Sony Reader Touch @ Best Buy $299.99Creative GigaWorks T40 PC Multimedia Speakers
Manufacturer: Creative Part number: 51MF1585AA001
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Creative GigaWorks T40 is a good choice for those looking for larger than average size and sound in their PC speakers.
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CNET editors' review
Creative GigaWorks T40 PC Multimedia Speakers price range: $166.99
- Reviewed by: Steve Guttenberg
- Edited by: John P. Falcone
- Reviewed on: 03/14/2008
The good: Stylish mini-tallboy PC speaker with high-quality dual midrange drivers; easy access to volume, treble, and bass controls; headphone jack; provisions for optional iPod dock.
The bad: May be too tall for some tastes; rear power switch and overly bright power light mar an otherwise slick design; no option to add subwoofer.
The bottom line: The Creative GigaWorks T40 is a good choice for those looking for larger than average size and sound in their PC speakers.
Creative offers an impressively wide range of PC, iPod, and multimedia speakers--at least 20, by our count. But we were drawn to the company's GigaWorks T40, a set of unusually tall (12.5 inches) stereo PC speakers that retail for less than $150. The slender but deep desktop speakers boast a pair of woven glass-fiber cones and a soft dome tweeter, decked out in the classic midrange/tweeter/midrange array. The drivers are impressive--higher quality than we normally expect in this price class. The GigaWorks T40 is big enough to sound good with music, movies, and games, and its compact 4.5-by-6-inch footprint won't hog too much desktop space. Just be sure you're OK with speakers that will almost be as tall as your PC monitor.
The GigaWorks T40 system consists of a pair of 12.5-inch tall desktop speakers. The rounded black plastic cabinets with glossy metallic gray baffles are hardly beauty-contest winners, but the design is tastefully done. The right speaker is easily distinguished from the left because it's the one with volume, bass, and treble controls. Better yet, instead of up/down buttons, the GigaWorks T40 has knobs, so it's easy to set the exact volume and tonal balance. And since the tone controls are conveniently placed, we frequently used them to fine-tune the sound when we changed between CDs and DVDs. The fronts of both speakers are canted back to project sound up toward the listener. On the top of each speaker you'll find a bass-enhancing "BasXPort."
The system comes with a 2-meter stereo audio cable with 3.5mm jacks and a stereo 3.5mm-to-RCA adapter that you could use to hook up a TV or DVD player to the GigaWorks T40. Plug the cable (or the adapter) into the jack on the rear of the right speaker, and run the cable to your PC--or anything else with a headphone or line-out jack.
Alternatively, you could plug that wire into an iPod, portable DVD player, or anything else with a headphone jack. The jack for the optional Creative Docking Station X-30 for iPods is on the rear of the right speaker. There's also a connector for the wire that goes to the left speaker and a connector for the separate DC power supply. The headphone jack is upfront, under the volume control. Unfortunately, the power switch is on the back. It's easy enough to toggle it by feel while reaching behind, but mounting it on the front would've been preferred. Another gripe: We found the right speaker's bright blue LED to be quite distracting, plus there's no way to dim it or turn it off. You may want to stick a small piece of electrical tape over it if it becomes more of a headache.
Creative says the GigaWorks T40's built-in amplifier delivers 14 watts per channel. The midrange drivers are 2.5 inches in diameter, while the tweeters are an inch wide. The speaker grilles are removable.
The GigaWorks T40 has no provision for attaching a subwoofer, but if you want the extra bass (and the resulting extra cables), there are plenty of 2.1 solutions on the market. On the other hand, if you like the look and feel of the T40s but find them too tall for your tastes, opt for Creative's smaller GigaWorks T20. That stereo speaker set is almost identical to the T40, but has one midrange driver instead of two and is quite a bit less expensive than the T40.
