Customer Reviews

JBL GTO638 6.5-Inch 3-Way Speakers (Pair)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The speakers, themselves, are terrific! They are solidly built and the sound is great considering their size. Also, and as always, Amazon shipped these speakers to me quickly and inexpensively. The package arrived in pristine and factory-sealed condition in just a few days.

The problems that I encountered were with the lack of viable directions and the speaker mounting systems. One could forgo the directions and simply use the holes in the frame of the speakers and mount them directly--without the included mounting system plates and hardware. The old Audiovox ones that I replaced were so mounted. But, after watching the JBL video, I decided to use the JBL mounting plate system. That's when the troubles began.

The instructions consist only of a number of unlabeled drawings on a fold-out sheet that are exploded views of a large variety of JBL speakers and their various mountings. Trying to figure out which drawings went with my speakers and in what order and orientations the parts went together was quite a challenge. But, more importantly, there was NOT ONE written word included on the instruction foldout regarding how to identify and orient the parts or how install the speakers. There were no written directions at all! In other words, the instructions were virtually useless. A step-by-step set of instructions should have been included, but weren't.

The mounting plate idea is a good one and the plate, itself, went on easily (though I had to supply the sheet metal screws to mount it to the door panel). There were tiny little screws included which would have mounted the speakers to either the metal mounting plate or the plastic plate (if that option was chosen). But, the speaker covers (grilles) must use the same mounting holes as in the frame of the speakers and the speaker frames, themselves, must be oriented to use the four raised and threaded holes in the mounting plate. Long story short, two screws cannot share the same hole. So the short screws could not be used at all, unless the grilles were left off. Also there were no included longer screws that would go all the way through mounting holes in both the grilles and the speaker frames and into the mounting plate. So, I had to make a trip to the hardware store with one of the short ones and a grille and mounting frame to find some long screws. They turned out to be metric. While the eight long screws weren't expensive, a trip to the hardware store was a pain. Then, when I went to mount the speakers and the grilles to the re-mounted plate, I ran into more trouble. The holes in the grilles were slightly off line with the holes in the mounting plate. Any one screw could be started easily but, unless that one screw was barely into the threads on the plate, no other screws could be threaded in. It took quite a long time (and some additional help) to get all four of the long screws forced into the threaded holes in the plate at the same time. I ended up using a heavy string as a kind of band clamp to pull them in. The differences in the hole alignments was not great, but the very fine threads of the screws (matched to the threads in the plate) kept the screws from starting unless the alignment was perfect. I could have enlarged the speaker side of the grill holes, too, I guess, but didn't want to tear them up.

Lastly, the grille sides are not deep enough to go flush to the surface on which the mounting plates are mounted. About a 1/4th-inch gap between the surface and the grilles was left after all the screws were finally fully tightened. I suppose that if one was mounting through padded door panels that this would be okay, but I was mounting on a hard surface.

In conclusion, while the JBL speakers, themselves, are obviously highly engineered and robust, the lack of any instructions and proper mounting screws, coupled with poor fitment of the mounting system really turned me off. I've installed a lot of speakers in my vehicles in my 62 years, but have never encountered such difficulties before. JBL could easily correct these problems and should do so.

i always liked the bass power of JBL's and their quality in sound and production. since i installed them on my car i have been very satisfied with them. i would recommend it to everyone who wants to really enjoy the music while driving.

Replaced MPV stock speakers and they really do rock. 3-way makes treble/highs sound amazing. Great deal

Bought these to replace in 95 maxima. This car had the original powered Bose system. Was`pretty good for the time. Heard these in a friend's car and was blown away. These speakers are being powered by a JVC head unit @ 50w per speaker and sound amazing. It took me some time to get them dialed in with the 3 band EQ. Once I did they ROCK!!! The only thing that I would add in another car would be a 10" sub to help with the low end. It has plenty of high end. A good sub with a mono amp would make this system complete. Don't hesitate to buy. A guy heard these at the install place and told him to buy on Amazon. He is going replace some Alpines with these and keep his sub. I would love to hear his system when done.

Perfect, price, support, quality... its all i ever wanted, besides that i have guarantee for a year, really good actually im thinking about buying another pair.

I have a Honda Accord and I bought the car used... All the speakers were blown so i bought these knowing Harman makes great audio products. These speakers are amazing... if you have a small car, you will not need a subwoofer if you change your eq accordingly, if you have a large truck...get a jbl sub if you must. im very pleased with the gto series i bought.

I've always been a little skeptical about JBL, but after trying out my friends JBL headphones I was Damn nice, so I decided to give the car speakers a shot. Sure the price seem a little high but JBL is also a very known brand. I decided to change the speakers because the stock speakers on my car were not the best, so I bought these speakers to replace the rear ones first. I have an 08 Honda Civic it was a little hard to install these speakers , but then again I'm not really a handy person so it may be easier for others. Long story short yes these bad boys are better than stock I would recommend them but if you want their full potential you'll need and amp installed. Oh.... & one thing that I was somewhat disappointed was that JBL does NOT include any screws of any type so you will need to have the screws, nuts and bolts in order to install this speakers. Overall the speakers do sound better than the stock ones so if you know JBL than I don't think you will hesitate on getting them.

Great speakers, put them in my toyota tundra and sounds amazing would recommend this to anyone looking to improve there speakers at an affordable price

great product the sound good.and it was fast shipping on there part. the speakers are still only car 6 months later sound just like they did on day one

I love the bass that this speaker has. It's better than my Kickers (previously had). I've only upgraded my speaker and didn't do all the subwoofer and amp stuff. It sounds really great and I am very happy with the upgrade. Sound is crystal clear and no distortion compared to my Kickers. Overall, a great recommendation if you only want to upgrade your car speakers.