Introduction

Old School

You can really call yourself an "OG" (Original Gamer), if you had a pair of Labtec speakers back in the day. Labtec was one the first companies to introduce computer speakers that were more than a simple PC speaker in a plastic box. They actually sounded pretty good.

Of course, that was when 16bit soundcards from MediaVision were cutting edge and the real OG's had Gravis Ultrasounds with the red PCB. Gravis is no longer making soundcards and MediaVision is no longer making anything, but Labtec is still around. Today Labtec speakers are filling in the budget class of multimedia speakers. They won't sound as good as your top of the line Klipsch's, but you have to remember that they aren't meant to compete at the high end either.

Labtec speakers are clearly in a different class than your THX certified or Dolby Digital systems, so they cost much less. There are times and places where you don't need all the extras, this is why there are Labtecs. Today, we take a look at the Surge 17 three-piece speaker system from Labtec. This system is targeted not just at the PC gamer, but the console gamer as well, with prominent references to the Sony PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast on the box.

Back of the Surge 17 box

Headphone Packaging

Retailing for just $50, the Surge 17 will leave you with plenty of extra money to buy music and games… maybe enough to get a pair of nice headphones from Labtec, the Icon 750. The Icon 750 retails for $25. These headphones have DVD, MiniDisc, CD audio, and Internet audio support all listed on the package; Labtec just wanted to make sure that the average consumer knows that these headphones will work with just about everything.

Back of Headphone packagins

Subwoofer interface