Speakers Reviews

These speaker sounds great. Looks Good too. No problems with shielding. The only reason I gave them 4 stars is because they can only handle about 100 watts. When I hooked them up to my parasound amp (220 watts per channel) just for the sake of curioisity, I blew them.

Best value out there, fantastic sound. Its amazing the sound quality that comes out of these speakers, never thought a 4 1/2 woofer could produce accurate base. I added a JBL subwoofer, and it's outstanding sound. I have this in a large room, 700+ sq feet with high ceilings, and it does a great job. Also, I have 0 trouble with magnetic shielding from the center, as noted by a couple of other reviews here.

Totally satisfied....

This is the best system to get for the money the bass is the best for the buck

I bought these speakers to use on our deck and also to point out at our pool. I am amazed at the sound quality for such a small box. If you are looking for an inexpensive set of speakers to place outdoors then these are a perfect fit. I am going to order a second pair in order to increase my coverage area.

I bought these speakers about 3 months ago to use in my garage and was amazed at the sound quality considering the price. Im currently in the process of building a go cart, and I plan to buy another set of these speakers to mount on each side of the seat. I have alreighty tested them with a Dual 52Wx4 CD Deck and they work perfectly. The CD Deck is going to be mounted into a small armrest/storage compartment on the right hand side of the seat, and run off a 12V motorcycle battery thats connected to the motors alternator.



So, this just shows a couple of the many uses of these speakers. Weather you just want good, affordable sound in your garage, or go to the extreme and have a really cool sound system on a GO CART, these speakers are a great choice.

I bought these speakers for less than $20 and am very impressed with their quality. I put them on our patio and the entire area is filled with great sound (the patio is about 15'x30'). If you are looking for an inexpensive set of speakers for outside, this is your pair.

Fellow who used monster cable was a bit odd whereas his speakerwire would have costed a lot more than the speakers. For speakers that are $50/pair or so, they're pretty darn good. Faint praise to some extent, but really, for the money no complaints. I've had a pair for a very long time, just dusted them off and hooked them up to use'm again and thought I'd see what Amazon had to say about them. They don't come close to my ancient AR-9 speakers nor my newer Energy "5.1" speakers, but those costed way more than 50 bucks. Each. :-)

Audiophile speakers? No way. Great cheapies? You bet!

I have an older pair of these KLH AV1001B Bookshelf Speakers hooked to a relatively inexpensive receiver. I listen mostly to jazz and classical music on them and have been very pleased with their sound quality. They have good range and a very full sound at moderate volume levels. You absolutely cannot beat them for the price.

I've had these speakers for about 6 months now and I am extremely suprised at the great sound quality from them. It does lack some in the bass. It only hits 80Htz. But they still sound great. I was using a reciever with the bass boost centered at 45 htz. How useful on speakers that won't hit that low! But I got a good pioneer that's centered at 100htz, and they sound way better. Very clear sound no matter how loud they are. Tweeter sounds good, but there is some whine in the higher bass, but for running them to the max what do you expect? I'm running 100 watts per channel through these, and they'll handle it very well, especially for the size. I did blow one of the woofers last week from having them up way too high when it went from a vocal song to a bassier song, but when taking the woofer out, I noticed it was a quality speaker with 60 watts max, vented pole piece, and a good magnet structure.

All in all I think these speakers are comparable to way more expensive speakers in everything but deep bass. But I have the KLH 10" 120 watt sub and they are a perfect match. Despite what people say about KLH I'm suprised with the quality of their products. Most of the bad reviews are due to operator error. And what do you expect from $50 bookshelfs? Deep bass to crack a window? They won't shake the walls, but use it with a sub and they'll sound awesome. Worth every penny and would happily buy another pair for whatever.

