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JBL Radial Micro
by evallyw
Pros:
- Fair quality for a small, budget speaker. Balanced sound and the bass is good. For £65, the quality exceeds the value which you pay for.
- Quite sturdy. Even after I dropped it on wooden floor countless times, it managed to work well for 2 years before I have to replace it. If you take good care of it, I believe ... these speakers can last for much longer.
- Very compact so it doesn't take up much space on your desk! The design is also very stylish and modern, so it looks good as an accessory on your desk as well.
Cons:
- These speakers come with a small black remote. I hate the remote because of two reasons. First, it's so small that I have lost it countless times, but it may be just me. Second and more importantly, I often have to point it quite close and directly to the speaker in order to get it to work. After around 2 years of the hassle that the remote caused me, I give up. Luckily there are at least volume + and - buttons on the speaker itself.
- The connecting place where you set the ipod onto the speaker stopped working for me after about 2 years of using it. After that I have had to connect my ipod using the wires they provide, which is fine, but that means I can't connect my ipod and my laptop to the speakers at the same time.
Price
Around £100 retail, but I found it on amazon for £65. (Seriously it's my favourite place to snap up a good bargain)
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JBL Creature
by RickyPitt
This JBL Creature is undoubtably the greatest speaker system I have ever owned (out of around 15). I had spent around 2 years and a vast amount of money searching for an 'ideal' system for me which needed to be able to create a strong and clear sound for general use around my house. This JBL Creature does exactly that! As I was starting ... to give up all hope of finding the perfect speakers this lovely little creature popped up and I haven't regretted it since!
This speaker system works with everything! I have tried it with iPods, iPhones, Macs, PC's, Laptops, and Tablets and it never fails to produce a fantastic sound. I found this system very easy to set up too, just plug in the main subwoofer into a socket, then match the speaker wires to the relevant shaped socket on the back of the speaker and there you go ready to play some music from your chosen device. The only downside of this is that it can lead to all of your wires being tangled up which can prove frustrating but I wouldn't necessarily say this is the JBLs fault! The subwoofer also holds a button on the back to allow you to turn on and off the system and the cable which allows you to connect to a device is extremely long and therefore very handy.
To use this system it is also very easy too. On one of the speakers it has touch sensitive '+' or '-' which increases or decreases the volume accordingly. Simple! also if you touch both of these sensors at the same time it immediately mutes all sound which I found to be an absolutely amazing addition if you needed some silence quickly! The subwoofer has 2 knobs on the front with one controlling the 'bass' and the other controlling the 'treble', you simply turn these up or down depending on your preference.
I feel that this speaker has amazing sound quality, I do hold my hands up and say that the sound can seem muffled at times but this is only when you try to have it so stupidly loud as if you wanted to hear it for miles around. Also if you aren't sure about how to use the bass and treble correctly then the sound will also sound muffled, I would suggest to turn both knobs to half-volume first and go from there (you will be able to feel when the knobs have gone to half-volume as there is a little click). If you have this at a sensible volume (and by sensible I still mean very loud, just not ridiculously loud) then the sound is absolutely perfect, also you can always play with the bass and treble knobs to get your perfect sound (for example if you are listening to dubstep etc then you can easily turn the bass up to cause a much greater effect, just be careful of the vibrations from your speakers!)
I have read some reviews that this product is difficult to move around from place to place but I would have to say I'm sitting on the fence with this debate. It is very small for what you get out of it and that is why I love this product as I have it tucked away in the corner without taking up much space. However the main subwoofer is fairly heavy and could prove difficult to carry for a prolonged period of time. My girlfriend runs a weekly dance class where she uses this system and I have never heard her complain about transporting this to and from her venue (please bear in mind that she complains a lot so this is a big surprise for me). Therefore I would have to say that this product isn't an ideal device to be moving from room to room in your house, but if you needed to move the creature then it really isn't that big of a problem.
An additional point on the sound quality is that my girlfriend uses this device for her class in a large hall containing 20 people and even standing at the back of the hall you can still hear the music perfectly!
