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Bronze Member Username: Stereo_geniousUSA Post Number: 47 Registered: Jul-05 | What do you guys think of the JBL E100s? If you think that the E90s are better, please give me a good reason why they are? Also, how would JBL speakers sound when paired with a Marantz receiver? |
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Gold Member Username: Paul_ohstbucksPost Number: 1799 Registered: Jan-05 | Mike, Either of them are decent for the price. I'd recommend listening to them both, and deciding for yourself. Me personally???...those who say the E90s are better are full of crap. They're just self rationalizing their personal 'tiny' speaker choice and self rationalizing to themselves why small woofers are better since they own tiny speakers themselves. In reality, the E100 is the flagship of that line, and dont let anybody tell you differently. If you can afford the extra $100 and like the sound ......buy the flagship model. |
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Bronze Member Username: Stereo_geniousUSA Post Number: 49 Registered: Jul-05 | Thanks for the input. Also, in 20 years, will traditional tower speakers become extinct and replaced with tiny slim tower speakers with eight cheesy 3-inch drivers? That's how it seems to me, and it's driving me nuts! Athena, for example, discontinued their AS line and replaced them with a new line that consists of those thin "tower speakers" I mentioned. Don't get me if I am wrong, but if this is the case, then I will probably be stuck with tiny speakers for the rest of my life! |
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Gold Member Username: Paul_ohstbucksPost Number: 1801 Registered: Jan-05 | There will always be large beefy towers being sold, but unfortunately these days it's becoming less common in the intermediate price range. What are you planning on using your speakers for?? Are these going to be blasting rock music at obscene volume levels??? |
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Silver Member Username: Stu_pittNYC, NY Post Number: 357 Registered: May-05 | Mike - Paul is notorious for the bigger is better approach in speakers. It can sound better or worse, depending on what you're looking for. In general, a larger woofer will put out more sound and lower frequencies; a smaller one won't. But a smaller speaker can be more accurate. Bigger woofers can give you the loose rattling type of bass that you often hear from a car, whereas a smaller woofer can give you tight and quick bass. A large woofer that is as accurate as a smaller one and goes deeper will be a lot more expensive. These are generalizations, but hold true more often than not. Personally, I'd rather hear the bass from my PSB towers with two 6.5" woofers than bass from from a 12" Cerwin Vega woofer, but that's just me. Your best bet is to listen to listen to both of them and compare. You may like the E100's a lot better than the E90's, or vice versa. That's up to you and only you to decide. I don't have any idea how JBL's will sound with a Marantz receiver. The best way to decide is to try them out for yourself. I'm pretty sure Best Buy will let you bring them back within a certain time frame without a restocking fee. Try them out in your home and make a decision based on that, not on what a few people on a message board have to say. Just make sure they won't charge you if you return them. |
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Bronze Member Username: RsxmanPost Number: 32 Registered: Jul-05 | Um Athena didn't discontinue their AS line, in fact they just came out with the new AS-.2 series of speakers. Same as the first AS line but has different coloring. Mike stop freaking out about the size of the speakers. If they sound good like Orb audio, then tiny is cool. Products like Bang, B&W, API and Aperion are some of the best front runners in speaker technology, so I would look to them for what's in future for speakers. |
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Bronze Member Username: Stereo_geniousUSA Post Number: 50 Registered: Jul-05 | I am not thinking of buying these speakers right now. (can't afford them as I am only a college student with a part-time grocery-store job.) I'm actually planning on what kind of stereo to buy 15 years down the road when I'm out on my own working full-time. |
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Bronze Member Username: Stereo_geniousUSA Post Number: 51 Registered: Jul-05 | Also, do the PSB's sound bright or warm? How good do they sound? I ask this because I have seen a pair of PSB speakers with a 6.5-inch mid-woofer and a 10-inch woofer. Are those any good? How good is PSB? Also what amplifier/preamp/prepro would they sound best with? |
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Silver Member Username: Stu_pittNYC, NY Post Number: 358 Registered: May-05 | Paul - "They're just self rationalizing their personal 'tiny' speaker choice and self rationalizing to themselves why small woofers are better since they own tiny speakers themselves." Great line. Just one problem with it. I have towers with two 6.5" woofers in it (PSB Image T55's). Are these tiny? Am I trying to rationalize buying tiny speakers because I wanted bigger speakers but my wife wouldn't let me have them? While most people have to compromise with their significant other, I didn't in this area. I got exactly what I wanted. So why didn't I buy a pair of speakers with huge woofers in them? Because they sounded like crap!!! I listened to pairs of speakers that had big woofers and they sounded like teenage car bass (I used to have a system like that in my car, but I've moved on). The bass from my towers put all of them to shame. And they actually have equally good mids and highs. Try listening to music again and maybe you'll realize there's more to bass than woofer size. |
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Silver Member Username: Joe_cOakwood, Ga Post Number: 826 Registered: Mar-05 | Depending on which line, PSB's are relatively neutral, which is much better than bright or warm Mike. |
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Bronze Member Username: Stereo_geniousUSA Post Number: 53 Registered: Jul-05 | What about the Stratus line? |
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Silver Member Username: Joe_cOakwood, Ga Post Number: 828 Registered: Mar-05 | Quite neutral, a very nice speaker line. Great on Mac amps(which is what I heard them on). |
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Silver Member Username: Stu_pittNYC, NY Post Number: 359 Registered: May-05 | Mike - I listened to countless speakers in the $1000-$1500 price range (Paradigm, B&W, Jamo, Klipsch, Definitive, Mirage, Acoustic Energy, just to name a few) and bought the T55's. I was going to buy them before the huge discount I got (right place at the right time). To me they were the hands down winner. The T65's were a little better, but noit worth the extra money to me. Warm, bright, etc. are all subjective terms. I consider them neutral to very slightly warm, and have heard them charecterised as warm by others. A lot of people charecterize a speaker as either bright or warm with no in between, which is wrong. A lot of people pair them up with NAD components. I own a C320BEE integrated amp and NAD 523 CD changer. NAD and PSB are owned by the same company, but I think it is strictly financial thing. They aren't designed or built by the same people. People have liked the combination since before they were both bought out. I don't know which PSB speaker you were referring to with 6.5" and 10" woofer; maybe the Stratus Gold? If so, those are some of the best speakers I've ever heard. I heard those on a McIntosh system, and it was unreal. Check out their website for more on PSB - http://psbspeakers.com |
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Silver Member Username: Stu_pittNYC, NY Post Number: 360 Registered: May-05 | Joe -I think our posts crossed. |
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Gold Member Username: Paul_ohstbucksPost Number: 1805 Registered: Jan-05 | As it relates to HT(regardless of speaker choice),a behemoth sub should suppliment the fronts because of the ever increasingly demanding movie soundtracks. If you plan to hear many of the new releases as intended, you'll need to go very deep. SVS, anyone??? HEH... |
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Silver Member Username: Joe_cOakwood, Ga Post Number: 829 Registered: Mar-05 | Stu, I heard the golds on a mac setup and thought they were great....until I heard the platinum towers on macs and was completely blown away, of course I didn't have the 5-6k for the towers at the time so I had to pass. lol |