JBL PB10 Subwoofers

JBL PB10 Subwoofers 

DESCRIPTION

10-inch driver, 150 watts

USER REVIEWS

Showing 61-70 of 117  
[Dec 26, 2001]
Bill Janda
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Nice looking (for a sub), sounds good for a inexpensive sub and seems to have a good build quality.

Weakness:

Certain movies, like the first Jurassic Park, It sounds kind of muddy at the part where the kids see the water in the cup vibrate (from the arrival of the T-Rex). Other movies seem okay, without having to adjust.

Ok, here we go. I have to say that this sub has been fine. I bought almost all of my equipment while living in an apartment which is why I don't really have super high powered stuff. You can only go so far with an apartment, so buying the biggest and the best, didn't seem to be realistic, back then. I now have a house, with quite the big living room, so it's time to upgrade to the bigger stuff, time and money permitting. In the apartment, this sub was great. Everything sounded good, music included. I do wish it had an ON/OFF switch, but I just plugged it in to the back of my receiver, so when the receiver goes off, so does the sub. I have never heard the hum that others talk about, but then again, mine isn't on unless the receiver is on. In the house, it's not bad... I do have hardwood floors, and I can't decide if that helps expand the base, or makes it muddy... but that is not the sub's fault. It sounds pretty good in the house, but, I don't have a very good spot to put it, considering the manual says you should have it on the same wall as your mains, so it does kind of clog up space. It sounds very good, and has held up through extensive pounding. I do like hard rock and I do like to show people what the system can do, and this sub has seen the Lobby Scene from the MATRIX about 1000 times, and it has never faulted me yet, but for the size of my living room, I'm going to have to add another PB-10 or upgrade completely. I don't think they make ANY speakers or subs loud enough for me (that I've heard) but this sub does a nice job for the price and I guess I'm saying that I would have no problem recommending it to someone looking for a sub that doesn't need 1000 watts or wants to spend a bunch of money. Enjoy.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DE-725 Dolby Digital Receiver, JBL center and surrounds, KEF coda 9 as my mains.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 12, 2002]
alan
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

price to power ratio

Weakness:

none

I have read about hum, I have no hum. No pops, nothing. The two things that I like least about this speaker are the following:

1. The time it takes to power down (auto off). > 5 minutes.

2. The left led lights up with oly 25% of the intensity of the right led.

All in all it is a good speaker. Remember in life you get what you pay for, and I belive this represents a good value.

AB

Similar Products Used:

none

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 25, 2002]
Jeff
Casual Listener

Strength:

For the price, this was an awesome addition to my home theater system. When I play DVD's like Pearl Harbor or The Phantom Menace or Supernova, all I can say is that it ROCKS!
I have it plugged into my Monster Power Center 3500 so there is no hum that a lot of others seem to have. I also used a high quality Monster subwoofer cable. This unit shuts off when I shut off my Monster power center as I have it plugged into the subwoofer outlet which is a switched outlet.

Weakness:

None yet.

Enough said above. I like the LED lights on front that show you when the signal is being sent to the driver (from red to green)

Similar Products Used:

My first subwoofer

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Dec 10, 2001]
Bill
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

NA

Weakness:

NA

I have never actually used this sub, but was considering picking one up.
As mentioned above, Costco has it for $189 and it seemed to be a pretty good deal, based on the posts here.
Only reason for posting was to alert others to the price.

Similar Products Used:

NA

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 10, 2001]
cededone
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

great projected sound during stereo and home theater listening

Weakness:

slight hum and no on and off switch

I'm very pleased with this purchase so far despite its weaknesses listed above. The humming sound is NOT THAT BIG A DEAL which has been mentioned by several already. This sub puts out big time, true value for the money. I would recommend this to anyone looking to beef up there H/T set up or stereo system fronts. 150 wtts per is plenty power for even the largest of rooms. Great advise to consider online purshase of this speaker. I made the mistake of not checking and went to Best Buy. Not necessarily bad just paid top dollar.