In an attempt to find a 5.1 replacement for my dated FourPoint Surround Sound system (Also a Creative Product), I came across the 5700 Series. The only reason I gave it any stars was the fact that it had a remote...a big plus. However, I am willing to sacrifice that for sound quality. My two-year old system with less power somehow produced lower base, crisper highs and a nicer midrange than this set of speakers. I promptly returned them in exchange for the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 system. I am very happy with this setup, and with 500 watts total power, the bass and sound reproduction is closer to where I want it.

Save your money and buy the Klipsch...you won't regret it.

I've owned one of these systems for a while and i've never seen it kick out of dolby pro logic. even when playing a dvd ( Lord of the rings) in Dolby digital mode. the sound is great however. have had problems with droppign the rear speakers on the ground but they still work perfectly.

if some one could tell me what i'm doign wrong and how to get dolby digital or DTS out of my system that would be great. my Sound card is an Audigy 2 platinum ( anohter great buy)

PS please exuse my spelling. i'm not a idiot. i jsut hate self editing.

I replaced a Klipsch 4.1 set with these speakers in hopes of resolving a buzzing problem I was having with my new Soundblaster Audigy Platinum sound card. I was definitely not disappointed. Not only is the sound awesome, there is no buzzing problem, presumeably because they are digital instead of analog. They have more power than I could ever hope to use and not go deaf. The digital output is very accurate. They are excellent for both games and music. Now my computer is the best stereo I have ever owned.

I was slightly disappointed with these speakers when i first got them. However, after a couple of months the hum that used to be present when no music was being played disappeared. I was also slightly dissapointed with the power of the sub, which should be a little more powerful with its 100 watt power. Overall the speakers sound really great but if your going to spend $[money] i'd advise the klipsch 4.2 or 5.1's which give you a little more bang for your buck.

I bought this system several months ago and I've been using it as my primary home entertainment sound system. It's been fantastic. The bass is completely there (sometimes too much), the speakers are extremely well matched, and they hide inconspicuously enough for my taste. I only have one gripe and that's the voice clarity. Unless I punch the volume up all the way, the little center channel speaker can't seem to give me what I need. The surround effects are marvelous but they tend to blow me away when they come in after a quiet conversation in the movie. I'm thinking of purchasing center with a little more size to change the dynamics of the system, but with the limited power (20 watts) I'm afraid it'll sound just as quiet. BUT, other than that one problem, the system has been great. If you put an attenuator on the lines, the hum disappears and it can handle most anything you want to dish out. DVD is outstanding and my MP3 collection has never sounded sweeter. If this is your price range, get this system because with all the amenities, even the shortcomings will still not touch the entertainment you'll get from this system.

Adding this sound system to my TV set has made an enormous improvement. Volume is more than adequate for my medium sized room. There are three inputs, analog, optical digital, and coaxial digital, each of which can be hooked up to a different device. The remote switches between the analog and digital inputs, while the 2 digital inputs autoswitch depending upon which is active (with optical dominant if both are). My sole complaint is with the limited range of the volume control on the remote, which is inadequate to deal with the differences in level between my components, so I often find myself having to adjust the master volume level, which is inconveniently located on the back of the subwoofer.

This subwoofer sounds pretty good, and it certainly doesn't lack any punch, but...two things to consider before buying this subwoofer. One, it is HUGE- there will be no hiding this thing. Two, I had mine less than 3 months before it broke. it is still under warranty, but this thing is no picnic to load into the car and drive 50 miles to get fixed. I suggest before you buy, check JBL's website to see how close the closest service location is and clear out a BIG open space near your receiver.

i purchased this unit with hopes of experiencing the true essence of low frequency response.this item delivers it's expected purpose. i bought a 10-inch model three years ago. i was so impressed by this model,i use it with my home theater system . the 10inch model can produce low frequencies more accurately than most 12-15 models of other brands out there.this lead to my curiosity about a larger jbl sub unit .i've owned and used this unit for a year , it never dissapointed me.i hope your neighbors are nice people ,you'll be gettin lots of visits and calls from them, trust me. my only problem with this unit is it's size , it's huge and kind of awkward. placement of this unit is a very easy task, it fills the room with exceptional low end virtually anywhere you place it . without getting all technical,i hope this information is helpful.

