Looking like something out of an old sci-fi movie, JBL's appropriately named Creature II desktop speaker system landed on my desk recently. I've seldom had more than an adequate listening experience with computer speaker systems, but because of JBL's reputation, I was willing to give the Creature IIs a listen.


After all, JBL has been in the speaker business for over half a century, designing and building everything from professional studio monitors to speakers for car and home use. I was hoping they'd brought that experience to their Creature II system — I was ready for something more than the mediocre sound my current computer speakers provided.

Setting up the speakers
The Creature II system is a simple one, consisting of only three pieces: a powered subwoofer and two small satellite speakers. According to JBL's manual, the sub is rated at 27 watts, and the satellites at 9 watts each, giving the system a total power rating of 45 watts.


The system's amp is built into the subwoofer, and provides power to it and the two satellites. Each satellite has a single permanently attached cable that plugs into the sub — these connections carry power as well as the audio signal to the satellites. A provided mini-jack cable connects your audio source to the sub, where the audio signal is sent out to the two speakers.

Counting the power cord, there are only four cables to hook up, and all are color-coded, so there's no chance of making a wrong connection. In addition to being color-coded, each plug has a uniquely shaped collar. (Make sure that the connector is pushed all the way in — if not properly aligned, the satellite cable can be in place, but only partially connected.)

Since low bass is omni-directional, the subwoofer can be set just about any place and still have the same sonic effect. Although you could bury it beneath your desk, it's best to make sure the sub is within easy reach. It has the on/off switch for the system, plus two prominent knobs that control the system's bass and treble.

The subwoofer has a footprint of about nine square inches, so it can fit comfortably onto a desk. Of course, its domed shape means you can't stack stuff on top of it like you could a box-shaped sub, so you do lose some workspace.

All three speakers are video-shielded, so you can have them clustered around your monitor if you have limited space. Personally, I prefer some separation. The satellites came with enough cord that I could place them on either end of my desk facing in towards me. The sub went in a far corner, behind my desktop monitor. They looked very cool, indeed — but I was more interested in how they sounded!

Sound basics
Because the system can connect to a standard headphone mini-jack, I could play just about anything through it, and I did! Obviously, sound quality varied with the source material and the sophistication of the processing in each player.

To really test the Creature II system, I used four different sources: an iPod, a portable CD player, a laptop and a desktop PC. With each one, I played the same music (either on CD or audio file). The computers had DVD drives, and so I also used two different DVDs — one with a newly mastered 5.1 audio track, and a film from the 1960s with an indifferently mixed two-channel soundtrack.

The Creature II has a white styling that complements the iPod's distinctive look.

Creature II and the iPod
Since the Creature II system's styling complements the iPod, it made sense to me to try them together. Hookup was simple; I just plugged the system into the iPod's headphone mini-jack.

It took me a little while to get used to the Creature's volume controls. Set flush in the right satellite are two very small buttons to raise and lower the volume of the system, and they're very touch-sensitive. I had some wild volume fluctuations until I could train myself just to touch the buttons lightly!

With the Creature IIs connected to the iPod, the biggest difference I noticed was thanks to the subwoofer. Unlike what I normally heard through the iPod's earbud headphones, the sound had some real weight to it, without losing any of the high-end details. My rock, techno and even Americana tracks sounded more open and substantial than they had through my headphones. My classical selections (chosen for their wide dynamic and timbral variations) required some adjustment of the Creature II's bass to get a more realistic sound. The trick was to get just enough sub to fill out the ambient sound, rather than the actual low notes.

Creature II and the CD player
My battered old portable CD player was next. It has both a headphone jack and a line out terminal. I tried both (just to be thorough) and confirmed that using the line out was the better option. I also tried a little experiment with the player's bass boost option. Not surprisingly, the system sounded better without it — the artificially enhanced bass fed through the sub sounded unnaturally harsh and boomy.

Using the line out and no bass boost, I got a slightly better sound from my CD player than I did from my iPod. That's not surprising — because the music was uncompressed, there was a lot more detail coming into the Creature IIs, and therefore a lot more coming out of them. Although I wasn't hearing the same amount of detail that I would have with a full-sized A/V system, within the space of my desk I was enveloped by a full rich sound that was entirely convincing.

Creature II and the laptop
My iBook laptop (running iTunes) has pretty good stereo sound. I don't have a separate audio line out on my laptop, so I used the headphone jack.

Two touch-sensitive buttons on the right-channel satellite control the volume for the system.

To see how much detail the speakers could reproduce, I ripped some of my test songs onto my laptop. I then played both versions of the songs — first the original through the iBook's CD drive, then the digital copy through the laptop's iTunes program. The Creature II satellites reproduced the sound with enough clarity that I could hear a difference between the original CD track and the slightly compressed audio file.

Listening to the two DVD movies, I had no problems hearing the dialogue, and could even detect motion between the speakers. The DVD with the 5.1 mix sounded best, which wasn't surprising — it had already been mixed with a subwoofer in mind. Even though this was a "2.1" system instead of a 5.1, I heard a nicely expansive soundfield.

Because of its poorer audio quality, when I played the older 2-channel DVD, I had to turn down the bass to keep the sound from muddying. Although the 2-channel soundtrack never had the same impact as the 5.1 mix, the Creature II system was flexible enough to let me tweak it for a more enjoyable listening experience. The 2-channel audio track also sounded fuller than it had coming out of the laptop speakers.

I then moved on to playing some video games on the iBook. The sound of the explosions had some punch (thanks to the sub), and motion across the soundfield was even more pronounced than with the DVDs. Best of all, with a total power rating of 45 watts, I could crank the Creature IIs way higher than my iBook speakers!

Creature II and the desktop PC
We have a Dell desktop computer, which gave me two options for audio output. While the Creature IIs can be plugged into any headphone jack, JBL recommends using your computer's external speaker port whenever possible — which gives you the same result as using the line output on other devices.

Our Dell came with two speakers that did an adequate job, although like most freebie computer speakers, they tended to sound harsh and thin to me, especially when I pushed the volume. As a result, even though I was only replacing one set of desktop speakers with another, I could hear an improvement. The addition of the sub certainly added to the dimension of the sound, but I also found that the Creature II satellites were more responsive and less likely to be overdriven than our old speakers.

For the most part, all the improved sound quality I experienced with the laptop I duplicated with the Dell. DVDs and games on the PC, as with the laptop, required some adjustment to get the best sound. That sound, though, was vastly superior to what I was getting over the computer's satellite speakers.

Because of its location in the house, I usually use the Dell to listen to Internet radio. While doing so, I found I had to adjust the Creature IIs' treble and bass depending on the source — super-compressed signals tended to sound better with less sub; fuller feeds benefited from the bass reinforcement.

A new desktop companion
Like their '50s sci-fi counterparts, the Creature II speakers took everything I could throw at them and kept coming back for more. Regardless of the source, the system gave me a sound that sparkled in the high end, and rumbled in the bass.

Make no mistake — the Creature IIs are multimedia speakers, for use with computers and small portable devices. They won't give you room-filling audio, but perched on your desk, they can deliver fuller-sounding audio to your immediate work area. All in all, I came to regard these strange white paraboloids not as desktop invaders, but part of my office's Creature comforts.