Reddit mentions of Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II 2.0 Desktop Multimedia Speaker System with BasXPort Technology

Audiophile here.

First off, disclaimer: You cannot get BI4L computer speakers. Long-lasting (a decade), sure, but not BI4L. Computer speakers require an amp of sorts, which are notorious for not being BI4L. Running an amp separate from your speakers will not only exceed your budget for a decent one, but would be impractical for a laptop setup.

Okay, so don't get monitors. You can't get decent monitors however small for that price range. Computer speakers haven't quite had the opportunity time-wise to be tested for BI4L-ish (again, the internal amp) quality, but there are a few brands that are going in the right direction.

As Sloppy said, you don't want paper membranes in your speakers. Cloth, glass, crystal, or high quality rubber (but only for the largest of subs) are the ones for which you'll want to look.

First, a few warnings against some brands. In the market, you have a bunch of computer brands trying to make speakers and a handful of speaker brands trying to make computer speakers. The problem with the former is that, well, they don't know speakers.

Logitech excels in consumer electronics - keyboards, mice, joysticks, remotes - but their speakers suck. Yes, even the $400 Z906s. They're loud, they're easy to use, they're flexible (in that you can alter the output easily), but the sound lacks finesse in all three ranges - the bass is muddy, the mid-range is flat, and the tweeters pierce rather than sparkle. You may have heard good things about Logitech's "Ultimate Ears" headphones. Yes, these are pretty good, but that's because Logitech bought a higher-end headphone company a few years back. In any case, that expertise has yet to make it out of the earphones lineup.

On the other hand, you have high-end speaker companies trying to make something that sounds decent but fits in the roughly the same $100-$400 price-range at which people looking to buy nicer computer speakers spend.

Like everyone else, I'm going to warn you against Bose. Bose speakers sound okay, but not for the price at which they're sold. I could justify buying Bose speakers if they were 50%-60% cheaper. They're the Abercrombie and Fitch of speakers, if you will - decentish quality, but you're really paying for the brand.

The other big name that falls into this category is Klipsch. Their higher-end stereo speakers are pretty good, but their cheap speakers are, well, cheap. Their speakers in the $100-$200 range sound okay and are built okay for the price. Nothing special. Plus, they tend to be ugly. =P

Finally, the recommendation:

Here are Creative's GigaWorks T20s and T40s. IMO, the GigaWorks offerings hit the sweet spot in price, sound, and build quality. I've had the T20s for eight years now, and they still sound as good as the first year. They have cloth and glass tweeters and midrange, so they sound great and are quite durable. Rather than wasting your money on a muddy discrete sub, each speaker has a proprietary mini-sub in it. The smaller size means a tighter membrane, so it'll sound better, and there's two of them to make up for the lack of a separate subwoofer. The T40s are the same thing, but with an additional midrange driver on each side if you want a little more volume (though the T20s carry just fine for my smallish apartment).

The absolute, very first thing you should do for high quality audio in your space is to walk in your room, close the door, and clap once, REALLY LOUD. Repeat this clap and LISTEN.

If you hear a metallic echo or ring after the clap, the sound quality of your room is fucked. Dropping tons of money on speakers is not going to do a damn thing for you.

If you've never done this exercise before, you can do it in a bunch of different rooms. Do it in a cathedral, or a symphony hall. Do it in a loft space. Now compare with your room. You'll hear the difference immediately.


If you're in this situation, (which based on your pictures, I'd guess you are) I would recommend just buying some mid-grade workhorse speakers like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001S14DYO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Don't put the speakers behind your monitors. Lay them flat under your monitors if you can, or try to make some extra room on the sides to have them vertical. You really don't want to block the sound travel to your ears as much as possible. If you can, aim the speakers in the direction of the subject who will be listening.

If you want to test this out, get your smartphone and put it in a bowl. Aim it to the back of your monitors (so the bowl opening is facing the back of your monitors). Play some music. Move the bowl around and listen.

Maybe another mousepad on the left to make it symmetrical. Good place to keep your mug/cup without banging it against your glass (?) table.

Or just a big long mousepad to go underneath your keyboard, which would jut out to the left to make the area symmetrical.