We put the GigaWorks T40 through its paces with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand CD and liked what we heard, especially the singers' voices. More than anything, it was the system's clarity that came through. Bass was good, but not that much weightier than what we heard from the tiny Bose Computer MusicMonitor speakers (which cost more than twice as much). Ah, but when we turned up the heat with The Rolling Stones, the GigaWorks T40 system pulled ahead of the smaller Bose speakers.
The differences in clarity were even more telling with DVDs. The Creative bettered the Bose when we played the Seabiscuit DVD. Dialogue sounded pretty good and the horse-racing scenes were more exciting over the GigaWorks T40. Listening from about 3 feet away, the stereo imaging was quite good, but the sound was dynamically constrained compared with what we would get from a budget home theater in a box. Whenever the onscreen action heated up, the GigaWorks T40 speakers struggled to get the sound out.
High-impact sounds from games such as Unreal Tournament 3 faired a bit better than DVDs, as long as we kept the volume under control--upping the volume made the speakers work too hard. You'll find the GigaWorks T40 system works best with music--we'd recommend it ideally for a small room or dorm.
User reviews
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Best PC speakers ever! (Series II)
by josh2212 on December 27, 2008
Pros: Crisp highs, clear mid range, powerfull bass, useful controls, compact size, not bad price (£63) from PC World, usefull grills to protect the speakers (I don't use them as they look much better without)
Cons: Not too bass-heavy (this isn't a real problem for me as it makes them sound clearer and more realistic)
Summary: I bought the Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II from PC World yesterday, VERY pleased with them, very high quality realistic sound, the series II has an auxillary in on the ...
Summary: I bought the Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II from PC World yesterday, VERY pleased with them, very high quality realistic sound, the series II has an auxillary in on the front like the T20s wich I found very usefull, they also don't have the overly bright power indicator light, instead they have a light which backlights the volume control which looks very nice. They also have the on/off switch built into the volume control (like the T20s) instead of the inconvenient one on the back of the speakers. I highly recommend these speakers to anyone who wants high quality sound without excessive bass.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Highs too harsh
Pros: Easy to use, sound reasonably accurate with the treble turned all the way down
Cons: Too much sugary bright treble for my taste - have to turn the treble control all the way down to make these speakers sound more like my studio monitors
Summary: I had heard these sound 90% as good as the M-Audio AV40, but I am not thrilled with them. As PC speakers go, they are not really better than your ...
Summary: I had heard these sound 90% as good as the M-Audio AV40, but I am not thrilled with them. As PC speakers go, they are not really better than your run-of-mill $40 speakers, and they are way hyped on the high end with the treble control set at neutral. If you are wanting cheap studio monitors, save your $ and maybe get the AV40s for $119 or the Alesis M1 Active 520 USB monitors when they come out (May 2009) for $199.
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Great alternative to high priced monitors!!
by metrian835 on December 27, 2008
Pros: Great sound quality, Looks Great, Amazing Quality For The Price.
Cons: May distort at higher volume when playing older, lesser quality recordings.
Summary: I use the Gigaworks T40 speakers daily as monitors for my Korg R3 Synth. The sound is unmatched for the price. Super clear highs, some of the best midrange i ...
Summary: I use the Gigaworks T40 speakers daily as monitors for my Korg R3 Synth. The sound is unmatched for the price. Super clear highs, some of the best midrange i have ever heard from computer speakers, and decent bass. I also use them with my computer and they sound just as great. Great for audiophiles who love rock, metal, and electronic, especially trance and club music. Note: they may strain and distort when listening to older recordings at max volume. I would recommend adding Creative's Xmod sound enhancer module to these speakers. It significantly improves the sound quality of these already amazing speakers, the Xmod and the T40 speakers together will make you think you are listening to a system that costs much, much more. An excellent buy. I would buy these again in an instant.
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Incredible 2.0 Speaker Set
by ryank82 on October 8, 2008
Pros: Great Design, build quality, sound
Cons: None I can think of.
Summary: These are one of the best 2.0 speaker systems I have used. The sound these put out are great! Nice mids and highs with tight controlled bass. I hate ...
