Customer Reviews

Creative GigaWorks T20 2.0 Speakers (51MF1545AA001)

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My old Logitech Z-560 developed a short in it creating nasty crackling noises over one channel. The Z560 was a rare beast, a $140 400 watt 4.1 monster that Logitech built to really high standards to create a strong foot forward into the PC speaker market. Sadly, their quality has declined since then, and their current offerings are cheaply made, sound far worse with music than the 560s, and have even fuzzier and more overwhelming bass than the 560 did (the systems one flaw). I decided to try 2.0 systems to see if I could get good PC sound without the added failure risk of a high powered sub and the muddiness that all that extra bass and clumsy frequency transitions between sats and sub causes...

My findings, from worst to best:

Logitech Z-10: 30 watts. Looks good, costs a lot, $150, list. Sounds dreadful. Despite having a largish 3" woofer, and a 1" tweeter, the Z-10 seems to be doing a lot of signal processing of music and the soundstage sounds compressed and artificial. Changing bass and treble makes things worse, and your music will sound different (and worse) on these speakers than it would normally. The touch controls and LCD screen are useless pricy gimmicks that increase chance of failure and add weight and cost to the system. Who in the world needs to see the name of the track playing on the bottom of the speaker? Anyway, these are a disappointment, with the worst sound and tied for the highest price. The speakers are heavy and well made, very stylish, though easily smudged with the reflective black surface on the front of the speaker. Logitech needs to redo these, silly gadgets and useless feature are tolerable, bad sound however is always a deal-breaker. Two stars, for style and build quality.

Klipsch ProMedia 2.0: Also 30 watts. Nice sound, good price, $100 list. Dual 2.5" woofers and a 1" tweeter with a Klipsch high-freq horn in it. These sound pretty good, but they are unexpectedly bulky and poorly made. The oddly formed speaker housing means these take up a lot of space and the volume and bass control knobs look like they come from a $10 CyberAcoutsics set. The cheapie knobs, bulk, and ugliness make these fit for corporate presentations where good loud sound matters and where style is largely irrelevant. For the home user, the cheap knobs may well break over time, which was the Achiles heel for my 560s; quality system, cheap volume pot. Three stars, good though not excellent sound, reasonable price, loses points for ugliness and some shoddy cost cutting in build quality. The bulk is sort of a neutral issue, as the larger box size probably helps the sound and bass extension of the units, but for some users the footprint and added portability difficulties may be an issue.

Creative Gigaworks T20: 28 watts (though the box says 22 watts!) $100 list. Creative obscures most specs on these, probably fearing the single 2.5" driver versus the bigger Logitech and the double same size drivers of the Klipsch may convince buyers that the T20 lacks in comparison to its rivals. Truth is the build and design of the T20s makes them sound much better than either the Z10s or the Promedias. These little speakers can put out an awesome amount of clear accurate sound, and they look great and feel very sturdy. Treble in particular is excellent, and the alleged Bass Xport technology must have something to it, as bass is more than adequate. The separate bass and treble knobs may or may not appeal; to some, they offer more control, to others the added circuitry distorts the signal and gives an added area of complexity in the design that may fail. The portability is excellent. The only real problem is that Creative is so secretive about the wattage and driver size, out of unnecessary concern that buyers may avoid getting these because of a few watts or a half inch. These sound great, look good, and the size to sound ratio is impressive. Four stars.

M-Audio AV40s: 40 watts, $200 list. My personal choice, these speakers are much bigger than the other contenders, but the amazing sound and plentiful bass will convince you that you don't need to even think about a sub system. These wooden cabinets are very attractive and sturdy, but are not exactly portable weighing 14 lbs and being quite bulky. (More so than the Klipsch, but they also look nicer and are built better.) Besides the size and weight, the other issue is cost and maybe availability as few vendors sell M-Audio, and the price for the AV40s even with discount will be $50-$65 more than the cost of the other units I looked at. To me the sound and accuracy (no distortion at high volume, lots of accuracy at low volume) of the M-Audios, at both low and high volume, offsets all the problems. Four stars, loses a star because of higher cost and weight. (Note though these are still theoretically portable, far more so than any 2.1 system or even the average boombox...)

