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| JBL On Tour Portable Speaker System ( Black ) | 
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| Brand: JBL
Category: CE
List Price: $99.99
Buy New: $51.99
You Save: $48.00 (48%)
New (7) Used (1) from $34.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  264 reviews
Sales Rank: 282
Format: Cd
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 3.5 x 7 x 1.4
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: ONTOURBLK
Model: ONTOURBLK
UPC: 050036910781
EAN: 0050036910781
ASIN: B000BQ57BU
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Average sound quality, poor usability design, disappointing June 18, 2008
23 out of 31 found this review helpful
I bought this on the hearty recommendations of the 190-plus reviews here, but I'm very disappointed in this product after I began using it.
I should have thought of it: look at the picture of this thing. The two speakers are set about 1.5 inches apart. Do you think two speakers located so close to each other will give you good stereo sound? It's just a matter of physics. The sound is not only barely stereo-like, but the audio quality itself is about average. I listen to classical music most of the time, and unless I play a "big-sound" piece like Beethoven's 5th Symphony, I have a hard time discerning most parts in a piece.
Also, the volume on this thing is really not loud enough -- which is a bane for classical music. This aspect is the single most disappointing and frustrating one for me. The volume on the Tour On is about the same as a $8 portrable speaker set I bought at CVS. For a quiet piece like Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony or the 1st movement of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, you need to max out the volume on the Tour On and on the audio source, and even then, in a room bigger than a college dorm room, you'll find the result less than satisfying.
The Tour On is also very poorly designed from a usability perspective. First, there is no power switch or button. To turn it on, you press either of the two volume buttons. That's easy enough. But to turn it off, you need to close the cover, but you can't do that with the audio cable or AC cable plugged in! There's no other way to turn off the Tour On, and it does *not* turn off automatically. So if you run on batteries and leave the audio cable plugged in and simply turn off your audio player and walk away, the Tour On will eat up your batteries. This is absolutely stupid. Even the aforementioned $8 speaker system from CVS has a handy power switch.
The audio jack and the AC jack are also a bit less than convenient to get to. The cover gets in the way. The battery cover is flimsy, and the opening mechanism is poorly designed. I almost broke the hooks on the battery cover when I tried to open it the first time.
Finally, the packaging also sucks. You need to cut out the hard plastic on all four sides, and the Tour On itself is (or at least was in my case) very difficult to take out. I was so afraid I would break it, but then I remembered Amazon's nice satisfaction guarantee...
Oh, BTW, the Tour On weighs in at 1.2 pounds, not exactly lightweight for a portable speaker system.
So, as you can see, I'm very disappointed in this product.
 Excellent sound quality and overall good design August 7, 2007
20 out of 20 found this review helpful
I read all the reviews on these speakers (including the white ones). The sound quality, considering these are portable speakers, is excellent: clean, clear, and rich mid's and treble. Bass is as expected for small speakers -- there isn't any deep ooomph from drums, but that'd require much larger speakers and power. I've had several other cheap portable speakers and they sounded like clock radio's. I worried that these would also, but they don't -- the sound is high quality.
Negatives: I'd prefer matte rather than shiny black (the piano black thing never made sense to me). But, that's a small issue and the speakers are small, well built and look good.
As others have stated, it'd be preferable to not have to unplug the audio or power cable when closing the system.
Finally, it'd be good to have a car adapter, insead of just the AC home adapter.
I was aware of the above negatives. Otherwise, these are great sounding and well designed small portable speakers and I'd buy again w/out hesitation. They're no longer in production as everything, it seems, now has an ipod dock. I don't want an ipod dock... just an audio jack, so these are a rarity.
 Great sound! November 1, 2007
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
I bought these speakers for my iRiver MP3 player. I took this unit on vacation and am so glad I did. The sound was incredible. As good as my home stereo. Granted, you cannot crank the volume on this unit like a home stereo, but it was loud enough that you could hear it poolside from our 4th floor balcony. I also took it to the beach every day. Other reviewers stated that it didn't have much bass. I disagree. I adjusted the EQ settings on my MP3 player and got quality sound, bass and all. The only improvement I would like to see is the carrying bag, which fits the unit perfectly, but could use some additional room to store extra batteries or the MP3player/cord.
Great Sound Quality December 12, 2007
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
I was looking for a speaker system that was small enough to carry in my purse (yes I have a large purse) yet had good sound quality. The small ones I had seen before purchasing this item had a tin sound or it sounded like it was in a well. People in my office were also amazed that the sound quality was as nice coming from such a small item (weighs just over 1 pound). Sound quality while using the batteries was as good as when using the included AC adapter. I am very happy with this item. To turn the item off, you just close the case and the power light switches off. For me, portability was priority with sound quality being second. However, with this JBL On Tour I was able to have both in one item.
JBL quality, and a value at that. March 6, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Like Kloss and Sony, JBL is a brand name that automatically commands a higher price than the competition (my JBL bookshelf system with 14" woofers is still going strong after 35 years). The design, build quality and, of course, sound are simply a notch above the rest. In the case of the JBL On Tour Portable speakers the value is there as well. Unlike some of the 20-30 dollar portable systems I've tried, these don't require you to feed them 4 fresh alkalines every 8 hours; they not only have adjustable volume but require no fumbling for a half-hidden dial; they're designed to stay in one place, no tipping or migrating on a desk or countertop The sound is full-frequencied, with natural presence and adequate volume for most applications. And if you run them off of AC rather than battery power, there's no harm in leaving them on when you're too busy to fold 'em (though I'd have preferred a simple on-off switch). On balance, the best complement to a black iPod.
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