Compact size, wall mountable, affordable, sound better than anything else I've ever owned.

None

Use them as front speakers in my surround system and I couldn't be happier. If you want some bass add a sub. I have them mounted on the wall and they match our wall color pretty close (offwhite). I'm not an adiophile so I can't speak to their clarity compared to others. But they are compact for 3ways, and they sound good to me.

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Technics

Straightforward sound for the money.

Colorations in multiple frequency points, limit of reality in vocals.

Matched with excellent Onkyo and NAD equipment that has made maggies others sing, I unfortunately found a lot of real emotion in the speakers. They sound somewhat forced and clear emphasis of certain frequencies (probably near the crossover points) exists even when mounted on isolated stands, never mind how the wall colors the sound. Excellent for the money though so good value rating, but there are clearly better products out there. Of course I'm not getting paid by JBL and my choices are n't limited, so I have an unfettered ear. I sold them 1 month later for some real speakers for the guest room. Could have relegated them to surround duty but others are smoother there as well.

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Aperion, NHT, Magnepan

Excellent coherent sound from upper bass to the top of the freq range. Good Dynamic contrast at low and high volumes. Clear, extended, open sound with good detail and timing.

Weak bass, but then this is by design as they were designed for use as rears in a HT setup with a sub.

I can't say enough good things about this surprising speaker. Bought it to use as rears, put it on top of my front speaker to see how it sounds, and it has stayed there since! Works a treat with my Paradigm PS1000 subwoofer. Good for both HT and stereo. Articulation, rhythm and timing of music from these speakers are very clear and enjoyable. The front speakers my S36's are now sitting on are no slouch either - Dynaudio 20's which cost more than twice as much. I've owned lots of speakers, but this one is the most impressive for the money.

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In my main stereo set, I am using a pair of Apogee Calipers, Sunfire power amp and Audio Research SP9 preamp.

Exceptionally well-designed. Solid feel. Great sound and ease of installtion. They come with a template so that you will drill the hoses properly, mounting screws, wall cushion pads, and even a level.

The mounting screws, which allow the speaker to point downward at a slight angle, are just barely long enough to go through 5/8" drywall to a the wall stud. Another 1/4" would have been comforting.

Installed the AW (all-weather) version this week in my house. Chose AW (rather than black) because they are an inconspicous off-white color and blend in very well with the living room walls. Hardly noticeable. The best instructions I have ever seen with a consumer electronics item. Speakers are mounted high in a large room with 17 foot ceilings. I am using them only for straight 2-channel stereo (running them off the "B" speaker terminals of a Sony Home Theater Receiver). They fill the room well and the bass is more than adequate. These speakers are one of the best designed products that I have ever seen.

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Wharfedale Emerald 93s.

Superb sound. Compact. Versatile.

None

I purchased a pair of JBL S26 several months ago and love them. I use the S26's with the suberb JBL s-center channel speaker. I wanted to add another pair of JBL studio speakers for the rear surround channels and the S36's seemed like a great choice. They were! They have more detail than the front S26's. They are remarkably detailed and yet natural sounding. The version that I purchased are the indoor/outdoor S36AW. They are the same as the S36 except that this version can also be used outdoors due to weather resistant cabinets. They are wall mountable and JBL supplies template, mounting screws and even a bubble level. Much of the JBL line is medicore. Their Studio Series however, is great! These speakers use the same midrange and tweeter as the costlier S38. Recently, I audtioned the S36's against the Bose 251 which had been widely regarded as the best outdoor speaker on the market. The JBL's outshined the Bose 251's in every area with ease. It wasn't even close! They were two levels better than the Bose. I strongly recommend these terrific speakers to anyone looking for what is possibly the best and most versatile speaker available.

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Polk

LOOKS,STYLE,DESIGN,FLEXIBLITY,SUBERB AUDIO RANGE,BLISTERING HIGH END,SWEET MIDS..SIMPLY EVERYTHING.

ABSOLUTELY NONE..CASE CLOSE!