I shall try to sum up this product now. This product is absolutely amazing for the price that you pay! I picked mine up from eBay for very cheap and I know many other stores such as Amazon that have this product for fairly cheap. There is obviously a lot better and more expensive products on the market that will trump this creatures sound all day long, but if you compare all of the products around a similar price range then this JBL Creature is in a completely different league of its own. I found the design to be absolutely fantastic and very stylish, modern and classy. The sound for me is superb. Don't get me wrong if you are a music producer or a DJ then it is likely that this system isn't for you, but if you need a speaker system for everyday use around the house then this is definitely the one that you want!
Very affordable and great quality!
This product gets my seal of approval and I would recommend it without a shadow of a doubt!
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JBL Creature II
by Apple_Review
I have owned these speakers for a long time and they are of superb quality. They don't come at an awfully high price and deliver excellent sound quality and fabulous bass too. You can buy them in three different colours - white, black and silver too. I have the white ones, which look very modern and fancy with the green LED lights under ... each speaker. They have retained a price of around £60, which isn't bad as they are very reliable having lasted me a couple of years already without any problems. These speakers have a very unique, alien design. Each part is shaped rather like an elongated UFO. The mixture of smooth shapes with metallic additions and a glistening shine make these speakers look just brilliant - topped off with green LED lights under each speaker, resembling the lights under a UFO.
The speakers can be bought from many places. They have recently been replaced by a version III earlier this year. From what I've read however, the new speakers are very comparable to these ones and not much better or worth buying if you already have the JBL Creature II's. The speakers come in a reasonably large but not too heavy box, which shows the speakers on the outside and gives some facts about their capabilities.
The speakers are packaged very nicely. You will first find the main part with the sub woofer beneath. Underneath further cardboard cut outs are the two speakers along with the wiring and instructions and safety leaflets. I am no expert in speakers and wiring, but found these considerably easy to set up. It took me some time to realise which wire went into the audio port for example, but I soon realised by a process of elimination! All the wires are colour coded to the ports on the back of the main unit, so you know which fits where. The wires for the two small speakers are quite a length, which means you can set the speakers a fair distance away from the main part to spread out your sound.
You switch the speakers on at the back by just clicking in a black switch. You will know they are on mainly due to the single green LED lights that come on under each speaker. These are particularly noticeable in a dimly lit room and make the speakers look a lot cooler as many speakers don't light up at all! The speakers are very small but do not be fooled by this. They can reach very high volumes and provide superb sound of excellent clarity. The speakers themselves provide a little base and you can see them move when you turn your music up on a song with plenty of bass.
One of the speakers has two touch-sensitive panels to control the speaker's volume independently on the front side. This will raise or lower the volume for both speakers depending on which button you press. It seems to act via static as it makes a little static noise when you first touch it. You can press the senses once at a time to adjust the volume or hold a finger on it to rapidly change the volume. The treble and base can be controlled by two silver round knobs, which turn on the main larger part that contains the sub woofer. The bass can be turned up to the maximum and it will blast out excellent droning base, which will shake the surroundings. It is certainly more effective than other speakers as I have found out after receiving noise complaints for the bass, whereas other people's speakers don't receive such complaints! Although morally wrong, I feel this justifies the superb bass of these speakers.
The treble can be raised too, which brings out the vocals and clarity of the music you are listening too. The speakers are excellent for movies too, and a little boost to the bass can make the whole experience sound a lot better with more 'movie-like' voices and you can really appreciate any music that comes on. Putting the bass up too high can simply drown out other sounds though so you have to be careful with it. I usually have the bass a little lower than the half way point and the treble a little above/around the half way point, which seems to be excellent for most songs. The only drawback of these speakers is that although the speakers themselves are of a small size and can fit easily anywhere, the main part is quite large if you only have a small space, and with all the wires coming out the back you may find it a little difficult to fit it in!
Overall I'd definitely recommend these speakers for three reasons. Firstly, they have retained their price and are comparable to the newer version released years later. Secondly the sound quality is unbeatable with superb bass and great clarity at loud volumes. Lastly but not least, they have an excellent and very attractive modern design - they may now be years old but still look unlike any other speakers and have the added touch of green LED lights to add a bit more class in dim lighting! They are definitely worth purchasing if you are looking for speakers. I have them for a Mac, but they will work with PCs and other devices too.
Thanks for reading
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