Also, do I see a teeny weeny speaker in between your PC and your monitor? Maybe upgrade to something beefy :P

I have these and I like them a lot: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-GigaWorks-Multimedia-BasXPort-Technology/dp/B001S14DYO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Creative+Gigaworks&qid=1554842836&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Some alternatives:

Creative gigaworks t40 - a tad more modern, no sub, aesthetically pleasing
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-GigaWorks-Multimedia-BasXPort-Technology/dp/B001S14DYO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407728849&sr=8-1&keywords=creative+t40

Logitech Z623 - competes with the Klipsch ProMedia
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VAHYTG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Stuff:

• Computer - Mac Pro 2009 @ 2010 firmware upgrade. Hex Core 3.46 W3690 Westmere upgrade | 24gb Ram, Total 1TB SSD via PCIe Velocity xSolo2 cards. Total 4TB HDD storage | Windows 8 Bootcamp drive via 120gb SSD (For gaming, remoting into work). | GTX680 Mac Edition GPU. | GeekBench 3.0 Score of 17000
  
  
• Keyboard - Korg M3 Workstation
  
  
• Sound Interface (Not visible) - Roland FA-66
  
  
• Speakers - Yamaha Hs80m Speaker Monitors | Yamaha HS10W Subwoofer | Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II
  
  
• Monitor - Dell Ultrawide 29" Monitor
  
  
• Power Supply - Tripp Lite 900W
  
  
• Keyboard and Mouse Logitech Solar powered wireless Mac Keyboard | Logitech Anywhere Mouse
  
  
• Tablet - iPad 4 w/ Retina via Joyfactory iPad Mount Arm
  
  
• Headphones - Sennheiser Hd650 | Beats Pro
  
  
• Tables - Ikea
  
  
• Acoustic Treatment Made them myself w/ OC703 Fiberglass Boards
  
  
• Wallpaper - Created by /u/retrifix

No regrets whatsoever. Sound has been crisp and clear in every bit of music I've thrown at it, from System of a Down to The Delgados, which is a hell of a range to excel at. The bass quality in particular blows any other 2.0 setup out of the water. You'd swear that there's a subwoofer stuffed into these things - and there basically is; the extra depth is to give the low frequencies room to breathe. Treble and bass knobs on the front let you tweak the output to your liking, and the headphone port means no messing with finicky front panel audio on your PC. Aux port lets you hook up an MP3 player or whatever, but I've mostly used it as a quick and dirty way to mix in TV audio.

They sound best when the drivers' path to you is completely unobstructed, by the removable foam grills, monitors, whatever else have you. If you're running a multi-monitor setup and can't fit them upright, you can turn them on their side and place them beneath the monitors (the feet aren't actually attached by default, so sideways placement isn't awkward). Be advised that the cable connecting speaker to speaker is relatively short - although it's standard RCA and detachable, so you can buy an extension cable if you need the extra slack.

Really, if you don't want to spend more than $150 and don't want a subwoofer cluttering up your floor, this is the best speaker purchase you can make. I got it for $85 on a Shell Shocker deal on Newegg, but that was as low as they've been in two years. Newegg's usual price is ~$130, but Amazon is (surprisingly) cheaper at ~$107.

Okay, that's wonderful news. I had a client who was looking at the GX pair, and I figured it was more of the looks than anything that got him hooked onto them. I ended up steering him towards the Creative Gigaworks T40's. Although they don't come with a sub, they're pretty damn good quality speakers for non-studio monitors. That would be my recommendation if you want to replace the speakers, and if you could keep the sub with the T40's, that would be even better. If you want to save a little money, even the T20's are great speakers. Highly recommend them to anyone.

I want these ones: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-GigaWorks-Multimedia-BasXPort-Technology/dp/B001S14DYO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418923123&sr=8-1&keywords=creative+gigaworks+t40+series+ii

Can anyone confirm if they are good. I think they look decent.

Thanks! And those are the Series 2 T40’s and I highly recommend them. Awesome sound.

Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II 2.0 Multimedia Speaker System with BasXPort Technology https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001S14DYO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.GAyCbDZZHV3X

Mouse: Mionix Naos 7000 Optical Sensor

Mouse Pad: Mionix Alioth Medium

Keyboard: Ducky Zero SZ w/Browns

Speakers: Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II

Headphones: HyperX Cloud II Gunmetal

30+ year old Canadian.

Yeah, I have a cheap Logitech 2.1 circa 2004. I mean, it's better than the cheapest Logitech speakers you can get (which in turn were better than my iPhone). It actually has a little bass and treble extension. I brought it into work for playing Netflix in the background when working overtime :). I also bought the Creative Gigaworks T40 (for a lot less than that price... Wow) and they were surprisingly good for computer speakers under $100. I needed something slim, and no one on headfi had any ideas at the time.

