Honest reproduction, clear highs, full mid, and commanding bass. Preferred over much more expensive sets. Good value.

Not the most beautiful design.

I love these speakers. They're fine for adding ambient sound sound for sports telecasts, to live concerts, to your favorite recordings. They are fully capable of filling a large banquet room, as well as my average living room. I have the center speaker as well, which takes a lot of the sound load with my receiver, but sampled them without it.

Similar Products Used:

Bose, BIC, Advent, owned prev. Listened/compared to many.

Sound Quality, Construction (Very Solid), Price

Size - You can see them at Best Buy. Although they take up quite a bit of space, I like the look of them a lot. Some people have complained of the tweeters being too "hot". They are, if the grill is off, the volume is high, and your ear is right next to the tweeter. Otherwise, the high's sound very balanced in conjunction with the other drivers. You'll notice nobody complains of the lows sounding too bassy.

I got these speakers a few months ago and listened to a lot of other speakers before deciding on the JBL's. Although I had to stay in the consumer range of products (Bose/Infinity/JBL/Sony/Kenwood/Etc)as opposed to the more high end audio systems (Definitive Tech/Etc), I absolutely love them. Great Bass response from all speakers. I am stunned by the audio quality in scenes such as the opening sequence in Gladiator or the ending sequence in The Fifth Element. The S38's make up my rear's now, but I set them up as Front L/R when I first got them to check Music playback. I listen to a broad range of music (Dave Matthews/The Who/311/Alicia Keys/Mary J Blige/etc) and they sound terrific. I pick up so much more from each song in the way of background vocals and other audio effects that I didn't get from my old speakers (Sony Towers). I am using a Harman Kardon AVR510 which I am also very happy with. My other speakers are the JBL S-Center, S310 Towers, and PB10 Sub.

Similar Products Used:

Sony Towers, Bose Bookshelfs

Sound is not colored, flat response with no large peaks (just one small peak- see below). Price is amazing for such performance.

Nothing major- grills are a little "flimsy", small response peak at around 40hz but sounds great with rock music. Average listeners will not hear this. (I admit to running test tones through it). BUY IT! You will not find a better speaker for under $300-350.

I may be a little premature with this review- I've only had about 30 hours of break-in time. These speakers sound pretty good out of the box but sound much better with time. I can't wait until I get about 100h on them. My first impression was amazement of the bass output. From a small cabinet bookshelf I got flat response to 35-34hz. I haven't seen this from most mass produced tower speakers. Many of the older JBL studios with the white 12" driver couldn't extend this deep into the freq range. These do not need a sub unless listening to rap, techno, organ or other program with sub 35hz bass. (very little music has sub 35hz bass) THIS 3-way design is superior to the commonly used 2way and doesn't seem to have any noticable dips/peaks near the x-over points like many speakers in this price range. Very flat to my ear. The midrange/vocals are clear, loud, and uncolored. I'm a silk tweeter fan so I was very apprehensive about this metal tweeter. BUT- it has shown to be very benign yet crisp. My receiver is very neutral and true to the original signal- I haven't found any brightness or warmness. (many times "brightness" can be blamed on the receiver) Just a nice neutral sound. The cabinets are good looking and the size is a function of the design to extend to lower frequencies. The size doesn't bother me if it can extend below 40hz!

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Running a Harman Kardon 3470 stereo receiver on these. Great match-up for stereo! Can't wait to try a Yammie M-85 on 'em. :) Extensive listening experince with Older JBL monitors, early 80's Klipsch

Bass, smooth sound, stereo imaging

None

Best Buy has these on closeout and I got a good price (279/pair and walked out the door with them!) I have many good reviews about these speakers, from professionals to consumers. I am impressed with the overall sound quality. I am currently using them with a Sherwood receiver, but I can't wait to hook them up to my Marantz SR-63 (a much smoother sounding receiver with better bass control) The treble sounds a bit harsh, but I think once again, that is a receiver issue. I would wholeheartedly recommend these speakers for those interested in speakers in the sub $300 price range. I could not hear a difference in the S38 II's.

