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Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.75 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $179900.00 from Nasonic

Summary:
Upon purchasing the jbl studio s38's and giving my old jamos a break,i immediately new i had made the right decision.Being avidly into dvd movies,and cd/radio listening,the decision to upgrade payed off. An astute speaker for all the above,heaps of bass,midrange,and treble sharp as a tack. Spikes could improve only the feel of the speaker,not used in my case.Firstly i used hi fidelity quality speaker cable which didnt cost a bundle,and i hooked them up to my strv555es sony reciever. First week,i ran them at around 20watts ,and then the test came.I must remind you i am using a small hall for listening,so no subwoofer has been used.The first dvd experience was fantastic.DTS sound for Dardevil was excellent.Several movies later,and it gets even better.Now to 2channel stereo.I thought I would give Brian ferry a go,so i listend to the cd fully,picking favourite tracks.Well,having decided to crank the sony and see how the JBL"S performed,i can say this.THere was no distortion right up to -20db.THey played avalon tight,terrific,and the way a 200 watt jbl floorstander should,the fact of the matter is this.THese particular speakers need space,but play super either way.ONly drawback,if youd call it that,is that they arent standing on plynths/spikes.Excellent value,but not cheap.

Strengths:
Plenty of deep rich bass. Treble slightly harsh,but only slightly noticable.Beautiful cabinets,offer plynth support.Designed to play loud distortion free.Front ported,and no wonder.

Weaknesses:
NOt really a weakness,but these deserve space to really stand out.

Similar Products Used:
Used jamo E850's 200 watts RMS.

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Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $500.00

Summary:
I have had the S310ii's for nearly two years now as the front pair of my AV setup and I must say that they are really great for both movies and stereo music. These replaced a pair of Dynaudio Audience 40's which offer a remarkable sound for their size but really do not come close despite costing nearly as much. Over the years of playing with hi-fi I've come to realise that if you want big sound, you need big 3-way speakers. My speakers rest on 6" stands to avoid floor boominess. They need good electronics and cables to avoid excessive treble as they are basically quite neutral sounding.

Strengths:
High sensitivity. Good tuneful, deep bass - my subwoofer is only switched on for movies for visceral impact. The rest of the frequency range is also very good, especially the midrange which beats the midrange of all 2-way box designs I've ever heard.

Weaknesses:
None at the price.

Similar Products Used:
Dynaudio Audience 40 Mordaunt Short 10i Pearl Apogee Caliper (in main stereo system)

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Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.71 of 5, 7.00 votes