Summary: These are one of the best 2.0 speaker systems I have used. The sound these put out are great! Nice mids and highs with tight controlled bass. I hate the 2.1 systems that have a sub and muds up the whole sound signature. You get good bass without needing a sub here. The design and build quality are top notch. I prefer these speakers over my M-audio studios in the other room. The M-audios even cost more.
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Probably the best 2.0 speakers around
by procxi on August 23, 2008
Pros: Excellent sound clarity in all ranges, support frequencies as low as 50Hz, great build quality
Cons: So far ? Bigger than most 2.0 speakers, on/off is behind the speaker, proprietary Creative docking station input
Summary: I had these speakers for few days and I?m pretty impressed of its performance. Clear and accurate lows, mids and highs. Sound clarity is excellent in all ranges? what ...
Summary: I had these speakers for few days and I?m pretty impressed of its performance. Clear and accurate lows, mids and highs. Sound clarity is excellent in all ranges? what I?m most impressed about these speakers is that it respond for frequencies as low as 50Hz which is quite impressive for a 2.0 channel speaker system. In fact this is the only 2.0 system I could find that respond for such a low frequencies. If your type of music listening is all about bass or need more RMS (power) then you should instead look for a 2.1 speaker system (with subwoofer) which can produce frequencies as low as 30Hz or so and more RMS, but 50Hz and 28 RMS is plenty for me... remember this is a PC speak system. You can further tweak bass by increasing the frequency ranges starting from 50Hz and up in your music player software and you?ll be surprise how well the speakers respond for these tweaks. Mid and high frequencies are excellent and accurate. I already heard few sound ranges in some songs that I have never heard before. These speakers are expensive for a 2.0 channel system but for me it?s all worthwhile? I?m gonna hang on to these speakers for a long time.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Creative
- Part number: 51MF1585AA001
- Description: GigaWorks T40 stereo speakers will fascinate you with their impressive audio delivery. Combining premium components with Creative's many years of leadership in world-class audio, each satellite delivers spacious, balanced sound, thanks to the potent combination of two high-performance midrange drivers and a dedicated high-end tweeter in MTM (midrange-tweeter-midrange) configuration, plus BasXPort technology for strong, dynamic bass without a subwoofer. The midrange drivers have woven glass fiber cones for warmth and stability, while each tweeter has a cloth dome for crystal clarity. Front mounted controls for power, volume, bass and treble, plus a versatile adaptor, made these speakers great partners for DVD players and televisions as well as PCs.
General
- Product Type PC multimedia speakers
Speaker System
- System Components 2 speakers
- Speaker Type Active
- Nominal Output Power (Total) 28 Watt
- Response Bandwidth 50 - 20000 Hz
- Audio Amplifier Integrated
- Connectivity Technology Wired
- Controls Bass, Treble, Volume, Power on/off
Speaker System Details
- Driver Details Right/left channel speaker : 2 x Midrange driver - Woven fiberglass, Right/left channel speaker : 1 x Tweeter driver
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x Audio line-in, 1 x Headphones ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm )
PC Speakers (Extended Specs)
- Width 4.6 in
- Depth 5.9 in
- Height 12.6 in
- Battery type None
- Cable(s) Included 1 Audio cable 6.6 ft, 1 Audio adapter External
- Cables form factor External
- Cables included qty 1
- Cables length 6.6 ft
- Cables type Audio cable, Audio adapter
- Full contract period 1 year
- Power Supply / Device Power adapter External
- Power device form factor External
- Power device type Power adapter
- Service & support details type Limited warranty
Miscellaneous
- Cables Included 1 x Audio cable - 6.6 ft, 1 x Audio adapter
- Remote Control None
Power
- Power Device Power adapter - External
Battery
- Type None
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support 1 year warranty
- Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year
Manufacturer info
- Creative
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Creative products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://us.creative.com
- Address:
1901 McCarthy Blvd. Milpitas, CA 95035, Milpitas, CA 95035 - Phone: 800-998-1000
