Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II

So you want something better than your standard multimedia speakers, but have limited space. If this describes you, then perhaps Creative’s Gigaworks T40 speakers may just fit the bill. Tall, slender and stylish, for these will definitely appeal to those who want something impressive sitting next to their monitor.

While looks do matter, sound matters even more so – especially for speakers that sell themselves on their audiophile qualities. Creative have done some pretty impressive engineering here. With its clever internal engineering, and a silk dome tweeter (often lacking in most small speaker systems), it’s able to offer a response range of 50-20,000 Hz. An impressive achievement for a small speaker system.

But what does it sound like? The bass is fairly decent given the size of the speakers, and while you can make out lower tones (like double-basses) it cannot compete with systems which have a subwoofer. The mid-range is clean and solid, and the treble is clear and crisp, adding a sparkling edge to higher tones and instruments, letting you pick out details which may escape on other speaker systems.
While this is a definite plus for some pieces of music (in particular, more popular music), it did occasionally introduce a noticeable colouring for both high strings (violin) and certain vocal recordings, which I personally did not like. That said, all speakers and recording equipment will distort or ‘colour’ the sound, and whether a person likes, dislikes, or even notices such colouration can depend much on personal taste.

As such, the Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II speakers are a solid entry into PC speaker market, and a definite upgrade from the standard, dinky multimedia speakers. If you’re in the market for a decent set of desktop stereo speakers, these are work investigating, though, given how it can colour certain frequencies, I would recommend finding a pair you can trial or listen to before committing.■