JBL Duet Speaker System for Portable Music and PC - White (Pair)

Let me start by saying I am REALLY REALLY REALLY picky about the quality of sound. I needed a pair of speakers for my office (I have an older pair of speakers that I hook my iPod up to that I wanted to replace.) Well, I came across these and then searched for as many reviews as I could about them...most of the reviews turned out to be very good as a matter of fact! After doing a search for them, I saw they were available at Office Depot so decided to purchase them in-store...however, when I went there I did not see them and was told by a sales associate they were only available at their online store. The (very nice) gentleman then convinced me to rather go for some Logitech x-230 speakers with a sub-woofer. Very hesitantly, I decided to take a chance. Well, after plugging them in and listening to a sample of music, I unplugged them 1/2 a minute later and returned them the next day. I then decided to go ahead an purchase these JBL Duet speakers. They have just arrived, I just plugged them in...am listening to them right this very moment after sampling a variety of music (classical, heavy rock, etc.) and I must say...***WOW***...they are EXCEPTIONAL!!!!!!!!! Super crisp high notes & midtones with all the background instruments clearly coming through...listening to classical music is simply a pleasure!! On the other end of the scale, the rich, deep, full-bodied bass & undertones effortlessly carry the heavy rock & deep classical sounds giving the sound the true depth it needs to really appreciate the music for what it is. I highly highly HIGHLY recommend these!!!

I'm an audio engineer, and I'm NOT easily impressed, but these little speakers are the best-sounding personal speakers I've ever heard. In fact, they're better than many larger, pricier systems.
The bass response is the biggest surprise. It's natural-sounding and open, not stuffy or forced, yet it has a surprising amount of punch for such small speakers, without being the slightest bit "boomy". To my ears in my listening environment, they have an amazingly smooth frequency response across the entire audible range.
In case you think I'm kidding, I usually mix on a pair of Genelec tri-amped studio monitors whose price tag was more than 100 times that of the JBL Duet speakers. On several occasions, I've opened GarageBand or Logic Pro 7 to record a musical idea and ended up doing a rough mix, forgetting that I was listening to the Duet speakers rather than the big monitors. At low levels in a near-field application (...sorry, that's audio geekspeak -- for all you normal humanoids who don't have the audiogeek mutant gene, that means the speakers are close to you...like on your desktop), these little speakers are surprisingly accurate.
I've owned my Duets for almost one year. I loved them so much that I immediately bought extra sets for my kids to use with their iPods. For the money, I've never heard anything better. My thanks to the folks at JBL for creating such a terrific speaker at such a reasonable price.

If you have to run the power cable next to other power cables, which you likely will, you may find that you get a loud buzz when there is no music playing. I believe this is due to improper or inadequate shielding of the power cable.

When the speakers are playing audio, the sound is great, but when they're not, the buzz is fairly nerve-wracking.

So, if your speakers can be wired away from other computer cables, these are good speakers. But if you need to run the power cable near the other cables, you may get a buzzing sound.

Let me preface by saying I consider myself an audiophile but not an annoying music snob or superior techie geek. I am into technology just enough to get the sound quality I want and I'm willing to pay handsomely for it. I previously had Klipsch 2.1 for my computer until my speakers blew out and have Grado SR80s and Sennheiser SR100s for listening to music in my room and a pair of closed Sennheisers for travel.

Having said all that, now that I'm a student and spend most of my time in front of a laptop or else studying, my main criteria for speakers became PORTABILITY, portability, and more portability.

I wanted something light, easy to set up, easy to throw in a bag and travel with, and not nearly as expensive as my Klipsch 2.1's but with a comparable sound value for the price.

I was going to go with 'the other' pair of portable speakers that is popular on Amazon but picked the JBL's for their bass and the fact they were specifically designed to reproduce a 'bigger' sound for their size.

I am REALLY IMPRESSED and VERY HAPPY with my purchase!

