Creative Pebble Plus 2.1 USB-Powered Desktop Speakers with Down-Firing Subwoofer and Far-Field Drivers, Up to 8W RMS Total Power for PCs and Laptops (Black)

I recently upgraded my main pc, and used the existing surround sound speakers on the new machine.I decided to keep the existing computer in the same office room, and needed a relatively simple sound set up to replace the speakers that I'd migrated to the new PC, without wanting to add lots of new wiring to the spaghetti of wires that live under the desks.The computer is running Windows 10 pro on an intel 8700K CPU and MSI Carbon Pro 390 motherboard.I initially considered a blue tooth set up, but there is a lot of electronic equipment in this room, and I was worried about interference.As it happened, these speakers from Creative were included in the Amazon Prime Deal promotion, and after a short period of research, I clicked 'buy it now'.The speakers arrived a couple of days later, two days before expected. Impressive, Amazon.I unboxed and set the speakers and subwoofer up according to the instructions, powering the speakers from a USB port on the PC itself, for a test run.Everything worked fine, so I then positioned everything properly, using extension cables for both the 3.5 mm speaker - PC jack and the speaker - subwoofer RCA jack. I also plugged the speakers into a dedicated 5v power adapter socket, freeing up the USB socket on the computer for other things.The integrated cables are quite short, in my opinion, so consider buying RCA male - Female and 3.5 mm male to female extension cables if you keep your PC under the desk, or, as in my own case, at some distance from the speakers themselves.I bought the Amazon Basics 3.5 mm Auxiliary Jack Audio Extension Cable ( 5m ) and the KabelDirekt RCA extension cable ( 2m ) and can confirm both cables work fine.As far as the speakers are concerned, I'm very impressed with the quality ( and on High Gain ) the volume of the sound.The speakers are each the size of a child's play ball, and the subwoofer is about 8"x 8"x 6". The speakers would easily fit either side of a monitor on an average sized desk without taking up too much space, and the neat ( and VERY light ) subwoofer can easily be tucked away under the desk.Again, I'd advise buying cable extensions to avoid stretching wires.I found the setup to be a little on the Bass heavy side as standard, but this issue was easily solved by installing 'Peace Equalizer' and the "Equalizer APO" from Sourceforge.This is hands down the best 2.1 desktop speaker set up I have ever used.The sound is very clear, and although it does get distorted at very high levels, I'd can't see a scenario where I'd need to raise the levels that high in normal use. The speakers are perfect for listening to movies and YouTube videos, and are perfectly adequate for listening to your own FLAC collection whilst sitting at your desk.I paid £33.24 for this speaker set, and as far as I'm concerned, this is is probably the best value computer related purchase I have ever made.The price at writing is only £34.99, and in all honesty, you'd be making a solid choice for your money.With the sole reservation about the length of the cabling, I would recommend these speakers 100% for 90% of computer users. Brilliant value.

I'm not a massive audiophile, but I do prefer flac over mp3, can read music, used to DJ etc etc. I know enough to know what is rubbish and what is good. I was looking for something to tide me over after moving back home from abroad, something cheap until I start investing in more expensive gear.A quick half hour research had these speakers coming up time and time again as the best budget computer speakers. After seeing they were just £35 and included a little sub, I figuredI couldn't go wrong. I have to say that, for the first time in a long time, the Amazon reviews got it right! This really is a great little set-up that will satsify most casual computer users.The kit gets loud enough without losing too much clarity. I rarely go above 50% volume and these don't go to 11 anyway. I listen to electronic music when I'm not video editing, which tends to have quite a wide dynamic range. Mids and highs are great and there's just enough bass for it not to be tinny. These hold their own, even with the volume cranked up. They're not going to fill a room and you can certainly get better quality, but then you're paying hundreds, not tens, of pounds. If you're on a budget or just want to improve on your rubbish monitor speakers, you really can't go wrong with these.

Ultimately the sound is excellent for the price - so here comes the 'but'. The sub-woofer is not adjustable and it's really quite low powered being that it's USB. As a consequence, on low volume it's barely audible.It happens that I have a fully configurable sound driver on my laptop - FXSound - and so was able to significantly adjust the output.It took quite a while to increase the base without distortion whilst also reducing the high pitched treble from the small speakers. But now that the speakers are well balanced for most types of music, the output quality is really very impressive.But that begs the question - is it necessary to use additional software in order to achieve such good results? It has to be remembered that these are certainly budget speakers and it's therefore unreasonable to expect too much from them. Having said that, my end result far exceeds what I could have realistically expected. I was thinking of sending them back, but I certainly won't be doing so now.The sub-woofer is only an additional £5 and so it is definitely worth that little extra. I wouldn't get the two speakers on their own as their sound can be a bit piecing!ADDITIONAL TO THIS REVIEW: On a different laptop, using the standard driver, they work very well indeed giving a surprisingly well balanced sound for the price.