It's hard to find a pair of stereo PC speakers for less than $100 that doesn't sacrifice sound quality, design—or both. The $99 Genius SP-T1200 succeeds on one of these fronts: Genius takes a page from Logitech's design book, looking a bit like the company's Z Cinema set, with a slick look and convenient touch panel controls on the right speaker. Although the SP-T1200 doesn't sound awful, it suffers from the shortcomings one would expect from a budget 2.0 setup: distortion at high volumes and a notable lack of bass response. JBL's Duet II offers fewer features but better sound for the same price.

Each black-and-silver speaker measures 8 by 3.14 by 3.77 inches (HWD), and the two connect to each other with a thick hardwired cable with very little slack. The drivers are covered by a grille in the top portion of each speaker, below there's glossy black plastic, with the minimal, under-lit touch controls on the right speaker. A touch slider controls lets you change the volume, activate the mute, and adjust bass and treble levels. (One note about the slider: Our first test unit was defective; the control was perpetually stuck at maximum level. The slider on the replacement set functioned properly, however.) There are two 3.5mm jacks (a headphone output and an Aux In) on the side panel of the right speaker. The power supply connects to the rear panel.

The design isn't a complete success;the cables are hardwired, making speaker placement a chore (and cable replacement impossible)—but the speaker's good looks help make that an easier pill to swallow.

Aside from the cabling annoyances, the speakers are certainly attractive and put more features at your fingertips than a budget set typically does. It's pretty convenient to be able to adjust bass, treble, and volume with the same touch slider (even if that slider beeps when you move it). And the inclusion of a mute control may not seem like much, but you won't find one on the Duet II, or Creative's GigaWorks T3.

Audio performance is less pleasing. I always adjust my expectations when listening budget speaker sets, because, given the price restrictions, it's difficult to get top-notch sound. Since this set is 2.0, it's not fair to expect booming bass response since there's no subwoofer. But the SP-T1200 offers less definition than the Duet II in the limited low-frequency range both pairs cover–plus, it's less crisp in the high frequencies. The audio performance isn't terrible, but the Duet II provides greater clarity in the high frequencies, and anyone who wants decent bass response should look elsewhere (perhaps to the subwoofer-clad Hercules XPS 2.1 Lounge system, which also costs about $40 less). Predictably, both the SP-T1200 and the JBL set distorted at high volumes in my tests, but that's common for this price range. The Duet II, however, distorted less when deep bass was not involved, even at high volumes; the same can't be said for the Genius pair.

It's pretty simple: The low price you'll pay for the Genius SP-T1200 gets you a good-looking speaker design with convenient, well-executed controls. It doesn't get you superb audio performance, or the sound quality you'll get from the identically priced JBL Duet II or the less-expensive Hercules XPS 2.1 system. The best reason to opt for this set is its slick design—and even then, those hardwired cables might still haunt you.

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