JBL hang on the wall surround sound speakers [E10]
Written: Jun 06 '06
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Pros: slim, cheap, brackets already installed, decent bass
Cons: Highs can sound unrefined, very low end bass absent.
The Bottom Line: A great choice for tight budgets. Also great fill ins while shopping for hi-end speakers. Also work well as front speakers for flat panel HDTVs.
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| sslabs's Full Review: JBL Northridge E 10 Main / Stereo Speaker |
I must confess that I purchased these speakers out of sheer frustration. After weeks of research, auction watching, and price comparisons for what I really wanted, I gave up. What I really wanted was a dipole/bipole style speaker and I wasn’t happy with what I was seeing. Cheap speakers that would barely be worth $100 were going for triple the price in dipole/bipolar configuration. Maybe to someone else it doesn’t matter, but I’m not paying that much more for a speaker with an extra tweeter. I have Dynaudio speakers up front (left, right, center) and don’t see any Dynaudio’s that are dipole/bipolar. That made matching impossible unless I purchased a standard bookshelf style speaker.
So, having been without rear speakers in my home theater for a few weeks, I decided on something simple in the meantime. I was at my local Best Buy when I finally decided to walk away with a pair of JBL E10s. I was very disappointed in the selection to be honest, but for $100, these seemed to be decent. My only real concern at that time was the speakers had to reproduce some kind of bass energy. That basically meant I had no interest in those micro-cube Bose style abominations.
Dimensions and Specs
These speakers are flat-ish in appearance reminiscent of the face of an old orangutan. They are only 5 1/4” deep, but are a healthy 10” high, and wide clocking in a 8 pounds each. The pair feature JBL’s ‘PolyPlas’ woofer (4”) and look like treated paper woofers to me. Thankfully, even at this cheapo price, JBL used butyl surrounds instead of cheap foam that will rot down the road. The Tweeter is a 3/4" titanium laminate dome, and I’m guessing that it’s coated in Ti rather than being made of titanium.
There are two flared ports on either side of the woofer. JBL pins the frequency response at 75Hz to 20kHz crossed over at exactly 2k. JBL recommends no more that 50 watts sustained and 100 watt peaks for this pair. Used as surround speakers, I’d be surprised if they ever see more than 30 watts.
JBL lists the sensitivity at a very low 86db (2.83v 1 meter). My Dynaudio’s aren’t very efficient either so that isn’t an issue. Most surround sound systems/receivers can boost the sound levels to the surround speakers, but in case you can’t, keep this in mind. Just in case anyone might want to use these up front, the speakers are shielded and safe to use near CRT TVs.
Hang ‘em on the wall
At the rear, JBL has a simple bracket that will grab onto a set of screws (supplied by you) at the rear. Spaced exactly eight inches apart making it easy to put the screws up first, simply mating the speakers to the screws, it’s that easy. A good move on JBL’s part was placing two large rubber type pads at the bottom rear. This allows the speaker to hang correctly, and to keep from marring the wall surface whatever that may be.
The rear brackets have two screws that are easy to remove should the owner need to remove them. While I’m conveying the back, I should mention the connections. I was expecting cheap spring clips, and would’ve had no problem finding them in back. I was mildly surprised to see nice metal five way binding posts. Well, at least they looked like five way posts. They have those annoying plastic caps where someone would insert a banana plug. Even so, bare wire, pins and banana plugs will fit in the hole running through the post.
First Listen
I never throw a pair of surrounds in the back and just leave them be. The first thing I do is hook them up front as my main speakers to get a feel for the character of their sound. If they sound atrocious, or have a serious lack on the bottom end, it’s easier to detect in this fashion. Worst case scenario, I can box them back up and try something else. So, I placed some microfiber cloths on my mains, and placed the E10’s on top. Even with their odd shape, they will stand on their own (unlike a similar model from Infinity). First thing I throw on is a CDR of mixed rap. My immediate reaction is that the E10 pair didn’t sound as cheap and unrefined as I had expected. Belching out full power rap music, they didn’t totally fall apart. The only issue faced was the fact that they would break up during very loud music.
Modern day receivers don’t exactly display wattage, and I don’t have an SPL meter on hand on give exact specs on when this happens. Let’s put it this way, I doubt that in rear surround duty, they will ever see these loud levels. I can say with confidence that mated with a sub-woofer, they would make good mains for a tight budget system. They could even function as mains in a really tight budget home theater while subwoofer funds accumulate in some cookie car.
I was surprised that the E10 delivered generous amounts of mid-bass for such a small enclosure and woofer size. The very bottom end wasn’t poor, it simply doesn’t exist. For example, the opening low bass line in Eminem’s Emulate completely disappears. I’d guess in was in 40-50 Hz town, but what do you expect for one bill retail? The highs via JBL’s famous Ti tweeter are solid given the low price. It’s not very refined, but I was surprised that this metal dome didn’t induce fatigue immediately. However, after playing up front the length of one CD, I did feel like a break from them.
Surround Duty
I hung these right behind my couch with the woofer at ear level when sitting. They are about six feet apart, and I didn’t use different size screws to toe them in, both are flat against the wall. With admirable bass performance I opted to run these rear surround speakers as full range speakers, and not micro satellite speakers.
During action movies, concerts, and DTS surround sound CDs, the E10s have hung in there quite well. I haven’t run into breakup or audible distortion during loud passages. Part of that is due to the fact that the rear channels (regardless of format) are rarely driven as hard as the front three channels. The sound isn’t too localized, but not nearly as spacious sounding as bipolar speakers. Dispersion is good enough that I can live with these speakers for the time being.
Bottom line
Thumbs up for the price, the E10 can fill in while going up the ladder, or simply put in work long term for tight budgets. Because of their slimmer nature, they can also go against the wall, on either side of your flat panel. With their larger cabinet size, they will easily better the cheap sounding detachable speakers many flat panel TVs come with.
Final score 3 1/2 stars
© Tony Flores 2006
StrangerSoundLabs.com
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100
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Epinions.com ID:
sslabs
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Member: Tony Flores
Location: Calistoga - Napa Valley Wine Country
Reviews written: 99
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