JBL PB12 Subwoofers

JBL PB12 Subwoofers 

DESCRIPTION

12-inch driver, 250 watts

USER REVIEWS

Showing 111-120 of 153  
[Nov 17, 2001]
MATRIX THE ONE
Audiophile

Strength:

NICE SOLID BUILD...250 WATTS OF POWER AND 12 INCH DOWNFIRING

Weakness:

NONE AT THIS MOMENT

A EXCELLENT SUB FOR THE MONEY...
SYSTEM
YAMAHA RXV2095( RECEIVER)
PAIR OF ALTEC LANSING TOWER
KLIPSCH CENTER SPEAKER
JBL SURROUNDS
YAMAHA YST800 SUB
JBL PB12 SUB
SONY 65" REAR PROJECTION HDTV KDP65XBR2

Similar Products Used:

I PAIR IT WITH MY YAMAHA YST800 SUB...AND KABOOMMMMM ALL THE BASS I NEED TIGHT AND QUICK...

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 09, 2001]
Wade Beard

Strength:

Great bass, cool LED's on the front

Weakness:

A little hollow when using the LFE inputs

Okay, 2 years ago I bought a JBL DPS 12 as an "open box buy" from Best Buy. As always, I spent the extra $30 for the PSP for it. (Performance Service Plan) I never buy anything without it. This subwoofer never seemed to perform correctly out of the box. I was never happy with its output. I used it for 2 years when one day I woke up and she squealed and fried... smelled like burnt coffee. Done. So, I loaded it up in the car and took it back to Best Buy to have it repaired for free.
They kept it for 2 weeks, then called me to come and pick out a new subwoofer. I looked at my receipt and saw that I paid $249 for the DPS 12. Uh oh... I won't be able to get another subwoofer for that.
I went in and picked out the PB12 with a price tag of $399.99. They never flinched. Would you like the PSP with this one sir? You bet your booty I would.

I took this sub home, hooked it up and WOW!!!
10 times what that DPS 12 was. No comparison. Now I can't wait until JBL comes out with their new line and this one craters, so I can get a new one :)

Similar Products Used:

JBL DPS 12

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 02, 2001]
Larry E
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Wall Shaking, no make that house shaking Bass!!! Powerful 250watt amp

Weakness:

None so far

I originally had the 2 subs listed above hooked up to my audio system at the same time which produced decent bass. One was put a the front of the room and the other behind my couch. It sounded good like that, but not great. I recenly decided to upgrade my whole audio/video system with the components listed below. Of course one of the new components was the JBL PB12 250 watt powered sub. After I got everything hooked up, which took about 5 hours because I also bought 200 feet of 12 guage speaker wire that had to be routed around a very large room and concealed behind paneling, I put in a DVD to try it out. "Lost in Space" was the first movie I watched and let me tell you it was an awsome experiance! In the opening scene where there is a space battle, I could feel my chair shaking from about 15 feet away from the sub. I looked out my window(which was also rattling) and neighbors down the street were looking and pointing at my house because they coud hear the thunderous bass and were trying to figure where it was coming from. This Sub totally rocks. Very clean sounding bass too, with no boominess or popping. I've had this sub for about 4 months now and have not experienced any of the problems some of the other reveiwers have mentioned thus far. JBL has apparently heard the complaints and have corrected the problems with their latest shipments of this awsome subwoofer. If you live in a small house or apartment this sub may be a little much for you, but if you want a powerful bass experiance, the JBL PB12 is definatly the way to go!


My audio video setup:

Sony KP53HS10 53" High Def. projection TV

Onkyo TX-DS676 Digital receiver (85Watts per Chan. High current)

Acoustic Research AR9 Front speakers

JBL PB12 250 watt Subwoofer

JBL N-Center center channel speaker

Optimus Pro-7 surround speakers

Toshiba SD1200 DVD player




Total cost of this whole setup was around $5300

Similar Products Used:

Optimus 12 inch non powered sub. Aiwa 8inch 60 watt sub

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 28, 2001]
Benjamin Moise
Audiophile

Strength:

loud, rich, auto power, lfe, value...

Weakness:

not a one...

i don't have the hum that everyone elses seems to have... and it hasn't cut died on me yet like it has to others on arrival... but then again, it is only day 3...

i like what i hear so far... it is loud, hard hitting... might be too much for my apartment, but the neighbors haven'
t complained yet...

great sub... great value...

