JBL Studio 280 Dual 6.5-Inch 3-Way Floorstanding Loudspeaker - Each

the sound is GREAT as well as the way they are built very happy with them. keep up the great work JBL.Thank you,Gary

Buy together with CD player Tascam CD-200BT, amplifier Marantz PM6006 and Yamaha subwoofer YST-SW315 and you will have a blastYes, they need a subwoofer to supplement the exiting ones if you are into hip-hop or rap music

I have been looking for a long time to upgrade my speakers to replace my toasted L86 speakers that were 30 years old. I looked at the stuido 5 series as well, as the older studio 1 series. Admittedly these are a little cheaper than the 5 series but a lot more expensive than the older 1 series.The studio 280s seem to be overlooked as I did not find a lot of reviews, but there was some diiscussion on the AVS forum that painted this series 2 speakers in a positive light. I wasn't thrilled with the competing Polk or Klipsch models but really where I live if its not in a big box store you won't be able to try them out. Fortunately Amazon does have a return policy. I was all set to buy the studio 270 speakers at 399 when I noticed that Amazon had for a very short time reduced the price of these to 416 and change. So that made it an easy choice to get the dual 6.5 drivers for an extra 15 bucks each.The speakers arrived but one of them was improperly packaged. This was a JBL box so I can't really fault Amazon for that. One of the speakers had the protective packing tape over the drivers and during shipment the tape had pulled out the rim or one of the drivers. At first I was devastated but I looked at it again and was easily able to push the plastic ring back into place. The ring itself has a small indentation where they carelessly used some kind of plastic staple to hold the packing material together. I haven't freaked out too much because the driver cone itself is fine, and when the cover is on its hidden anyway. Still I felt it fair to dock a star for that.On to build quality. my old made in the USA classic JBL's had metal supprt rings around the drivers. And of course these are actually a coated vaneer rather than real wood cabinets, but I think the days of affordable speakers made with real wood are long gone. That being said, the speakers are very nice looking, with a glossy finish on the top and a small aluminum strip under it with the company logo. They should blend into a room just fine.Lastly and most important how did they sound? I won't kid you and tell you these are the equals of those classic JBL speakers from the 70s and 80s,but taken on their own merits they are quite good. The high end driver represents well and the horn configuration helps dispersing HF in a cluttered room such as I have. As expected the midrange is very nice, not too overpowering. With good source material and a decent AVR I have noticed a nice detailed sound overall, but perhaps not quite as good as the more expensive models of course. For listening to pure music these speakers are very good at producing a very pleasant, listenable and detailed experience that I liked a lot more than the Polks and Klipsch speakers i considered at the same price range.The 2 - 6.5 inch woofers offer nice tight bass. I'm not sure I would call it "Punchy", I feel that word is way overused. But listening to music they are able to provide some nice detailed bass, but not quite the kick of more expensive models. Still I have experienced little to no fatigue after listening to a lot of my music in trying out various types of music genres and sounds and am very happy with this purchase.However, if you plan on using these for home theater as I am, you absolutely need a good subwoofer. I would look elsewhere than jbl for this. I ended up buying a HSU Researech STF-2 ported subwoofer with a downfiring 10" driver. The speakers themselves will give nice high frequency and midrange sound with tight bass but add a real subwoofer and you've got a HT floor rumbling monster and if eq'd properly with a modern avr (I have the Pioneer vsx -1124-K, which has a 4 band subwoofer eq along with the rest of the auto eq function) you will get a lot more out of your music experience as well if you set the crossover at around 80hz, allowing the 280s to do what they do best and letting the subwoofer doing the heavy lifting. I should also add that I purchased the studio 235C center channel and it matches up perfectly with these speakers of course. I plan on buying some 230's to use as my surround speakers.Anyhow to sum it up, I was pretty happy at my purchase, especially getting the 280 pair on sale for only 30 dollars more total. Now the price has gone back up to 499. I know 800+ for a pair speakers are not cheap but you are getting very nice speakers, and in some ways I prefer the newer, more mellow sound of these over the older speakers the more I listen to them. Pair them up with an appropriate subwoofer and surround speakers and you pretty much have a kickass HT setup. Packaging issues aside, I love the sound of these the more I listen to them. I did dock these a star in my review but that was hardly amazon's fault. Overall I know I sound critical but when you compare to the competition you are really getting a fine floor standing speaker that should serve the mid-level enthusiast well. If you have the $$$ sure you can buy better speakers for a lot more money; to me these seemed a nice balance between price and performance. Performance wins. I'm keeping these!

I've been a JBL person from since my early 20's when I bought a pair of JBL Decades for my home stereo. Love these speakers!!

These are great speakers (bought 2 for stereo). Heavy well designed cabinet, but it is the sound and clarity that was more than I expected from these smaller speakers. Wait for the sales, do not buy at the list price as you will over pay.