Customer Reviews

JBL Creature II Powered 3-Piece Multimedia Speaker System (Black)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Great sound from these small ghost-like speakers and magnetically shielded subwoofer. Because the subwoofer is magnetically shielded you can have it on your desk next to your CPU without worries. Hands-on dials on the sub-woofer let you boost and lower both treble and bass and one of the small satellite speakers lets you boost sound with the touch of a button.

The amount of crystal-clear sound that comes out of these small speakers is nothing short of phenomenal, and the price is hard to beat.

Speaker placement made the difference between this system sounding very disappointing and very good. I'm a jazz bassist, so I'm relatively particular about sound. When I first got these speakers, I put the woofer on my desk and the tweeters up on a shelf about 5 feet off the ground. There was almost no midrange at all, and the highs were tinny and sharp. Eventually I put the woofer under my desk and the tweeters on the floor on either side, and now they sound fabulous! My roommate, a Julliard trumpet player, said they have "good depth of sound," and I would have to agree. Speaker placement fixed the EQ issues, and they now sound great with a flat EQ. Speaker placement is a critical issue with a system like this. Every room is different, so make sure to experiment with it if you get a set.

1. For less than 75 bucks, do not expect good speakers. Good computer speakers go for 200 bucks. These speakers have to be compared to other value offerings, from Logitech or Altec Lansing. Not Klipsch or Polk.

2. Speakers take a few days to "open". For the first 30 hours of play or so, they are tight and just don't express the whole range of sounds. Listening to new speakers in a store is just uninstructive. Similarly, listening to these speakers out of the box, and then returning these speakers is a waste of your time and money. Give them a few days to prove themselves.

3. If you are truly in the value speaker market, note that your subwoofer is not going to be a beast. You will get neodynium speakers and a smallish underpowered subwoofer capable of the low but not the very low frequencies. A good subwoofer is over the 100 dollar mark, and is usually very heavy and in a wooden box. The JBL, handles stock stuff decently, but is unable to cut it from hardcore trance, electronica or anything else with very low frequencies.

The creatures represent the value category perfectly. Even after a week of play, you can sense that they do better in the highs and the lows than the mids. If you listen to hip hop, rap, then you are fine. If you listen to 128 kbps MP3s you are fine. If you listen to classical, acoustic, or classic rock, then your music will never come alive. A section of the sound will simply be missing. That is the missing 125 dollar effect - if instead of 75 bucks, you spend 200, you will get that missing section of sound.

The speakers look great in being very very different from the usual speakers. They are basically 2 parts of a 3 part system. I would have included 2 more speakers to cover the mids, but that would have jacked the price past the 100 mark. And that is what their higher end range speakers are there for.

In my opinion, at this price point, they sound better than comparable Altec Lansings, etc. The Altec Lansings do a better job representing those mids. But they lack the clarity that makes the JBLs such a good buy.

The JBLs are crystal clear, and have the most accurate renditions of the higher frequencies. They have some thing of a sound stage. Other speakers at this range have no clarity and no sound stage. They are usually very colored and very tiring to listen to after a while.

But this is a very very subjective thing. You are essentially choosing between a few evils. No one wants to lose a part of the music. But then no one wants speakers that don't articulate clearly. And everyone wants the sound stage.

What you have to decide, for the 75 bucks range, is what you need the least. And the JBLs do a good job with the tradeoffs for me.

As long as you buy these knowing you will not get perfect speakers, and that the sound is bound to be deficient, but that you being cheap and getting an excellent value for money, you will be fine. Don't buy these if you have another 50 bucks that you could spend on speakers. Only if your budget tops out at 75, should you make the trade off.

Hello to all from a professional musician. I was looking forward to receiving these speakers so my music would sound fuller and more detailed. Many people reviewing the product on Amazon mention the "powerful bass" and "crisp highs." Yes, these speakers have both, but there are practically NO MIDS! This is a *big* problem. It makes nearly everything sound empty and devoid of substance. Bottom line is, if you're looking to hear music sound good, KEEP LOOKING! These speakers may be appropriate for some applications, but they're not for the music enthusiast. It may be the case that many speakers in this price range sound like this - you might have to spend a bit more.