Similar Products Used:

Sony ,Yamaha

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Dec 09, 2001]
Netizen
Casual Listener

Strength:

rock

This sub can really rock your apt.
While I was watching Saving Private Ryan,
my neighbor told me that he thought
it was a firework making the loud
noise!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 09, 2001]
Richard
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

all

Weakness:

none

To follow up Tim Gray: Tim, you may have the slightest bit of testosterone and you may have ears.... but you also have the anal retentiveness of a menstruating woman. See what I mean guys.... some people whine about everything! trust me, there is NO hum. No, it's not an $800 sub, but for the money the sound quality is terrific and mine works great. I suppose with any product there are a few lemons and I would certainly expect for those who were unlucky enough to get one to sound-off here.... I would as well. so take it all in context and go with the overwhelming majority of 5 star reviews you see here. buy it!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 11, 2001]
John A. Evans
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Tight Bass, LFE Switch

Weakness:

None, so far.

What hum? Haven't heard that yet. Only thing I can say here is I'm a Ham radio operator and some of my transmissions will get into the unit. This is just poor sheilding, they could have done better in that department. My old JBL sub never picked up stray RF like this one does and I use monster cable for the shielding.
In any case, for the money it's a very good subwoofer. Clean, tight bass. The LFE switch does make a big difference if your using 5.1 (Dolby or DTS). Without the LFE swich on, the bass sounded muddy. This disappeared and tightened up the bass considerably. If I had the extra cash I would have opted for the PB-12.

Similar Products Used:

JBL

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Dec 10, 2001]
Paul Clarke
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Build quality, tight bass, LED's

Weakness:

none so far

I have to agree with Richard. Thanks for the heads-up on the J and R special. Whew! Being an authorized dealer makes a BIG difference.

This is obviously a bit premature for a review as I just got the sub and it is my first for personal use with my system. But since there have been quite a few postings of woe concerning the out-of-the-box quality of these subs, I had to chime in with my recent experience.

This is a nice, tidy woofing machine. I was prepared for snap, crackle, pop on plug in but got nothing but proper sound execution. Set-up was a snap and the AVIA DVD was extremely helpful in harmonizing the sub with my piecemeal HT system. My living room is small and fairly full of furniture. As it is, my large Pioneer fronts and the TV take up the only space available along the viewing wall. I have only two placement options: behind the left speaker which sits at an angle in the corner or out on the tile hearth near my firebox (I rarely use it), also on the left side of the room.. I settled on the former. I had no granite or marble so I improvised and sat the sub on a heavy, unused video cabinet that just fit in the corner behind the speaker. Having first tried the carpet only, this move made all the difference in the world. The sub level is now only halfway up but it needed mucho cranking with the carpet only (nearly topped out).

My 12" front woofers have always given me serviceable bass response with 35Hz capability but the sound was always more ragged on critical passages and effects. Also, the general duty of handling all frequencies led to some noticeable muddying of sound during power peaks in stereo mode with my fronts. Now however, with the PB10 in the mix, I am hearing many subtle differences in very familiar music. My big Pioneers seem lighter and more delicate in response. Even though the bass impact is very near what I had before, the clearly tighter, more defined structure of the sound is amazing. This is the best $200 investment I've ever made...and the two year extended warranty that I got as well for an extra $20.

I am really looking forward to the day when I can downsize the fronts and properly place my components for best effect. This PB10 gives me just the right motivational kick to get on with it. Thanks JBL.

Similar Products Used:

my first sub but have heard and auditioned many through the years.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 05, 2001]
Tim Gray
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

None

Weakness:

All

To follow up Richard: I have plenty of testosterone, but I also have ears! This sub is so poorly built that no amount of adjustments will make the annoying hum disappear! Good cable, new wall sockets, or even a dedicated line conditioner will not fix what is a poorly designed product. And to top it off, when it's working (which is, by all accounts, not too often for many units) this sub is the equivalent of one of those tolex-covered, band-pass boxes often found in the backs of small cars driven by acne scarred fast food employees-it sucks. Lousy pitch definition, uneven frequency response, and poor transient attack are its hall marks. If you can recommend this sub, then you are either deaf (in which case that nice thud tells you the unit is working) or have never heard a decent subwoofer before.

Similar Products Used:

AR 8, Paradigm 10

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
Showing 61-70 of 117  

(C) Copyright 1996-2018. All Rights Reserved.

audioreview.com and the ConsumerReview Network are business units of Invenda Corporation

Other Web Sites in the ConsumerReview Network:

mtbr.com | roadbikereview.com | carreview.com | photographyreview.com | audioreview.com