(...) This sub is very good. It does an exceptional job handling the ultra-low end, which is what I have it doing (100Hz and lower). This sub is similar to the Audio Source 200 Watt 15" subwoofer but heavier by a bit, a little larger and quite a bit louder. The digital amplifier certaintly does keep a flat frequency response. This sub is definately great for everyday bass used quitely and very good for loud parties (which is partly why I bought it). (...)

I've had these speakers for about 7 months now. These speakers sound the best in a large room with vaulted ceilings, or in a room that doesn't readily absorb the sound as easily. The reason being - they're a tad bit bright and forward sounding. I've tried these speakers in conjunction with 4 different amps - 2 hifi, and 2 Home theater amps, and tested them in 3 different homes with different accoustical properties.

Here's what's good about them - a great-sounding mid-range - female vocals sound astonishingly good. Also these speakers have the ability to effortlessly deliver loads of sound. Bass is good, even without the subs running. You get a flat (even)tonal response without the subs running, which is good. You get a drastic increase in bass output by activating the built-in subs. If you don't run a line-in to the subs portion, the sub-range will run passively through the speaker wire (down to 35 HZ), and the sound will still be good-sounding and even. Therefore, unless you're an absolute bass junky, I would recommend saving your money and getting speakers without the built-in subs. If you would like to activate the built-in subs in conjunction with a standard stereo amp (with no LFO, sub-out), you can run line from your pre-outs to the sub line-ins as long as you purchase an external low-pass crossover to place in it's path. There is no crossover built-in to the active sub, since it assumes this speaker will be used for Home Theater applications primarily.

Weaknesses - no built-in low-pass crossover for active subs, but easily remedied by purchasing one and adding it on yourself (only for those using a standard stereo amp/receiver). Also, some prefer home theater subs to be positioned out of the cabinet, for more rumbling effect - whatever preferences may be.
Also, this speaker was designed with too many voice cones - could have easily been a 3-way design. However, as JBL knows, there's "marketing crossovers", and somehow people think that more is better, when in reality, it often isn't. Also, these speakers weight close to 90 lbs, and their plastic legs probably won't take too much abuse before they give out. If you have thick carpet, the pegs will completely sink down, effectively negating the effect of the pegs. Also, the front grill is extremely flimsy, which is pretty common these days. Musically, you may have to find non-bright/ non-forward sounding source components, preamp/amps, to make the sound more listenable for extended periods of time, or else find an ambient space in your house for these monsters - because they throw the sound right at you and wear you out otherwise.

This is a great speaker for self-contained HT. Music applications - Does best with rap, R&B, and other bass-heavy music, if you don't want to bother shopping for additional subs.

These speakers are straight out amazing.

First, in response to the 1-star rating below, which says that the bass is "terrible"... that could not be farther from the truth. These speakers use a powered sub-woofer, and if it's not connected to a sub-woofer output, you will not get the sound you're buying. The little red lights at the bottom turn green when the sub-woofers are activated, which will let you know when eveything's working.

Ok, to the review. These statuesque speakers carry all types of music beautifully. From the most crisp, tear jerking choral pieces, to the heaviest bass-blowing techno trance, to Dolby 5.1 soundtracks, these things sound so good it will make the hair on your neck stand up and cheer! And they look awesome- modern and classy with the screens on, or aggressive and mean with the screens removed (but note, the cases are not real wood... they're actually some kind of metallic plating).

These speakers sound really solid at low volumes (maybe a slight bit too bass-heavy for some tastes on account of the sub-woofer which you can EQ out), but once you crank these speakers up... and don't be afraid to turn that dial up half-way or more... you won't believe what you just bought! The highs really come alive at greater volume, and when I say alive I mean "alive"... it sounds like the performers are sitting on your coffe table!

