No chance to find out.

No bass output, a loud popping that scared the dog.

Like other reviewers, I bought the PB10 on the basis of
good reviews and the strong reputation of JBL and then discovered that I had a defective product. I was stuck with
return shipping charges, no small thing for something this heavy. I opted for a refund rather than taking a chance on a replacement. I guess you could consider this a warning. For those who have a PB10 that works, let's hope that I was one of those who just got one from a bad batch.

Similar Products Used:

None

Awesome for movies: Jurrasic Park, End of Days, Independance Day, The Gladiator, Stargate, etc.

Don't care to play it when I listen to CDs

This is a suggestion for some of you who are experiencing a HUM problem with your PB-10. A friend of mine, who unfortunately happens to be a New York Giant fan, Hahahahaha, just bought a PB-10 and experienced the HUM problem while the unit was not in use. This was a brand spanky new unit. What he found out was that the problem was due to a cheap ass cable he had in his attic a few years old. So he put a new cable and the problem was gone. So for those of you who have the HUM problem, do yourself a favor, go and spend a few bucks at Best Buy and buy you a brand new cable. The problem will go away.

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n/a

good size, solid construction, decent sound for the $$$

none so far, though it could have an off switch

Bought this after reading several reviews here and elsewhere that were favorable. Shipped quickly from dynadirect.com and at that price and $11.00 shipping cant complain check them out.
Couldn't wait to hear it popped in Jurrasic Park DVD in DTS
and went straight to the T-Rex part. WOW!! Scared the crap out of my cats when it roared. And the low end when it walked was like it walked into the room. What a difference a sub makes. Have it placed in front of my listening position need longer patch cable to try it in different spots but I think it works fine there. Put in Lost in Space the opening sequence when Maj West flies the fighter against the pirates was awsome. Bass response was quick and thick on loud sharper noises and gave good rumble to the explosions and ship engines. Very little distortion even at loud volumes.
LFE set from Yamaha 795A reciever work well with it.
Volume controls at rear are a plus my kids tend to turn it up louder when they play music which it does very well.
All in all a very solid sounding performer and nice looking I like the 2 LED's on the front that are red when it's inactive and glow green when a signal is present. Well worth the price I paid. Even my wife was impressed. And becareful about movies with lots of bass, after the test with Jurasic Park I found a few things knocked off shelves in other rooms. Other wise crank it up if the neihbors dont like it they will either come over or move away.

Similar Products Used:

none but checked out a ton of subs.

Can't comment. Blew up as soon as I plugged it in. 'POP!'

See strengths...

This is more of a warning than anything else.
I purchased this sub online based on killer reviews here, c|Net and Sound and Vision magazine. I found a great price online. As soon as I plugged it in it just started making a loud popping sound every few seconds. I sent it back after contacting the place I purchased it from. I had to pay almost $40 to ship it back. The retailer doesn't cover return shipping as they say the manufacturer won't reimburse them. The online reseller also told me that they have had so many of these subs returned, that they won't send replacements until JBL can verify what the problem is (see reviews of the PB12). I contacted JBL about this they tell me the reason the reseller cant get reimbursed for return shipping defective merchandise is that this dealer isn't an authorized reseller of JBL products. This also means that JBL won't honor warranty repairs on items not purchased via AUTHORIZED DEALERS. Anyway, I am now into this sub at almost retail price (non refundable shipping so far=$70). I'm sure this sub is great and I will have to wait for a replacement. If you plan to purchase based on the lowest online price, cover your bases by educating yourself about who you are buying from.

JBL/Harmon/Infinity authorized dealers are listed here:
http://www.hear-us.com/

Similar Products Used:

NEC SW300
Polk SW250
Infinity Entra

hard hitting clean sounding bass

no on/off switch

this is a great sub especially for the money. as to all the other reviews talking about the hum... i have not had this problem. i am using a standard monster sub cable ($30) and i have it hooked up to a surge protector so i can easily turn it off when not in use. i am a college student and living in the dorms there is always a competition for the loudest and deepest system. this sub will definatley make me a top contender. i love the idea of a downfiring woofer to get the bass through the floor and to you more directly. i was also considering the sony sawm40. the sony did sound a bit lower in the store but the quality didnt sound as good. in my opinion jbl is quality audio company. if anyone has any suggestions on how to get even better performance out of this sub i would appreciate it

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first sub, but previousy owned two klh 15" floor standing speakers

