Creative purchased Cambridge a company founded by audio legend Henry Kloss.This new company released mostly sub/sat speaker systems priced down to earth as well as a few computer speakers,all sharing one trait good sound quality for the money.One of the first high performance PC speakers was and still is the MicroWorks,with its tower subwoofer and cube sats it brought balanced audio reproduction to the PC,in a time of poor quality multimedia speakers it was a revelation.A few years later Cambridge relased the now famous MegaWorks line,the 210D and 510D were clear improvements over the original MicroWorks,in both quality and output.The MegaWorks while great speakers came at a time of stiff competition,most reviews favored bass heavy PC speakers,bloated bass and zippy upper frequency response was in again.As great as the MegaWorks are they use a full range driver in the sats,as many competitors started using two way sats.To face the critics Cambridge has designed the newest member of the Creative family the GigaWorks.

The GigaWorks is the most advanced PC speaker system Cambridge ever released and one of the very few to use dome tweeters.The system of interest here is the GigaWorks S750.A 7.1 system using seven identical sats save for the center is turned on its side.As always Cambridge(Creative)provides ample mounting hardware,a very welcome touch.This time the Creative system comes in a ordinary looking box of average size,however when pick up you know its packed like an egg with goods.Opening the box you see the controller box and remote,the controller sits too close to the edge,as is now a custom my S750 upper corner was damaged and the remote escaped with only a tiny scratch,thicker protection is needed for a system of this class.A side box contains all seven speaker sats,upon inspection you clearly see and feel the quality of these new sats.The best found in ANY multimedia system,the grill comes off easy,revealing a tweeter not seen on any copeting product.As a nice extra the grills have pieces of absorbing foam on each side of the tweeter,like used by many high end speakers,fun to see on speaker of this price.The subwoofer is a bit larger than the 510D sub,and this time ported on the left side.The back amp panel now has a serious heatsink to dissipate the heat generated by the amp at high playback level.The control pod is quite small and has a few tiny buttons to adjust the bassics.All in all a very high quality feel and great attention to detail.

Break in time,I left the S750 play at a moderate level for four days,during this time the back of the amp remained warm but never did it become too hot. Like the MegaWorks the cables provided are of good quality,longer cables would be welcome.As is the case with to many speakers the 1/8" stereo to stereo cable is on the short side,a solid 3 meters should be a atandard,as placement of the sub/amp is often tricky with short line level wires.Overall the quality of the parts and design of this system are the best yet in a PC speaker system under $600.Cambridge has done many things right with this set,the only complaints will be centered around the remote pod design and the subwoofer as you will read further down.

At first the system apeared edgy compared to its main rival(Ultra 5.1 what else),after the third day I noticed both sounded quite alike and none had any irritating upper frequency edge.The subwoofer apears to be underported and the small vent is working too hard even at medium volume,a larger and longer port would no doubt help.Creative wanted to keep the sub as small as possible this could explain the small and short port.Placement of the sats was the usual position reserved for all PC speaker sats on my desk,26" apart and around 24" from listening position.The center positioned under the monitor this time,as the Ultra 5.1 has a clever "foot" and the Giga center has only rubber feet,the center is angled up.The side sourrounds were on each side of the listening position,spaced 1.2 meters from listening position near ear level,the rear sourrounds were positioned were 2 meters back spaced around 50" apart.Again at near ear level,this setup created a very realistice sourround,as will be later taken advantage of in Call of Duty.

First impression during more serious listening was quite positive,teh system was balanced.As was the case with the MegaWorks 510D the S750 design was all about balance and sound quality over sensless output.Not to say the system was not capable of very high sustained output,it was I reached 110dB and the system has a good few dB's in the bank left.The subwoofer extends almost as deep as the class leader(Ultra 5.1)the bass is solid down to 40Hz,and has good output down 31.5Hz.From 30HZ down the S750 sub mostly produces distortion,as the side port fans the sourroundings.What Cambridge MUST DO is use a single 10" woofer in a slightly larger cabinet if they hope to match or best the class leaders here.The sats are in a class all alone among PC speakers,even besting the VideoLogic Crossfire sats in midrange and uppper frequency response.

