Sound quality for the price, absolutely!

The speaker grills are way to flimsy, besides the speakers look much better without them.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record the sound quality is absolutely amazing for it's price catagory. Though lacking in outright bass (easily solved with a sub) their performance is spectacular. For testing I used a combination of mp3's, CD's and DVD's. In an attempt to find the speaker with the best value, I tested speakers from a wide range of prices as well as different speaker designs. Included were Martin Logan, Monsoon, JBL, Cerwin Vega, Sony, and KLH.
Martin Logan: Great sound only if you decide to sit in one spot and not move at all. Also the speakers are very fickle about positioning due to the use of electrostatice speakers. If you don't know what you're doing they'll end up sounding like crap. On the upside they look gorgeous. In all too much for to little.
Monsoon: A new edition to the electrostatic club. You may remember these from computer system speakers with spectacular sound. Speaker positioning was significantly better than the Martin Logans and the sweet spot much larger (incase you want to move around a little while you're music's on). These are also cheaper than the ML's, give Monsoon a couple of years and I may be back for them!
JBL: Great sound, decent price, and speakers that look awesome without the grills.
Cerwin Vega: If you want loud speakers with a lot of bass, but not nearly as articulate as the JBL's than these might be for you. Party speaker comes to mind when listening to these. Quantity is the main strength, as a result quality suffers.
Sony: I won't lie, I'm not a big fan of Sony's audio equip. I dunno why. While the sound was not as bad as I expected, it didn't have the warmth and tone given by the JBLs. Something akin to sound from a can.
KLH: Much like the Sony's but with even less sound quality. Listening to these speaks actually hurt my ears so much I only tested once and struct them from my list!

In all JBL's were just right for the money. Superb quality and a price that's hard to beat I'll be keeping these guys around for a good while. Mp3's turned out to be a great tester for these speakers. You could tell the better speakers by how much they showed the quality of the music. If you have a bad mp3 and bad speakers, the speakers will often cover the quality of the mp3. Whereas if you have a good speaker the true quality of the mp3 will be shown. Try it and you'll see what I mean.
Cheers

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha HTR-5280, JBL PB-12, JBL S-Center, and a 70's Marantz system

Good wieght so they wont tip over , Good Looks , Awesome sound .

Those little plastic feet . To tall .

They get better everytime I listen to them . The sound is clear , crisp ( not muffled ) . Good sound at low volume's . The thing I had to get used to was good clear sound with nice a bottom end that didn't sound like your ears where being ripped out ! ( unlike my Vega's ) . These speakers go well with my S-38's and the S-center as my home theater package . I have no complaints that would stop me from telling a friend to pick these babies up . I'm just waiting for the family to ALL be out of the house so I can really let these speakers rock !

Similar Products Used:

Cerwin Vega AT-10 & AT-12's .

good bass and treble, the heavier, the better sound quality

don't know yet

Thanks to all you folks posted your reviews here. Based on that, I picked this as my main speakers. I owned this for less than a week. I tested it with regular music, movies and live shows. The sound is huge; it is upon my expectations.

Cerwin Vega make good speakers too. Spend a little less and still get great sound, what else can you ask for.

Similar Products Used:

bose 701

Clean crisp sound, tight bass,all around good speaker

none

The best speakers I heard for my price range. You can hear every detail, music or H.T. you have to have a good reciver to push tnese babies to get the sound the were meant to reproduce. They didn't produce the bass I expected for a 12'woofer, but coupled with a jbl pb10, the bass coulden't be cleaner. Highly recommend these speakers to anyone who loves clean, crisp, sound.

Similar Products Used:

infinity, sony, kenwood,yamaha

Excellent treble and bass; quite flat frequency response; nice looking; good binding posts; all-round good sound

Grille is ugly - I think they look much better without it. Feet are plastic - they haven't broken but I worry about it a bit.

This is basically a follow-up to my previous review. I reviewed these previously at 4/5 stars.. I since have changed my mind and think they deserve 5 stars all-round.

I moved my system into a new room, and it sounds much better. Most of the harshness is gone - I think I was too close to the speakers. Treble drops off faster than bass, so when you're up close to the speakers the treble seems to much, but in a room, it is just right.

