Creative Gigaworks G550W, Continued
Unfortunately, I find the G550W lacking in the aesthetic department. It may be a matter of personal taste, but I find the satellite's look and feel plastic-like and bulky compared to the competition. The subwoofer enclosure looks a bit better than the satellites, but the presentation doesn't appeal to me. Everything is made from quality materials though, and everything works fine, so if it appeals to you there's certainly no reason to avoid it.
My views on the control box are quite different: it is simple, effective and elegant. It plugs in to the subwoofer enclosure like the Logitech control box does, but it's much smaller, and instead of an elaborate display there is simply an LED number that changes as you modify different settings. It's easy to read and it works for me. There's no wireless antenna to be seen here, but I'm assuming that it's in there somewhere.
This system's surround speakers are wireless, after a fashion, but in a very different way than the Logitech speakers. The Creative satellites have no receivers built into the surround speakers. Instead, both of the surround speakers must be wired to a single wireless receiver that sits between them, and that wireless receiver must be plugged into an AC outlet. The drawback to this method is that if there is, say, a doorway between these rear surround satellites, you still have to run a wire past it. The advantage compared to the Logitech 5450's is that both rear satellites only require a single AC power cord for power. In the final analysis neither of these methods is perfect, but one might suit your living space more than the other, so they are both worth considering.
