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Any JBL experts here? I Need advice... (1 Viewer)

Mark--M

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Apr 20, 2005
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Hi guys, im currently using JBL northridge ND-310s (3 way double 10s) for fronts and I love them. Ive bought and sold alot of gear through the years but these have always been my favorite. Unfortunately they are simply not going to fit in our new built in entertainment center so i need to downsize for our new living room. Im using a home built avalance 15 sub so these speakers are probably overkill anyway, have plenty of base from the sub.


Id prefer to stay with JBL if possible. Im looking for something in a fair size bookshelf speaker. I would sort of prefer to stay with at least an 8in woofer. I hate the sound of a system with a gap between small speakers and a sub. Most of the new speakers today are 6" or smaller so im thinking about trying to track down an older good used set.


Im thinking about maybe the studio S-38s (3 way 8 inch). These have awesome reviews, i had a set once and liked them, but honestly i prefered my ND-310s. The larger tweeter on the studio line sounded a little dull to me. Still sounded very good though. These would probably work fine for me to be honest.


Also looking at Northridge E-50's (3 way 8 inch). These are the exact same layout as the S-38s but are in the northridge line. Im wondering if the midrange and tweeter would be the same as in my ND-310s and sound more like what I have now?


Also sort of thinking about the newer Studio L830 (3 way 6 inch) but im very skeptical of a 6in woofer. Going from double 10s to a single 6 is a big change lol. These are a little more more money too but also have great reviews. Any advice?
 

gene c

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Mark--M said:
Hi guys, im currently using JBL northridge ND-310s (3 way double 10s) for fronts and I love them. Ive bought and sold alot of gear through the years but these have always been my favorite. Unfortunately they are simply not going to fit in our new built in entertainment center so i need to downsize for our new living room. Im using a home built avalance 15 sub so these speakers are probably overkill anyway, have plenty of base from the sub.


Id prefer to stay with JBL if possible. Im looking for something in a fair size bookshelf speaker. I would sort of prefer to stay with at least an 8in woofer. I hate the sound of a system with a gap between small speakers and a sub. Most of the new speakers today are 6" or smaller so im thinking about trying to track down an older good used set.


Im thinking about maybe the studio S-38s (3 way 8 inch). These have awesome reviews, i had a set once and liked them, but honestly i prefered my ND-310s. The larger tweeter on the studio line sounded a little dull to me. Still sounded very good though. These would probably work fine for me to be honest.


Also looking at Northridge E-50's (3 way 8 inch). These are the exact same layout as the S-38s but are in the northridge line. Im wondering if the midrange and tweeter would be the same as in my ND-310s and sound more like what I have now?


"Also sort of thinking about the newer Studio L830 (3 way 6 inch) but im very skeptical of a 6in woofer. Going from double 10s to a single 6 is a big change lol. These are a little more more money too but also have great reviews. Any advice?"

I can't help with the first part as I'm hardly a JBL expert, but I did recently pick up a good pair of used L830's (in cherry) and the bass response is actually quite surprising. I won't say they can keep up with speakers having 10's in them but for their size, quite impressive. Also, the over-all sound quality of the Studio series should be quite a bit better then the Northridge. But of course, that's up to the listener. The L830's have an excellent mid-range and even though they have a tweeter and a "super" tweeter they really aren't anywhere near as bright as I expected them to be. They really are an excellent speaker and I wish I had given them a listen years ago.
 

Citizen87645

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Cameron Yee
I have the Studio 38s and will probably have them until I die. That said, the landscape format makes finding stands for them a bit difficult and placement a challenge if space is an issue. I do think they can be had fairly easily on EBay, but usually in beech finish, not black.
 

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