JBL Control 1s are about as utilitarian a speaker as as you can find. They are equally adept as compact stage monitors, components in large installations, fill speakers, and any other situation where space is at a premium but you can't skimp on sound quality.

Now JBL announces th Control 2Ps. Using the same 2-way enclosure, the 2Ps add an integrated amplifier to make the Control 2Ps the most utilitarian powered compact speakers you can find. Th powering scheme on the Control 2Ps is not unlike your common desktop speaker system: they are sold in pairs, with one master speaker housing the amplifier and volume controls, and one slave speaker.

Though JBL's documentation on the new speakers didn't specify amp wattage, if they truly are built on the Control 1 platform we can extrapolate form that speaker's power handling, which is in the vicinity of 175 watts RMS. That kind of power is plenty loud for multiple applications such as mobile presentations, fixed installations, broadcast audio, conference room audio and much more. The high fidelity 5-inch woofer coupled with a high-freq tweeter produce a sound that JBL calls "reference-quality."

Specifications on the amps user controls and add connectivity include a headphone jack for single-user monitoring, a large volume control that attenuates the level of both speakers, a built-in peak-stop limiter and a high-freq contour control. The pair of Control 2Ps also come with clip-on wedge stands for angling the speakers, reinforcing their suitability for desktop monitoring situations.