Similar Products Used:

BIC DV62, EV312, Custom made speakers

excellent natural sound no "punched"up highs or lows

just add another note to the person from ind.i too bought mt S38's from bestpriceaudio.com and have no problem doing business with them,good prices fast shipping.i posted a review over a year ago on the S38 and am still very happy with these speakers.very good upper and mid-range freq.and a very good low range down to 46hz or so.as other reviewers have stated not a Boomy bass,a good clean sound all around

Similar Products Used:

other jbl and MA pro series speakers p.s.i don't work for bestpriceaudio either

Overall great sound.

Larger than your average bookshelf speaker.

First let me address the question made by the person from Indiana. The reason why Best Buy and other stores charge so much for their merchandise is OVERHEAD. Someone has to pay for the salaries of their employees and the space they use for all of their retail stores. Bestpriceaudiovideo.com is a company I wholeheartedly recommend. If you don't believe me, then check out their feedback rating at eBay or the reviews at pricegrabber.com. There are other reputable companies as well, but my experience with Bestprice has prevented me from looking elsewhere. If you don't feel like paying retail, do your homework and you shouldn't be disappointed. I hope this helps someone who is hesitant about making a substantial purchase over the internet. As for the S38s themselves, other reviewers have pretty much said what needs to be said about them. After a short break-in period, the sound coming from these speakers will put a smile to your face. The highs and mids are excellent and except for those who want to shake the walls, the base is more than sufficient. How well do I like the S38s? I would take these over ANY type of Bose speakers - be it bookshelf or floor. P.S. I do not work for Bestpriceaudiovideo nor do I know anyone associated with them.

Similar Products Used:

ARS20, Infinity R1 & R2, Listened to a variety of Bose speakers

I''ve listened to the S-38''s at Best Buy and they indeed promise as delivered in these reviews. Just one question before I buy. Should I be worried that I might get "counterfeit" speakers if I purchase them from an unauthorized retailer over the Net (i.e., Etronics, Audiovideoman at Ebay)? It just seems odd that authorized retailers sell a pair for approx. $500 versus $300 for unauthorized. This may not be the best place to ask this question, but the reviewers here all seem to be very knowledgeable.

Crisp highs that project very nicely, very nice appearance, quality cabnets

Somewhat awkard size (hard to find a good stand for). Low end leaves a bit to be desired although I''m comparing it to speakers that were in a totally different price range.

Actually I have the S38 II speakers which are the same as the previous S38s but with some improvements on the cabnet and slightly different speakers. All in all I am pleased with the speakers. They aren''t exactly HI-FI speakers more in the MID-FI range but they are very excellent speakers for being "low rent". I''d recommend them to any one that really likes to go between listening to music and watching movies with out a hitch and do so on a college students budget! They are somewhat hard to find a stand for but I feel that a previous review had the right idea with the recommendation of the stands at www.wood-tech.com. Take a look at their 28" center channel stand.

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Too numerous to mention (car and home)

I bought these speakers last September. At that time, I used the Pioneer VSX-D710S receiver to drive these speakers. They were much worse than my roommate''s B&W DM302 speakers in the high, and with less details. Both types of speakers were connected with the same receiver. I was disappointed with JBL at all. This March, I bought a used NAD 3020 integrated amplifier. After connecting them together, I can not believe they are the same speakers. I tested B&W also, the only difference is S38 has more bass. So, I just want to remind you if your S38 sounds not good, Check the Amplifier you are using.

Similar Products Used:

B&W DM302

Sound, looks.

None

Top notch product that has met or surpassed all of my expectations, regardless of the type of music. These speakers definitely require that you spend some time working out room placement, and I strongly suggest a pair of good stands. This little bit of extra effort will be rewarded by the sound you get. I use the speakers as the main L/R for HT and stereo listening. For music, I use a Harman Kardon AVR65 as a pre/pro, a Parasound HC-1000A amp, Denon CD player, JBL PSW-D110 subwoofer and Monster cables everywhere,

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, JBL, Bose, Acoustic Research, Boston Acoustics