Do You Need More Power, a Subwoofer, or More Speakers? Probably not. If you sit at your desk with the speakers a few feet away from you, you do not need much more than 30 or 40 watts for great powerful sound. A subwoofer (unless it costs a lot!) will just screw up crossover freqs, create too much bass, and encourage the mfgr to give you cheapie satellites on the theory that the loud prominent sub will wow the casual listener who will not care that the sats have 1" uni-drivers and are made of cheap light plastic. Unless you need to entertain parties with your PC, you don't need more power or a sub.

As far as surround sound, unless you watch movies on your PC or play a lot of FPS shooters that need positional audio, the added wires and difficulty of positioning the rear and surround sats in the listening environment are too much of a pain for most folks. Plus a decent PC surround sound system is at least $250, meaning a much higher cost than any of these 2.0 systems.

Buying Recommendations: Don't mind big and bulky? Get the M-Audio AV40s. (Note the company has a smaller less powerful variant, the Av20s, but I did not hear these and they do not seem to be widely available so I cannot comment.) Want small and portable, get the Creative T20. The Logitechs unfortunately have no comparative strengths, and the Klipschs are adequate but offer no real advantage over the Creative. If you can find the Promedias significantly discounted, they may be viable.

Creative's GigaWorks T20 2.0 speakers are efficient, well designed and powerful. While they are a toss up with the Klipsh Promedia 2.0 set, they have enough going for them to make a case. Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 PC Speaker System- Black Ultimately, I would recommend test driving both. I like the Creative T20's overall performance and design.

Pros

+ Nice looks and high quality cables

+ Extra cable

+ Nice adapter for RCA inputs (TV, receiver, etc.)

+ Decent low-end range and base with above average mid-range

+ Nice more sturdy housing with good controls

Cons:

- Only average high-range sound

- Bass XPorts on top will collect dust

- Creative reputation is not stellar

- Cost is near the Klipsch Promedia set

Creative Gigaworks T20 have nice power with 28 watts and active speaker amplification. The cone drivers and tweeters are excellent, and the Bass Xport delivers nice thump. The bass is clearly not subwoofer equivalent, but nice for a 2.0 set. The sound is rich and clear and can be adjusted via the front knobs. Separate bass and treble knobs allow control if you know how to use them.

These speakers also simply look good. Each speaker is about 9" tall by 3" wide, allowing you to fit them easily around any workstation.

The bass ports on top require you to clean out the holes to avoid dust build-up. And Creative's reputation is also a concern, though I have had no problems myself with these. Still, Klipsch is not immune to reputation concerns either.

If you need real low-end depth, a subwoofer that comes in a 2.1 set is probably the minimum that will satisfy you. Likewise, if you are a gamer or an audio sound editor, you really should be looking at 5.1 sets.

For all other users looking for good quality in a smaller simpler set, this is worth a look. If you are a fan of Klipsh, compare these to the Promedias and make up your own mind. Enjoy.

you definitely get what you pay for.

these speakers are a good deal; i checked out the klipsch promedia 2.0's, but went with the creatives.

first...they look great, great design. bass & treble controls, rear input AND a front input.

they sound...pretty good. good volume, impressive bass for their size.

my biggest gripe: the top mounted port; it's a bass-enhancing port, but, ultimately...it's a hole. sort-of an invitation for dust. oh well...

these are desktop speakers, not audiophile speakers, so for what they are:

excellent!

recommended.

I purchased the Creative GigaWorks T20 2.0 Speakers about a month ago and have returned them since. I first heard these speakers on a trip to CompUSA and was initially impressed with the big sound coming from these small speakers. They are well made and nice to look at, so I decided to make the purchase after listening to a number of other speakers.

