The best speaker I have ever heard!

Accuracy...I have found that none other compares. When I went shopping for my center I decided to purchase a number of them, try them out and keep the one I found the most suitable. I purchased a Polk, Cerwin Vega, and an Infinity. I also wanted to keep my center channel buying under 300 bucks (canadian) (you can do the math to figure it out in american or british). Out of all the ones I tested the JBL HLS center was the best overall. I was a bit short in the bass department but I personall wouldn't sacrifice the unparallel imaging of the horn tweeter. For a 250 dollar center channel none other compares.

I've just tried the combination on the HLS Center with HLS 610s. I discovered a rather nasty problem with the dispersion characteristics of the HLS Center. If I sat in the center sweet spot it sounded great. But move a mere two feet to the left or right and dialogue disappeared. This suggests that the horn was installed 90 degrees off the correct rotational axis. In case you haven't noticed, this horn is not symetrical. It is narrow in one axis and wide in the other. To verify this I tuned the speaker onto its end and, voila, the horizontal dispersion was correctly wide and the vertical narrow. I don't know if this was a manufacturing anomoly or a design mistake, but it bears careful listening. By comparison the HLS 610 dispersion was correct. Fortunately, I have room for a 610 for the center. Spin the horn (or speaker) and I'd give it a four star.

Horn loaded tweeter.

Lack of bass.

I The HLSCenter matched up with the HLS820 (fronts), HLS410(rears) and PSW-D112 sub. With this seup the HLSCenter is a perfect match. Voices are so clear the reach right out to you. The only downside is the lack of bass.

I was ready to purchase the HLS center last night from BestBuy with my brother's employee discount ($118). I had been looking around for a decent JBL center to match my JBL HP6b studio monitors. I had been reading audioreview for quite some time keeping up with the latest reviews of the HLS center. I had noticed several reviews that said the HLS center has a small horizontal sweet spot and a lack of bass. I went to demo the center for myself. Almost immediately I noticed the small sweet spot. At 10 ft from the speaker the sweet spot was only 2ft wide. I did not bother listening to the vertical axis. I was not nearly as concerned about the amount of bass from the unit since it is only a center channel. The dispersion factor is a obvious defect in its design. I went with the JBL S center right beside it. It was a clearer and cleaner center with no immediate flaws. The freq response went down to 80hz but had cleaner and deeper bass output than the HLS. I had a lot of faith in the HLS design but was disappointed. For those who purchase the HLS center and are happy, LISTEN AGAIN. Play music through the center only and walk from one side of the room to the other. You will be shocked.

Similar Products Used:

JBL s center

"Blind Spot" in the sound of my Home Theater Set-up. Had a DCM KX CENTER 2 aand JBL HLS 615's for Fronts. Returned the DCM to Circuit City and Picked up an HLS CENTER. the "Blind Spot" disappeared!!!!!!!! Great Sounding Speaker very full sound for the size. What really puzzled me was it was smalled than the DCM but produced more bass!
If you have HLS Speakers in Front get the HLS CENTER. It's a great match. Thanks to JBL for making an affordable Speaker. Not pretty, just sounds good.

An update to my previous post....

Well, I took the HLSCenter back to the dealer. My new Onkyo A/V unit really revealed that narrow sweet spot thing, painfully so, and as I had previously said I was going to do in the first post, looked into rotating the horn 90 degrees.
No-go kids! The horn is 1/2" wider than it is tall, and would not fit correctly behind the grille.
I replaced it with the JBL S (studio) series, of which I am a happy camper with, after 5 days of use, (at this point).
No problems with horizontal sweet spot here. As one previous guy has written about this, the S-series center is the right thing, and probably what the HLSCenter SHOULD have been.

Well, I have a HLS 620 and and the HLS Center. Perfect match. Put on DVD it sounds great. Vocal are accurate, but somehow feels like not much power on it. Best match on HLS series. Got it on sale for $120 and for these price, definetely the best Center ever heard. Wouldn't trade or pay more for the same quality on polk or CC2 and etc.

This speaker is a wonderful choice for regular home theatre systems. I haveone placed in my family room and find it spreading the highs wide and clear
through its uniquely shaped tweeter. Although its bass is rather weak but is
expected for its size and price range. As indicated by a previous reviewer,
this speaker is not loud enough, however, but it can be simply fixed by
raising your center channel output from the receiver, I raised 2db on my HK AVR55 to blend it well with my main speakers.

Overall, it does a good job accurately reproducing all kinds of sound with
depth. If you plan to buy an Infinity CC-2, my advice is save the money
and buy this one. Since the CC-2 deserves a four star, given the fact that
its above $40 cheaper than the CC-2, I give it a four and half star.

Clean Sound

Small sweet spot.

Other then the small sweet spot, I have been more then satisfied with the HLS Center. After reading about rotating the horn 90 degrees I gave it a try. The horn has no screws holding it in, just some double-sided tape. It is easily rotated and placed back in. The grill fits back on just like it did. The only thing is that you don't see JBL anymore, and you may have to remove some of the tape that will stick out form under the horn. Once completed it is truly a five star speaker and if you don't like it you can always change it back. I'm happy now because I'm getting the sound I paid for. I'm giving it 3 stars because I had to do the work JBL should have.