Everything. This speaker sounds exquisite in every regard!

Puhleaze!!! Can we talk??

Seriously, none. Can't believe the price too. Too bad they discontinued this model... this speaker would have put them out of business, or seriously cut into profits, given it's cheap price and expensive high end sound!

I won't repeat ad nauseum what already has been said about the merits of this speaker, which are unquestionably many. To sum it up, it is a shame JBL discontinued this model. Once in a while, if rarely, a manufacturer comes up with a component that is priced so ridiculously low, and which performs so greatly, that it is considered a 'steal of the century' and a price-to-performance wonder. The JBL HLS-610 is such a speaker. Hook up some decent electronics to it, and it sings it's heart out! Detail and transients are phenomenal, and highs just soar with it's horn based tweeter! Bass is tight as well. I also have a pair of Magnepan MG12QR's on another main system in my home, and I am not kidding when I say that most of the detail and timbral accuracy present on the high end Magnepans is there with these little box bookshelf speakers!!! Just amazing. Close your eyes and you may just think you are listening to a Thiel, Dynaudio, or Reference 3A!!!! JBL... PLEASE re-release this speaker into production once again. This speaker gets 5 galaxies, not 5 stars!!!!!!!

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Triangle, nOrh, JAMO, Mission, Magnepan

have a very rich sound for small speakers.

none

Sound much better than the other bookshelf speakers I listened to. I thought they were very clear and did a much better job of reproducing mid-bass than most bookshelf speakers. I only paid $80 for the pair and I don't think I could have done any better.

Excellent for music and HT

None to date

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write a review of their personal experiences with this product. Since these speakers have been discontinued and were not readily available in my area, I relied heavily on the overwhelmingly positive feedback written when looking for bookshelf speakers. This casual listener is very glad he did.
Utilizing cable company music input, non-HT receiver and low grade speaker wire -- the "soft hits" music delivered by these two speakers is rich, warm and with plenty of bass. I now wish I had purchased more than one pair!

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Bose 141

Best ever for a great price, need good partners.

Value, balance

Definitely a great buy for the money. I am quite happy with the performance to value ratio. In my opinion they are the only decent speakers Best Buy sells. The best description I can give of the sound, is it is nicely balanced. You can listen to these all day, they are not fatiguing.

These definitely arent the equivalent of the Shamrocks, but about as good as you can get for under 200. In other words they are not audiophile quality, but unless youre one of the discriminating audiophile types, you will not want anything more.

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expensive, neutral, detailed sound; great imaging ability

For this price, nada

I am still in a state of audio shock here! My son bought these speakers for listening to Eminemm or whatever his name is with his teen freinds. He asked me if I could hook them up to my 'really good system', as my son says (I have all Audio Research stuff with Cardas cabling- speakers are Joseph Audio rm22's), so I obliged just so I could see for myself how 'bad' $200 speakers can sound. Man, was I wrong! Upon hooking these little gems up and firing up some Steely Dan, Fourplay, and Strunz & Farah (3 of my fave test artists), I was stunned!!! I honestly thought I was listening to $1000 speakers, and was amazed at the resolution and emotion these speakers could convey!! I am incredulous!!!! They almost sound as good as my RM22's... not quite, but almost. I understand, by reading some posts here, that JBL has discontinued these. This is no doubt, a loss for the consumer who is counting on finding a pair of excellent sounding speakers on the cheap. BAD move JBL! If you can find a pair of these, buy them NOW!!! They're that good!!!

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Joseph Audio RM 22si (used as basis of comparison)

expensive, neutral, detailed sound; great imaging ability

For this price, nada

I am still in a state of audio shock here! My son bought these speakers for listening to Eminemm or whatever his name is with his teen freinds. He asked me if I could hook them up to my 'really good system', as my son says (I have all Audio Research stuff with Cardas cabling- speakers are Joseph Audio rm22's), so I obliged just so I could see for myself how 'bad' $200 speakers can sound. Man, was I wrong! Upon hooking these little gems up and firing up some Steely Dan, Fourplay, and Strunz & Farah (3 of my fave test artists), I was stunned!!! I honestly thought I was listening to $1000 speakers, and was amazed at the resolution and emotion these speakers could convey!! I am incredulous!!!! They almost sound as good as my RM22's... not quite, but almost. I understand, by reading some posts here, that JBL has discontinued these. This is no doubt, a loss for the consumer who is counting on finding a pair of excellent sounding speakers on the cheap. BAD move JBL! If you can find a pair of these, buy them NOW!!! They're that good!!!

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Joseph Audio RM 22si (used as basis of comparison)

I already posted for these speakers a while back, but I did want to respond to the poster below me. You are indeed correct; Best Buy was the last major retailer to still have the HLS series in stock. At most stores, they should now be completely closed out. Hecks, I picked up a spare set for $69. JBL actually stopped producing this speaker in December. You will be hard pressed to find them in large quantities anywhre now. A word of caution, though. If you thought you used to have a reason to shop BB for speakers, you don't any more. The Northridge series which replaces the HLS series is not recommmended by myself. Following in the footsteps of their vastly over priced, big brother--the Studio Series, which has too much colorization and muddy bass on their own (so much so that I cringe when listening to them), the Northridge Series is even worse although not as harsh. JBL went back to coated paper drivers for these also. Tweeter, although less titanium is in the composite than the Studios, are still overly bright. The midrange is overly active and colored, and of course the bass is muddied. Cabinet is poorly constructed with a composite facing making the speaker sound like a plastic flutophone. Pluses for the two lines, though,...They do have descent depth but lack imaging.

Value for price, neutral sounding, quite revealing, love that horn sound!!!

None to speak for, although the 'fit and finish' where the front baffle meets the sides, top, and bottom should look a bit 'tighter', but this is a non-issue if you keep the grilles on (which I don't)

I am not going to re-write all the good points mentioned below. In short, this speaker sounds more expensive than it costs, and is very dynamic and open sounding. Good balance, biting and lively horn sound at times, fairly revealing. A great deal through and through. One of the best speakers for it's price point! Kudos to JBL for making a great, accurate sounding bookshelf speaker that doesn't cost too too much.

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Incredibly able to reveal a lot of source material well; very smooth sound, fantastic imaging, high end quality sound

Fit and finish a bit 'rough'; even though it looks neat with the grille off, seams could be a bit tighter looking

This is a very quality sounding speaker for under $200 the pair. These speakers sound more expensive than they are. Their design has a lot to do with it. They handle any kind of music with aplomb- the highs soar, the mids are detailed and liquid, and the bass is quite ample and tight (down to about 50Hz). With mediocre to excellent electronics, these things SING! They are VERY MUSICAL, and a total steal at their street price! The 610 is probably one of the top contenders for the 'best bang per buck' in audio now, and at anytime in the past. They're that good!!! Great job JBL!

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KEF, Platinum Audio, Boston