Home > Consumer Reviews > JBL On Tour Pocket-Sized Speaker System (Battery or AC power mini-jack connectivity)

I bought the jbl creature speakers last xmas and was so impressed with them that I couldn't resist buying the "On Tour" ones for taking on holiday.

The sound quality is absolutely fantastic for such a small item, particularly compared to some of the rivals! I was totally amazed. I like music with a lot of bass and even turned up loudly there appears to be no distortion. You can control the volume of the speakers themselves without having to rely upon the volume of your MP3 player.

The speakers themselves are small and compact - they also don't weigh much, even with their batteries (or you can run them off the mains). They are also very stylish with the sliding cover. They come with their own carry bag which is pretty handy and the battery life seems to be very good.

I would definitely recommend these speakers to anyone.

After quitea bit of researching and auditioning of other small protable speaker systems owned by friends, I was drawn to the 'on tour' speakers after reading their reviews on Amazon's site. I wasn't able to find any friends who had them so bought them 'blind'.

I've had them 2 days now and have thrown just about every type of music through them to see if I could find any weakness in their output quality. In short, I'm staggered at how well this small speaker unit has coped with everything from Pat Metheny to Joe Bonnamassa and Royksopp to Scott Matthews.

The sound quality is full of clarity and depth. I expected them to be a bit tinny by virtue of the 1" speaker size, but no, the sound is rounded and well balanced with a surprising amount of definable bass.

If you are looking for a very high quality, neat, robust, and excellent value for money speaker unit that would be a joy to have on your travels - look no further! You will have stunning music quality no matter where you are.

Incidentally, my audio source was a 30Gb iPod Video.

I have taken delivery of this speaker system yesterday.

I am bowled over.

First of all they are on special offer in a certain cut priced audio retailer for £50 so the price is very very good.

They are fantastic. They look really cool and come with a soft pouch to protect the shiny case. They feel really sturdy. The sound is fantastic and really quite powerful with little distortion. The base does not kick enormously but how could it in a unit this size.

It took me half an hour to work out that they do not have a power off botton and the only reference to switching off is on the cardboard packaging which states that it has auto power-off to conserve battery power which is also very good.

After an evening listening to music, I am really really pleased.

Recommended +++

For such a small bit of kit and especially as it only has 2 x 1" speakers the sound quality is really good. Bass is obviously limited by the speaker size but if placed on a solid surface this helps the bottom end out enormously. Clarity is good but remember rubbish in = rubbish out.
Well built, beautifully finished, good value, what more do you need?

If you're thinking of doing all the research into which product is the BVF£ in this price range, don't bother.

I've done it for you.

As of 02/09, buy these.

Qualms:
~ If you do decide to trawl through and it comes down to either the On Tour or a similarly-priced Creative Labs model, the amp circuitry and hardwired EQ of the JBLs are superior to anything I've heard from the competition. I've blasted everything from Holst to Jamie Duggan through this black box and I still find myself being impressed with the soundstage.
~Regarding the auto power off system, just hit the [+] & [-] buttons simultaneously to shut the unit down.
~"The black surface of the unit is a magnet for fingerprints?! Golly!" Pish-posh. If you're bothering to so much as skim the reviews, I know you don't actually care.

Find out for yourself!