Philips A5.600 Speakers

Philips has billed its latest 5.1 speaker system as an 'extreme sound for realistic gaming'.

Whether firing a laser beam into the head of a three-headed alien is classed as realistic is uncertain, but the A5.600 surround sound speakers look nice and perform well.

We didn't think the sound quality was 'extreme' but at average volume levels the 5.1 system sounded good when playing audio, games and DVD movies on a PC.

The five satellite speakers can be positioned on a desk or wall-mounted.

Although they look smart, plastic speaker casings aren't really designed for best sound quality and as expected, distortion is a problem at very high volumes.

At more normal volumes, they sound fine. The subwoofer is a more solid wooden creation and it never sounds anything other than fully composed.

A remote control can be used to alter volume, bass and treble levels and switch between three sound modes: game, movie and music.

This is good for watching movies as you don't need to use the keyboard and mouse to tweak the sounds.

Up to three input devices can be connected to the speakers and the remote is used to switch between them.

Contact: Philips 0870 601 0101
www.philips.co.uk