Price Paid:  $240.00 from B&H

Summary:
Now that I am in college, I thought it was time to get myself a nice system. I looked around for all-in-one packages for $500-$600 range, and I was almost set on an Onkyo 6.1 system. I live in a 8x16 frat dorm room that is very very small, so unfortunately size was somewhat a factor. Then I found JBL S-310ii for $120 each with free shipping online, and I almost died in happiness. My roommate has JBL S-38ii's and they are one of the best sounding speakers I've heard and I've listened to lots of speakers ($100,000 speakers I saw when I was 17. I don't remember the model nor the brand, because at that time, I didn't appreciate speakers as much as I do now, but I remember thinking that day that one day I will make $100k to buy those speakers one day. But for now, this JBL is a start). On that day, I immediately put an order for JBL S-310ii for $240, and I researched for the most hectic 24 hours of my life to find matching receiver and a subwoofer. I asked lots of people and visited lots of stores to audition. I was very content with Panasonic HE-200K. For its price, it was completely unmatched in sound and features. Sony SA-WM500 was also unparalleled. Online, I bought it for $70 because it had a small dent in the front. It turns out, you can't even notice the dent, so it was a steal. Speakers arrived in two days, so I brought them down to my frat house's basement to break in the speakers. I promised myself that I will not REALLY listen to the speakers until a week later, so I immediately left the basement as soon as I hooked it upto the frat amp. My receiver and the sub arrived about 4 days later, and I couldn't wait, so I hooked everything up immediately, and as soon as I played Comfortably Numb on my Pink Floyd: The Wall, I could have cried on the spot. Everyone around my frat gather around in my room as soon as I raised the volume. These speakers handle loud volume very very well. There was absolutely no hint of strain or distortion, but it was enough to gather the entire frat house of four floors to my room. Immediately, I recognized the bright JBL's tweeter sound, and yes, I agree that it's too much. However, as soon as I tweaked aroudn the receiver's settings, the problem subdued immediately. I have NEVER heard Comfortably Numb's Dave Gilmour's guitar solo like that before. It was right in the strongest range of the JBL speakers and it completely took all of us over. We all agreed that for the price, these speakers are the best thing you will ever hear. Now for more empirical analysis: The bass is unbelievable. I should have not gotten a sub. My room is very small, and there was no need for a sub (for a bigger room, yes you will need a sub). But for $70, a nice bass presence and a little boost to Fight Club's airplane scene can't hurt. With these speakers, don't bother with cheap subs. It will be a waste of money. I'm saving my money up for an HSU. Now, those will be an addition to these speakers, but anything less than that will lag behind the bass of these speakers. One day, I brought these speakers outside to my frat porch while everyone worked. I went back to room to take a nap, and while in my bed, being on the third floor, I FELT the bass from the speakers, and the speakers were NOT facing my window's direction. I was shocked. I knew that the bass was strong, but I didn't think that I would feel it up on the third floor while the speakers were far far outside. The mid is also great, but compared to the bass, it's ever so slighly lacking. I'll have to tweak the setting to make the transition between bass and mid smooth. Otherwide, mid drowns in bass. It's unfortunate, because it's not that mid is bad, but bass is so superior. Now...the tweeter. The controversy. With some songs, the tweeter sounds so unbelievably gorgeous that I want to cry. It brings amazing range and brightness that can just brings your music to totally another level. But with some songs, it completely overpowers anything else, and it just hurts your ears, and you'll have to tweak your settings a lot to deal with this. However, once tweaked, these speakers again sound unparalleled to anything else I've heard.

Strengths:
Impressive looking and size. This can go against your way, but I somehow somehow somehow managed to fit these into a 8x16 room and made it sound great. So it's upto how you set up your room. Sickeningly tight bass. The bass of the drum beat never sounded so strong, tight, and clear. Great mid range. The voice carries over, as long as it doesn't drown in the bass. Bright and clear high's. We'll discuss this more later.

Weaknesses:
The tweeter. As much as I love these speakers, it involves significant amount of tweaking. Being a tech type of guy, I dont mind this, and I actually enjoy fiddling around with all the settings to optimize these speakers, but I can absolutely see why some people would hate that. For music, I connected the receiver to my desktop computer. Audigy 2 is actually an incredibly soundcard that lets you really really really control your speakers in almost anyway without actually buying a component to tweak the more advanced settings. And, it even includes great sounding mods, that are not just cheap gimmicks. With great customizability, all my songs are optimized for these speakers. And they all absolutely sound great. These speakers are absolutely amazing, but you have to tweak it significantly to bring the best out in them. For note, all my mp3 files are encoded at 256kb. I would never use cheap 128kb mp3's with these.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from bestpriceaudiovideo.

Summary:
Outstangin sound and quality build. Extensivly researched and listened to many speakers in this class and these stand out far above the rest, including many higher priced floor speakers. I was particularly impressed with the bright, detailed sound. No subwoofer needed with music or theater use.

Strengths:
Bass output. Clarity. Clean accross entire frequency range.

Weaknesses:
Size. But the cabinet resonates the sound superbly

Similar Products Used:
JBL S38 II

Price Paid:  $171.00 from Bestpriceaudioandvid

Summary:
Can anyone tell me if the ND310II's are actually a better speaker? It seems that they are pretty much the same except the crossovers are set at different frequencies, the ND310 has a 3/4" tweeter, but also has two woofers compared to the s-310 which only has one. From my research it seems that the ND310 is better, does anyone have any experience that might suggest otherwise or confirm this?