Excellent soundstage, smooth highs, surprising bass presence.

None.

I bought these at Best Buy for less than $60 for the pair. This is the best money I have ever spent. As I am employed there, I have long admired these speakers for their excellent overall sound reproduction, but I did'nt know I was in for such a shock when I finally brought them home. They sound absolutely amazing. I've listened to almost my entire catalog of CD's, including my "reference" discs which include a 20-bit remaster of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" and a 24-bit Minnesota Orchestra CD, and am blown away. A friend recently bought some very expensive MB Quart floor speakers, and these JBL's compare to them very favorably. When you consider how cheaply these can be picked up, they are a sure winner. I'm most amazed at how flexible they are. They sound excellent with hard rock CD's like Metallica's "S&M", producing a solid bass with excellent vocal reproducing. But at the same time, they are able to produce the subtle nuances in Miles' trumpet on "Freddie Freeloader." Truly a bargain at any price...get 'em while you can, you won't be dissapointed.

Big, full sound, crisp, without false coloration.

The tweeters will blow out without abuse.

I was in the nightclub business for 15 years, operating a chain of 6 dance clubs nationwide, so we were very particular about the sound, playing everything from R&B to Rock. I am a staunch JBL fan from those days. They made bullet proof speakers that had fantastic sound for filling big rooms with clarity, bass, and precision (average size of each club was 1000 seats). I bought JBL 110's for my home and have been absolutely delighted ever since 1975 (still going strong with big sound unrivaled by any others with the exception of Klipsch). Then in '79 I bought a pair of Electro-Voice II's for other rooms in the house.

In July '99, after having listened to at least 10 different brands of bookshelf speakers in the 810's size and general price range (i.e. Boston Acoustic, Bose, Cerwin Vega, B&W, Yamaha, and Sony), there was no question that the fullest sound with good full bass and crystal clear highs came from the 810's. I made the purchase and used them for small room listening, since I use the bigger JBL's in my bar/pool room and the Electro-Voice's in my home theater setup.The 810's were hooked up to a Pioneer SX 255R for a relatively balanced system (with no equalizer). I was not looking for anything more than good casual listening, not driving high volumes. I never pushed beyond 30-50% volume.

After two months of occassional use, both tweeters blew out simultaneously, without warning and without volume abuse. I took them back to the local independent pro shop, Kent Audio Visual, from which I bought them (in July '99) to be sent to the authorized JBL repair shop in Kansas City (Dando Electronics). Tweeters were on back order in October of '99. I patiently waited until March 10 of 2000. With them still on back order, the retailer apologetically refunded my money after I related a conversation I had with a sales person at Circuit City in Wichita. He said that the showroom models of their 810's had failures in both tweeters on two occassions and that they would not order any more for sale after their in house stock was depleted. He also said they had a bad experience in getting adequate response on repairs of the blown units. The fact that these tweeters are on perpetual back order seems to be strong evidence that JBL can't keep up with the blown tweeter demand. BUYER BEWARE of a fantastic sound that will leave you cold after blowing tweeters. Just be sure that you are buying from a retailer that will do the right thing, as mine did, by refunding your money (don't expect to see warranty performed in a short time frame).

In my opinion, the purchase of JBL by Harmon Kardon has denigrated the JBL line to a mass market, box store, cheap component line which is a shadow of its former self. Registering my discontent to JBL by way of email received absolutely no response, so they apparently don't care. In the price range and class,I would give these speakers a 4.5 to 5.0 for sound quality, however my experience firmly places them at 1.0. What good is a great sounding speaker if it is held hostage in the shop for 5 months. So sad, JBL. I replaced them with a pair of Paradigm Titans and am sorry I didn't discover them before this experience. Still in love with my old JBL's and the new Paradigm's.

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JBL 110's and Electro-Voice II's

Very clean highs and good mid-range. Produce a clean sound that that picks up every detail in DVD movies and cd's. Nice looking.

It would be a good idea to use a sub with these becuase they don't get the really low range frequencies.

I have read that many people think that the high-end (horn powered) on these speakers is too bright. This is a matter of taste. I consider the highs on these speakers to be an positive aspect. I use an equalizer to actually bring out the high end more than the speakers have without one. It is simply due to the way I like to hear music.
These speakers have exceeded my expectations becuase of their detailed and overall sound. They can be turned up really loud and still sound undistorted. I watch DVD movies (5.1 digital sound) using these speakers and the sound is seamless.

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HLS Center
HLS 410's (for rears)
Infinity BU 120 Sub

Very tight bass, extremely loud cabability, sweet crisp highs.

None that i can think of.

