JBL ES80 $277 pr @ Frys

[jcl]

Todays Frys add in has the JBl ES80BK for $277 pr. Billed as an Anniversary two day Wednesday sale.

 

[jinjuku]

That is a smoking deal. I believe when the first retailed they were $1100.

 

[jcl]

Here's a sound and vision mag review of a 5.1 system based on the es 80 - JBL ES Series home theater speaker system | Sound and Vision Magazine

The Frys add says they are normally $998 pair. Harman Audio has them for $399 each. So if you like em it seems to be a good deal.

 

[sawzalot]

I just ordered a pair of these, totally spur of the moment blind buy but at this price point I figure I have nothing at all to lose except the time it takes to swap out my existing speakers. I have been looking to try out something new for quite some time.I only ordered the towers since the center is not at a sale price right now if I like these I will add the center before too long.

 

[jcl]

At that price if they are not to your liking you can probably turn around and sell them and recover your cost.

 

[sawzalot]

OK , I set these up over the weekend and without trying to give a review of sorts I think I can describe these in three words, Thin , Hollow and Bright, lacking in any kind of robust room filling sounds, definitely not for me, now if I fire up the twin kappas all is somewhat better but we don't always use the subs and with that said these puppies just can't get off the porch
So like I said for the money I thought hey why not give them a shot, they don't come double boxed so two rear edges were chipped in a very minor way but still chipped none the less. The serial numbers are off by 175, not too bad I guess the original boxes look like they were on every side top and bottom possible and then some, I expected something a little more from jbl and frys considering the original cost of these but I am not tearing up here I will eventually get something that will satisfy even the most stringent HT enthusiast and yet maintain somewhat of a budget.

 

[sawzalot]

I wanted to post a follow up to these speakers, I tried to actually hold on to them and maybe just hand them off to my Son as he has recently purchased a home but they were very much underachievers in my HT as a matter of fact one speaker actually stopped performing as it should it actually sounded like it was only getting minimal power from my SC-37 a quick switch showed me that it was indeed the speaker, so now I had one that was banged up missing a few inches of edge on the rear of the speaker and one that functioned properly on occasion. I started up some what of a firestorm with a manager at Frys and they sent a pickup from UPS so back they went, then before I knew it the full amount was refunded back to the card, done deal.
I will look for something new and I have an idea what it should and will be, KEF Q-900 really peeks my interest.

I would like to add that no matter what the original price of the JBL was they really are 300 dollar speakers in my opinion.