Thinking JBL, am I crazy?

[Halon451]

I have a cheap JBL home theater in a box (JBL Cinema ProPack 600). The receiver and DVD player are nothing special, but the speakers sound great for the cost. A friend of mine has a higher end Yamaha receiver hooked up to the same JBLs that I have and his system sounds fantastic.

No offense, but the term "fantastic" and "Home Theater In a Box" do not go together in the same sentence. HTIB systems are adequate at best, there are many of them that do not sound "bad" per se, but they will never match the quality of a good separated, well-researched system.

 

[Halon451]

JBL offers great value for your money. There is a great deal of history and technology behind those speakers. The Studio L-series gets great reviews for good reason. I also think they're pretty handsome. But just remember that speaker preference is highly subjective.

With regard to all the "refurbished" speakers that HarmanAudio sells on the fleabay, I have found them to be primarily brand new speakers, only sold as refurbs to satisfy their dealer agreements. I believe they use that site to sell overstocks and phase-out gear.

Lastly, I strongly agree with Seth. While JBL makes fine speakers, their subs are lacking and really aren't very competitive with the likes of SVS and Hsu.

Could NOT agree more on the sub statement - I've been down that road myself. They are not only not competitive with the SVS/Hsu lines, they're not even in the same league. Of any good things that JBL does, making subs is not one of them, IMHO.

 

[gus6464]

I got to hear the L880 and L890 when I was speaker shopping last year and loved them a lot. They were pretty expensive back then so that is why I pulled the trigger on the Mirages but if I could do it all over again with today's prices on the Studio L I would definitely go for the JBL. They have very clear midrange and tight low end from their towers without being boomy unlike other big towers I have heard.

 

[DavidG]

JBL offers great value for your money. There is a great deal of history and technology behind those speakers. The Studio L-series gets great reviews for good reason. I also think they're pretty handsome. But just remember that speaker preference is highly subjective.

With regard to all the "refurbished" speakers that HarmanAudio sells on the fleabay, I have found them to be primarily brand new speakers, only sold as refurbs to satisfy their dealer agreements. I believe they use that site to sell overstocks and phase-out gear.

Lastly, I strongly agree with Seth. While JBL makes fine speakers, their subs are lacking and really aren't very competitive with the likes of SVS and Hsu.

I also agree with Seth and Tomorrow on not purchasing a JBL subwoofer. You can see by my signature that I have 2, they are ok at best. These were purchased before I heard any of the ID subwoofers (HSU, SVS, AV123, etc)that have been recommended, which are a real bargain for their performance. The 2 subs I own were purchased at a fraction of their MSRP, so I still would have had to spend quite a bit more for a quality sub. A new sub is definitely on my list of upgrades.

 

[DavidG]

Thanks David.

No problem.