Creative GigaWorks T20 > Reviews (1)

When buying a Home PC you are often given a set of very poor standard speakers to 'boost' the punch of the built-in speakers you find on the monitor. Unfortunately a lot of these poor quality speakers have the opposite effect and offer no benefit to the user due to their crackly sound that is neither rich nor of any depth. I invested in a set of Creative Gigaworks T20 speakers to solve this problem and am more than happy with my purchase.

The creative Gigaworks series has a number of models, the T10, T20 and T40, each offering a different experience to cover various budgets and customer needs. You could say the T20 is the middle of the range, but it certainly left me wondering what could top this, as the sound quality and creativeness is fantastic.

The first thing I noticed upon setting eyes on the 'T20's' was the looks. The sexy lines and bright yellow cone of the main speaker really allows it to stand out and be noticed. You have the option to leave the protective mesh off of the speakers, an option which I decided to exercise. I love the looks of the speakers and don't wish to cover them up at all. Although the looks are loud they were also given with practicality and functionality in mind. They stand 15cm in height. As they are just 6cm in width and 5cm deep they do have a lot of weight towards the bass for balance. One minor irritance with the design is that they could do with rubber feet to prevent them sliding about on the desk, as the shiny finish offers no grip.

The T20's are very simple to install, simply connect them via the headphone port on the laptop/PC and you are away. This cable is around half a metre long, giving you a good chance to position them to best effect. Once this cable is plugged in you are away!

There are three seperate dials for controlling the speakers, which are located on just one half of the pair. These are to control Power, Bass and Volume. If you have large digits you may find some trouble, but overall the dials are simple to control as they are well designed, albeit a bit close together. Here we also have a port for your headphones, which I don't use as it is just as easy to use the headphones port on the laptop or PC.

The speakers have an integrated amplifier and a power output of 28w. I wouldn't like to say if this is good or bad, as I have nothing to compare it to, but the sound given is most satisfying. The sound is ever so clear, with a careful choice of music bringing out the rich bass and treble. I find that as opposed to the built-in sound sysstem, the T20's give a more 'full' experience of the finer details of the sound and improve the quality of the experience ten-fold. The absence of a subwoofer the T20's stand up reasonably well for such an affordable solution.

Other than the smallest of design flaws these speakers really are a worthwhile solution for improving the standard PC sound system. £50 isn't as affordable as some sets available, but boy are they worth it.