Very sute, very well made, agreat compormise between cost and sound,, but what a sound ( I got them on as I write)

I havent blowen the tweet yet, I hope It aint cheezy as they cost about $100

I have alwasy loved JBL'S, My first pair were Altec A-7"s you recall???? They were the first to get 100db with 1 watt at 1 meter!. Well, I listened to B&W, Paradigm,, Bose ( ug) , Cerwin Vega, Tanoys ( Nice) and my ears were and are just please with JLB. These little S-38, with clean power and real cable, sound detailed, smooth, punchey, seperated the correct distance (6 feet or more) great stereo sepration ( listen to steely-dan), and I always audtion speaks with Michael Jackson's Thriller, No matter how much you may hate it, It realy is one of the best recordings for wringing out a system.I got a pair for my gie at work, and He had JBL 4401's, and says the s-38's kill!. If your want a small speak with alot of charactor, detail, power handling, and a cute look,,, buy the 38's, by the way, there mirror image, like any real monitor should be,oh, I run a old dbx cd player into a very musical Dyna pas3, into a yamaha 2050, thats my toy system. I tried them with 3 preamps 1. 1960 McIntosh C-20,, A New Danon ( Like $300.) it went back, a newish Rotel 972, and My Trusty old Dyna pas 3 tube preamp. With the Mcintosh, and specialy the Dyna, If you couldnt get the sound you wanted from the S-38's, you should quit playing the stereo and get a kazoo!!

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Remember you so call audio fuds, Altec Lancing, then J.B.Lancing, then JBL pioneered this quality transducer thing in the USA> GIve them the respect they deserve ( who was making quality studio and playback monitors 30 years ago???

Good, crisp sound, JBL name and quality

They're too big and too heavy for rears, would make great front speakers

First off, the price quoted is CDN. These speakers are great speakers sound wise, the only problem is they're too big to fit in the back for myself. I figured they would compliment great with the S312's in the front, however I admit that they really weren't necessary for the price paid in the back. I could have just as easily been well off with the S26's and not lost anything in the back. Now I'm stuck with speakers that don't really fit into my room and looking for someone to take them off me. That's a good luck situation in itself...

amazing bass response for *ahem* bookshelf speaker , clarity , wide soundstage , good on movies as well as 2 channel stereo

quality , not quite bookshelf size

well what more can i say ? after remodeling my living room and trying to downsize the sytem i decided to go with "bookshelf" speakers and sub .....after auditioning many different types of bookshelf speakers and reading all the terrific reviews on here i decided on the jbls....3 pairs no less!! As i will be upgrading to 6.1 i thought it would be ideal to have 6 identical speakers for home theatre and at this price it was easily affordable. Im not exactly an "audiophile" but i have many audiophile friends and i know what i like .....the more i listen to these speakers the more i enjoy them (very rare) usually i start to pick out what i don't like about a speaker but with the s38 i started picking out what i did like instead ( know what i mean ?) great clarity , very efficient , very open soundstage , pretty smooth ( although i do find the midrange a tad bright and forward for my liking but ive grown accustomed to it ....it gives the music more of a live performance sound some may actually prefer it ....i also really like the looks of the speaker some here don't but i have the cherry finish and the g/f really think they look cool....the only gripe i have is the build quality ....i checked the allen key bolts which some on this forum suggested and yes not only were they all loose but one was actually stripped !! on one of the other pairs there was glue dripped on the cabinets and drivers (must be from manufacturing) and on the other pair the midrange had a slight depression on the driver , and on all pairs the paint on the midrange had a crackle finish ??? whats up with that ??? HELLO JBL EVER HEARD OF QUALITY CONTROL ???? but other than that i really do think these speakers are pretty terrific for the money hard to beat , if this is your price range for a new pair of speakers i think you would be hard pressed to find better ...oh by the way the pairs that i recieved were built in the good ol usa (not the mexican version so i was pretty dissappointed with the quality ....