Also, because they do include a powered sub-woofer, this is a great alternative to 5.1 sound for those that don't have the space for all those speakers (like me). You can take full advantage of the .1 Low Frequency channel with these sub-woofers, and let your amp convert the dolby output to stereo output and it will still sound amazing. You may not hear the bullets whiz by your head at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, but you won't be disappointed when you hear helicopters flying right by your home!

Spend the cash! You'll love them! They're big enough to hug, and make a great design statement in your living room!!

I debated for weeks over whether I really needed new speakers (I'm a practical person with a limited budget) but I decided to splurge and buy these. All I can say is...WOW! I'm really glad I spent the money. I have never heard music or movie soundtracks sound better. I'm listening to each and every CD I own all over again and enjoying every minute of it. This is one of the clearest speakers I have ever heard and the sound is magnificent....smooth, rich and well-defined. If you're thinking of buying these, go for it...you will not be disappointed.

I've had these speakers for about 7 months now. These speakers sound the best in a large room with vaulted ceilings, or in a room that doesn't readily absorb the sound as easily. The reason being - they're a tad bit bright and forward sounding. I've tried these speakers in conjunction with 4 different amps - 2 hifi, and 2 Home theater amps, and tested them in 3 different homes with different accoustical properties.

Here's what's good about them - a great-sounding mid-range - female vocals sound astonishingly good. Also these speakers have the ability to effortlessly deliver loads of sound. Bass is good, even without the subs running. You get a flat (even)tonal response without the subs running, which is good. You get a drastic increase in bass output by activating the built-in subs. If you don't run a line-in to the subs portion, the sub-range will run passively through the speaker wire (down to 35 HZ), and the sound will still be good-sounding and even. Therefore, unless you're an absolute bass junky, I would recommend saving your money and getting speakers without the built-in subs. If you would like to activate the built-in subs in conjunction with a standard stereo amp (with no LFO, sub-out), you can run line from your pre-outs to the sub line-ins as long as you purchase an external low-pass crossover to place in it's path. There is no crossover built-in to the active sub, since it assumes this speaker will be used for Home Theater applications primarily.

Weaknesses - no built-in low-pass crossover for active subs, but easily remedied by purchasing one and adding it on yourself (only for those using a standard stereo amp/receiver). Also, some prefer home theater subs to be positioned out of the cabinet, for more rumbling effect - whatever preferences may be.
Also, this speaker was designed with too many voice cones - could have easily been a 3-way design. However, as JBL knows, there's "marketing crossovers", and somehow people think that more is better, when in reality, it often isn't. Also, these speakers weight close to 90 lbs, and their plastic legs probably won't take too much abuse before they give out. If you have thick carpet, the pegs will completely sink down, effectively negating the effect of the pegs. Also, the front grill is extremely flimsy, which is pretty common these days. Musically, you may have to find non-bright/ non-forward sounding source components, preamp/amps, to make the sound more listenable for extended periods of time, or else find an ambient space in your house for these monsters - because they throw the sound right at you and wear you out otherwise.

This is a great speaker for self-contained HT. Music applications - Does best with rap, R&B, and other bass-heavy music, if you don't want to bother shopping for additional subs.

These speakers are straight out amazing.

First, in response to the 1-star rating below, which says that the bass is "terrible"... that could not be farther from the truth. These speakers use a powered sub-woofer, and if it's not connected to a sub-woofer output, you will not get the sound you're buying. The little red lights at the bottom turn green when the sub-woofers are activated, which will let you know when eveything's working.

Ok, to the review. These statuesque speakers carry all types of music beautifully. From the most crisp, tear jerking choral pieces, to the heaviest bass-blowing techno trance, to Dolby 5.1 soundtracks, these things sound so good it will make the hair on your neck stand up and cheer! And they look awesome- modern and classy with the screens on, or aggressive and mean with the screens removed (but note, the cases are not real wood... they're actually some kind of metallic plating).

