I purchased the JBL L830 speakers for my small apartment in NYC. I've read the reviews and agree that this is a great small 3-way speaker. I also own a pair of Genesis V's which cost over $10k. Not that you can compare them, because you can't - different class of speakers. Although the L830's sound exceptional especially for the price. I have them connected bi-amped with a Chiro C500 amplifier and a simple 2 channel Rotel preamp. The amp is rated at 140w at 8ohms driving four channels. The sound is solid and crisp without harshness. Good bass response and the speakers suck up the power without hesitation or distortion. No sub needed please. The highs and mids provide great soundstaging. The 1 inch titanium tweet is featured in JBL's high-end Synthesis line speakers which are $2k each. They sound so good that I moved them to my studio in Vermont where i really pushed them hard with a 200w Mcintosh amp. The speakers literally shook the house. I tested using Lee Ritenour Wes Bound, Jack Johnson and rap artist Fifty Cents. They surpassed my expectations. The bottom line - for the price, you really can't go wrong with these spekaers

Simply amazing speakers.... I purchased mine off the Harmon Kardon eBay store for a fraction of their list (about $130 for each pair). I loved the L830s as mains so much I purchased a second pair for the surrounds. I live in an apt. so I wanted a surround system that sounded good w/o a sub an these produce more than enough bass. I listen more to two channel music than anything else and the imaging of these speakers is AMAZING. I have them placed about 18" from the wall on 24" stands approximately 12' apart. When sitting on my couch 12ft from the speakers the sound stage is jaw dropping. On properly mixed songs you can close your eyes and sonically pick out exactly where the engineer placed each instrument. And vocals....holy crap, put on some Nora Jones or Diana Krall and you will melt.

I also have a pair of Miller & Kreisel S1Cs that cost over 1k apeice when new, the mids and highs sound the same, but the L830s put out far more usuable bass (to be fair the S1Cs are designed to be used with a sub)

The L830s are probably THE best "bargain" speaker out there for under $1200 a pair.

Flat flat flat and pleanty of bass (for me) for small rooms.

Even great speakers will sound boomy and honky in a bad room.

Puts much more expensive speaker to shame. Kudos JBL for being able to make a mass production speaker of this quality and price point.

Where do I start? I purchased these because they were returned by a known customer of mine- I knew they weren't mistreated. I've been in the high end audio video business (until recently) for about 3 years and an enthusiast for 10+ years. In the business you see speaker lines come and go and the same can be said for audiophile type customers. One thing I've taken away from these years of exposure is money DOES NOT guarantee quality sound. Nuff about me, on to the review....

Love these speakers they *uckin' rock!!! They are without a doubt the best speakers I've ever heard at the price point. My fellow snobby coworkers chuckled about my praise of these speakers. But knowing the history and real science behind JBL ( Dr. Tool especially) and meeting the designer at the factory - I knew better. We had the L830's in the "lower end room" (what horseshizzle) so one day I called the guys in and asked them to listen to my budget crap speakers.I hooked up the L830's to the Krell and cranked it up (giving them room enough to breath sitting on top of some Focal towers and pulled 3 feet from a boundry). They were blown the #uck away. They kept saying "wow, wow". They kept checking to see if the Martin Logan sub was on. After that the laughing stopped and 3 of my cowokers bought a pair.

He who laughs last laughs best - :)

Similar Products Used:

JM Lab, Martin Logan, PSB, Polk, Infinity, Klipsch, JBL, and worked with too many to list.