Creative Stage V2

Inle · Aug 16, 2021

The Creative Stage V2 is a compact 2.1 sound system consisting of a soundbar and a subwoofer. It offers versatile connectivity, an intuitive remote control, and surprisingly good performance for its price point that doesn't break the bank.

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bonehead123 · Aug 16, 2021

Nice combo @a nice price, but they definitely need to fix that display issue for sure

Mescalamba · Aug 16, 2021

Were here some reviews like this before or its new stuff?

Anyway, interesting. But I do have headphones and like it that way.

Chrispy_ · Aug 17, 2021

I had three Creative/Cambridge Soundworks systems when I was younger. All of them were well made and whilst they had sound quality reflecting thier price, I was generally very happy with them.

Creative aren't alone in this, but they favour compact satellites with single drivers in the sub-2" range that are either too small to handle midrange well, or too big to provide clean high frequency stuff. For $110 it's probably too much to hope for a pair of tweeters/midrange drivers with crossover, so I'll just have to accept that these will be reasonably good examples of what is effectively a flawed/budget-limited design.

Something like the M-Audio AV32.1 undoubtedly sounds better than these but it's both a bit more expensive and takes up more room so it's hard to criticise Creative here in a market segment that's very sensitive to both size and price.

PLAfiller · Aug 17, 2021

Ohhh soundbar! I love soundbars, this is what may replace my Wharfedale Vista 100, which is my daily driver on the PC.

bonehead123 · Aug 17, 2021

Chrispy_ said:
I had three Creative/Cambridge Soundworks systems when I was younger. All of them were well made and whilst they had sound quality reflecting thier price, I was generally very happy with them.

^^THIS^^ me too

Inle · Aug 17, 2021

Mescalamba said:
Were here some reviews like this before or its new stuff?

Anyway, interesting. But I do have headphones and like it that way.

We don't review speakers very often, but I did review a few of them here in the past (along with 500+ pairs for a Croatian tech magazine I've been working for since 2002). This is certainly something I'm eager to change, and bring you guys more speaker reviews in near future

Mescalamba · Aug 17, 2021

Chrispy_ said:
I had three Creative/Cambridge Soundworks systems when I was younger. All of them were well made and whilst they had sound quality reflecting thier price, I was generally very happy with them.

Creative aren't alone in this, but they favour compact satellites with single drivers in the sub-2" range that are either too small to handle midrange well, or too big to provide clean high frequency stuff. For $110 it's probably too much to hope for a pair of tweeters/midrange drivers with crossover, so I'll just have to accept that these will be reasonably good examples of what is effectively a flawed/budget-limited design.

Something like the M-Audio AV32.1 undoubtedly sounds better than these but it's both a bit more expensive and takes up more room so it's hard to criticise Creative here in a market segment that's very sensitive to both size and price.

Still have 5.1 from them, still works. Should be two decades + something now. Creative used to make some durable good stuff.

Chrispy_ · Aug 17, 2021

Mescalamba said:
Creative used to make some durable good stuff.

Haven't checked in on the beige 4.1surround set in half a decade but the FPS2000 Digitals still work for my brother in law and the guy who bought the Inspire T3000 off me last year left glowing reviews.

Turmania · Aug 17, 2021

I had gigawotks thx 5.1 system from them, was delightful. Had to move to another country and had to sell it. Still one of those things, I wish I never sold. Neighbour was probably happy.

fb020997 · Aug 18, 2021

Chrispy_ said:
I had three Creative/Cambridge Soundworks systems when I was younger. All of them were well made and whilst they had sound quality reflecting thier price, I was generally very happy with them.

I currently use (and am very happy to do that) the Creative Inspire P380 2.1 (2.0 input, but with a dedicated sub), of ~2005-6 vintage IIRC. No need to change it, since it sounds really good. I only had to cut and solder the speaker wires, since they sometimes didn’t work without moving the wires near their strain relieve.
If I find the 5.1 version of those (the Inspire P580) at a good price I’m going to buy it.

