From speakers and Hi-Fi, I will say that I started in 1976 with Magneplanar, until 2007 I had B&W 804 series 3 matrix, which have now been withdrawn in their boxes, as the way and time of music listening has completely changed. My ears have been trained with these. I don't like loudness, bass, and I can't stand distortion at all.
I have had a 2.1 Yamaha YST MS35D for 20 years, connected to a PC/laptop, previously with USB, but Windows 10 doesn't recognize it. Along the way, I bought Logitech Z10. Logitech, as usual, while they had good sound, they "spit" them out in a few years. The Yamaha proved to be an excellent purchase and only in the last year did they start to have a problem with the left channel, which is fixed by connecting/disconnecting them from the power.
Time for a change.
I heard the T40 Series II at a friend's place with jazz. Jazz and classical cover 80% of the music I listen to. I found them on sale for 80€ and preferred them over the Edifier R1700BT, which I haven't heard.
First listening on 25/07/2019
-Construction: Plastic, nothing special, glossy buttons with all that implies, a permanent blue LED on the power/volume. You can't say they are bad from any angle you look at them, easy installation of the grille, full set of cables.
-Sound: If you are used to 2.1 like me, the absence of lows becomes immediately noticeable, and I don't mean the deafening bass. Also, I didn't find the 32W, compared to the 30W of the 20-year-old Yamaha. For something more, you will need a good sound card, I have the Creative SB Play 3 that I use with 64ohm headphones. After the second listening, see * They have bass, but not of a subwoofer and it is logical. The midrange is quite clear, the vocals sound excellent for 80€. The quality of the file plays a huge role, which means that the speakers do their job well and reveal the imperfections of the mp3. High frequencies are also satisfactory for 80€ (up to that point...). In a flac file, "Wish you were here," which I have as a reference, sounded very satisfying to my "difficult" ears, the same goes for "Ripples" by Genesis in flac, with enough detail, I must say. I also found the stereo image satisfactory, sitting about 1 meter away from the speakers. In Jazz, I only listened to "Beale Street Blues" from Louis Armstrong - Plays W.C. Handy, in mp3, and I found it very enjoyable! The first test/listening ended with "Waiting for the Big One" from PG1 in flac, once again, I was impressed by the speakers for 80€!
Second test/listening on 25/7/19
I dug up Winamp with iZotope Ozone for Winamp DSP, listened to the first CD Rigoletto DG (415 288-/1980 ADD). I carefully adjusted the Ozone, Bass Compression, Tube Limiter, and Tube Saturation, for less lows and "focused" mids, volume 80 on the SBPlay3, Effects Off, volume on the T40, the knob at "3 o'clock," tone controls off at position 0. I was amazed by the performance. From track 1 Preludio I, at a high volume, I had no distortion at all, everything sounded as it should, drums, strings crystal clear. And then, track 3, Placido Domingo, Questa o quella per me pari sono (Ballata), a dream! It's not that I haven't heard it better to excellent, with big speakers and all the fancy amplifiers and cables, but to smile, listening from plastic speakers for 80€, I didn't expect that. Bravo to the "little speakers."
Third test/listening on 26/7/19
CCR 1970 Cosmo's Factory [2002 SACD 24-96 FLAC], track 10 - I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Winamp with iZotope Ozone for Winamp DSP. 9/10 without a doubt! We are talking about classic rock, which I have been listening to since my youth with different quality systems, and with the T40 MKII, I was singing along and enjoying it. In the same genre, Led Zeppelin III, Since I've Been Loving You, mp3 320VBR, how much bass do we really want? I have been listening to this song since it came out on vinyl and I truly enjoyed it with the T40. Whatever I have given them afterwards, in very familiar songs to my ears, they presented it with excellent sound, there wasn't even a single misstep! Honestly, I don't know if there is anything similar in speakers within the range of 80-100€.
Update 04/08/2019:
Whatever I have played on the T40II for playback, Mp3, flac/ape, CD, Webradio youtube, spotify etc., with a little adjustment to the EQ of SBPlay3 (and saving the changes), it sounds relaxed, loud, and without distortion! I have enjoyed more hours of music since the day I got them, than the whole of 2019.
The tests continue and the evaluation will be updated.
-- Update June 2020 --
Simply wonderful one year later, I never regretted buying them, I haven't heard bad sound except from "bad" mp3s, in which the T40 SII don't shine and reveal the poor compression and distortion of the files.
I highly recommend them at the price of 80€-100€ (limit), to those who do NOT want deafening/fake bass, very strong intensities submerged in distortion, and to those whose musical tastes match mine. If the Yamaha speakers hadn't presented a problem and I had listened to the T40 Series II, I wouldn't have spent 130€ to acquire them (I highly recommend them up to 100€ without reservation).
* (with a good sound card and a good DSP with input/output gain and detailed adjustment of mid and especially low frequencies, they transform into exceptional speakers)