Control wheels on the front of the monitor

The controls are located on the front panel of the right satellite. Among them are: volume regulator with power-off function, bass and treble controls with mid-range locks. When the system is on, there is a blue LED lighting up. Another important thing is the headphones jack on the front panel of the same satellite, which is a very convenient feature I should say.

Back panel of the right satellite

On the rear panel of each satellite there is a phase inverter port, which amplifies the low frequencies. All the major system connectors are located on the rear panel of the right satellite.

Connectors panel

The manufacturer provided Inspire Monitor M80 with two analogue input ports. The first one marked as Input A looks like a mini-jack connector, as you can see from the picture above. The second port, marked as Input B is an RCA connector. Note that the system is bundled with a special cable with a minijack plug on one end and RCA plug on the other. This is definitely very helpful when you have to connect the system to different sound sources.

And what about the digital input ports, you may ask? Here is the answer: besides Inspire Monitor M80, Creative Labs also released an enhanced system called Inspire Monitor M85-D. Its only difference from our today?s hero is the availability of digital input ports (a coaxial port and an optical port). The built-in hi-quality Digital-to-Analog converter supporting 24bit/96kHz, is just another evident indication of the major application for this type of system. So, if anyone needs broader connectivity for a sound system like that, then they should definitely pay attention to M85-D. Note, that the latter product costs more and is currently selling for around $100.

The transformer is removed from the speaker case

It would also make a lot of sense to mention that the step-down transformer of the system PSU has been removed from the speaker case and is now external. This allows to eliminate the EMI it may have produced on the speakers. The power cable is very long. It is long enough to reach even the most remote wall outlet.

Now that we discussed all the functional and constructive peculiarities of the system, let?s run a few benchmarks.