So why did I give these speakers only 3 stars and eventually returned them for a refund? After receiving the speakers and connecting them to my computer I liked the sound, but found myself somewhat disappointed with the speakers upper end. At this point I impulsively went to Best Buy and purchased the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 speakers in order to compare the two speaker systems. The Creative T20s paled in comparison to the Klipsch. Both the low end and the high end were more dynamic on the Klipsch speakers. So the T20 went back in their box and back to Amazon and the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 I purchased from Best Buy were returned for a full refund. After the returns were made I re-purchased the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 from Amazon for $93 ($15 less than Best Buy).

Avoid the trouble I went through and buy the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0. The Klipsch deliver superior sound for only a few dollars more.

So I bought these speakers for work. I work in a restaurant. They are used with an MP3 (gigabeat S) player not a computer. They work great. They come with a small cable (as well as a pc audio cable) and can plug right in front of the unit. They are small and fit right on a shelf next to napkins. I now come to work early, crank tunes and get things done early.

They are very loud, and clear. Bass is great for a small 2.0 system. Very happy!!

I bought these to use with my laptop while at home and I've been very impressed with them. They are capable of great and powerful sound for a 2 piece system. They plug into my laptop's headphone outlet and can be plugged into a TV or other device as well. If you give them a few days to break in and use an equalizer (like with Windows Media Player or Winamp for example) they really work great. The few negatives about them are that the cord connecting the left speaker with the right speaker is not too long and the blue light indicating that the speakers are on is too bright. Other than that, no complaints! Amazon has just raised the price on these though; the going price used to be about $85.

I bought these speakers based on user comments here on Amazon and my desire to have smaller speakers on my computer desk. I've been using some old-but-great Sony SRS-150's that are about twice the size. When I first hooked up the T20s I considered sending them back right away. I switched back and forth dozens of times between the Sony SRS-150 and the GigaWorks T20 listening to the differences. There was no question the overall Sony sound was better, especially on the low end. But I began to notice the highs on the T20s were much better than the Sony and the Sonys began to sound dull to me.

I did a bunch of adjustments using the equalizer and, while not perfect, the T20s are now on my desk and the Sonys have been relegated to another use.

Like other comment submitters I too find the smooth knobs hard to turn and will likely put something on them to assist my grip. However having the base, treble, and volume on the face of the speakers was a key purchase decision for me. I also think I will get some good use out of the front earphone jack and the input jack. Oh yes they look nice too.

About the size. The Amazon size numbers show the size of the box, not the speakers. I searched the internet and every site did the same thing. So upon ordering I didn't know the width of the speakers. Here are the dimensions. Each speaker is 9" tall X 3 1/8" wide X 5 1/4" deep. The box is 9 1/2 X 10 X 6. It was the 3 1/8" width that was important to me.

Pros:

- Good sound overall

- Front mounted Base, Treble, and Volume (also used to power on/off)

- Great looking

- Extra cable to hook up your MP3 player to the front input jack

- Earphone jack on front

Cons:

- After all the adjustments I could make they still sound a little hollow to me but this is subjective. Hence the 4 stars instead of 5

- Smooth knobs can be slipery

i recently sold my logitech 4.1 z560. it had bass that would nearly piss everyone off in my house.

2 reason i resorted to the creative t20.

- less bass but sufficient for all my musical needs,.. dont get me wrong,.. these are no way a replacement for a subwoofer,..but its not too bad. from a 1 to 10... 10 being equivalent to the massive bass of my old 4.1 logitechs... i issue the t20 a 5. these little things do produce a small bass range.