These speakers sound really solid at low volumes (maybe a slight bit too bass-heavy for some tastes on account of the sub-woofer which you can EQ out), but once you crank these speakers up... and don't be afraid to turn that dial up half-way or more... you won't believe what you just bought! The highs really come alive at greater volume, and when I say alive I mean "alive"... it sounds like the performers are sitting on your coffe table!

Also, because they do include a powered sub-woofer, this is a great alternative to 5.1 sound for those that don't have the space for all those speakers (like me). You can take full advantage of the .1 Low Frequency channel with these sub-woofers, and let your amp convert the dolby output to stereo output and it will still sound amazing. You may not hear the bullets whiz by your head at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, but you won't be disappointed when you hear helicopters flying right by your home!

Spend the cash! You'll love them! They're big enough to hug, and make a great design statement in your living room!!

I debated for weeks over whether I really needed new speakers (I'm a practical person with a limited budget) but I decided to splurge and buy these. All I can say is...WOW! I'm really glad I spent the money. I have never heard music or movie soundtracks sound better. I'm listening to each and every CD I own all over again and enjoying every minute of it. This is one of the clearest speakers I have ever heard and the sound is magnificent....smooth, rich and well-defined. If you're thinking of buying these, go for it...you will not be disappointed.

I've had these speakers for about 7 months now. These speakers sound the best in a large room with vaulted ceilings, or in a room that doesn't readily absorb the sound as easily. The reason being - they're a tad bit bright and forward sounding. I've tried these speakers in conjunction with 4 different amps - 2 hifi, and 2 Home theater amps, and tested them in 3 different homes with different accoustical properties.

Here's what's good about them - a great-sounding mid-range - female vocals sound astonishingly good. Also these speakers have the ability to effortlessly deliver loads of sound. Bass is good, even without the subs running. You get a flat (even)tonal response without the subs running, which is good. You get a drastic increase in bass output by activating the built-in subs. If you don't run a line-in to the subs portion, the sub-range will run passively through the speaker wire (down to 35 HZ), and the sound will still be good-sounding and even. Therefore, unless you're an absolute bass junky, I would recommend saving your money and getting speakers without the built-in subs. If you would like to activate the built-in subs in conjunction with a standard stereo amp (with no LFO, sub-out), you can run line from your pre-outs to the sub line-ins as long as you purchase an external low-pass crossover to place in it's path. There is no crossover built-in to the active sub, since it assumes this speaker will be used for Home Theater applications primarily.

Weaknesses - no built-in low-pass crossover for active subs, but easily remedied by purchasing one and adding it on yourself (only for those using a standard stereo amp/receiver). Also, some prefer home theater subs to be positioned out of the cabinet, for more rumbling effect - whatever preferences may be.
Also, this speaker was designed with too many voice cones - could have easily been a 3-way design. However, as JBL knows, there's "marketing crossovers", and somehow people think that more is better, when in reality, it often isn't. Also, these speakers weight close to 90 lbs, and their plastic legs probably won't take too much abuse before they give out. If you have thick carpet, the pegs will completely sink down, effectively negating the effect of the pegs. Also, the front grill is extremely flimsy, which is pretty common these days. Musically, you may have to find non-bright/ non-forward sounding source components, preamp/amps, to make the sound more listenable for extended periods of time, or else find an ambient space in your house for these monsters - because they throw the sound right at you and wear you out otherwise.

This is a great speaker for self-contained HT. Music applications - Does best with rap, R&B, and other bass-heavy music, if you don't want to bother shopping for additional subs.

These speakers are straight out amazing.

First, in response to the 1-star rating below, which says that the bass is "terrible"... that could not be farther from the truth. These speakers use a powered sub-woofer, and if it's not connected to a sub-woofer output, you will not get the sound you're buying. The little red lights at the bottom turn green when the sub-woofers are activated, which will let you know when eveything's working.

