A wonderful listening experience

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I finally ugraded my speakers after 25 years. Yep, I replaced the vintage Advents with 4 HLS 610s and an HLS-center. The sound is amazingly clear and realistic. The HLS''s simply blew away the Advents, which are now in a friend''s basement. I don''t have too much to add to the other posts here except that these speakers are great with action DVDs, musical DVDs, and all types of audio CDs (jazz, rock, folk, classical) - you name it, they deliver. One more thing - and the reason why I''m posting this review - you can still buy these speakers from Canadian dealers. I was able to get the 610''s for $125/pair on ebay, but couldn''t find a decent center anywhere until I discovered the Canadian connection. Get the HLS''s while you still can - you can''t go wrong!

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Advent, Bose

Awesome bass response below 80hz.

The main speakers have to be attenuated slightly to hear the center channel over them.

I bought the whole HLS system over a period of a year or so. I have the center, 810''s and 410''s. The system is incredible. JBL made a mistake in getting rid of the HLS line. I think they could have put some other speaker builders out of buisness if they had continued to sell these speakers at such a low price. My entire home system was less than $700.00 and sounds better than my friends systems that cost 4 and 5 times as much. I will own these things till I die! I will beg borrow and steal to get parts for them if I ever have to replace anything. (so far, I have had no problems) I do not think I could ever buy a better set of speakers.

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JBL Always!

Great sound (even bass) for a bookshelf speaker

Fit and finish

I saw these speakers at a garage sale for $40 and figured that they were a just another bad bookshelf speaker. I went home and checked out the reviews here and decided to try them out. These speakers are amazing. They sound far better than my current speakers, Electrovoice 10" 2-ways, and they take up a whole lot less space. Great sound for a compact speaker. The imaging, detail, and clarity that these speakers have is incredible. I''m hearing things in my music that I never heard before. I can''t wait until I get a chance use them on my NAD 7100...

Excellent sound reproduction of male or female vocalists. Clean appearance when placed on matching stands. These are high quality units that can be used as surround speakers or for listening to any type of music that you might prefer.

none at this time

The reviews are correct, but it took me a few days to realize it. I first had to place them on top of our entertainment center (too high) for lack of a proper speaker stand. This improper placement was completely unjust to these excellent speakers. They are very sensitive to placement. Once I bought the 24" stands, I couldn''t be happier with the quality of sound that these HLS-610''s are capable of producing. I purchased a pair of Cerwin Vega LS12 floor speakers for $125 and traded them for a pair of HLS-610''s for front speakers along with a pair of HLS-410''s to be used for rear surround sound speakers. I consider this to be a great deal and my living room looks much nicer for it. When playing music, I simply switch the receiver to play both A&B speakers (along w/ sub). The "B" speakers are Infinity Reference bookshelf models. The subwoofer is a Velodyne CHT-10. The receiver is a Pioneer VSX-D710S. When listening to a movie, the rear surround 410''s take over the duties in place of the Infinity Reference. A Polk Audio center channel speaker is also used. This fills the room completely and dramatically thanks to the pure midrange characteristics of the JBLs. Buy these if you can find them. Place them correctly and wire them properly. They deserve it.

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Infinity, Polk, Velodyne, Cerwin Vega

Music, movies, and other sounds.

Using them as jack stands or support pillars. Any assorted industrial or construction applications. Not useful for food or medical purposes.

I bought these speakers years ago at a Circuit City in the Bay Area, without really knowing what I was buying. When I bought them, they were hooked up to a Aiwa bookshelf receiver. Now, years later (notice, same speakers) I have them hooked up to a Rotel pre/amp and love them still. They truly get better and better as I upgrade my electronics. Anyway, they are great in all aspects, as mentioned in the 70+ posts here. I wish JBL still made nice 2-way monitors; they still make them for pro, but at 2 or 3 times the price to get the same sound. Unfortunately, my tasted are rapidly pushing these speakers away, so I will be upgrading to Klipsch Reference soon, but these speakers will still be in my house, either as surrounds or as a secondary system. If you ever find a pair, get them; they could be handy if you ever need to throw together a system. JBL is still great, but as of now, Klipsch is better in my opinion. Don’t worry, one of these years, JBL will do it again. FYI: The HLS speaker system was designed by three, 20-year old engineers that had just entered the company, this was their first project at Harman. Hats off to them, I only pair $150 for the speakers.