Deep room shaking bass, hits low notes, great for music and movies, easily fills room

none to date

I needed to get better sound out of my computer speakers(cambridge dtt2500-I hated them), so I figured I could put together something for less than 300, I picked up an onkyo 727, and added polk rt-10's, the only thing I needed was a sub.
I scoured the net for subs below 300 and found several but after reading the reviews I decided I would have to go to the stores and actually demo all of them that I could.
I currently have a klipsch 10 for my ht and new they were strong. I headed to 6th ave audio in jersey and being that I dropped 3500 two months earlier in the store I asked the store manager to give me another sub at cost he said ok.I listened to the klipsch again and some velodynes, he offered me the klipsch (that i had payed 350 2 months earlier for 229)I needed more time to think as being I didnt want to rush into anything. Then as I was leaving the store I saw a stack of 3 pb10's with a clearence sign 249 on them, I popped in my cds and was blown away at the hard hitting bass. Me and my friend picked up the sub and brought it inot the demo room and placed it next to the klipsch and I swear both of these were in perfect condition and the jbl was wipping the but of the klipsch, My friend and I were stunned.The store manager told me hell give me the jbl for 195, I said give me a day or 2 to think. I called j and r when i got home and they matched the price, plus no tax and 10 for overnight shipping(fedex).
Talk about overkill for my computer, it hits so hard that when i jam it my eyes jiggle to much to read the screen.
Now I am no joe audiophile, although I do buy higher end stuff(example ht=denon 3801, klipsch synnergy and sub, sony 53' hdtv,etc.), nor do i test the equip through high performance data machine to read the exact specs, but I can tell you this thing pounds low notes and you feel them. good job jbl on an inexpensive powerful sub, granted there are those people out there who can afford a 3000 sub and im sure differences are foreseeing but to the overall community of musuc listeners and movie watchers these differences are irrevellant.
Thanks and hoped I helped,
chris

Similar Products Used:

klipsch sw-10

Bass and size. Fits nicely on each side of my Sofa

Amp if mine goes like others people's have. HUM. Well not anymore.

First off let me say that I think I have found a cure for the HUM in these things. Mine are used as surround subs. When I was hooking the surround speakers up through the subs speaker level inputs I noticed the more wires I connected the less I could hear the dreaded HUM. When I finished hooking up all the wires the humming was gone completely.

For anyone using the sub off the LFE. Maybe if you just cut off a short piece of speaker wire for each SPEAKER HIGH LEVEL IN and OUT on the back of the sub and cap them off it might work the same way. It seams that terminating the speaker level in/outs gets rid of the HUM. I hope this helps. Someone give it a try and let me know.


I have two of these as surround subs. I have them hooked up through the speaker level in/ous to pick up where my surrounds low end leaves off and they really made a huge difference. I have them on the left and right side of my sofa and in movies you can really feel bass in the surrounds channels that you never knew was there. For instance in Gladiator it feels like the chariots are running behind you from right to left as they pass behind the actors in the coliseum scenes.

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JBL PSWD113

Lotta Bang for your Buck!

low hum when not in use /.... solution plug sub into switched outlet on back of your reciever.That way it turns off when you turn your A/V Amp off.

I install home theathers & home electronics for a living in The Bay Area in California....I have heard alot of high end Subs.
This has an excellent sound for 200 bucks!
for a medium size theather room....this does very well....in fact ..some off the larger more powerful Subs, ( though impressive) will fatique many people by the end of a two hour movie. I am impressed with the non fatiqing nature of this sub. Excellent value here...i think few would be disapointed for the money spent....or even if you paid twice as much. Two Thumbs up!

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lots

powerful, takes anything you can give it, no distortion...even at high levels

slight hum when in standby mode.

This sub is an awesome piece of equipment! A definite must have for any home theater set-up! This sub will handle anything you want to put through it. I was really surprised that the bass was cleaner than clean with NO DISTORTION at all. It's also pretty virsatile with differnet set-up's and whatnot. I do suggest playing with all of the controls to find out what works best with your set up and room. If your new to setting up audio equipment, its real important to also play with the position of the sub in your room. You'd be real surprised on how moving a it a few inches here and there, or placing it on the other side of the room does to its sound.
The only down side to this sub is that it has a slight hum when its in standby mode. its barely noticable, but it is there. (you really have to be within 2-3 feet of it to hear it) and to be honest...you only hear it if your trying to. Botton line...I'll take a slight hum and an incredible speaker any day than a totally quiet one that can't perform!

Similar Products Used:

sherwood...or should I say sher-wished it worked! =)

Good performance versus price

humming

After I raed the reviews at this site, I decided to take my chance to get my first sub. The sub I ordered from dynadirect sound very good. I believe it peform better than some subs in the range of $500-600. However, humming noise was really bothering me. At quiet night, I can hear it even in the room next to it. I tried everything suggested at this site by the reviewers and those at JBL web site, nothing worked. It started humming as soon as I connected power, without connecting to the system. I contacted JBL, they are very good responding e-mail. They told me that this unit difinitely has problem and should be shipped back to the vender. I contacted dynadirect, they shipped out replacement immediately. I'm very satisfied with their service. I believe they are the people that consummer can trust. My seconf PB-10 came in three weeks ago. It didn't sound as good as the first one at beginning, but after a week of use (break-in?), it sounds much better. Humming of this unit is not as loud as the first one, but you can still hear it from distance at a quiet night. After about a month experience, I believe that two things discussed in former reviews are right: 1)humming of this model is a design problem, as a reviewer indicated earlier. In comparison, I also lesterned CV LW-12 at sears store. The sub was scored almost perfect (4.92) at this site. I can also hear the humming even in the store. Probably I'm too sensitive to it because nobooy in their review mentioned anything about humming. 2) If you want to buy a sub with good sounding and good quality, probably you need to pay big bucks or if you are lucky, you can get it cheap from some auction.