Ok, to the review. These statuesque speakers carry all types of music beautifully. From the most crisp, tear jerking choral pieces, to the heaviest bass-blowing techno trance, to Dolby 5.1 soundtracks, these things sound so good it will make the hair on your neck stand up and cheer! And they look awesome- modern and classy with the screens on, or aggressive and mean with the screens removed (but note, the cases are not real wood... they're actually some kind of metallic plating).

These speakers sound really solid at low volumes (maybe a slight bit too bass-heavy for some tastes on account of the sub-woofer which you can EQ out), but once you crank these speakers up... and don't be afraid to turn that dial up half-way or more... you won't believe what you just bought! The highs really come alive at greater volume, and when I say alive I mean "alive"... it sounds like the performers are sitting on your coffe table!

Also, because they do include a powered sub-woofer, this is a great alternative to 5.1 sound for those that don't have the space for all those speakers (like me). You can take full advantage of the .1 Low Frequency channel with these sub-woofers, and let your amp convert the dolby output to stereo output and it will still sound amazing. You may not hear the bullets whiz by your head at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, but you won't be disappointed when you hear helicopters flying right by your home!

Spend the cash! You'll love them! They're big enough to hug, and make a great design statement in your living room!!

I debated for weeks over whether I really needed new speakers (I'm a practical person with a limited budget) but I decided to splurge and buy these. All I can say is...WOW! I'm really glad I spent the money. I have never heard music or movie soundtracks sound better. I'm listening to each and every CD I own all over again and enjoying every minute of it. This is one of the clearest speakers I have ever heard and the sound is magnificent....smooth, rich and well-defined. If you're thinking of buying these, go for it...you will not be disappointed.

I bought mine used from ebay, but it still came in excellent condition. The bass is tight and forceful and the flatpanel speakers can really hit the notes. I was impressed with the sound quality. The only thing I don't like about it is that the subwoofer sometimes picks up radio waves (even when no input) and plays lightly in the background. overall, though, the best

I bought S60's recently because it was the only speaker system at the store that wasn't Cyber Acoustics, one step above Benwin. I know quite a bit about speakers and was fairly skeptical about how they'd sound. Most flat speakers aren't worth the money unless you need the space, but once seeing that they were made with what NXT calls "surface sound," I felt a little more at ease. I first saw it a couple years ago in a Wharfedale picture frame that was actually a speaker made by the same people. It's a totally different concept of producing sound that is capable of filling a large room with the entire frequency range. I have mine in a large open room that most speakers would have a hard time filling without struggle, but these can do it very easily. And it's all the sound, not just some of the midrange like others usually do. They might not be as loud as some other speakers, but the sound quality from a distance is really good.
The subwoofer is unique, having good and bad qualities. It does have good sound quality, especially for a 3" speaker, but you can notice that it doesn't hit far below 60Hz when listening to certain kinds of music. And don't worry, the 150 watt system just uses two of the little subs to get down to 50Hz. The design is really nice though. It can project the bass to all parts of the room fairly evenly, which is more than I can say for a lot of others. But the best thing about the subwoofer is the auto limiting circuitry built in. Once the volume gets about half way the subwoofer stops moving any more as not to blow it. Which is a good thing considering how much sound I can get out of the satelites. I was wanting to upgrade to the 150 watt system, but pairing mine with a 10" HT subwoofer seems like a better idea to get near audiophile sound out of them.

All in all I would recommend them despite any bad things that were said about them by me or anybody else. Mine sounded kinda tinny when new, but even flat panel speakers need broken in. And this isn't the system for you if you want head thumping bass. The subwoofer is only there to even out the sound coming from the satellites. But now that they're broken the whole system sounds very natural. I still use an equalizer with them, but it's not necessary anymore. Well worth connecting up to a portable cd player to have a great sounding stereo for about $50, or even your computer.

I sold my Klipsch Promedia 4.1 system because it took up too much space (I live on a boat). These TDK speakers sound even better! I can't believe the quality of sound from the flat speakers and the extraordinary bass response from the subwoofer. I'm glad I went with the 150 system instead of the lower powered options. Worth every penny.