Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II 2.0 Multimedia Speaker System with BasXPort Technology, Black

My wife needed PC speakers that were clear so she could understand people in Zoom conference calls. She has some hearing loss and needs to accentuate certain frequencies. Her Win11 laptop speakers were anemic, as were her monitor speakers and several older pc speakers I had. She needed a set that was extremely frugal with her limited desktop real estate. She also needed at least a tone control. I could not believe how few pc speakers have tone controls these days. And navigating down multiple menu levels within the O/S to adjust tone is very inconvenient. Most speakers I found with a tone control were absolute pigs for the footprint they grabbed on the desktop. It was sticker shock when I found these speakers, but they ticked all the boxes, had good reviews, and I've been happy with Creative products in the past. These do a great job and she can understand everyone clearly. The two niggles I have with these speakers are: 1. After they power down (or sleep) after no audio for ten minutes, it takes several seconds for them to power back up after audio is detected. In my opinion, they should power up almost instantly. Due to the delay, she often misses the first few seconds of audio when she reviews a video or performs other tasks, and that frustrates her. The manual says you can just turn the off and on every time, but that requires quite a reach in her case and brings me to the next niggle. 2. To turn them off, on, adjust volume, and adjust tone controls, you must somehow grasp completely smooth knobs that are recessed so low into the front that there is hardly any of the knob to grasp. It is very uncomfortable to adjust the knobs. It's not a big deal because these are something you usually just set-and-forget. But, if you want to flip them off and on real quick to wake them up, you must deal with these almost ungraspable knobs. Overall, these are fantastic speakers. I am not deducting stars for these niggles. They have great fidelity, plenty of power, they are easy to set up, take up as little desktop space as possible, and they are good-looking. I would not hesitate to get them again.

I bought these speakers back in 2020, when they were ~$100 (oof). These speakers are still going strong and incredible for my needs. The sound quality is great and it has adjustable bass and treble. It is boomy - which I like but the sound is still very clear. I have an NYC unit thus can't have real subwoofers. These speakers provide ample loudness and even solid vibrations without it being a nuisance to neighbors. I highly recommend this for most people in tight spaces/apartments, especially if you want some surround sound without an actual bass. It also does get loud if you want but very adjustible. It was a fantastic value for the money when I bought it and its still going.