Similar Products Used:

first sub...

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 13, 2001]
Frank W
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Awesome thumping base at a great price.

Weakness:

Erratic on/off LED operation.

I was extremely excited about getting the sub and hooking it into my existing home audio system. I must say, the base this unit puts out is nothing short of incredible. After a good action move (Starship Troopers) I must straighten out all of my pictures and mirrors that are hung on my walls. I'm sure my neighbors really hate me now...hehe.

Anyway, all was well until this weekend. After watching a movie and powering off my receiver, the sub LED indicators remained green indefinitely. The only way to get the LEDs back to the red stand by state was to power the sub completely off. After this I have watched another movie, powered my receiver down and pulled the RCA jacks off the sub. The LEDs remained green overnight. URGH!!! JBL's technical support claims "it does not matter what colors the LEDs are indicating, the sub is working fine." If this is the case, then why bother having these LEDs on the Sub to begin with. I am kind of annoyed right now and I am not sure what I am going to do. I really don't want to start messing around with returns or having some service monkey tinker around inside this POS.

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 04, 2001]
Mark
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

small, powerful, hits hard and crisp

Weakness:

none

I spent about two or three months looking for subs. I went to every store I found and tested every sub I could. I read all the reviews and asked all the salesmen and experts. After all of this searching, I decided on the PB12. I have had it for about 2 weeks now and have had no problems. It is great for music and DVD's. I live in a college dorm, all cencrete and I can still feel this baby 100 feet away. I have the PB12 matched with a pair of JBL S38, and let me tell you, for overall range coverage, this combo can't be beat. I would have paid a few hundred more for this sub if I had to. If hard hitting clear bass is what you want in any price range, your searching is over with this sub.

Similar Products Used:

none used but listened to Sony, Infinity, DCM, JVC, Cerwin Vega, and Yamaha

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 23, 2001]
Bill Tonty
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Lots of bass that goes below 18hz clean tight low bass for music, it pounded on home theater buy this sub

Weakness:

none

It pounds to any thing music, home theater

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne HGS 12'' sub

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 04, 2001]
Mike
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Tight, powerful bass.

Weakness:

I haven't had any reliability problems, so none.

I've had this sub for a while now and after breaking it in and tweaking it, I can say that there is absolutely nothing I can find wrong with it. It is very tight and has good punch when listening to music and blends seamslessly with the rest of your system. And on movies it will really shake the room and really add to the experience. As far as the LFE direct input goes- use it. If you dont have a receiver with a LFE output, get one just for that. The bass is much fuller and cleaner using it.
One more thing- im pretty sure that at least some people out there have been using the subwoofer out on their pro logic receivers to connect to the JBL, then mistakenly setting the sub the LFE direct. This will absolutely fry the sub's amp and is not a design flaw. If you try to feed a full range signal to a powered sub, it will try to vibrate the driver very rapidly to create mid and high range sounds, which it cannot do just because it's so big and can't move fast enough. This will put enourmous strain on the product and it will eventually burn out. I'm sure there have been genuine situations where it just stopped working when used normally, but i know there have also been cases where people havent used the right settings because they didnt read the manual etc. So that's just a warning to people with non dobly digital receivers.

Great product though.

Similar Products Used:

Sony powered fartbox

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 27, 2001]
Brad Mockford
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Deep, Clean Bass. Tonnes of Power.

Weakness:

Reliability?

This Sub sounds great. Whether you're looking for quality or quantity, this unit has both.
However, like many people here, mine was dead when i brought it home.
I've since exchanged it, and the new one works exactly as it is supposed to.
I definately recommend this sub to anyone, but make sure that the place you get it from has a good warranty policy (just in case).

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 11, 2001]
Gary
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Sound terrible good, strong low frequency

Weakness:

a pop sound came out everytime I turn it on

This sub is very good in music and movie. The price I paid including shipping is less than 300. I have own polk and NHT before. Polk cannot compare to this one. NHT although slightly better but price a lot more.
When I first connect it, the low freq sound from movie was strong and within a minute, my neighbour start to warn me by hitting the wall. Then I try to use hdcd and sound very good too! Same experience from my neighbor, and i had to play soft now, perhaps i can move to some place which not disturb people and play it loud.
The only thing I don't like is every time I turn it on, a 'pop' sound came out, it was annoying. I don't know this will cause a problem or not in the future.

Similar Products Used:

Polk sub and NHT

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 111-120 of 153  

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