sound for size, nice looking, bass port on back helps, very good bass for a 2-way design

you must have an equalizer to get the most out of these, besides that, none

These are my first JBL's, and they wont be my last, i have to buy somthing at best buy when i go, if i dont it dosent feel right, i wanted new speakers, i already have enough, but i wanted to try JBL, these are as standerd as you can get, 2" twweter, 5 1/4" woofer. you can get much more simpler. I told myself, (i hate 2-way designs......untill the day i got these) i am not going to get any bass,they will sound like my KLH 970A's (the 970A's are 3-way) so when i got home i dident expect much, WOW they sound great, better then the 970A's (also twice the price, normaly)

they are only 50 watts, i have them hooked up to my JVC 110wpc reciever. i only use them for low to modrate volume, anything more then that, and on go the KLH 9912's.

when i hooked them up, i already had my 12band eq. hooked up, so i first tried it when it was on, it sound very good. then i read the reviews here, and people said it sound like crap without an eq. so i turned mine off, and wow, it did sound bad, the highs are not good, the lows and mids run into eachother, but i run them with the eq. on, and they sound great, they sound great alone, but i just hooked my 100watt (RMS, 200watt peak) passive sub to them, just to fill in the lows, and its a nice match, nice for low listening.

JBL dosent make these anymore, best buy sells them for $40/pair, they are worth that, they are nice speakers, i still cant belive i got $20 JBL's

My system:

JVC RX-318 220watt (110/channel)
Realistic 12 band eq.
Sharp single disc CD player (made in 1988)
KLH 9912's (mid to high volume)
JBL500 (low to mid volume)
optimus PRO SW-14 passive 100watt RMS/200 watt peak (hooked to the JBL500's)

(i have a 150watt powerd, but thats for my HT)

Similar Products Used:

KLH 9912's KLH 970A's KLH 943PL, Aiwa

Very good bass response for the size. Low wattage requirements is stunning for as much sound as these units produce.

A little weak on the high end. Stereo imaging not very good.

Well, here is my setup. I am running these units in a home studio. I use these speakers as reference monitors for tracking AND digital mastering. The speakers are being pumped by an Onkyo AT-25 stereo integrated amplifier. The amp, to my speculation, pushes 45 watts max power, and about 38 RMS. This runs the speakers very well, keeping in mind that the speakers will handle 50 watts. the amplifier is not the best one in the world for reference usage. The speakers, under wrap, are very good speakers for moderate-to-loud music listening, and are not intended to rock the roof. But hey, if you wanted to do that you arent looking at the right speakers. Try some KLH 12's, or the JBL L112s.

Similar Products Used:

Pretty much the entire Infinity bookshelf line.

Size and price

Sound quality

I don't have anything nice to say about these speakers. If you haven't had a seperate component stereo system with 3 way speakers, they may sound OK. I have a $50.00 pair of three way speakers by a no name company and they put these bookshelf speakers to shame. The sound that comes from these is neither dynamic nor true. The sound from these speakers is megaphone like, or being played from a metalic trash can. The range is weak and unfulfilling. They do not do justice to the music you are playing. The may work as a computer speaker but I feel the sound can be recreated with yet smaller speakers at about the same price.

Value

Upper frequency response

For the cost, they're a nice bookshelf speaker for someone on a budget. The upper end of the frequency response is something like 18,000 Hz, so they're not really cut out for serious high-end listening. They might concievably make a good pair of surrounds in a pro-logic system, or, coupled with a reciever, a nice replacement for those dinky speakers that came with your computer.

cost, size, performance

loss in low end

I bought these speakers without really testing them at all. To my suprise they have done quite well. I'm using them temporarily for my professional recording studio. This is the ultimate measure of how they react to studio recording. They did buzz when the lows dropped too low, but they handled the highs very well. I would say for studio use, I give them a 5/10. So, for the money, I've been very happy with them.