System Name	Efrafa
Processor	Intel Core i7-5960X @ 4,3 GHz
Motherboard	Asus X99 STRIX Gaming
Cooling	NZXT Kraken X52
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws 4 32 GB
Video Card(s)	Asus ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1080 OC Edition
Storage	ADATA SX8000 NVMe 512 GB + 5x Kingston HyperX Savage 512 GB
Display(s)	Acer Predator XB271HU
Case	Corsair Crystal 460X
Audio Device(s)	Audiolab M-DAC
Power Supply	Seasonic X-850
Mouse	Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard	Cherry MX Board 6.0
Software	Battlefield 1

System Name	The Little One
Processor	i5-11320H @4.4GHZ
Motherboard	AZW SEI
Cooling	Fan w/heat pipes + side & rear vents
Memory	64GB Crucial DDR4-3200 (2x 32GB)
Video Card(s)	Iris XE
Storage	WD Black SN850X 4TB m.2, Seagate 2TB SSD + SN850 4TB x2 in an external enclosure
Display(s)	2x Samsung 43" & 2x 32"
Case	Practically identical to a mac mini, just purrtier in slate blue, & with 3x usb ports on the front !
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha ATS-1060 Bluetooth Soundbar & Subwoofer
Power Supply	65w brick
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2
Keyboard	Logitech G613 mechanical wireless
Software	Windows 10 pro 64 bit, with all the unnecessary background shitzu turned OFF !
Benchmark Scores	PDQ

System Name	Bragging Rights
Processor	Atom Z3735F 1.33GHz
Motherboard	It has no markings but it's green
Cooling	No, it's a 2.2W processor
Memory	2GB DDR3L-1333
Video Card(s)	Gen7 Intel HD (4EU @ 311MHz)
Storage	32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
Display(s)	10" IPS 1280x800 60Hz
Case	Veddha T2
Audio Device(s)	Apparently, yes
Power Supply	Samsung 18W 5V fast-charger
Mouse	MX Anywhere 2
Keyboard	Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD	Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
Software	W10 21H1, barely
Benchmark Scores	I once clocked a Celeron-300A to 564MHz on an Abit BE6 and it scored over 9000.

System Name	PLAHI
Processor	I5-10400
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS
Cooling	120 AIO
Memory	32GB Corsair LPX 2400 Mhz DDR4 CL14
Video Card(s)	PNY QUADRO RTX A2000
Storage	Intel 670P 512GB
Display(s)	Philips 288E2A 28" 4K + 22" LG 1080p
Case	SilverStone Raven RV03
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z OEM
Power Supply	Fractal Design IntegraM 650W
Mouse	Logitech Triathlon
Keyboard	REDRAGON MITRA
Software	Windows 11 Home x 64

System Name	The Little One
Processor	i5-11320H @4.4GHZ
Motherboard	AZW SEI
Cooling	Fan w/heat pipes + side & rear vents
Memory	64GB Crucial DDR4-3200 (2x 32GB)
Video Card(s)	Iris XE
Storage	WD Black SN850X 4TB m.2, Seagate 2TB SSD + SN850 4TB x2 in an external enclosure
Display(s)	2x Samsung 43" & 2x 32"
Case	Practically identical to a mac mini, just purrtier in slate blue, & with 3x usb ports on the front !
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha ATS-1060 Bluetooth Soundbar & Subwoofer
Power Supply	65w brick
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2
Keyboard	Logitech G613 mechanical wireless
Software	Windows 10 pro 64 bit, with all the unnecessary background shitzu turned OFF !
Benchmark Scores	PDQ

System Name	AMDream v2.6.2
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D+TechN AM4, CO-30 all cores
Motherboard	Asus Prime B550-Plus w. PCIe USB 3.0/3.1 case connectors card
Cooling	2x240 slim rads, 1x420mm slim rad, 4xEK Vardar Evo RGB, stock case fans
Memory	2x8GB RGB+2x8GB non-RGB Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 CL16
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon RX 7900XT Reference+Alphacool waterblock+Kryosheet
Storage	2TB SK Hynix Platinum P41+Eluteng NVMe heatsink
Display(s)	Xiaomi Mi 2k Gaming Monitor 27” (1440p165 IPS)+VESA arm
Case	Lian Li Lancool III White ARGB
Audio Device(s)	Creative Inspire P380
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GX-850
Mouse	Steelseries Rival original (white), Steelseries Qck+ mousepad
Keyboard	Keychron K5 (white backlight, blue Gateron Low Profile switches)
Software	Windows 11 Pro