If half-stars were available, I would have rated this product 4 and a half stars. <EDIT> The review below is 3 years old now, and it still stands, but here is an update. For some reason the bass now sounds better. My best guess would be that through use (cone excursion) possibly the glue loosened up, an the cones are traveling much truer than they were when I got them, or at least it sounds that way. IOW, a break-in period. Kind of a long one, they didn't really sound better until after a year or so. But I made another improvement, which is I connected a subwoofer I had laying around. I had put this off because I could not find a practical way to do this, but I found a box that works as a crossover from Rolls (SX45, about $90) that made this work pretty well. I roll the Creatives off at 150 Hz, and the sub back in at 150 Hz, and it sounds much, much better, because now the Creatives are not trying to do all of that work in the lower octaves that they are probably too small to do efficiently. As I originally stated, sub-200 Hz is where the Creatives fall down, while above 200 Hz they sound really good. But the combination of this and the sub really works well. The Creatives by themselves sound OK when the volume is low, but now I can listen at a reasonable level and still get good bass response. <END EDIT> The box says "Premium, home theatre sound with booming bass". If you qualify that, it is exactly correct. And here's what I mean by "qualify": The word "premium" applies if you are comparing this system to conventional computer speaker systems (it is the best I've come across in that regard). The term "home theatre sound" applies if you are comparing this to a low-cost "home theatre in a box" system, usually costing much more. This system ranks high in that category sound-wise (although it is a 2.0 system and HTIB is usually 5.1), but of course it can't begin to compare to a conventional high-dollar home theatre system. Booming bass? You betcha, although that might not be what we have in mind. "Premium, home theatre sound" is rarely accompanied by "booming bass", simply because "booming" bass is not ever really high in quality, so there is a bit of a dichotomy there. But if booming bass is what you are after, this system has it in spades, even though the goals for bass response in home theatre are usually quite different. Read on for a further explanation. The Good: If we consider just frequencies above 200 Hz, these speakers perform as well as many expensive bookshelf speakers. That's right, they really do. The dome tweeter (big fan of those) creates very clear and detailed highs, and mid-highs. Mids and mid-lows are equally good. In fact, I can't recommend them any more enthusiastically because of how well they perform in this range above 200 Hz; they are on par with hifi speakers or even prosumer desktop recording studio speakers costing many times more than this. There is also a lot of headroom; you could really rock the house, sheer volume-wise. And again, Amazon beat everyone else on price, which is reasonable for what you get. The Not-So-Good: As we get into lower frequencies, the farther below 200 Hz we go, the worse these speakers perform. This is also a function of volume; at low volumes the bass is not half-bad, and better than what one might expect from computer speakers. But as the volume is raised to a conservative listening level, the bass becomes muddy, poorly imaged, and with distortion that almost makes turning down the bass until there is an absence of bass, the better choice. Again, there is plenty of headroom, at least as far as the amp is concerned, but the bass elements just can't keep up with it, and they start to double the frequency and become very unlistenable. Kick drums (the bass drum in a trap set) are not all that bad; there is a solid kick reproduction although it feels a bit squeezed and missing its natural lower frequencies. What is disappointing is how poorly bass guitar sounds. And that is pretty ugly, although most computer-class speakers do just as poor a job, if not worse. Being an Audio Engineer for a very long time, with a history of building, rebuilding, and doing sound reinforcement with speakers of all kinds, my best guess is that this poor imaging and muddiness is a product of porting the speakers, which works well with large speakers, not so much with tiny speakers (although comparatively speaking, these guys are gargantuan next to most computer speakers). This porting technique gives an efficiency that doubles the lower-frequency volume (for the same amount of amp)and extends the bass response about a half octave lower, but the cost is cone hangover and associated muddiness and imaging issues. As a matter of fact, you can cover the port with your hand, and while the bass level then drops about 3 dB, the bass quality increases dramatically. I cut some styrofoam "corks" and plugged the ports, and turned the bass up a notch, and under those conditions the bass was also greatly improved, so that means the "corks" will be permanent in my setup. This essentially turns the speakers into more of a bookshelf speaker as far as bass response is concerned, meaning that the bass is more "tight", and imaging improves and muddiness disappears. But not completely. You can't expect miracles or 2.1 bass response out of a computer-class 2.0 system regardless who makes it, simply because the physics of that precludes it. But corking the ports makes them sound much more reasonable, and less like listening to that moron with the raised-up pickup truck sitting next to you at the stoplight booming rap music until your iPhone vibrates out of its holster. Bottom line: So it is easy to see why the gentleman who favors classical music rated these speakers so poorly. These are the wrong speakers for critical hifi listening to classical, even though the response is very flat and musical in frequencies above 200 Hz. But if you are primarily a gamer, or you want good quality for common computer speaker tasks, these speakers are ideal. Perfect for background music. Maybe not so perfect for watching Transformers III at home theatre levels, or for full volume music listening, but that is not what they are designed as, and is really not to be their expected performance level. Still, they are absolutely keepers. They should perform better in smaller rooms, too (I auditioned them in a room that was 20x24x9). I may add a 3rd-party sub, which would very likely compensate nicely in the lower frequencies. I'll amend my review when I do, but my prediction is that adding a complementary sub would make these speakers pretty hard to beat, even in categories above computer speakers.

