Intex IT-5000 SUF GLO review: A bit too colourful, but the music is right

The design is very stylish with the front of the speakers five speakers reminding you of Alienware computers. However, the front is all plastic and might put off some people. The woofer also reflects a similar design thinking and would fit right next to a gaming console. It has a jog dial with LEDs for volume control and a simple LED display to help you figure out the source. Under the job dial is an arc of buttons for other shifting source, switching on pro-logic and tuning the radio. But the biggest design feature of the entire system is the LED effects that dominate the woofer box. There are six combinations of lights which change as regular intervals, even when the speaker is not playing anything. There is a full function remove, which makes life easy.

Performance

The entire unit is very easy to set up, but make sure you keep the speakers a fair distance away from each other for maximum effect. The IT-5000 is one of those units that all possible source options for an average user. Intex has been doing this for long. I should know, for I have been using an IT-4850 for many years.

The FM is clear and soothing, though you will need to push up the volume to really enjoy the music. But that is more to do with the quality of broadcasts in India and not the speakers. The set comes it an wire antenna behind. It is also quite easy to scan between stations, though I would have loved to see channel options, at least on the remote.

You can also play directly by plugging in a USB or SD card on the top of the controller box. The audio quality here is definitely much better and it recognizes almost all file types. Another good thing here is that source automatically switches to USB when you plug in a pen drive.

Connected to the PC, the IT-5000 can become a full fledged audio system. You will need to switch on the Pro-Logic to get all the speakers to work, but the audio quality is pretty good.  It is for sure a bit heavy on the bass and there is no way to adjust it, but you can live with it. Placed right, it can also give a good surround sound feel while watching movies.

Negatives

The blinking lights on the speaker might be fun, but they can be irritating if you are trying watch a movie on the PC with the lights switched off. I thought the only way to switch off was to shut down the entire system, but then realised that the LED buttons on the remote did this on a long press.

The speaker showed a tendency to crackle with some high notes, especially when the volume was set high. This does not happen with all songs, but shows up once in a while.

Verdict

Given the street price of Rs 4,300, this is a pretty decent 5.1 speaker set to bring home. It gives you all options and can become your primary audio system if needed.

Specs:

Output Power: 20W + 3W x 5

Impedance: 4Ω

Speaker size /Watt: Main unit – 10.16 cm (4”)/20W, Satellite – 7.7 cm(3”)/3W x 5

Frequency Response: Main unit- 40 Hz~200Hz , Satellite – 200Hz~20KHz

FM receiver: 88Mhz to 108Mhz