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other jbl studio monitors and host of other speakers

Many

Your wife will hate them!

OK, I guess I'll add my two cents. Previous reviews are on the money — these speakers reproduce exceptionally well, whether it be theater special FX or music of any genre.
As stated previously, these do require a break-in period. Like a fine wine, these do improve with age. You may need to tighten the allen screws that attach the aluminum (woofer) basket to the cabinet. My first pair did, second pair did not.
These are extremely neutral speakers and may be a bit unforgiving on brighter recordings. While recordings by Johnny Lang, Tom Waits or Jennifer Warnes will transport you to Audio Nirvana, Reverend Horton Heat's "It's Martini Time" CD will send you out of the room screaming. Dynamics will floor you, and these babies just won't run out of steam, limited only by the power source (I'm not talking 300W/channel, but a power source that will most likely be matched with a speaker in this price range, lets say 100 - 165W/channel).Check out Clarence Clemons' CD "Peacemaker" or Sheffield Lab's "Drum Record" with Jim Keltner, and hear how a dynamic speaker can convey soft to loud passages. Transient attack on Keltner's snare is impressive.
Soundstage and imaging are very good with vocal and instrumental placement spot on. Waverly Consort's "A Renaissance Christmas" places the members across the stage and it's a simple matter to differentiate between the voices, solid, locked into space, with instrumentation placed
likewise.
While bass is adequate, I do augment with a subwoofer which fills out the bottom end nicely. While some may think that no augmentation is needed, I do feel that this is mandatory for home theater use.
I was so impressed with my initial pair of 38s, that I decide to purchase another pair for surround use. Together with the S series center, this makes for a potent combination for Home Theater use. My previous hodge-podge of theater speakers (NHT, Infinity, Atlantic Technology), while all highly acclaimed, paled miserably by comparison to the JBL combination. While I concur that some of the difference is due to driver matching, and that it's not quite fair to compare this system to the previous, I must also note that there are numerous other qualities such as dialogue articulation, dynamics and presentation of ambient effects that just did not manifest itself with my older system. Simply put, sounds are now present that previously were not! Watching the "same 'ol movies" is an entirely new (exciting) experience. Dialogue is easily discerned, even over effects. I no longer need to mess with the volume simply to understand what's being said.
The jury's still out on the "Terminator" look to these speakers, but I think it's growing on me. I haven't gotten a positive comment from any of the dozen or so female friends on the aesthetics of this particular design. In order to preserve the marriage, I choose to keep the covers on.
Many seem concerned finding a suitable speaker stand due to the 38s weight and horizontal placement needs. I purchased four Lovan 29" Affiniti stands from Audio Advisor, filled the uprights with sand, and I'm comfortable with the stability of the set-up. Yes, you can make it waver back and forth if you really try, but I don't think the family kitty will have much luck displacing these. The 29" height seems to be perfect for the horizontal placement. I tried these vertically on 24" stands but the soundstage shrank considerably.
For those wannabe 38 owners looking for the best price, check out audiovideoman.com who carrys most of the JBL S series, factory new with full warranty. He shipped these to me by Fedex in two days - $310.00/pr. total!
Nuff said.

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NHT, Infinity, TDL, Siefert Research, Atlantic Technology

Not an audiophile but they sound great.

none

I bought these speakers about a year ago for my family room and I liked them so much that when I put together my home theater (13ftx18ft room) I am planning on using them for all six speakers (DTS-ES setup in conjunction with a sub). All six speakers for $840 +shipping. If there is a better deal out there PLEASE let me know.

As for stands I plan on using these guys. [url]http://www.ultimatesupport.com/mainframe.htm[/url]. I emailed JBL and one of the sales guys said he used this brand at home. They have a 9" top plate.