These speakers really are awsome. I can't believe anyone would claim they lack bass - I borrowed some 'bass boy' CDs from my friend Mike, they sounded great. So does Crystal Method's "Heavy Roller" - I can literally see the driver swinging back and forth at around 10Hz.

I have the S312s hooked up to an Odyssey Stratos amplifier. They seem to match really well. The frequency response is very flat, and all sound is clean and powerful. I've played some HDCDs and 24bit/96kHz sounds through this system and it's extremely crisp and the amount of treble they can put out is amazing, as well as how clean it is. They are connected using Groneberg Quattro audio cables which seem great and hook into the plugs on the back of the speaker very nicely.

The only consideration that I would say you would have before buying these speakers is that they're quite large - but they sound great! I've heard some very expensive speakers (Martin Logans) and I really think I like the JBLs better. They seem solidly constructed, and JBL's logo of "bringing studio sound to the living room" really seems appropriate.

Overall, I highly recommend these for people who want a full speaker, and accurate sound. They really fill the room.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity RS-5

Clear,crisp,bright,natural sound.Not to high and not to low but just right

They are very large but hey I like the the way they look
and it was my decision.Heavy 75 lbs each

First I would like to thank each and everyone of you who reviwed these speakers.Based on your opinions I purchased
these great speakers.My set up is as follows.

JBL S312 front
JBL S Center Speaker
JBL S36 for my rear
JBL TLX255 for my B Speakers
Nakamichi AV8 receiver
SONY DVP S-7000 DVD player
SONY 32 inch WEGA XBR

I just love the sweet sound that comes out of these speakers.I have owned the overrated and over priced Bose 901 and Bose 501 and they don't come close to the S310.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 901, Bose 501,JBL TLX 255

3-way enables a full range sound. Coupled w/ 15" 350w jbl sub creates a sound you can listen to for hours w/out listening fatigue. Can take a punch and deliver loud. Recreates highs very well, along with lows.

Large/ Heavy 75lbs each!
As far as quality - NONE!

I purchased these speakers mainly for home theater use. I have been extremly satisfied. I am running these with a Denon 3300 receiver that delivers 105w per channel. These babies are extremely efficient so they eat up every bit of power and convert it into whatever sound you are tring to deliver from your audio source. For the price you will have a hard time matching thier quality.

Similar Products Used:

JBL/Infinity/Mission/Mirage/DefTechs

Good highs, midrange, and tight bass.....

....manufacturing quality seems to be rather poor

They are very good for music and HT alike however they might not have as much bass as you want. I found the amount of bass felt/heard to be largely based on your position...perhaps this is merely a flaw in my medium-sized basement. Anyway, they are really good speakers except the first one I got, the tweeter was scratched and the second one I got the midrange had obtrusions and small scratches on it...I'm just concerned about JBL's quality control....

Similar Products Used:

Old Pioneer's

good build quality, traditional design, clarity

none so far

Glad to see 312 category finally showed up!! Any rate I have been very happy with these speakers, both for HT and music listening. I find they have plenty of bass on even marginal source material, with controls set flat. I think that fairly centered, and ear level for the listener is where they shine best, but just about any location tolerable. I really cant wait often to get home and put on a record or CD and enjoy the sound. The clarity is definitely there, and highs not to bright. At least the pair I got the build quality seems very high. JBL hype-type advertising kind of bugs me, but always felt most of their speakers were right on target. Again, I have not been disappointed. I feel that I really got a good deal at $520 + 60 for shipping for the pair.
I did try the Northridge 310's orginally, and was a little disappointed. Looking back, I think in the area of clairty and prescence, especially whey volume low. (apt dweller, and sometimes have to do that!!) Highly recommend

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, JBL

Clear highs and mid range, excellent bass, built very well, look very nice

sort of heavy

I use these strictly for music, don't do the A/V thing(not that there's anything wrong with that). After wasting nearly eight years of my life listening to a Polk sub/sat system, I bought the 312s after reading the reviews here, they sound so good. Bought them from J&R Music for 594.00 shipping included(why does anybody buy from Crutchfield?)I hooked the vintage Kenwood KA-9100 amp. I have a copy of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" on MFSL CDs, I couldn't ask for anything to sound better. You won't regret buying these.

Similar Products Used:

Polk