Creative Gigaworks S750 - Design

Multimedia - Published on Wednesday, 04 February 2004 23:38 Written by Mårten Johansson

All manufacturers try to be creative when it comes to the shaping of a product, though there are sayings that tell you that you shouldn't change a winning concept. Unfortunately I don't have a personal favorite appearance, so you'll be fond of a product that you like and you'll automatically think it looks good as well. It's like the wholeness that makes the product, if you understand what I'm saying.
 

At a first glance we notice that Creative has about the same type of appearance with their new speakers in comparison to Megaworks 550 THX. We've previously tested this package here at NordicHardware.com and you can read more about it by clicking here.

If we go back to my first thoughts about the satellites I have to say that in weight there is a big difference between them. The new satellites weighs a lot more and feels more stabile in some way.

On the back we see the same type of input possibilities as on earlier models and also the screwing holes to mount the legs and a hole to fasten the speaker to the wall. I prefer push-clip connections for the speaker cables even it's also a matter of taste. If you want to extend the cables you can solder some extra cables here, or splice with an extension cord with RCA-connections in the other end.
 

When the speaker protection is removed a new thing is discovered. The speakers are now two-way instead of a satellite with a lonely element. This is a whole new design that should guarantee that the sound is constant over the whole register, without any ups or downs on the register. We'll get back to this during the test.

The satellite speakers consist of double elements where each element concentrate on their frequency, so that you as a listener will get the best possible sound. The middle register (the bigger speaker in the satellite) consists of a polypropylene-element. The material that the element is manufactured of is a mix of plastic and fibre and because of its assembly it can endure high temperatures and moist. This is a very common material in speakers.

The treble is a 1" supertweeter of titanium and it's primary function is to reproduce sound high in the frequencies, up to 20 kHz and above. Now you may ask yourselves why a human ear can catch frequencies over 20 kHz, and it's a very good question. Even if you don't hear them in common designation, your body, or your mind, can hear them and they're registered and added to the total sound experience. Of course it's except for the frequencies that eventually get over 20 kHz, it's concentrating on those below 20 kHz, where the strength is needed.
 

All the satellites are exactly alike except one that is a bit different in appearance. It's the front center speaker that has a laying design instead of a standing. This has its natural explanation and of course it's made to be placed on the monitor or the TV-set to deliver the speech in movies for example.

Underneath the center speaker there are small rubber feet that makes it able to stay wherever you place it, since it won't glide.
 

Before we move on the subwoofer, we'll compare the new satellites against the old ones delivered with Megaworks 510D and Megaworks 550THX. Even these two packages have satellites that distinguish each other, but not by size. To the left we have a satellite from Megaworks 550THX and to the right we have a satellite from Gigaworks S750.

As you can see there is a big difference between these two, where Gigaworks has an advantage in size.
 

The new subwoofer delivered with Gigaworks is about 30% bigger in volume in comparison to the one delivered with Megaworks 550THX. The reason is simple, there has to be space left to play higher and a bigger box allows that. This box is ported, which means that it has a hole in the side where a so called bass reflex pipe is mounted. This makes you able to have a higher volume than a closed box, though it's important that you have tuned the box correctly to avoid blowing sounds of different kinds. Creative has chosen to mount a tube with rounded corners both inside and outside the box, to minimize the risks of blowing sounds at certain frequencies.

The bass has a size of eight inches or about 20 centimetres and is mounted downwards, pointing at the floor. A grill of steel protects the element from objects and feet on the box contributes to a middle space so that it isn't seated directly towards the floor. The element is ventilated on the back which theoretically should make it possible to deliver more acoustic output per watt and at the same time decrease the pressure on the amplifier.
 

Of course we're a bit peckish on seeing the element without having to look through the small holes in the grill and thus we just screwed it away.

The element in its nakedness. Here we can see with own eyes that it is a so called long throw-element which means that the beat length of the element is longer than on an ordinary element, which means that it can reproduce sound low down in the frequencies.
 

Powerful equipment requires powerful cooling and even if this package doesn't have active cooling there's a massive heatsink on the back of the subwoofer where the amplifier is on the inside. Don't place this box with the heatsink against a wall, and not against any heating source like a radiator.

The connection for the power is seen on the last picture.