Verdict: Plenty of speakers, but high and low-frequency sounds are messy and uneven.

The T7900 is by far the most compact and affordable system under review, but its 7.1 surround configuration suggests that it wants to be taken seriously. It has two sets of mini-jack cables - one to wire up to four outputs on a sound card for 7.1 output, and another for the bodged cabling that Creative's sound cards use for 7.1 from three mini-jack sockets. If your PC only has 5.1 outputs, you can flip a switch to upmix to 7.1 internally, or leave two of the satellites in the box. The difference between 7.1 and 5.1 is small when you're trying to detect it, and in the heat of battle or a DVD action sequence, we didn't find it noticeable.

Other than the subwoofer-mounted upmix switch, the only controls are a combined power switch and volume knob, and a subwoofer level control. These display a strange lag in the way they respond to adjustment, but it's more weird than particularly worrying.

Considering the modest dimensions of the speakers and the diminutive 92W total power rating, the T7900 can produce a fair old racket. It can't quite knock objects off shelves, but it's enough to send unwanted houseguests running for cover. However, the sound quality isn't in the same league as the other sets. Playing back music revealed a variety of problems; upper frequencies sounded messy and aggressive, with an uneven bass that accentuated some notes more than others. This didn't diminish the thrill factor of game and DVD sound effects, but the surround placement wasn't as precise as that of the other systems on test.

It seems a little harsh to penalise this set for sounding less impressive than those costing £100 to £250. However, if you're committed enough to scatter satellite speakers and wires around the room then you'll probably appreciate the significantly better sound quality that Logitech's G51 system offers.

• Multi-GPU graphics - 20th June 2008
• CPU water cooling - 17th June 2008
• Hard disks - 20th March 2008
• Audio hardware - 29th February 2008
• Graphics cards - 24th January 2008
• CPUs - 21st December 2007
• Motherboards - 13th November 2007

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