Genius SP-D150 Notebook Speakers sound and look great
Genius has been designing innovative and well-priced PC peripherals. Their SP-D150 “USB-powered PC Speakers” are designed to look great and sound good while taking up little space. They will probably sit to either side of your display in what is especially recommended for a notebook or for a compact PC system. What is impressive is that the Genius notebook speakers sound good for a low price. They are a miniaturization of ultra-modern speakers, and the choice of black or white, as well as the silver speaker cones and accents are an elegant touch – all for only about $16.90 MSRP.
Genius Notebook Speakers / SP-D150 Tested
Since they are not yet available for purchase, we received our SP-D150 directly from Genius. Of course, the most important thing about any speakers is their sound and we have been able to audition these speakers for about a month from a variety of sources. These notebook speakers are considered “one-way” as there is a single full-range speaker without any need for a crossover in each speaker enclosure. The speakers are ported for maximum bass and are quite efficient. The cables on the back plus the design of the attached stands keep one from placing the speakers directly against a wall, so you don’t have to worry about covering the ports.
The SP-D150s are bookshelf speakers which means that they are designed to sound better sitting on a bookshelf – ideally in some sort of corner placement. That is where you will get the most effective bass response and the best imaging. The SP-D150s look good and their “cube” style sets them far above most generic plastic-looking PC speakers in their price-range. However, it is important that PC speakers sound decent – one does not expect audiophile quality from seventeen dollar speakers nor should one expect thundering bass without a subwoofer. We have had these speakers for about a month as our main PC desktop speakers as well as listening from our notebook. During this evaluation period, we have listened to our music, watched movies, and played many PC games using them.
We used the Genius SP-D150s together with our Compaq notebook’s integrated sound, our desktop PC with the EVGA Z77 motherboard’s integrated sound, as well as with a Diamond Xtreme Sound 7.1 USB Sound card on both of our PCs. Although the next standard for BluRay is 11.1 audio, the very best audio systems in the world – genuine audiophile systems – are stereo. This editor was privileged to evaluate and to own many high-end audiophile systems in the 1970s. A favorite stereo system included two pairs of stacked, mirrored and imaged Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers, a Mark Levinson modified Harmon-Kardon Citation tube pre-amp, Great American Sound amplifiers bridged to 1000W per channel, a Thorens turntable and a Grado Signature cartridge. Many years ago, this kind of system was far more affordable. Today a similar system might cost $100,000.
Working as a consultant in high-end audio, this editor soon found that most specifications for audio are ridiculous over-exaggerations as most speakers and other audio components never come close to their advertised specifications. A genuine audiophile system has no tone controls – the preamp is a straight wire with gain and neither are there balance controls which would add distortion to the pure sound. CD audio is still quite deficient sonically when compared to analog vinyl records according to audiophiles. Only DVD audio has finally caught up with the analog recordings of decades past.
Eventually this editor lost some of his ability to hear the extreme high-frequencies and returned to playing music in the background and gaming without listening critically. The most recent PC speakers evaluated for ABT are the Genius SP-HF800A which we reviewed here. They are both very good-looking and sounding wood-finish speakers, with very nice features for their class and price.
A Cambridge SoundWorks quadraphonic system has been used for gaming since 2001 and was recently retired. As you can see, the typical PC speakers are usually “hidden” because they tend to look cheap, plastic, and generic. A Klipsch v200 PC audio system lasted this editor for about 10 years. It looks much nicer than the Cambridge system but is also very expensive in comparison. Klipsch speaker faults include a very bright and almost shrill tweeter and somewhat of a ‘hole’ in the midrange although the bass is impressive for a PC speaker system.
Sound systems tend to last a long time and one should have a system that is not only pleasing to the ears, but to the eyes also, and they should fit in with the decor. Getting the “look” right is something Genius has excelled at with the SP-D150 speakers. What about their sound? Head to the next page as we unbox them and check their specifications before we audition them.