These speakers are some serious value for anyone! I have not had any problems with them at all. The bass they put out is absolutely crazy for their size. I played the DTS version of Saving Private Ryan and my freind came in and asked when I had gotten a sub! It is crazy the amount of volume these can produce. I have them hooked up to a Pioneer VSX-D608 Reciver (Supposedly an underpowered reciever) and they don't sound too underpowered to me. All in all for $110 at Best Buy, these speakers rock!

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JBL S-38, Infintity Comp. Overture 1

Build, Titanium Horn Tweeter, 8" woofer, size and weight, and Style.

Discontinued

I purchased these beauties from ubid.com for $57.00 a pair plus shipping! That's right, not $57.00 each but for the pair. The shipping was around $24.00 so the total purchase price was less than $100. When I did my research on this speaker I went to various online retailers, including jbl outlet, and found the most expensive price to be close to $300.00 plus tax. First let's talk about the build quality. This bookshelf is larger than most but that's o.k. because the quality that comes out of it is larger! The lines and style on these speakers is amazing. Second the tweeter horn. This technology I believe is the best for reproducing outstanding highs in accorance with being crisp and clean. Not coloration and no distortion. Very full soundstage. Defiitely a high end product. The woofer is sufficient enough for producing tight and I mean tight bass but a subwoofer would make your pictures vibrate! Overall this speaker is being used as my main fronts with a subwoofer. The music never sounded better and the dvd movies sound better than the real movies! I was considering a lot of other high end speakers including klipsch because they also use the tweeter horn technology but picked the hls810 because of jbl's reputation, technology and ofcourse price! If you can get these speakers now before they're gone I would highly recommend it! buy buy buy!

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polk,acoustic research

Price

High End Sounds VERY VERY VERY (too) Bright

I picked up a pair of these at Best Buy for 120 dollars after reading the reviews here. I'll admit the low end on these things sounds very good, the high end is annoyingly bright.

I have a Harman Kardon AVR75 that I hooked these up to and played my refrence disc, Steely Dan's Aja, and the cymbals and triangles sounded very bad. My refrence speakers are a Carver 5.1 system that I had the subwoofer turned off and running in stereo mode. The small Carver front speakers put these to shame. I realize the Carvers retailed at 500 a pair (for the fronts) and the JBLs retailed at 299, but the differnce was so huge as to be insurmountable.

I wanted to like the JBLs, they just sounded bad. I even invited a friend over and had him listen and he noticed the highs very very bright also.

I am returning these to Best Buy later today, and I will try to find another pair of bookshelf speakers.

The price paid for the sound quality these speakers deliver is quite remarkable. Very easy to live with.

For the price non. Would like to see strong deep base, but for $279.00 what can you expect?

A great speaker considering the price. I doubt if there is
a much better value anywhere. Very satisfied with the HLS
810s.

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In the past B&Ws, Mirage, Old Dynaco A-25s, JR 149s, and a
remarkable pair of old ADC mini pyramids.

For the price, these are fantastic speakers. They are very well balanced for highs and lows and I couldn't be happier. They are a great bookshelf speaker for the size and price.

These speakers kick some serious butt! Anyone who is looking for a set of great bookshelf speakers, either for mains or surrounds, should give these a good listen. I'm somewhat limited in terms of apartment space, so towers were out of the question. The 810's are the closest I could get to a full sounding, floor standing speaker. Actually, they sound better than many full size speakers I've heard lately.They sound amazing. I've got them hooked up to a new Onkyo TX-DS 575 receiver, and the JBL's capture every nuance of my music, whether it's classical, jazz, or heavy metal. In many cases I hear instruments I never knew were there before. They also put out a great deal of SOLID bass, to the point that I don't need to run a subwoofer for music. The JBL's also sound great pounding out the Dolby Digital and DTS sountracks my DVD and LD players supply. I don't hear that middle "muddyness" some people have reported.
I searched fo great sounding speakers at a reasonable price, and I ended up with great sounding speakers at a steal of a price. Not to be missed. Check them out! Any questions, feel free to email me.

crisp high end. decent bass

tweeters will fry if you push them too hard.

these are the best speakers i have ever owned. but that doesnt say much. i have heard better speakers, but for my application these are the best! they were only 100 dollars on ebay. they sound VERY good and are very LOUD!! the bass is very tight and hits very hard. of course youll need a subwoofer with these little 8's. but on their own they are not too shabby for bass. the highs are crisp and clean. i like the tweeters. but i fried one when playing "feed my frankenstine" by alice cooper. i cranked the MF's up as loud as it would go and i was JAMMIN but then about 3 min later the tweeter cut out. a replacement tweeter was only 20 shipped from jbl!!!!!!!!!

GET THESE SPEAKERS!!!!!

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tecnics sb 1033