JBL ES10 manual Short Form, Setup

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testreports

Ken C. Pohlmann

JBL

ES Series home theater speaker system

and 180°), and LFE/stereo line inputs. A switch toggles between LFE (for the mono low-frequency-effects channel on Dolby Digital and DTS tracks) and Normal (for a regular stereo input), with the crossover adjustment bypassed when the former set- ting is selected. All six speakers are faced with removable black grilles.

SETUP

Installing the JBLs didn’t present any unusual obstacles. I placed the ES80 tow- ers 10 feet apart, about 1 foot out from the front wall, and toed them in to face the listening position. The towers are supplied with threaded spiked feet, but I used the included rubber feet instead. As with any floorstanders, the proximity of the drivers to my tile floor created a reflection that colored the direct sound path. To mitigate this, I placed throw rugs on the floor in front of each cabinet.

The ES25C center speaker went below my TV. Its vertical angle was good, so I didn’t adjust its feet. I placed the ES10 surrounds on speaker stands in the back of the room. I wish they had the same adjustable feet as the center speaker so I could have aimed them down a bit.

Subwoofer performance is very depen-

Having used JBL speakers in recording studios and at home for many years, there’s some- thing about them I’ve always

found reassuring. I may or may not have warmed to the voicing of a particular model, but I’ve always respected what I’ve heard. So when cartons bearing the famil- iar orange JBL logo arrived on my door- step recently, I was eager to check out the company’s latest efforts.

The ES Series occupies JBL’s upper- middle price range, a hotly contested market where prospective buyers know what sounds good but don’t want to spend stupid amounts of money to get it. I unpacked two ES80 towers, an ES25C center speaker, two ES10 surrounds, and an ES250P subwoofer. With their sizable bulk filling my listening room, I expected significant sonic results.

The ES80 tower stands waist-high. Its trapezoidal cabinet, which widens in front and tapers to the rear, looks very stylish. (All of the satellites, and the subwoofer, work the trapezoidal styling angle.) The

ES80’s five vertical drivers are a pair of 6-inch woofers, a 4-inch midrange, and

amodule with two 3⁄4-inch tweeters, one covering the normal high-frequency range and the other covering ultra-high frequen- cies. This same module appears in the other satellites as well. Two pairs of stout binding posts allow mono- or bi-amping. There’s also a rear-firing port.

The ES25C center speaker uses an MTM (midrange/tweeter/midrange) driver con- figuration, with a pair of 5-inch midranges flanking the tweeter module. Adjusting the ported cabinet’s two feet can lower its vertical angle. The ES10 surrounds are direct-firing, with one 4-inch driver and the tweeter module. There are two mount- ing brackets on the back and two ports on top. Make darn sure the kids don’t drop pennies in there — or your car keys.

The ES250P subwoofer sports a front- firing 12-inch driver, a downward-firing port, and an amplifier rated at 400 watts. Its control set provides adjustments for level and crossover frequency (50 to 150 Hz with a 24-dB/octave slope), phase (0°

dent on room acoustics and on the sub

The Short Form

Snapshot

Classic JBL sound quality+from towers and a massive sub, complemented by a tonally matched center speaker and surrounds

Plus

Loud, natural sound – Clean high-frequency extension

Solid low-frequency extension Robust construction

Minus

:: Sizable cabinets require a sizable room

:: Sound may be too bright and forward for some

Price $2,395 (as tested)

70 july/august 2008 SOUND & VISION

soundandvisionmag.com