Now was the time to use serious test material and discover just how competent the S750 is,to do this I started with Cirque du Soleil Alegria a great test for sats clarity and imaging,Eagles Hell Freezes Over a classic quality test.Further I used Mighty Sam Mcclain's Give it up to Love a stellar Audioquest recording used for years to test the natural,dynamics and the you are there recreation of a great performance.Sting and The Dream of the Blue Turtles,Stevie Ray Vaughan And The Double Trouble Greatest Hits plus Genesis LIVE the way we walk a favorite to test a live performance reproduction at high output levels. Plus Sheffield DRIVE as another all around sound quality test.

On the HT side Titan AE and Lord of the Rings FOTR were used,both have very intense sourround and subwoofer action great so stress test speakers,on the gaming side the sourround standout of 2003 was used,none other than Call of Duty.

I started my evaluation with Cirque du Soleil ALEGRIA,a few tracks right and left and decided to play track 9.This track has some well recorded acoustic instruments backed by a solid bass foundation.At no time did the S750 system sounded congested or colored,the cleanest reproduction of this track among all the PC speakers I tested,quite commendable.Track ten starts with deep bass hits,all PC systems including the Ultra sub failed to deliver the true impact and size,here again the S750 fell even shorter,this kind of deep bass requires a true subwoofer.The remaining of the track reproduced with authority and balance,bass was even more rythmic than on the Ultra 5.1! A real surprise,time for Creative to work on a dual woofer design or start using Cambridge 10" Newton woofer.The midrange,not to be forgotten was up front and clearly better than what even the VideoLogic Crossfire is capable of.

Sheffield DRIVE in the drive track two Slippin' Away II was clean,detailed and had serious impact,again the best in class sat design pays off.Ready to see how far the midrange can take a good performance I played The Power of Seven's Will it go round in circles,this test failed to create the desired effect,recreate the singers clearly,not a surprise this is a reference on Klipsch Horns and Altec VOT's,both much larger and expensive massive speakers.Last test track was Evolution The Usual Suspects,again solid bass drive and incredible instrument placement on high end systems.Quite honestly this track came out on top of the multimedia pack in terms of midrange clarity and upper resolution.

Time for some SRV now,one of my favorites is Stevie playing Little Wing.A real joy to listen to,even with the the noise from the tube guitar amp its a real feast for the ears.Be it low or very high volume levels the S750 kept the performance live and with no dominating flaws.Lets spin Cold Shot,another classic and Couldn't Stand the Weather.The S700 sats really take it to the nexst level,midrange coloration is slight and no box sound plaguing all the competition can be heard even at very high output levels!In no time I passed the whole CD and the S700 sats gained my approval.

Genesis The Way We Walk being of of my all time favorite CD's had to put the S750's thru its paces.This recording is of good quality and has some interesting transitions as well as an ambience ideal for sourround speakers playback.Driving the Last Spike starts smoothly gaining momentum and ending with a high energy,here the S750's worked hard and it showed for the first time the heatsink became quite warm.The balance was rather towards lean,as only full range sats with large subs can bring you the live effect.I found the subwoofer setting had to be set half way on the pod,for the bass to really lay a solid foundation.Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea is a great track starting as is Genesis custom calm and building up to a fiery finale,all classic Genesis.Great performance,and again the GigaWorks shows its qualities by delivering a high octane performance,the subwoofer was moved along side the front wall as its not boomy and has to strain less to match the Ultra 5.1 sub output.Lets end this test with my favorite track(saving the best for last)Old Medley,this track is over 19 minutes long passing one intense moment to another.A great test to hear how well speakers/amp fare when playing at near live levels.Needless to say the dB meter showed in exess of 110dB at times,here the lectric guitar really rips and the drum gets a serious workout.At no time did I notice any distortion or colorations get in the way,the sats upper frequency could be better but at this price its among the best,if not the best.

