I once wanted to have a home theater system that sounded great when I watched movies. I wanted to have my room shake when things exploded, I wanted to be in the hall where a concert was, I wanted to hear the sound like I was actually there. That was my goal - to produce a sound that was as close as possible to the original recording. Just to give you an example of how real the sound is listen to this.. These speakers often fool us as to what the sound really came from. Sometimes on a movie a doorbell will ring and we will get up to see who is at the door. The first few times it spooked us, but we soon learned that the speakers were producing sounds that were so real to life that it was hard to tell it apart from the real thing!

I went out and started looking at all the different speakers that you can buy. Now let me tell you, theres a ton of them out there. It can be very confusing if you don't really know what you are looking for. I listened to speakers that cost over $50,000 for a set and I've heard speakers that were about $500. What I heard was a real slope off at around a few thousand dollars. After that, I couldn't really hear the difference and neither could my wallet.

I fell in love with the JBL Home Theater series. These speakers are THX certified and they were right in my price range. They produced a sound that was incredible! They're pretty small in size (for the sound they produce) and could fit on some bookshelves if there is enough height for them.

The front speakers are all the same size. The three front speakers (Left, Center, and Right channels) are all designed to channel the sound out and in a flat line into the listening position. This minimizes the sound that goes down into the carpet or up into the ceiling. It ensures that as much sound as possible is directed right into the listeners ears which is what you get with these speakers. You should also have them set up at about 26 inches from the floor, which is about eye/ear level when sitting on a couch or sofa.

The rear speakers are really nice as well because they are bi-polar speakers. This means that they have speakers on the front side and the back side. What this does is fires sound on both sides of the listener and gives a more full sound. I also have these speakers on 26 inch stands to put them at the perfect level.

The subwoofer for these speakers is a bit on the large side I'd say. It has a 12 inch driver and does indeed do the job. The THX specification calls for two subs but one was enough for me. It is enough to rattle the dishes in my cabinets when we watch the movie Twister. This is also a passive sub woofer which means that it does not have an amplifier inside of it. It will require an amp to drive it. I have a Marantz 300 watt mono block amp that drives this beast.

All in all these speakers are great! The only thing that I would change about them is the size of the subwoofer. The thing is a bit too large and some people may have a hard time placing it in their room. It's a great set if you want to watch great movies with great sound, you can't go wrong with these speakers.

One final note I would like to make before I close this epinion. These speakers were made for the reproduction of movies. Music does sound decent on them, but could sound better. If you are looking for a set of speakers mostly listen to music on, these are not the speakers to get. I do listen to music on these and it does sounds great but you can get a better set for music reproduction.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 2500