Boom, Boom, Boom!!! (JBL Creature)

Member Name: scotlandizdabest

Product:	JBL Creature
Date:	10/11/08 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stylish, Sleek and on a budget

Disadvantages: Not high quality sound and not portable

===What Is It?===
The JBL mulitmedia speaker system "woofers" are a speaker set. It comes with the big sub-woofer and 2 smaller satelite speakers. These are designed for the best quality music able for computers.

===What is It Compatible With?===
It says in the title PC multimedia, but i just plugged it onto my Mac G5 and it worked fantastically! That is a bit misleading as it can work with basically any mulitimedia appliance. It works with all Macs and PC's but it also even works with Laptops, porartable DVD players, walkmans and even MP3/ipods! It will work with anythng that needs headphones so it doesn't nessicarily be for the computer. I have mine for the Mac however but I have tried it with an iPod and it works brilliantly. It has a plug so you need a socket nearby. there is no installation or software so when you get it you can just plug it in and enjoy!

===What Are Instructions Like?===
Instructions aren't to bad. It has a big picture of the system on the front and it has cear, easy to follow insrtictiopn on how to set it up and use it to best advantage. It also has warning signs dotted around saying that this can go very loud and do not listen to loud music for more that an hour straight etc. I didnt find some of these facts very useful as alot of it was common sense. It had how to keep at its best for longer etc. Pretty boring really but aren't all instructions?

===Is It Easy To Set-Up/Use?===
It's a bit complicated actully. First you set up the sub-woofer. You get all these leads that fit very well into there designated place which is pretty easy! Now you have about 5/6 wires all over the place. So you plug it into the socket, then get the 2 satelitte speakers and plug them to the sub-woofer and connect the woofer to the device you want (computer for example) It sounds pretty simple but it is a bit annoying. I got a bit mixed up and got the there in the end. Now you have to find a safe place to put the sub-woofer. It is pretty big (explain later on in review) so you need to find a good, sturdy place to put it. Then finally you can start playing with it. I put on iTunes first. I got immediate response with good music. I tried different appliactions and all worked fine. So you will just get used to it being there and playing music, game noises or movies.

===What Features Does it Have?===
Well i'll start off with the sub-woofer. It has two swivelly nobs that control the base and treble. You can also switch it off using a button at the back. And thats about it. The satelite speakers are where the sound output is. So you get a touch sensitive volume pad. One side has a plus and the other a minus so you control music volume with out touching the computer/device. Smart wee feature and i've used it alot. Also when you have the system on a green light under the little satielitte speakers so you can see if there on or off. That is useful as i was wondering why it wasn't playing music and realised the lights weren't on so thats a good feature. It's very simple so thats about it. i think it is a good thing just to have that as its not got to much so you don't have to fiddle with it every five minutes.

===Whats The Sound Quality like?===
Really quie good. It does have it flaws but i'll start with the pros. The music sounds great and you can out it as loud or as quiet as you like. It is 50Hz to 20kHz so it can be very high pitched or very low pitched. The average human can hear from 20Hz to 20kHZ so you should be able to hear everything clearly. It is very clear and you can change the treble and the bass when ever you like. The flaws however is when you listen to a dance song for example and put the bass up, it dramatically loses it quality and all you can hear is the woofer vibrating and teh shadow of the song your listening to. Also if your listening to a film with a classical soundtrack (e.g. Harry Potter, Star Wars etc) then it sounds muffled at times and you can somethimes not hear teh person talk at all. That is very annoying but you can solve it by turning the bass up or down or the treble. But its annoying to do that every half hour.

===What's The Design Like?===
The woofer always reminds me of Darth Vaders helmet. It really is exactly the same shape. It is very smooth and stylish and looks great against my mac. It is a bright white color throughout with that theme continueing with the satelitte speakers. It has been designed to be modern and simple and it has succeded. I've read some of the other reviews about the product and some don't like the design but it think it is really cool!

===Portability And Weight?===
Weighing a heavy 6kg all toghether and because of that is very un-portable. If you did want to take it somewhere you would have to put it carefully in a box, take all the wires out and arrange it so they couldn't get tangled. I have never moved it so have had to bring different devices to it. So that is why it has stayed with my computer. Mind you it is good with my computer so i don't think i would stop using it with it. The satelite speakers are very light so you can move them around easily for best results. It's the big sub-woofer which has the problem. It is big and weighty and i'm wondering why it is even there? If there was no woofer the portability would be dramatically improved.

===Price?===
I bought mine 3 years ago witht he tough price at £69.99. That was alot of money but i've seen they've been declining in price and you can now buy it off amzon for £49.99 which isn't bad. If you have a budget then this would be your best buy. There are alot better ones on the market for more money but i've read the reviews and they seem to be worth it.

===Where Can I Get It?===
As I said Amazon and lots of other computer internet sites. Currys, The Apple store and Electronic stores are likely to supply them. However I dont think it can be purchased from some of the other big retailers in the shops but if you have an extra 10 minutes have a look around on google!

===What's Right With It?===
It has a very stylish, sleek design which i love. I got it on a budget and was pretty impressed on what i got. at £49.99 i do think your getting your moneys worth as the system is very good. It is very simple and easy to use and i've never had a technical problem with it at all and its almost on its third year now so wish me luck!

===Whats Wrong With It?===
The music quality could be better. I think the people who designed this thought all about design and forgot about the sound quality. Also it lost a start because what is with the big woofer. It is very nice but i still think it is a little unnessicary to have it that big!

===Conclusion===
A great budget buy. If you want something stlyish, simple, fairly good quality music and a good price then this is your buy. If you want potability, high music quality and little then then this isn't for you afraid. I really like it and it has served well but I know people who will like high quality may not like this. I've recommended this to buyers as i think it is worth the money!

Copyright - Scotlandizdabest

Summary: Good Quality Buy Overall.

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Speed:
Sound quality: