Purchased these open box at Best Buy for about $230 (a steal 'cause there was a mistake at the register that I didn't notice till I got home).
These speakers are great home theater. The subwofer really adds to the sound and they come with brackets to mount the small speakers to the wall (if I remember, Bose Acoustimass-10 (spelling) you had to purchase the brackets separately).

For the price, they are well worth it.

Tiny, cool wall brackets included, sound awesome for the $!

low power rating

For the $, and very limited space or a nagging wife to get the towers the hell out of the room, these things are awesome!

Terrific sound for the size, self-powered sub, all mounting gear included in the box.

If any, perhaps it's the 50-watt max on the satellites....but you can't complain at this price.

If you're on a tight budget but still want rich sound, give this set some serious consideration. It's hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Bose Acoustimass 5 and it actually sounds better (in my opinion). Whether it's DVD or music listening, these speakers will not disappoint you.

The satellites max out at 50 watts peak, but this isn't a major concern considering the price. This weakness is made up for with the 75-watt self-powered subwoofer. If you want something LOUD, you're looking in the wrong place. Suprisingly, everything needed to set them up is right in the box (brackets and all). I remember with my friend's Boses we had to purchase a $30 mounting bracket for EACH cube. Overall, a terrific little set.

Similar Products Used:

Bose Acoustimass 5

Nice size and price. Pretty decent sound and value.

I don't care for the sub that much. I think you can out grow this system pretty fast if you really like music & movies.

Don't buy the Bose over these little JBL's. You would be waisting a lot of money. The JBL's still suffer from the little speaker syndrome - All Highs and Lows. Although they are not real good at either. But we are only talking about $400 bucks here. I have them in a large family room right now and they do just fine. They make movies fun and that is all these little guys are meant to do. you can't be to critical on 400 dollar speakers. Overall I give them a thumbs up for value and performance. They are on their way into my master bedroom. They are great because my wife does not like to see speakers.

MY HT SYSTEM
35" Sony Trinitron
DSS RCA SAT
Monster Cabel everywhere
Toshiba 3100 DVD
Marantz SR 19 EX Receiver - Ooh La la!
Atlantic Tech 370 THX Speakers

Good Hunting! JDB

Similar Products Used:

Bose

Power rating could be a bit higher, but I haven't run into any problems yet.

I bought this package as my first entry into surround sound. When I got it home and hooked it up to my receiver and then watched a video I was very happy. Now that I have a DVD player I am even happier.

I must admit I ordered a new center channel from the 135 series (as a part from JBL Canada) which is bigger and gives you a bit more from the center channel. What a good idea that was, it sounds even better now!

Everything is very crisp and clean, however the sub could use a bit more punch.(looking into better cables as suggested from your users). But overall I am very happy!

I also use this speaker system for my music listening. It sounds great, and I have had no trouble pushing it to compete with my neighbors.

I totaly love this package, not only it's performance but it's looks too.

I would recommend this package to anyone!

Similar Products Used:

Cheap ass Aiwa system.

Complete package for home theater, price

none

I purchased the SCS135 (newer version of 125) a few eeks ago. I have them mated w/ a Yamaha HTR-5250 receiver. I must say I am very pleased w/ the sound. Believe it or not, one of the more knowledgable salesmen at Best Buy recommended this set. The sound is more than adequate for my condo. The box contains EVRYTHING needed (save for the subwoofer cable - you can get the Monster Interlink 201 for about $40 - sounds great) to rock and roll. The mounting brackets even allow you to swivel the speakers. I wholeheartedly recommned this set to anyone interested in quality home theater sound. CDs also sound great. One caveat - if you are looking for speakers to turn your home into Club MTV, these are not the speakers for you. However, if you are looking for a solid, complete set of speakers from an industry leader for everyday use, you will probably thoroughly enjoy these speakers. By the way, most places sell them for $400, but www.jandr.com has them for $300 (and, yes, they are an authorized dealer so the warranty is no void).

Similar Products Used:

none

crisp sound, powerful bass, size, and price

none

Definitely a good buy at US300; played DVD movies and the house ROCKED. Can virtually hear the bullets flying from one speaker to the other watching "Saving Private Ryan". Compared it to the Bose and like this better because it came with free wall-brackets and it's a lot cheaper.
If you are on a budget, would recommend this component. Even if you aren't on a small budget and have a small room, this system is good enough.

Similar Products Used:

Bose AM speakers, Energy Take5 and Encore

Price, Small size, Looks, Sound Quality

None that I can think of

Bought them last week after testing similar products. My place couldn't acommodate big speakers, besides big floor speakers will be too loud for my living room (25' X 30'). What amazes me is the sound quality of these speakers with my Yamaha RX-V795a receiver (125W X 5). They are a perfect match.
Was attracted by the looks but was scepticle at first because of the power of the speakers (50W X 5, and 75W active sub) with the big amp I bought; thought the amplifier will blow the speakers into pieces. I then posted a question on "What Hi-Fi" website chat-room because I'm a novice on these systems and got a good response from an expert on speakers. JBL appears to be one of the few American speakers with good reviews, it seems. I was then advised to come into this website to obtain reviews from actual users and was pleased with what I read.

The next thing was to test the different systems. Now I have listened to Bose many times and read about them in different websites. Bose is pretty impressive in the showroom but when I listened to them at one of my friends' apartment, they sounded totally different and he paid a bomb for them and regretted the purchase. I like Bose mainly for it's looks and size. Soundwise, I've received and read quite a number of complaints so I decided to stay away from them. The Energy Take 5 system is cheaper and sounded very much better and the reviews are good. Polk is expensive and they couldn't give me a demo, so I can't comment on them.

I was later given a demo of the JBL SCS125 speakers with a Yamaha 496 receiver. They played the "MATRIX" dvd for a movie demo and the "EAGLES" dvd for music demo and I was totally impressed by them. I was also told that the speakers would go well with the more powerful Yamaha RX-V795a receiver. I bought the JBL satelite speakers for around US400 inclusive of 5 wall-brackets, 2 floor stands (other brands, you'll have to pay extra for them), delivery and set-up. It may cost a little cheaper in the States but for me it was within my budget and very much cheaper than the rest, so I went ahead with it.

The delivery was prompt, the very next day, and the best part was the set-up. Connecting the speakers was easy and the assistance was good; the guy spent almost two hours helping me put up the speakers to my amp and getting the perfect sound from the speakers. Initially the sound quality was poor and it sounded completely different from the demo I heard from their showroom. Being a different person, he didn't know how it sounded when I was given the demo, so we read the manual and adjusted the sound levels from the amp till I was pleased with what I hear.

If watching movies is what you want, then I would recommend these speakers to you because they are a KNOCKOUT for home-theatre in terms of price and size. For music, I would get bigger and more expensive speakers with a different amp and CD player, but right now, these will do.

From my own experience, the JBL SCS125 is AWESOME. My wife loves them too.

Similar Products Used:

Bose, Energy, Polk satellite systems

neat subwoofer

no voice/mucsic clarity

I brought these speakers from Circuit City for 200$ open box, thinking that i was paying the price for sub, and taking the satelite speaker for free.

It comes with all the cable's except the subwoofer cable, after setting it up i tested the speakers with Mission Impossible, Matrix, and couple of Music CD's the sound is not clear, you don't feel that you are in a dolby digital mode, and my Samsung TV sounds better than these JBL's. These speaker sound really really bad.

The worse is i have to increase the volume to 50% (of my 120watts RMS JVC 8000VBK receiver) to be able to hear anything.

After using if for 1 week, i started haivng problesm with the right front speaker, and i had to return the whole thing.

I would suggest someone planning to buy a nice affordable HT to go for JBL's N26 (130$ pair) at dynadirect.com, or Polk RT10 for 100$ pair at Circuit city, and nice 10/12" sub to match these speakers. For center channel go for N Center (99$) or Polk C175I (Not bad for 135$).

Those who want a better price and can afford to pay little high should seariously consider JBL N38, floor standing model, with N Center, and N26 rears, and go for a good sub.

Think twice before purchasing JBL's subwoofers, they have a very bad review and reputation of going bad in 1-2 months flat.

Wasi

Similar Products Used:

JBL, and POLK

Low price, complete HT speaker set, small sat. unit. JBL brand

Blur music reproduction, booming blur bass.

I useing this set with a Yamaha RX-V596 receiver.

After set-up I try with some DVD movie and Eagles (DTS version), sound ok, not as good as what guys below described.

Then I use a optical cable to feed music CD signal into the receiver and listen to music. Well, it sound blur. No defination at all. No seperation os voice and instruments. No stereo imaging. Bass is boomy and blur.

I did tried different settings of the receiver but doesn't help.

I did read this review before I buy this, so!?