diff --git a/rbutil/rbutilqt/rbutilqt.pro b/rbutil/rbutilqt/rbutilqt.pro
index b09bd19bab..d21731fb8c 100644
--- a/rbutil/rbutilqt/rbutilqt.pro
+++ b/rbutil/rbutilqt/rbutilqt.pro
@@ -29,12 +29,12 @@ RBBASE_DIR = $$replace(RBBASE_DIR,/rbutil/rbutilqt,)
 
 message("Rockbox Base dir: "$$RBBASE_DIR)
 
-# check for system speex. Add a custom rule for pre-building librbspeex if not found.
-LIBSPEEX = $$system(pkg-config --silence-errors --libs speex)
+# check for system speex. Add a custom rule for pre-building librbspeex if not
+# found. Newer versions of speex are split up into libspeex and libspeexdsp,
+# and some distributions package them separately. Check for both and fall back
+# to librbspeex if not found.
+LIBSPEEX = $$system(pkg-config --silence-errors --libs speex speexdsp)
 !static:!isEmpty(LIBSPEEX) {
-    # newer versions of speex are split up into libspeex and libspeexdsp.
-    # avoid checking twice if libspeex is missing.
-    LIBSPEEX += $$system(pkg-config --silence-errors --libs speexdsp)
     LIBS += $$LIBSPEEX
 }
 # custom rules for rockbox-specific libs
diff --git a/tools/rbspeex/Makefile b/tools/rbspeex/Makefile
index 6385c8a869..780fff2472 100644
--- a/tools/rbspeex/Makefile
+++ b/tools/rbspeex/Makefile
@@ -29,10 +29,7 @@ endif
 
 # don't try to use the systems libspeex when building a static binary.
 ifndef STATIC
-SYS_SPEEX = $(shell pkg-config --silence-errors --libs speex)
-ifneq ($(SYS_SPEEX),)
-SYS_SPEEX += $(shell pkg-config --silence-errors --libs speexdsp)
-endif
+SYS_SPEEX = $(shell pkg-config --silence-errors --libs speex speexdsp)
 endif
 
 # fall back to our own librbspeex if no suitable found.