JBL N26's or N28's ? (1 Viewer)

[Scott L]

I'm one of those bargain hunters that bought the NSP-1 system off buy.com a couple weeks ago. Well I set up the center chan and just 2 of the 4 N24's but wasn't that impressed. The center channel was definitely better than the one that came with my Kenwood HTB but the N24s just don't fill the room as good as the older (and cheaper) Kenwoods.

I made the decision to sell the other 2 N24's and upgrade to N28's for the mains instead. Well I went to Best Buy to audition them and liked how they seemed to give a much fuller sound but I also compared them with the smaller N26's. I have to say I didn't notice a big difference in the sound at all. The mids from the N28's just seemed louder but that's all I could make out from BB's test CD.

I was wondering if anyone has any of these speakers in their home and can tell me what you'd recommend based on how they sound in your house with movies and music. Just any experiences you've had with these speakers at all would be very helpful, thanks!

Scott

 

[MikeKaz]

If you're in a JBL mood, your best option would be to buy S38's off the internet. If you were going to buy your N28 at Best Buy for around the $280 listed on their site, you would be much better off spending that much on S-38's you can also get for $280 at a couple of merchants like bestpriceaudiovideo.com. The S-38's midrange sound in particular is outstanding. They have better bass than the n28's, their sound quality overall is better and they can play louder. Of course, if youre just looking for whatever speakers you can get in that price range, there's dozens of other models out there, but for great price vs. performace- get the s38's!

 

[DonnyD]

The S38 for mains would be outstanding with the N series pulling rear duty. Very lively and excellent performers.

A friend recently went from the Kenwoods that came with his HTB to some N26 JBL and we all noticed a night and day difference with the Ns being outstanding and much better imaging.

Last year I ran some blind tests of N26, Monitor Audio 3i, 5i, Energy RVS, and in was a unanimous win for the Ns !!! At the time I was trying to justify going all MA... but sold all of them and stayed with JBL......

 

[Scott L]

Thanks for the input guys. It looks like BB is having a sale on the N26's for $139.99. That's just too good a deal to pass up considering that I thought the differences with the N28's were minimal.
Note: $139.99 puts them $10 LESS than the N24's.

 

[Jeff Sch.]

I highly recommend the N26's for your main speaks for a small to mid size room. I have had them in my dorm since Christmas matched with a Kenwood Vr-507,N24rears,Ncenter, Sawm40 sub and a Toshiba sd1700 dvd player. They sound great. I have heard roomers that you need a good amp because they need the power to push them. I still havent calibrated them via Avia dvd so i figure they can only get better. Many people here at Drexel have sound systems that cost lots more than the $1000 i dropped including monster cables. Thier systems dont even compare. They all think this system cost me about $5000.

Good luck on your purchase