Pros: Great looks. Sounds is both clear and tremendously powerful for speakers of this size and price. Couldn't be easier to set-up. Versatile and well-equipped. No separate sub. Cons: Size isn't for everyone. No remote. Not having a separate subwoofer may be a dealbreaker for some. I recently moved into a studio apartment and I can't afford a massive sound system. Like many people I rely upon my laptop as pretty much my sole source of entertainment but was growing tired of using headphones and my valiant, but tiny Altec speakers on my HP laptop. Looking through Amazon.com, NewEgg.com, and Cnet.com was definitely an exercise in frustration. In fact, it took me two months of trolling through those sites and my local Best Buy before I gambled on these. I finally settled on the T40 because both the T20 and T40 have garnered solid reviews. Are they perfect? No, but neither are most reviewers. But generally no one had horror studies to tell (ahem, JBL, ahem) and the only complaints seemed anal-retentive. A sale price of 99.00 on Amazon.com was also perfect and the lack of a subwoofer was a plus. Finally, I've owned a few Creative products in the past...MP3 players, etc...remember soundblaster? And while they were often on the fringe of the mainstream, they have always been solid and never poorly made. I want to break this review into several parts based on how I went about choosing these speakers: 1. Looks: with a sophisticated design and piano-black exterior, these speakers are very fancy looking. On my black lacquer Ikea desk, they look outstanding. Of course, like a shiny black BMW, they do require weekly dusting but I find it to be worth it (buy a Swifter). You will get nice comments from your friends, trust me. That being said, these speakers are a full 12 inches high, so they may be bigger than what you're looking for. Each speaker is slightly canted upwards for optimal sound since they are essentially pointing towards your head. 2. Versatility and Ease of use. There is everything you need here. You have a TV aux in (with included RCA adapter), Aux in, Headphone jack and a standard audio cable for hooking up to your laptop. The power adapter is smaller than most laptop adapters and doesn't even get hot. Wires are needed obviously but are minimal and easy to tie up. There is a Bass/Treble/Volume button right on the front so adjustments couldn't be easier. Very clean and thoughtful set up. People complain about the blue light around the volume button but c'mon. I don't even notice it. People need to calm down. Incidentally, I prefer the dust covers on and overall, the speakers are very chic and modern. 3. Sound: You might notice I put this third. Well, that's because I didn't have high expectations from a two speaker setup. But let me tell you, these speaker will SPOIL you. Pinback sounds amazingly clear and concert-like. Nine inch Nails sounds awesomely angry and loud. Deadmau5, Daftpunk, and Kaskade sound club-ready. Yankees Games sound crisp. Top Gear sounds terrific. These speakers have ALL the bass you need without any of the headaches (rattling furniture, angry neighbors). The high and mid-range sound is quite frankly excellent for two single speakers without any separate tweeters, etc. These speakers are great all-rounders for both movies, music, and internet use. Are other speakers better? Sure, but I bet you'll pay more for them and have to accomodate an ugly subwoofer to boot. 4. Price: There are not many other worthwhile alternatives that offer this sort of quality at this price. The Altec/Logitech crowd designs range from comical and horrendous to just plain tacky. The JBL designs are cool but like a BMW, their reliability sucks. Bose is laughably overpriced. Really little to complain about here. So there you have it. Great looking. Excellent Design. Terrific Sound. Good value. What more do you need?

This is an update to my prior review below from about 6 weeks ago... I thought my speakers were dead after 11 years. BUT, turns out it was totally operator error and I'm quite embarrassed. I seriously thought I had checked, double checked and then rechecked all connections to the speakers, computer, etc. and made sure everything was plugged in. I was ready to hit the the button to complete an order for a new set of these. But in my mind I couldn't believe and accept the fact they would have really completely stopped working. I decided to check one last time before putting them in the trash and sure enough, one of the connectors was not fully connected. First, I don't know how I didn't catch it the previous times I checked and second, the connectors are really secure so I don't know how this happened. Regardless, the speakers are working just as well as the day I bought them and they suit my needs perfectly!!! If you're on the fence I would bite the bullet and make the purchase. These are beyond amazing and a great price for the quality you are getting. I purchased these speakers in June if 2013 and overall was very happy with them. They were a bit larger than I would have liked but to me the sound was good and they are a nice looking speaker. I also liked the wired set up versus USB or wireless. I know many have complained about the auto shut off or standby feature but that wasn't really an issue for me. That is until a week ago when they simply never came back on. I think 11 years is a good run and honestly they still look brand new. While I'm giving these speakers 5 stars for everything I've just mentioned I'm not sure why but this go around I'm a bit reluctant to purchase these again. I'm looking at other options, maybe something smaller but most have a USB hookup. Also, I don't want to compromise on sound but don't want to spend a lot of money and I'm not sure I can find something better for this price. I'm anxious to get new speakers but don't want to make a rash decision.

Good Sound overall, but the auto sleep mode that deactivates the speaker if there is no sound playing is ridiculous. Due to the time it takes to come back on from sleep mode, you will miss notifications or have to rewind videos that autoplay. Apparently this is so the speaker can comply to some pointless EU regulation that has nothing to do with me in the USA. I'm happy to pay my utilities for my speaker being on when I choose it to be. The speaker has an off button, and I'm happy to choose when I want it off. I don't need some nanny from Brussels to tell me how to power my equipment.