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Listened to much, bought a few. Klipsch and old JBL mostly.

AWESOME SOUND!!!

They dont have a low enough Frequency Response

Let me tell you, i Found these in Best Buy for $49.50 a PIECE!!! So obviously, being the audio freek i am, i ran to the ATM and got out some cash, and fast! At the time i had not even known about the stereo reviews or how much they went for at some other places.

I did know that they were cheap, that they were some of the best and coolest and most expencive JBL's i knew of. Like everyone else said, they really did not sound good in the store, but those moreons cant hook up cable to a tv!!

These sound better then my dads 30 year old Kenwoods, there 4-Way 5-speaker system, that have 2 tweeters,1 high-mid range,1 low-mid range and of course a 12 woofer, and you know what?? the bass from the 6.5" woofers in the JBL's is MUCH better then the 12's in the Kenwood's!!!

All i can really say is the stereo imaging is awesome, an i listen to mostly Rap and Rock...ha pritty funny huh? But i have to say i have been SCARED TO DEATH, because they produce such life like sound, ITS SCARRY!!

My only problem is that the bass that they have distorts with my Technics 100x2 receiver, but thats just because of the music i listen to and that the woofer is just a tad too small for some high volumes, if you are going to buy a pair, i reccommend the HLS 810's

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Aiwa, Pioneer and a pair of 30 year old Kenwoods!

PRICE,PRICE, AND SOUND

NONE AT THIS PRICE

I GOT THESE AT BEST BUY FOR $80.00 A PIECE. THEY ARE REALLY NICE SPEAKERS! SOUND IS SMOOTH AND REAL LIKE THEY MAKE MY EQUIPMENT BETTER SOMEHOW. LOTS OF GREAT REVIEWS BACK UP THESE HIGH QUALITY,LOW PRICE SPEAKERS.I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW SOUND LIKE THIS CAN COME FROM CHEAP SPEAKERS. THEY ARE A LITTLE BIG FOR THE AVERAGE SHELF SPACE BUT, THEY SOUND GREAT ON STANDS ANYWAY. GREAT ON MOVIES TO BUT MUSIC IS WHERE THEY SHINE. GO GET A GOOD DEAL NOW BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO STOP MAKING THEM. SEE YA.

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NHT SUPERONES

Price.... I just got them from Best Buy for,,, now you are not going to belive this and i didn't. They were $79.95 A PAIR..... I had to check with the salesman because I thought they were marked wrong. They were ONLY the $80.oo, $39.95 each. So I got 2 pair. I have the slip to show for it.

I haven't come across any yet.

I love the sound they produce. I have them set up in a spair bedroom which is where i have my movie room set up. It is 13'x 11.6' I have a 75w sub and the HLS-Center. The only thing wrong with them ,is that my wife keeps telling me and my son to turn it down.... I still can not belive thwt I only payed $80.oo a pair. I came home to look them up on the net, and the cheapest I could find them were for $188.oo pr.. So I ran back to Best Buy and got them. They are a really nice looking seaker.

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Infinity R3 and SM165 and JBL N26.

very good reproduction

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i would not recomend these as front main speakers if you like to listen to music loud I use these as rear speakers with dolby digital and dts they are amazing when used as rear's extreamly room filling and accurate i would put them up against 500.00 rear speakers any day

Imaging and centered vocals, great with Carver Hologram

Highs a little strong on electronic music - but easily tamed

I've own a pair for over a year now, backed up by two JBL CF150's as corner subs. I recently came across another new pair at $57 for both. I put them on top (and inverted) on my present pair of 610s and wired them in paralell.

We're talking an instant transformation to high-end tower. Tight vocals, better midrange detail and wider soundstage (they're angled inward somewhat). Totally effortless sound than with just one box.

Not perfect, though, I had to back the highs off about 3db @10K to ease some minor beaming from the horns. Overall, an excellent box for $216 total for all four. It's not the money, though, it's the sound. Why JBL stopped making these I'll never understand.
Mark

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B&W DM Series, AR15s ('81 Vintage) Polk RTA's