My search is finally over.Oh the life of an audiophile..we never give up until the right speaker presents itself.Thanks to the folks at JBL my hometheater/music system is finally complete.The absolute best surround speakers for the money. 1.ONKYO~TX-DS989 RECIEVER. 2.ONKYO~DV-S939 DVD AUDIO PLAYER. 3.SONY~C555ES SUPER AUDIO PLAYER 4.INFINITY OVERTURE 3 FRONT SPEAKERS 5.INFINITY CC3 CENTER CHANNEL SPEAKERS. 6.JBL S-36 SURROUND SPEAKERS(WELCOME TO THE FAMILY) 7.VALEDYNE 12" SUBWOOFER 8.MONSTER~REFERENCE POWER CENTER~HTS2500.

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INFINITY,POLK,SONY.

loud clear for mid sized speakers

none

very very clean all around speaker good mid bass and very clear highs i have 4 s36 and a s center and a power bass sub pb12 paid $1050 including tax canadian i think the are the best speaker you can find for that size

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jbl 900, bose, parabila ,sony ,AR, and athena''s

Great sound clarity, wall-mountable, gorgeous speaker with/without grill, price

none

These speakers are exceptional for surround speakers (and I am sure when used as regular bookshelf speakers also). I am running a 7.1 system and am using 4 S36 speakers (2 for the sides and 2 for the single rear channel). When playing any DVD that really gives the surround speakers a work out (Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, The Haunting, etc.), the results are incredible. If you close your eyes and just listen, you can hear the crowd around you like you were standing in the middle of the Coliseum, hear the gun shots and waves like you were storming the beach on D-Day, and feel the walls breathe like you were standing next to Catherine Zeta-Jones with your hand on her ass in The Haunting. I would strongly suggest these speakers and any other in the JBL Studio Line to anyone, especially for your surround speakers.

Mitsubishi WS-65857 Widescreen HD-Ready TV
Denon AVR-5800
Sony DVP-650D
JBL S38 Fronts
JBL S-Center
JBL S36 X 4 Surrounds

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bose, infinity, etc

perfect match for other studio series speakers

they are big, but can be wall-mounted and have threads for stands

have been using these for a month, added them to my s-38's and s-center's for a matching set. so far they seem to fit in very well with the others. i like the fact they are 3-ways. i made some custom stands for them using heavy plastic plumbing pipes. if you are looking for a good price set of home theater speakers the studio series is a good choice

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cerwin vega

Wall mountable, good frequency range despite being a wall mountable speaker, clear excfellent highs

None at this price

Current System...
Denon 3802
4 JBL S38
2 JBL S36
1 JBL S Center
JBL PSW-D112 Subwoofer
JVC XVS65GD DVD Player
Sony Basic Casette Recorder
RCA 32" TV

I recently purchased the Denon replacing a Pioneer A/V reciever. great piecvce of equipment. Initially I wasn't going to use the extra two channels but playing around with some old speakers changed my mind.

I really wanted to match speakers all around as closely as possible as I listen to a lot of music in 5/7 channel stereo.

I a 12x20 room I was out of space as the S38's are quite large for a bookshelf speaker (and quite good). Another factor was the Denon isn't quite as bright as the Pioneer was and I like a slightly bright sound.

I languished over this decision and even considered mounting another set of S38's by building ceiling mounts. The other folks here have rated this well but with only 10 reviews.

The S36 uses identical drivers as the S38's do so I new it would be a close match there but was concerned about the timbre because of the different enclosures.

Well, I'm glad that I got the S36's as they were very easy to mount and fit perfectly high up on the wall. All I needed was 4 #10x2" screws to mount them. It took maybe 20 minutes to mount them and start using them.

Well bottom line...Slightly brigter than the S38's rounding out the sound field perfectly and sounds just great in 7 channel stereo plus greeat in DTS-ES and DD-EX.

I'd recommend these very highly for surrounds and even fronts depending on the listening tastes of the user and the other equipment used.

For wall mounts I don't know of anything else even close for the price.

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JBL S38, Yamahas, Many different speaker types and models over 30 years