Cons:
These aren't as sleek or portable as 'the other' pair. These will NOT fit comfortably into most laptop bags and while they are small and light, with their shape they will fit awkwardly in an overnight bag.

Also these are NOT usb powered so require more cords, which I hate. However, this means you don't need a computer to listesn to your MP3 player and makes these speakers truly portable speakers for any source with the typical mini plug. And they are portable sized.

Pros:
But the sound? The sound is GREAT! I listen to a lot of bass heavy electronica and these are PERFECT. The bass is NOT muddy and the sound quality overall is clean and rich for small speakers and they differentiate tones very well.

Comparing apples to apples, these are an awesome pair of small speakers and good value for the price. These will not shake your walls, but if you want that, don't be a cheapo and invest in a pair of real speakers.

I just listened to a track I had heard many times before on my laptop speakers. On the JBLs with the volume up I was able to hear a lot of new details -- I didn't like the details and erased the track. Thanks JBL for helping me clean up my music library!

Perfect for you AND your housemates:
Also, I have 2 roommates who are light sleepers and this is PERFECT. The sound is just right for me sitting at my desk but the sound does not travel through the walls or door. I don't know what the technical term for this is, but someone else mentioned these are not 'loud' enough for group purposes.

For a home office, dorm room, and solo use, these are a perfect pair of portable speakers with a small footprint.

I bought a pair of these for my iPod. They work perfectly for a bedroom, office, etc. These speakers put out some great sound. I ordered two more sets as gifts.

For the size and power level, these speakers sound quite nice. But it seems as though they are not properly shielded. They produce a constant soft 60 Hz buzz that is rather annoying in a quiet environment. When my new speakers arrived I thought they were defective and exchanged them for another pair. But alas, the defect seems to be in design rather than manufacture since the replacement pair buzzes as well. If I were in an environment with some ambient noise, like an office, I might not be bothered. But in my quiet home study the buzz is quite irritating.

Just received my two JBL duet's...All I have to say is Awesome!!!!

Here's the Good:
1. The speakers are about the size of a beer. Great and not too overpowering on a small desk.
2. Great addition to a Mac...Especially the iBook or iMac! I've also got my iPod attached to the setup.
3. Awesome price for the awesome sound! These speakers are worth more than the $39 I paid here on Amazon.

Bad
1.Ugly green connector for the stereo output
2.Huge AC wall adapter

Overall I would suggest the speakers to anyone that wants GREAT sound at even better price!! I ordered these on Sunday night and got them on Wednesday with Amazon's free shipping.

Great little speakers for the price. Didn't expect much, but was impressed with what I got. Great for occcasional listening of music or monitoring of an audio source. Impressive frequency range for the price. I'm pleased.

These speakers are stylish and sound great--until you use them in the same room as a GSM phone (i.e. AT&T or T-Mobile). The amplifier and cables are completely unshielded, and they make the loudest, most obnoxious buzzing around a cell phone that I have ever heard out of a pair of speakers. My phone makes most speakers chirp a little, but these things belch out the interference at heretofore unheard volumes. Completely unusable if you plan to charge your iPhone next to your iMac.

I like high quality sound for my music, so I couldn't stand to listen to iTunes on my iBook, except with earphones. I wanted to be able to enjoy the flexibility of iTunes in full sound though, so I went on a search for good speakers at the lowest price possible. It didn't take much looking through reviews to see that the JBL Duet Speakers stood out. It seemed way too good to be true that such inexpensive speakers could be as good as everyone was saying, but I bought them, figuring that anything would be better than my iBook's tiny speakers. I was expecting that the sound would probably be only as good as a small CD player. Well, when my speakers arrived and I plugged them in and played one of my favorite rocking songs, I had to grin at the sound that burst from these two small speakers! It was unbelievably high quality--great bass, great highs, very clear, and capable of going way louder than I'd ever want to listen to. It was far better than a small CD player!

So if you're tired of your laptop's small sound, get these! Easily portable, cool design, powerful sound, all for an unbelievably low price--what more could you ask for?!