First, We Got The Bomb... Desktops speaker systems these days come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from those dirt-cheap, box-like types to expensive, eccentric variants. JBL, as if they are going into a literal military skirmish, released the Duet II which bears a resemblance to a pair of explosive projectiles, the ones that we usually see fed into mortars. Besides its relatively bad-ass appearance, will this pair of bombs… errr, speakers deliver the blast that we are expecting? We will find out. And That Was Good... The Duet II is a 2.0-channel speaker set that succeeds the first Duet system from JBL. Compared to its predecessor, the Duet II sports a fairly basic yet classic design, making itself a timeless accompaniment to any modern desktop setup. The set comes with a pair of Phoenix SE transducers (driver units), each housed inside a glossy black plastic enclosure with a metallic, silver mesh at the front. The satellites are not permanently connected to one another. They are manually linked by means of a phono connector. Discreetly placed on top of one of the satellites is the circular power on switch, which doubles as the system’s volume control. Snaking from another satellite is the 3.5mm stereo jack which is compatible with most portable media players. 'Cause We Love Music Observing the intensity of the Duet II, this speaker set is loud enough to fill a small room using either a desktop PC or an iPod. We started off testing treble with some soundtracks from the movies “Gladiator” and “The Transformers”. With the Duet II, these soundtracks, characterized with a convolution of various musical instruments topped with powerful trumpet sounds that exude the sense of splendor, each instrument remained distinguishable with minimal, if none, hint of muddiness. Treble, in our opinion, was not wanting in this category. For midrange test, we picked Michael Buble’s “Fever” and Diana Krall’s “My Love Is”. The Duet II adequately put emphasis on the smooth and untarnished vocals of the two artists mentioned. Proceeding on testing bass, we played The Preset’s “My People”, which we thought difficult for average speaker sets to play with. Bass was tolerable with the Duet II, but still left us with a few reservations. Trip-hop pieces like Gorillaz’s “Kids With Guns”, Massive Attack’s “Superpredator” and Thievery Corporation’s “Warning Shots” confirmed our qualms. If the Duet II has an Achilles’ heel, we say that it is its bass. Final Thoughts Undeniably, based on its physique alone, the JBL Duet II is a showpiece of a set of desktop speakers. It is something that you would pair with a new set of desktop PC without hesitation. More importantly, the Duet II is capable of delivering clear, clean audio, a matter that is no longer surprising for a speaker set branded as JBL. However, if you are a fan of any bass-rich music genre, we say that the Duet II would not be your cup of tea. At the given price of US$ 99.95 (around PhP 4,500 based on our currency), we hope that consumers could still find a JBL speaker set that is better in terms of bass.
Product Specifications Color: Black and Silver Compatibility: Desktop, Notebooks, iPod, Portable Media Players, CD Players Connectors: Phono, 3.5mm Jack Drivers: Phoenix SE Transducers Power: 6 Watts Per Satellite At 1% THD Frequency Response: 80Hz – 20kHz Input Impedance: >3kohms Signal-to-noise Ratio: >60dB Dimensions: 265 x 102 x 102mm Weight: 1kg  Price: US$ 99.95