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Paradigm and Energy

Soundstage, Dynamics, Bass, Tweeter

Huge, oversized voicecoil sounds awesome,but draws alot of power

These speakers perform like nothing else. The clarity is marvelous. For a set of speakers under 300 bucks, you will not find anything else like these.Anyone on a budget that wants terrific speakers and can't imagine spending over 500 bucks on a set, these are your best bet. Buy them online because you save over 100 bucks then if you bought them in the store.

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none

Incredible bass for 8" drivers, great imaging, smooth highs. Strong build quality.

Size makes them a bit awkward to place.

After reading reviews on these and finding a pair for 299 online, I figured I'd give them a shot. The only place I could find to listen to them before buying was at Best Buy, but jerks always seem to take off the grills and poke the speaker cones out. So without a proper listening test I gambled and bought a pair. Man am I glad I did! These speakers are great. Imaging on both music CD's and DVD's is incredible, and these speakers have surprisingly deep, tight bass. Some people complain that the treble is too pronounced or harsh, but after a few days of break-in time and some tonal adjustments on my reciever I find the speakers rather warm and smooth. Using a Denon test CD and also the Bass Mekanik SPL CD's, I found that the base hit 40-45 hertz at a good volume. I plan to add a HSU Research TN1225HO sub to my setup soon, so that should complete the low end.

Over all, these are incredible speakers for 300 bucks. Best Price Audio Video.com is a great place to pick them up too. 299 plus shipping, which is about 20 bucks, plus 18 bucks sales tax if you live in Ohio.

My setup:
Yamaha HTR-5460 reciever
Sony Hi-Fi VCR
Sony 50+1 CD changer
Sony Playstation 2 for DVD's (don't laugh, 300 bucks for a DVD player with component video and optical digital out that plays games too.)
JBL S38's - mains
JBL S-center
Old school JBL's with 5" drivers for surrounds
HSU Research TN1225HO sub with 150 watt amp (soon)
Philips Pronto TS1000 LCD touchscreen remote

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Sonys, Onkyo, PSB, other JBL's

Definition dynamics and detail

none so far

I shopped very carefully for these speakers, knowing I was going to have to live with my decision for at least a few years. After several weeks of research, which included listening hard to speakers from several comparable manufacturers, reading reviews both here on the internet and hard copy text reviews and I felt the S-38 was the clearly the best choice for use as my main speakers.

I think the definition and clarity of these speakers is remarkable and in my opinion none of the other speakers that I had considered came close to them.

What I ended up with is a low to moderately priced system that really does turn my living roon into a home theater.

Sony STR-DE875 DTS,Dolby Digital Receiver with Matrix 6.1 decoding
Sony NC 600 5 disk DVD, CD CDR CDRW Player
My old Sony CDP-C365 5 disk CD Player
JBL S38' main
JBL S-Center
JBL N26' rear
JBL PB10 Sub

If I have a regret it is that I did buy S38s for the rear, but placement would have been tough, as it is I have the N26s mounted in rear corners of the room pointing slightly down towards the center of the listening area, and in reality the N26' do a very nice job as rear speakers.

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I bought and returned a pair of Bose 301 IV, thought they where muddy sounding

Great highs, mids and lows. Looks cool and Mounting posts.

Very large for bookshelf speekers

I had Bose speakers before this and was very unhappy with them. Every thing sounded like it was in a can. So I bought JBL S38 for the front channel, JBL S - Center channel and JBl S36 for the rear. These are great speakers. I hear things in music and on DVD's that I never heard with the Bose. Every one that comes over says that these are some of the clearest speakers they have heard.

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Bose

Just to clarify from my last post, I mean that I generally buy only accessories at RadioShack. I probably would not buy speakers or receivers from them, because Rex is just 20 miles away. But RadioShack cables, wire, etc. are as good as anyone's. Please note that my beloved JBLs did not come from RadioShack. Just wanted to make sure I am not misquoted. My receiver came from Rex, as did my towers and rears. My JBLs were ordered online.
Did I mention that I am very proud of them? :)