I missed the bookshelf systems, myself. Over the course of several early '90s birthdays and Christmases, my parents helped me assemble a component system. I bought my Onkyo receiver at Circuit City :). My dad even donated his old Fisher speakers and helped me rebuild them. I'm not sure he's ever been prouder than when I asked for a multimeter for Christmas ;)

I recommend this to get you started and then you can upgrade the individual pieces down the road:

You can put these with the u-turn orbit.

http://www.amazon.com/rolls-VP29-Phono-Preamp/dp/B0002BG2R2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-GigaWorks-Multimedia-BasXPort-Technology/dp/B001S14DYO/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1463851354&sr=1-2&refinements=p_89%3ACreative

Creative GigaWorks T40

The .1 stands for sub-woofer. So yes a 2.1 speaker will have better range when it comes to base. Generally normal 2.0 speakers are mid range speakers that usually do not have the higher end or the lower end. So it you love the "thump" you might want to consider a 2.1 speakers. Point to note here is that the Creative T40 has a much smaller woofer, hence it will produce the base, but not the "thump", additionally it has a tweeter, which will cover the high end as well.

The speakers I have recommended are some of the higher end speakers from Creative. From my experience - they are the best value for money speakers you can buy. Something equivalent from other brands like Logitech or JBL will cost you much more. Cheep brands like Zebronics and iBall are not worth considering. Philips has gone down the drain as the product is no longer theirs, they lease out their brand for royalties.

To really enjoy these high end speakers - you have to have good quality media (HD media - DTS/Dolby encoded, Not AAC, or low quality MP3). If your listening area is no larger than 12ftx12ft - these creative speakers, the clarity they offer will blow you away. You can read a lot more user reviews here on Amazon's US website.

I have these. Under $100 (usually $80), takes a simple line in from my Ipod, laptop or phone and can be turned up loud enough that my wife will come down and tell me to knock it off if she's in the kitchen, plus they look pretty cool and don't take up a ton of space: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001S14DYO/

Ok thanks a bunch I'll get that all, but one last thing....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001S14DYO/ref=psdcmw_172471_t3_B001RNOHDU

Is that something that might be good? Like really loud and heavy? My friend had one a few years ago and I remember it being really nice but idk

These are pretty great if you're not looking for something portable: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-GigaWorks-Multimedia-BasXPort-Technology/dp/B001S14DYO#

I've had them for two or three years now without issues.

No I dont have an amp or receiver. I'm trying to keep my budget relatively low which is why it's been challenging. Trying to find something affordable and decent quality preferably under $200 and in Australia. So yeah powered for now would be better and I'll upgrade later down the track I think.

Thanks for that recommendation though I will check the Audioengines out!! Do you know anything about Microlabs? They have Some relatively cheap products but Im worried that there like a Logitech...

I also came across these Genius SP-HF1800A which seem to have reviewed pretty well and I know where I can get them.

Edit: I found some Audioengine 2's for $160 second hand locally so that seems like a pretty good option atm

Edit2: Also came across these Creative T40's Which seem to be pretty decent for PC speakers aswell

You're better off with something like these Creative T40 however you may also want to check for some feedback on /r/BudgetAudiophile

I'm sure we'll be getting all kinds of haptics in the next decade. As for sound, I'm currently using Creative Gigaworks T40 s. Good sound. I couldn't be bothered to run wires around my home office walls to get the rear and satellite channels. In the living room I've got a Bose 7.1 system that does the trick.

+1 on these. I have the T40 version, which costs a bit more, but they are some of the best speakers I've ever had plugged into my PC. I have a 2nd set plugged into my XBox One.

Card

Speakers

Headphones



And here is my motherboard


I also tried my roommate's studio beats and still nothing. He said they were $300. I might just have bad hearing but I wouldn't recommend a sound card to anyone who isn't making music professionally.

Re: speakers. These are just above your budget (on Amazon at least) but I would highly recommend the Creative T-40 speakers.


Whist they do not have a separate sub-woofer, they have some nice tech in the speaker that means they do have a decent thump. The sound quality is excellent for the money. I ended up buying three sets for my house and then my brother asked for a set for his birthday. A decent set of shelf speakers would also do a great job :)

Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II 2.0 Multimedia Speaker System with BasXPort Technology https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001S14DYO/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_hINGxbGB2SG4M

I have these in my set up. They sound amazing coming out of my Soundblaster Z. Clean sound, great bass and they don't distort when you crank them up. However I got them on sale for $89. But there are worth a look.

According to amazon, you've hit the proverbial nail on the motherfucking head. Great price, good frequency response and 2754 reviewers (not just purchasers) agree this is pretty sweet deal. I would get these based on rating alone.

I would also probably look at the amazon warehouse deals on these.