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Luckily, if you have wooden flooring, or a desk big enough to accommodate a sub woofer and two satellites, then you're in a perfect position to be able to treat yourself to the great audio reproduction of the Mako speaker system. Playing through the cracking soundtrack to Life (currently vying with Supernatural in my estimation as 'Best Show on TV'), including such brilliant tracks as Clem Snide's Moment in the Sun and Kid Beyond's I Shall be Free, proved that the Mako speakers can offer fantastic detail and clear mid and high-range reproduction, while also delivering punchy, but not overwhelming bass.

Switching over to something a tad more rocky (ho ho), namely Survivor's Eye of the Tiger the Makos coped just fine, giving the rock classic as much force and vigour as anyone could possibly survive without waking up clad in Lycra and wearing ridiculously thick-soled ankle-length boots.

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Films and TV, too, were equally enjoyable to listen to via the Makos. Our office trailers of choice, those for the forthcoming Watchmen, came across with tremendous presence and, again, clarity. Chucking on a couple of episodes of Supernatural and the impression left was equally good, with the action-packed main sequences and the brilliant classic-rock soundtrack all sounding every bit as good as one would hope.

Firing up a few games, arguably the area where Razer would be expected to excel, the Makos really shine. After a short session (okay, a couple of hours) ravaging the Locust in Gears of War 2's horde mode before also blitzing through a couple of levels in the main campaign, it was clear that the Makos reproduced gun fire and grenade explosions with incredible punch. Even Gears' at times haunting but always penetrating soundtrack seemed more pronounced, adding real depth to the already highly engaging gameplay experience.

Sadly, the Makos don't sound £100-odd better than Creative's T3s. Yes, some of that price difference can be attributed to the superior build quality and THX certification but, for most buyers, I doubt that's reason enough to plump for the Razers. That's a shame because they really do sound fantastic.

Verdict

Razer has created an absolutely superb set of 2.1-channel speakers in its Mako system. However, even considering the sublime styling and terrific audio quality, it's hard to recommend them over Creative's T3 speakers which retail for some £100 less. If money is no object or the Mako's price can fall below £180 then the situation would be different.

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