- its simple, no messy wires dangling everywhere and looks professional next to my monitor.

advantages

-looks sharp, built like a tank

-clear mid and high ranges

-treble/bass control..nice touch

-mp3 player input

disad

-lacks tru bass

**i dont think the port hole on top of the speaker is bad. like many of the reviews below,.. they claim that it is a dust collecting hole,.. but while playing music,.. these holes push out so much air that i cant really see this thing being a dust collecter except when its off... otherwise,..use compressed air to blow everything out.

I use a small speaker system (or smaller portable) for travel in our condo room in Jamaica, and in our bedroom to amplify the TV and CD player. I've gone through a few small speaker rigs and have settled on the Gigaworks and am very pleased.

I consider myself to be as much as an audiophile as one can be while on a perpetual budget - that is, these days I don't listen to music often or loud enough in the home to justify a true high-end system but I have owned some fine equipment in the past. As a musician I have extensive experience with all aspects of sound reproduction and I'm especially sensitive to that "x-factor" in audio - the intangible that just makes something sound better than the other.

The first small speaker rig for this purpose was a smaller Cambridge Audio 2.1 system, two small satellite speakers and a medium size woofer (I also own a large Cambridge 2.1 which used at my computer desk).

Bear with me while I go on quickie rant #1: it's WOOFER, not SUBWOOFER despite the universal misuse of the term subwoofer. Sub- denotes "below" and if all you had in a speaker system was two middrange/tweeter units and a subwoofer, the sound would be absurd - there would be a huge gap in reproduction, from the mid frequencies of (approximately) 500hz down to 100hz. No folks, ALL these systems come with WOOFERS, not subwoofers. A subwoofer is a dedicated speaker/cabinet for reproduction of sub-bass frequencies, below a crossover point of 60-100hz depending on manufacturer.

I did consider the Klipsch Promedia but decided to take a chance on this rig due to observations on the size and flimsy construction of the Klipsch. The GigaWorks is a nice tidy unit, well constructed. The two inputs are very handy - without them I'd hav to use a splitter since both at home and traveling I put two devices at once through the speakers - TV + CD/radio at home, CD player + mp3 player while on vacation.

The tone controls are disliked by some but I have no problem with them especially since there is a detent at the 12:00 position for flat sound. Although most of my audio sources have their own EQ, there will be times when I want to tweak the basic sound quickly without accessing a menu - dial in a bit more bass or high end. In fact they do sound best flat.

The vertical port on these speakers is the cause for the astonishingly good bass - excellent in both range and "tightness". Someone clever came up with the idea of tuned ports running the length of the speaker vertically instead od the standard front-to-back, which is a very effective design. This does cause the inverted position of the woofer-tweeter, with the low end speaker on top, but that deviation from normal design doesn't affect the sound badly at all.

Rant #2: 2.1 (2 satellite high/mids + 1 woofer) speakers:

Yes, it's a good solution when space is limited. At my desk. In our living room, where the woofer is hidden in the home entertainment beast of furniture. But to state "bass is non-directional so two full-range speakers is a waste" is utter nonsense. Yes, you will not miss any of the bass information, but you lose a significant part of the stereo imaging that the producer spent many hours crafting. The bass (kick) drum and the bass guitar almost NEVER reside in the exact same place in a horizontal left-to-right stereo separation, and most of the other instruments which are dispersed across the stereo field contain significant bass (upper bass/low midrange) frequencies. Relying on two dinky mid/tweeters for all your stereo separation robs the listener of a major portion of the information. I'm MUCH happier with the 2 GigaWorks than I was with the Cambridge.

We find ourselves listening to music more in the bedroom. The sound has that extra something that makes our ears smile. Not just bass, but clean tight and deep bass. Not just treble but a smooth sweet high end. Great little system, especially for the money.

Nice full sounding speakers with good bass, I like them better than the Klipsch Promedia 2.0. Both systems look great and sound similar but my vote goes to the Gigaworks T20 for the slightly more natural sound, deeper bass and more attractive design. The highs on the Promedias sound just a bit shrill. The T20s deliver impressive performance and build quality for the price.