Deep rich sound!

Flimsy front grill. But since they look nice without it, it''s not necessary to use it.

Excellent! I have never heard music that sounds so rich. I think that people who love bass will truly find these speakers exceptional. Now I''ve started revisiting some of my older cd''s and I''m hearing sounds I never heard before! Additionally, I have these connected to my TV, and the sound is outragous. It actually makes commercials a bit more bearable. I have mine on flooring, not carpeted like some of the other reviews I''ve read, hence no problem with tipping due to the units being front heavy. I''m a completely satisfied consumer.

Similar Products Used:

Aiwa, Teac

Great sound(tight bass and clarity). Gorgeous looks. Flared ports. Binding posts.

A wee bit short for towers.

This seems to be a quality product from JBL. The aesthetics of N38s are snazzy to say the least. The in-line positioning of the speakers and the port is eye-catching.

The bass output coming from an 8 incher is impressive. Mids and highs are terrific. Overall the sound output is tight and punchy and very clear. I am solely using it for music (Nakamichi receiver RE-10 100W rms/ch.)and I am completely satisfied with the performance. They should be great with HT also as they are supposed to be front speakers for a 5.1 HT setup.

I have placed the n38s on hard surface and they don't seem to tip forward but could possibly be true if placed on thick carpet. There seems to be one bug - putting back grill is a bit messy.

Overall a great set of speakers which anyone would love to own.

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JBL

nice speaker with a reasonable price

seems to lean forward on carpet

i got two from J&R for $297 which include shipping... and they look and sound just right.... except that they seem heavy in the front and tend to lean forward on carpet... S&H process from J&R was a charm... it took only 7 days(including weekend days)before they arrived at my front door...

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none

Crisp, clear highs (acoustic guitar and brass instruments sound wonderful!)

weak on the low end

Great speakers. Like most people have said, they're a little weak on the low end response, but it's nothing a decent sub can't remedy. Other than that, they sound great and even though I paid full price at Best Buy, I still think it was a good deal. If you have the patience, though, you could definitely benefit from doing what other people have done and find a place online and pay significantly less.

Outstanding clarity. Sufficient bass. Affordable Price.

None

I am using the N38's as the main speakers in my home entertainment system. First of all, I have to start off by saying that these speakers sound great. I am a firm believer that I don't need to pay thousands of dollars for quality floor speakers. Sure there are other speakers that sound better, but you have to be willing and able to shovel out a lot more money. For the price, I have yet to hear a speaker that compares to the N38's.
Because I live in apartment and have to be careful of the level of noise, these speakers are more than adequate for my situation. To tell you the truth, these speakers are tempting me to move into a house, so I can crank the volume and feel the walls and the floor rumble. These speakers deliver enough bass, though, I can assure you. I don't know how many times in the last few months when I have been watching a dvd and had to reach for the remote and turn down the volume because it felt as though a train was plowing through my apartment.
"How do these speakers sound when playing CD's?" you might ask. I probably listen to CD's more than I watch movies, so I can tell you that these speakers sound great with music, too. I listen to a variety of music, but mostly hard rock. Thunderous drums and screeching guitars never sounded so great.
One suggestion that I will make is to place these speakers on stands. I recently purchased a pair of Sanus speaker stands and put my N38's on them. I believe the 12" stands set these speakers at the desired height for optimal listening. The N38's sounded great before, but with the addition of the speaker stands, they sound even better.
As far as rating these speakers, I am giving the N38's 5 stars in the "Value Rating". For the price I paid, I cannot imagine getting more out of a speaker. A few things remind me everyday that I have made a quality purchase. Every time I play a CD or a DVD, a smile comes over me. Also, I don't know how many times I have had friends over and they leave thinking "I wish I could watch movies and listen to music like that every day."

Equipment:

Television - JVC AV-36D800 D-Series
Receiver - JVC RX888V
200 Disc CD Mega Changer - JVC XL-MC334BK
DVD Player - JVC XV-523GD
Main Speakers - JBL N38
Center Speaker - JBL N Center
Surround Speakers - JBL N 26

Great Sound, Nice Bass, Smaller cabinet design

A little front heavy, tends to want to fall over when on carpet. Put some shims under front edge.

Great sounding speakers. I tried the Yamaha's and took them back. Nice compact design fits my room better. Good bass from the these speakers allows me to turn the crossover freq on the sub (PB10) down. I am using the big original Monster cables. Don't if the bigger cables help, but looks impressive.

System:
Yamaha HTR-5250 (Great!!)
JBL N-38
JBL PB10 sub

Next:
JBL N-Center
JBL N26 rears

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Yamaha

Audio quality, beatiful design,

mdf external finish not quite well finished

JBL N38 speakers are great not only for your stereo equipment, but for your HT too. They perform very well highs and mid, but leave some room for improvement in the lows. For HT is necessary to add a subwoofer to the system. (in my case, JBL PSW-D112). Pretty good speakers for a medium size room.

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Gradiente Mater series loudspeakers

EXCELLENT bass for it's size, price

none so far

The JBL N38s are very good spkrs for the price. For only $200 retail, they deliver great sound with terrific bass. The bass is probably the best feature of these spkrs. They put out WAY more than I was expecting. They are nice n crisp as well, definetly an excellent spkr for that mid range system.

I recieved these as my Christmas present this year and took them back to my dorm where I used them for like 6months. I had several complaints about the noise but when you have such awsome sounding speakers you have to listen to them loudly. I would crank them and I would get the same sound quality as when they were set to lower volume. Excellent bass and midrange. I had a sub that i never used because the bass from the JBL's out did the sub so I sold the sub and now I am looking at buying some JBL N24's or N26's for my surround speaker. Try these out you wont be disappointed. I got mine from Roxy.com for 300 total so I had a great buy

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None

Great sound, good bass for driver size (8")

Front-heavy, tip with a slight push. Treble not perfect.

These speakers are absolutely great for me. I got them for $138 each at dynadirect (as many others here have!) and I have yet to be dissapointed with them (except for one weakness I'll mention again later).

The sound has never distorted for me, even at extremely high volumes (-10db on a ht reciever pumping 100 watts a channel). The quality for movie sounds never fails, and you'll get amazing sound with music, though the high trebles could be a little clearer at high volumes. The ammount of bass you get out of these 8" drivers is just plain great, better than the 12" JVC's i've used before. These speakers will make you want to listen to your entire cd collection all over again (I was stuck with a shelf system in the dorms for a while, and you'll enjoy everything from classical to rock.

Now on to my one real problem with these speakers; these puppies are NOT light and the bases of these speakers help make them even more front-heavy than they already are. I've already tipped my right speaker 3 times in the dorm, and I've cracked the top of the grille. As soon as I can, I'll put in some shims, but this is a terrible design by JBL.

Overall, you're simply not going to find speakers that sound better unless you're willing to pump out a lot more cash on your speakers. Aside from the front-heavy design, these speakers are simply great.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Pioneer, JBL