Last and not least Mighty Sam McClain' Give it up to Love,as I said before and will say again and again if anybody wants a masterful recording of talented artists and competent mastering they have to own this CD. From one track to the next its Mighty Sam's voice taking command,for PC speaker sats the S700 are the least colored of any,Ultra 5.1,MX5021,Crossfire,PM14,Z680 and the works have to bow down in this aspect.I wanted to hear irritaing midrange colorations,but no NADA.Yes there are slight colorations and a very audible compression but only noticed by those who know live music and/or own large high end speakers.The S700/750 would be in perfect balance using dual subs,then the subsonic might would follow the satellite prowess.There is a very slight unnatural edge in the upper frequency,probably due to the metal dome tweeter,as this kind of tweeter is complex to master.Please remember this is nitpicking and nothing serious,most will prefer this added upper range life.

About time some serious 5.1 gaming hits the S750's,this is a call for what else Call of Duty.Call of Duty for those in the know is the best sourround sound found in ANY PC game and probably any game ever made. From the positional audio quality to the complexity and intensity of the sourround call of Duty is my standard sourround sound reference.Again as is the custom I used the crossing of the river by boat and the uphill battle/survival in the Russian side of the game.Here one thing is missing the Ultra 5.1 bass might,at times I was worried the sub may hit its limits,during heavy action.It fared fine,and the Audigy 2 ZS provided the GigaWorks with stellar sourround,even Katiusha rocket barrage was clear and you ould hear the rockets clearly moving from the rear to hit the targets on the hill.Very good showing,second only to the Ultra 5.1

Now its HT time,Titan AE in the DVD and time to hit the recreation of Earth.As the massive energy boost awakes the Titan the poor S750 sub holds to its dear woofer and the port starts to hyper ventilate again.Clearly the only subwoofer I feel confident using here is the Ultra 5.1,and even this sub works hard during passages like this.Like I've said you have to place the S700/750 sub along a wall to get the reinforcement needed to not stress the sub too much at high output levels.This done and you are set,during the whole movie the S700 sats did what they dad to do and did not call any unwanted attention to them.

LOTR Fellowship of the Ring came after,here the sourround sound combined with some intense scenes(cave troll and Barlog)make this a great HT speaker tester.In the caves when Frodo and the gang are attacked by the big cave troll and orcs the sourround really makes the GigaWorks show off,with a 7.1 system the rear effects sourround you,the center channel speaker renders voice with little coloration.After the win the Fellowship members try to escape the giant Barlog,here the subwoofer again starts to hit its limits.There is only so much a 8" can do,and again I see a real need to use a larger cabinet and a 10" woofer.There are very few scenes where the S750 sub limits are being pushed,this eascape from the caves is one of them.

To wrap it all up Creative's latest and greatest PC speaker system the S750 has the best sats found in a multimedia speaker system priced under $600.The new sats are well built,have a solid hefty feel.The drivers used in the S700 sats are also of better quality than the competition.The removable stands and supplied wall mounting hardware is a very welcome bonus,for those who lack space to stand mount the rear sourrounds you can always hang them on the wall,rubber pads are supplied too.The subwoofer/amp is on par with the 510D in terms of definition/quality and extends a solid 10Hz deeper.The system would be ideal for music listening and gaming.For PC/HT use there are slightly better options.The S750 subwoofer lacks the efortless bass prowess of Klipsch Ultra 5.1,it is still one of the better multimedia bass modules on the market. I worote the Klipsch Ultra 5.1 is ideal for HT/gaming on the PC,and this still hold true.The S750 bests the Ultra 5.1 on music,however those who listen to very bess heavy music will still do better witha Ultra 5.1.For acoustic muisc and voice the S750 is a full step in front.

So here you have it,the S750 stands with the Ultra 5.1 as the two best PC sourround systems in terms of quality.I feel the S750 will not get the praise it deserves based on its less potent subwoofer,and do we know reviewers love the BIG FAT thumping Z680's.For pure musicality the S700/750 lead the whole MM pack,for bass might and a solid dose of balance the Ultra 5.1 is a winner.There is no clear winner,and no clear cut choice,as what one systems does better the other bests it in another aspect.To me the S750 is of beter overall quality and would be my choice if I had to have only one PeaSee speaker system.What is best for YOU,you decide.Know none will disapoint and both elevate the overall PC speaker bar.

--TheEAR