I read many of the reviews and decided to purchase these speakers for my home office computer. These Creative Lab speakers are well worth the cost! But, ...like all coil driven speakers you must of course condition (break in) the speakers. I was impressed with the sound during the conditioning period and it got a lot better after only about 5 hours of conditioning. The sound is impressive for an inexpensive set of speakers and the styling is very nice. I was impressed with the bass response for such small speakers; after reading the reviews I wasn't expecting much from the base response but was pleasantly surprised. The bass is still missing the air mass movement from larger (or found in more expensive) speaker systems but for small inexpensive speakers you won't be disappointed. The mid-tones are warm and the highs are delicately balanced and the reproduction of sounds are quite accurate for an inexpensive system. Overall, I gave them five stars which I think they deserve for the price vs. quality & sound. I still haven't turned up the volume all the way as I am still breaking them in, so I cannot comment on that yet. The one speaker has two controls on the front of the speakers to adjust the bass and treble and the range of the adjustment is adequate to manage different sound choices depending upon the environment and your listening preferences. There is also a Volume / on-off dial control with a blue neon like light that circles the whole circumference of the dial. Some reviews mentioned this as a negative situation; I personally like it. The surface of the speaker boxes have a somewhat dull finish on the sides and shinny on the front and back. They look stylish with the removable speaker grilles on or off. The power supply comes with a transformer that is attached to a outlet plug about five feet long that plugs into the wall. I am an advocate of power supplies that have the lead plug so that the transformer doesn't take up more than one plug outlet like some that take up two or three outlets. The other end of the power supply has a cord that attaches to the back of the speaker. It also has inputs of both the front and the back of the main speaker for connecting your sound source at the front or in the back of the speaker. There is also a headphone jack on the front of the speaker which is nice for me since I have my computer tower under my work desk. I found that the grommets that hold the speaker grills in place sometimes stay attached to the grill or fall out when removing the grills. A little adhesive takes care of that minor issue. All in all, a good purchase. As for my audiophile credentials, I have been involved in high end reference speakers all my life and currently I have the Monitor Audio GX Gold Series Speakers (7.1) powered by NAD M25 7-Channel Amplifier in my home theater. I also have a Bose Acoustimass speaker system (5.1 twins) in my living room and a mix of Bose and Polk Towers (5.1) in my bedroom so I do know speakers ...not that I'm too impressed with Bose:)

These speakers are by no means large. For such expensive speakers, they are quite small. When it comes to sound, the more expensive the speakers are, the larger they tend to get and the better they sound. For $245 dollars, or whatever sale price Amazon chooses to set them at, they had better put out supreme quality. The major complain I see with these speakers is that there isn't deep enough bass at their price. If you are going to get these speakers, you are going to want them for their simplicity and size. They don't take up half of your desk, and they don't have a massive woofer shoving out obscenely low bass. If you feel the need to make your neighbor's house vibrate when you turn your speakers up, these won't do the trick. They can not and will not hit the lows of a woofer, but I wouldn't listen to my music with that much bass even if I had the choice, so it doesn't effect me. Assembly is quick and painless. There are a total of 3 cords; one to plug into the computer, one that connects the speakers, and a power cable. The cords are all nice and long, allowing you to place the speakers just about anywhere you wish around your computer. For these cords to not become a jumbled mess, I suggest that you keep any excess cord tied together, only using what you absolutely need to make everything reach everything else. Besides plugging everything in, the only other bit of setup is screwing the base of the speakers into the speakers themselves with a screwdriver, easy stuff. The speakers are simple to use, which I like. There is a headphone jack and an auxiliary input on the front, which allows you to plug in things like gaming headsets, iPods, and MP3 players. There are 3 knobs on the front as well for sound adjustment. There is the standard volume knob, then there is the bass and treble knobs, I tend to keep them both at about a 2 o'clock angle. At this price, you are not going to get the absolute best speakers out there if you look purely at sound quality. If you want that, buy the massive $250 dollar speakers complete with a 12x12 woofer. If you want speakers that give excellent sound quality while portable and space-friendly, these speakers are for you. Pros: -Excellent sound quality -Don't take up that much room -Easy to assemble -Portable Cons: -Not the absolute best for their price -Bass can't go to massive lows