PC Speakers

[Mantis]

It's a sad day. My Creative T20s, which I've owned for over a decade now, appear to be on their last legs. I suspect it's only a matter of time until they give up the ghost entirely.

So, would anyone care to recommend an upgrade?

I'm so tempted to get another set, or perhaps their big brother the T40. I do a lot of music production bits and bobs now though and the T20s colour the sound in a very particular way which forces me to do a lot of my mixing on various sets of headphones. As such I'm also considering the possibility of getting some higher end proper studio monitors which I can use as all purpose PC speakers for games, music and my mixing; maybe a 2.1 setup for dedicated bass.

[Sly Boots]

As a T20 owner myself, I can commiserate but not offer any advice, I'm afraid

I've felt like mine are on their way out for a while as well, tbh. Most days once I turn on my machine only one speaker is working, for an hour or two it comes in and out, and thereafter works ok.

I'll probably have to replace them soon also.

[Raid]

A minor issue perhaps, but if you hate blue LEDs as much as I do, it's worth noting that the current versions of Creative's lineup have moved the power LED to a ring that surrounds the volume knob, meaning it's much more difficult to hide the hateful illumination.

I've always said I'd upgrade to T40s if my T20s went, but honestly the only sign that my 12 year old set are aging is the popping sound it makes when you touch the volume control.

[DjchunKfunK]

I've had various harman/kardon speakers over the last ten plus years and currently have the Soundsticks III which are brilliant but I don't think they are available anymore. Other than that I can't really speak to other brands.

[eny]

My T40's are nearly 9 years old now, and still going strong, as my LG TV audio output. The blue ring really isn't ever noticed, I didn't realise I had it until Raid mentioned it! So big thumbs up from me.

[Snowy]

I have an ancient set of Creative 7.1 speakers and woofer, got them with a custom PC I bought years ago - they must be getting on for 20 years old.

They still work fine, which on browsing prices for replacements on the back of this thread I am very pleased about!

[Strudel]

I've still got my Logitech Z5500s which I bought in 2005. Fantastic piece of kit.

"They don't make them like they used to" etc. etc.

[Hatredsheart]

Still using my T20s that are close to a decade old. Probably the only remaining part of my original build.
Not going to tempt fate by commenting on their performance

[Mantis]

Reviews for the T40s suggest that the newer models have some silly EU power saving compliance measure built in where they go into standby as soon as they detect a couple of seconds of silence and that there's a delay when they boot back up which causes you to not hear the first second or two of audio when you listen to something.

That sounds like it would drive me mad, so I think I'll probably avoid those.

Thinking back, I bought these T20s in 2008. 12 years is pretty good innings considering how much I blast the volume. They've survived quite a few bashes over the years as I've moved around with them a lot too.

[Maturin]

I bought some new T10's a couple of years back and yeah, the EU power saving almost ruins the product range now. It's 10 minutes of inactivity which triggers the power down, and takes a couple of seconds to power up when it detects sound.

So indeed, you miss things like email alerts sometimes. All a bit silly really because otherwise they're fantastic products. Much better build quality to Logitech IMO.

EDIT: Some people apparently get round it in Windows by creating a batch file which plays an almost silent sound every 9 minutes. But I can't be arsed with all that.

[Raid]

Urgh, yeah, I'd be annoyed by that too.

[Hatredsheart]

Reviews for the T40s suggest that the newer models have some silly EU power saving compliance measure built in where they go into standby as soon as they detect a couple of seconds of silence and that there's a delay when they boot back up which causes you to not hear the first second or two of audio when you listen to something.

My T20s are about 10 yrs old and also do this. Being as I mainly game it just means missing the first couple of seconds of a company jingle so no great loss

[Drarok]

My wireless headphones do that power-saving thing (makes more sense for a battery-powered device, but still…) and it is infuriating because they can't automatically wake back up, you have to press a button. Piece of shit.

[Rossell]

I'm fortunate my wireless headphones only do the EU noise level thing when the battery dies and I have to plug it into my phone.

Which it then ruins when the battery is at 40% which it counts as low battery, by putting in a ringing noise every 3 minutes or so to tell you to charge it.

[DjchunKfunK]

You still after speakers Mantis? These are supposed to be pretty good and are currently on offer.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Speak ... ZN7RV649H0