Its Down to NHT and JBL..... (1 Viewer)

[Mark Russ]

Blah blah blah Phil. As usual, more of the same old same old from you where you take only the good parts from reviews of JBL speakers and only the most negative thing you can dig up on a review of whatever other brand of speaker that they are being compared to and post it here.

I simply don't care enough to respond in kind by taking the time to go digging all of that up, editing out what I see fit (as you do), and then coping and pasting it here.

If you are going to go that route, then post the whole review of the NHT:

http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeak...721/index.html

Geez man, don't take it so personally whenever somebody suggests another brand is better than JBL. Maybe you must have missed the part where I said I also own a pair of S38IIs myself in addition to the SB3s and basically praised the JBLs. But they are simply not in the same class as the NHTs whether you want to admit it or not.

 

[JerryMa]

As someone who's about to make a decision on a purchase that I'll have to live with for a while, I've found all the opinions expressed so far in this thread to be very valuable. Whether you're a fan of one brand of speaker over another doesn't matter, IMHO; what counts is the sharing of knowledge and personal experience. And in the end, what matters even more than the opinions, reviews, and graphs, is what ultimately sounds best to the potential buyer.

 

[John S]

Well in my case.. Mark. If I find a real sceaming deal on some SB3's I think I will pick them up and see.

I don't discount your opinion whatsoever. I actually plotted my S38's with a scope, calibrated mic and all that with my Denon 4802. As a washed up recording engineer, I was floor'd by the flatness was all. I auditioned a lot of speakers in virtually all price ranges before I chose the s38's. I never ran the SB3's head to head against them though. But I must admit, I know two people that went from some very high end speakers to the SB3's because they felt the same way. I had to agree, they are killer. Only speaker I have come to really like with less than an 8" Woof out there.

Thanks for the additional information on your experiences with both of them.

 

[Alan M]

As a past owner of numerous speaker brands(jbl,fluance,dcm,polk,maggies,and others I've forgotten),The most important part of a speaker purchase doesnt come with the speakers.Its your ears(and the size of your wallet).Opinions are a great place to get a basis for auditioning,but what it really comes down to is "this brand(insert name)sounded best to me ,so thats what I purchased".

Happy speaker shopping.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Let me 'apologize to Mark Russ', ... for defending my choice and enthusiasm for JBL's in general.

HTF MEMBERS & MODERATOR'S: I didn't mean to have him resort in a childish attitude of demeaning my style of posting in HTF with my subjective experience's and researched INFO!

SORRY MARK! Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers! I'm more than thrilled that you love your NHT's, ... Please show me and the other JBL owners the same respect.

-----

BACK TO JerryMa: I'm glad you can see that peoples opinions can get rather personal, ... though it's usually under the "HSU vs. SVS" threads!!! But as you can see, it can happen to any personal favorite brand(s).

Alan M said it best ...


So, based on ALL THE POSTS ABOVE, ... go and have fun audition using your familiar CD's (I think you wrote this Friday) and choose what sounds great to you sonically!

Phil

 

[John S]

Aldamon.. I know the E30's are spec'd +/- 3db to 50hz...

But all I can say is, that everytime I encounter them in a system, I have to set the xover at 100hz or I get a serious gap on the meter during calibration if I leave it at default 80hz.

Could have been the rooms admittedly. Only 2 or 3 installations, but it seemed consistant.

 

[Mark Russ]

Guys I just want to make it clear, I have a pair of JBL S38IIs, and I like them very much.

The NHT SB3s require a lot of power and juice behind them to really make them sing, really, as much as a pair of towers would.

Not that the JBLs don't also benefit from more and better amplification, but they don't really need as much power to shine since they are more sensitive and efficient.

One edge I would give to the S38IIs is that they are to my ears a more neutral sounding speaker that will mate well with a wide variety of receivers/amps, even Yamaha.

I feel the NHTs are much better with NAD, HK, Marantz, etc.

But if someone put a gun to my head and forced me to choose to give up one pair or the other, the JBLs would be leaving!

As someone else said, audition for yourself, if possible, in your very room, on your associated equipment, and with your own music. This is what I have actually done myself, and I think the NHTs are better, and by a substantial margin at that. But there's no telling what others may like better. You may very well like the JBLs better though. Hell, some people even think Bose sounds great!

 

[Mark Russ]

Phil, I apologize to you if I over-reacted. Everybody here that knows you well enough can very clearly see your agenda and take it for what it's worth in their view through a very obvious pattern that has developed time and time again, and I should have let that simple fact speak for itself.

But I felt the point should be made about you always finding only the most negative part of a review you can dig up on any other brand of speakers and posting it here, something that you would never do for your beloved JBLs where only the high praise parts of the review will ever see the light of day here from you.

 

[Mark Russ]

John S, you can find SB3s on ebay new in box for about $400 shipped. NHT is replacing this line in the fall, so some deals may be out there to be had soon.

 

[John S]

Thanks again Mark.....

Do the SB3's have a built in way to bi-amp them? That would be a very attractice feature for me over the S38's.

 

[Mark Russ]

John, they do not. Just like the S38IIs, the SB3s have only one set of speaker wire binding posts per speaker.

If you could stretch your budget a little, the NHT ST4 tower speaker is basically the same as a SB3, but with a built in pasive subwoofer that can be bi-amped. You can get these new in box off of ebay for about $700 shipped, plus you won't have to buy stands for them, so the cost gap is futher reduced.

If you actually have to use a bookshelf for either the SB3 or the S38II, you can on either. The NHT is a sealed acoustic suspension design while the JBL is front ported. This is actually how I use both of my pairs. The JBL can also be flipped in any way with tweeters on top or bottom, in towards the center or out towards the sides. The JBL logo can even be flipped over to accomadate these placement options.

 

[John S]

I'll wait for a way deal if I do it.
I have two many projects going right now in my life.


I own Qty-10 S38's right now all on my 7.1 system.

I'm not so sure, I could ever aquire 10 of the same speaker ever again really.

I actually just emailed an HT friend that uses the SB3's and loves them and asked him if he wanted to do a little experiement where we trade for a few weeks. The performance of my S38's are what made him want to change speakers in the first place from his B&W's that he just never seemed happy with.

I had to admit, the SB3's sound sweet over there. I know he will think me nuts on the trade idea.

 

[Mark Russ]

John, I think that sounds like a great idea! That way, you can know for sure one way or the other which you like better and there will be no doubt. Just make sure you both give it enough time to get "used" to the new, umfamiler sound.

I run my JBL S38IIs with Adcom equipment, NHTs with NAD.

I got my S38IIs for $300 new, NHT's for $375 new.

 

[John S]

yeah.. were both Denon heads.. he uses a 3805, I use a 4802....

 

[aldamon]

My E30s arrived yesterday, so I'll have to check this out. I was hoping to keep my crossover at 80 on my 1014, but I can live with 100 if that's what's necessary.

This might be a dumb question, but is there a particular test on AVIA that would easily check for this gap or will my test tone CD (for my BFD) suffice?

 

[John S]

I dunno, I always just use the simple test tones off the AVR as most these days are full range noise.

I have been curious, so I am eager for your results.

Seems a pretty popular speaker.. The 100hz cross is no big deal either at all. These are living room enviroments, I find in living room environments in general, I have to cross at 100hz fairly often because of room issues / reflections / canellations ect..ect.. I have not delved to much into auto eq as of yet though. I tried it with a Pioneer 1014 recently, and no thanks, I'll stick to test tones and db meters.