness of surround sound you would expect from a real home theater system. The good news is they’re not really designed as a home theater system so you can’t expect them to perform like one. That said though, I wasn’t displeased with them on my TV at all. They were rich enough to add some real depth to some movies and give me significant volume at the same time. They don’t have the power to get all the way across a really big room with the same richness, but if you’re within say 20 feet of your TV you could definitely get along with them just fine.

The Bottom Line: So these speakers are mainly made for the PC, but can handle TV loads if they have to. On the PC however, they’re more than just general-use speakers. These speakers provide nice stereo sound with very rich tones at high volumes. They have enough power to please most gamers, but can’t compete with the really high-end gaming speakers. The controls are on the front of the speakers and the touch slider is a cool way to adjust the settings. These speakers produce far more sound than their size suggests they would and the satellites are small enough to fit on even the smallest desks.