Fantastic bass and overall performance. Ideal for movie theater

No real weakness

i bought a pair of JBL HLS820 back in 2017 and im very impressed. After one year of usage I can definitely say these speakers are so detailed its amazing i cant get tired of listening to them. very warm sounding they also sound very good in ht i got rid of my Focal speakers for these bad boys if u find a set buy them u wont be dissapointed. It's JBL.

Nothing. Maybe size? These are big.

I got these from a guy off craigslist for $90. They were still sealed in the box and obviously in brand new condition. They sound great.

Looks?

Quality.

I bought these speakers brand new and paid over 700 bannanas for em''. First, a tweeter cooked, was told underpowering(was using sony reciever, not known for their power) brought em'' in for warranty(month later) and it was fixed.Hooked em'' up to my jvc rx-1010 digital refence amp, smoked another tweeter and a driver this time. Dont really think I was under powering them at all. Most people don''t rip their equipment apart to "check it out", I do. The drivers were very poorly constructed, magnets glued on crooked, very cheesy baskets, the crossover look like one you would find in an old set of speakers from Sears. There was no cross- bracing of any kind and i found several seams with no glue at all. Ballast resistor would explain the claimed power handling of 250watts, when 100w/channel had no prob makin smoke roll from woofer. Had em'' fixed and was told no more warranty, was told I was abusing them,(poor cross-over was probably the culprit) some loudspeaker. For home theater use, they must be aimed like rifle''s to get any imaging at all. I am very dissapointed in these speakers, other than the satin finish, they have nothing else going for them. What did I really expect for less than a $1000? To put it simply, more than I got, oh well, at least they look good i guess.

BASS, BASS, BASS

No midrange, tweeters are very easy to blow, seem to be very sharp...but then they are plastic

The only one on the list that I don't think these beat is the Electro Voice, but I can't afford $1500 for a 10" driver, even if it will take up to 900 watts.

I think the sensitivity on these is a bit low, it takes a good bit of power to really get these things going, especially with a lot of bass. The JVC RX-8000 doesn't quite have enough oomph for these if you like it with a lot of base.....look for something with a "Pink Noise" power rating of at least 75 watts for these guys.

Similar Products Used:

Electro Voice, Klipsch, B&W, Bose

Beautiful sound.

Price (but not too much)

I found this to be a beautiful sounding loudspeaker, the best of all that was available at Best Buy. I found a lot of the larger woofer speakers to be boomy. There's no use in getting crappy bass for bass's sake. But listening to the 820's was like listening to a different caliber of the speakers there. Unfortunately I won't be able to afford these as I really only need a 2nd pair of speakers and there are very few that will be able to compete with my ESS AMT-1D's including the 820's. Personally I think the $560 I saw is a good price, but if I was shopping for main speakers I would spend $1000 or more if it was affordable considering that speakers are by far the most important stereo component. But the 820's is a very good option for less money. I can't say anything about how long it will last or about the rubber woofer surrounds, which I did see, but it sure is a good looking speaker when new. The Sony towers, which is what I'll be getting, put out almost as good sound and they're a lot less money so they're good for an even tighter budget or for a 2nd pair.

Similar Products Used:

JBL HLS, Northridge & Decade series, several 12"-15" KLH, Polk towers, Infinity towers, Cerwin-Vega LS series, Sony SS-MF series, Bose, and Yamaha towers.

Value for the price

cabinet quality, low bass response

I have to concur with many of the reviews that I have read here. These are very good sounding speakers and an excellent value if you can get them for a good price. I got mine from ubid for $313 incl. shipping. I would not pay the 550-600 that Best Buy wants. One of the cabinets was dinged up, but I guess thats the price you pay for a refurbished auction item. The bass is a bit weak, but someday I will get a subwoofer to take care of that. It works well for both a home theatre setup and for music. Like someone below mentioned, these won't last forever. If you are young an planning to move a few times, they will look pretty bad after awhile. If you're settled, you'll be OK.

Similar Products Used:

demoed systems by bose, yamaha, sony, infinity

visibly attractive, 5 way binding posts

poor quality construction and components

sound slightly better than average mass produced speaker. Lacks definition in mids and highs. Not a very musical speaker. Had mine for just better than 1 year, both woofers in one cabinet blew. Suggest making a smarter investment with some NHT superones and a matching sub for about same money, will last longer and will sound ten times better.

Similar Products Used:

nht superone with sub/superzero

I've had these for about a month now and I must say that they are produce some of the highest quality sound I've ever heard. The Horn loaded tweeters are simply marvelous, and at only $600 a pair you can't beat the price!!!

I tested these speakers out and later purchased them from Circuit City. When i got home i unhooked my Polk System and hooked up my JBL System (I had the HLS Center channel speaker and Polk RT3 Surrounds). I first listened to the speakers and i was very dissapointed. These speakers had horns that spread over a VERY Wide Distance. The Highs were bouncing off of all the walls in my room. It sounded, well horrible. I later returned it and just kept using my Polk Sytem (Polk RT12 Front, Polk CS275 Center, Polk RT F/X Surrounds set on Bipole, and a Polk PS150). If you want to buy these speakers consider doing a couple of things. First you must know that these speakers sound more like a Dipolar type Radiation. Two is to keep from all the Unwanted Reflections using Very Heavy wall carpeting. This will add less to the acoustics however though.