Just trying to help. Good luck.

I ordered these and returned them. They sounded to me no better than the typical tinny computer speakers. Also, the touch sensitive volume controls are annoying, since you can't tell what the current volume setting actually is (and the speakers presumably forget the setting when power is lost). Old-fashioned volume knobs are much more functional! Also, the main power switch is totally inaccessible, as it is jammed in between two of cables on the back panel of the subwoofer. Who's bright idea was that? Also, the power brick is huge -- bigger than the satellite speakers! Never seen anything like it! But the main problem is the sound -- for speakers in this price range, I would expect much fuller sound. It's just not there. I would either save money by going with much cheaper speakers, or step up to something better such the Harmon-Kardon Soundsticks II or the big Altec Lansing 2.1 system. (I actually decided to stay with my old Altec Lansing set, which sounded much better than the JBL's.) Another option is to just run a mini-to-RCA line from your computer audio output to your bookshelf stereo system auxiliary input. You will get much better sound than most of these computer speakers can provide.

First of all, disregard older complaints about losing volume settings. The current edition of Creature II (my box says model DW-607) no longer has that problem -- I powered the speakers on and off, and even unplugged them to verify that the last volume setting persisted across power cycles. In addition, specifications have improved slightly from those listed in the product description: freq response is now rated 45Hz-20KHz, satellite power is now 9W each, and subwoofer power is now 27W. While they were over $[...] when first launched, you can now buy a set of Creature IIs for less than $[...].

I think these are a nice set of COMPUTER speakers for the money, but don't get caught up in some other reviewers' enthusiastic marks for sonics. Although the name JBL conjures connotations of home stereo audio bliss, these are definitely computer speakers, not home stereo speakers. Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is rated at 10% -- while that is a typical number for inexpensive, powered speakers for computers, a middle of the road home stereo amp comes in at well under 1% THD. In addition, while the power rating seems high, at least compared to your home or car stereo, I've found that I wish I had a bit more headroom in the volume department. Max volume on these speakers is fine when you're sitting right in front of them, but you won't be able to hear them very well from the next room. In addition, I agree with other's complaints that the cross over at 180Hz is a rather rough transition -- it would have been a good idea to add a midrange knob to the existing bass and treble knobs, or to even trade the treble knob for a midrange. The sound is somewhat unnatural in the midrange unless you make some adjustments with an equalizer -- both iTunes and my iPod provide that feature, therefore, that wasn't a deal breaker for me.

All that being said, these are definitely worth the $45 I paid, and a nice step up from the typical speakers that come bundled with computer systems. Just don't expect them to transform your computer into a home stereo system. They sound more like a good boom box.

I bought these speakers specifically to go with my IPod and to be used in my office. They work great. I also have a Bose SoundDock at home and I honestly have to tell you I think that the Creature II's sound 95% as good as the Bose at a fraction of the cost. I like them so much that I bought a second pair for our vacation home. The only draw back is that some people might not like the design. The Bose unit is cleaner and easier to just set on a shelf. I don't think that you will be disappointed if you buy Creature II's.

I saw these speakers on the show floor at MacWorld and wanted them right away. I liked the design esthetic, plus I could actually hear them which is a bit of a miracle at a trade show.

They're definitely not audiophile quality, but for anyone who cares about bang for the buck AND look and feel these speakers will serve quite well. They give a nice rich sound for both music and game play plus they look really cool.

The only thing I'd change would be to make the downward firing LEDs brighter.

I just hooked up my speakers yesterday and have been enjoying them immensely. They are really great but with one problem. If you turn the volume up too high for your favorite song, you hear noise. The instructions say it may be related to your monitor so turn the monitor off to see if it goes away. Mine didn't. I don't listen to music real loud at my computer but turning it up just a bit creates the noise. Other than that, these speakers are great!!

these speakers look amazing and sound clear as a bell, ive heard things in songs ive never heard before with these speakers, but if you want to blast music these speakers are not for you, they start distorting a whole lot when you turn it up