Great, but some quirks...
Written: Dec 07 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good bass and excellent treble, good imaging for smaller rooms, powerful
Cons: Imaging problems with larger rooms, bland looking cabinet
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| narenji's Full Review: JBL S-Center Center Speaker |
JBL is a brand known for producing quality audio components, and as a company owned by Harman International, they ought to be. JBL's HLS center does not disappoint. It is solidly made, and produces an earful of mostly pleasing sound. The two midbass drivers do a commendable job handling bass duties, and seem to produce frequencies down to about 80 hz. A home theater with powerful fronts would probably require a center to produce 50-60hz pitches, but for most people, this center will do just fine. It handles a lot of power, and has convenient five-way posts for connections.
The sound is clean and crisp. There is no distortion past even the halfway point on my 100 watt amplifier. The constant directivity horn works remarkably well in smaller rooms, but bigger rooms cause some imaging problems. the sound produced by the horn definitely has a sweet spot, and this spot is quite narrow. While it cannot be felt in a small room, there is a definite spot in a larger room. This forces the listener to pick a good listening spot and stick to it. Not all sides of the room will hear the full effect of the horn, which is a bit unnerving. For my purposes, this speaker will be used in a small room, so this imaging problem does not come into play.
The cabinet is solid, and is relatively compact for a center. It doesn't break any styling ground, but looks elegant atop your television. The midbass drivers also look durable, and the tweeter is housed in a vortex type shape, and is barely visible to the eye. There are definitely bigger centers, but this JBL will do just fine for my purposes. The speaker has good sensitivity, and produces on par with the fronts at normal settings. the center can be boosted some more if necessary. The speaker really anchors sound to the center of the screen, and does it's job as a center very well. Dialogues are clear, as well as some of the music/special effects passages that commonly play through centers. The speaker is powerful enough to be not overwhelmed by even a loud front. A powered subwoofer doesn't phase it either. This is a great speaker by JBL, and continues my faith in the brand.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
narenji
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: Glendora, CA
Reviews written: 99
Trusted by: 33 members
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