Customer Reviews

JBL Northridge E30 2-Way 6-Inch Bookshelf Speakers, Pair (Black Ash)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Guests who hear the music playing in my living room, immediately start looking for the big floor speakers. I love pointing to these little speakers and telling them "These are what you are listening to!"

These speakers have bright highs and a solid bass with real punch! They produce a sound much like large floor speakers without the footprint. I great buy! I highly recommend them.

I took a chance on these JBL E30s based in part on the reviews, then the price, and it paid off!!! As a past "audiophile high end snob" but now retired and on a VERY limited budget--for the money--the JBL E30s really respond to my HK AVR20 II's high-current output with clean definition, fast attack, and a surprisingly deep bass response even without the subwoofer turned on.

I thrive on acoustic instrument sound such as the Concert Grand piano solos (via Pro Piano CDs) or with orchestra, guitar solos/duos etc., The Moody Blues LPs, Tomita's electronic transcriptions of the classics, THE MIGHTY WURLITZER theatre organ (George Wright LIVES!), Big Band recordings and the like and want it accurately reproduced when I listen--either SERIOUSLY (in that seated "sweet spot") or as background sound when I'm moving about my digs catching up on my household chores. These speakers do it ALL. They handle the subtle nuances of Debussy or thunderous whomps from The King Of Instruments and sonically dynamic works like Rite Of Spring easily letting me bring out my old LPs--hearing them all over again as "new" adventures on my vintage turntable while I anticipate the arrival of my new Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Professional Direct-Drive Turntable (professional grade AR cartridge included!) and all from A'.com at remarkably reasonable prices. This site's a great place to find what you want without going bankrupt.

If you're looking for a highly capable and responsive pair of bookshelf speakers, I feel you can't go wrong the the JBL E30s. For the money, they're AWESOME.

I recently began upgrading my home audio by buying at Ebay 2 pairs of JBL E20s and 1 Pair E30s, an E25 center speaker and a Harmon Kardon AVR. I got the first pair of e20s a week ago and the 2nd pair of E20s and the E30 yesterday and the remaining stuff should be delivered by the weekend.

The E20s and E30s are listed as "Bookshelf Speakers." The E20s ARE bookshelf speakers. As I wrote in my review of the E20s, the E30s can only be thought of as bookshelf speakers if you last name is Kong and your first name is King! The E20s are heavy at 7lbs each, not flimsy little boxes as some cheapo bookshelves are. The E30s are HEAVY. HEAVY! 16 lbs each. (That is what my 7 qt lodge cast iron dutch oven weighs!) They are 15 inches high and 12 inches deep. They need to be placed on small end tables or speaker stands 18 to 24 inches off the floor.

I am very pleased with both the E20s and E30s. For small speakers, the E20s have some oomph and can be cranked up. The E30s have OOOMMPHHHH. They WANT to be cranked up. Yesterday I tried them out by listening to my mp3 files of the Animals Singles and Paul Revere and the Raiders Kicks. When cranked up, the E30s sound at least 1000% better than the the E20s. I hooked them up to my vintage JVC AV receiver circa 1989 that has 80 watts front and 20 watts rear power. At a little over half volume my ears began to hurt. You can really feel the bass and the drums kick.

I also listened to about 2 hours of The Doors via Rhapsody with the audio out from my computer to the audio in on my receiver. I have been listening to this music since it was first played on the airwaves back in the 60s. The E30s are simply incredible! They brought some very familiar tunes to life and made them new and fresh.

My biggest surprise with the E30s is that they sound very good at lower volumes, not as good as the E20s, but still very good. As I write, I am watching/listening to a DVD of Vivaldi's 4 Seasons concertos performed by Herbert Von Karajan, the BPO and Anne-Sophie Mutter on fiddle and am running the E30s and E20s at about 15% volume--pretty low since the 4 speakers are sharing the front 80 watts of my receiver. Yet I can still HEAR everything at low volumes including the resonating violins and the harpsacord. Since we normally do not rock the house down all the time and we do often listen at lower levels, I am very pleased at how good they sound without having to blow out my eardrums.

I bought the E30s for under $90 including s/h. Back in the early 80s or late 70s I spent more than four times this amount (adjusted for inflation) for 2 large, heavy Advent Loudspeakers with 8" woofers. The E30s clearly sound better than I ever remember the Advents sounding including better bass response, and I liked the Advents! Over time, our audio choices have gotten better and cheaper. You still can spend mega bucks and buy a $10,000 McIntosh system (or even drop that much on a turntable magnetic cartridge as I saw at one website!) It all depends on what your budget is. The JBLs are a great value offering tremendous perfomance for those who are budget minded.

The jbl E30,offers big sound in a small two-way bookshelf configeration...The sound is full warm,and a little bright..These lively little jbl speakers really make the cut...Buy a double pair,and a good sub,and you are really cooking with gas...After hearing these,i bought a pair of these as a christmas gift for friends...I believe these speakers are top notch,and i highly recommend these to anyone with limited space,looking for a good set of speakers.

As a college student, I'm on a bit of a limited budget, but still wanted some quality speakers. After doing some comparison shopping, I decided to buy the JBL E30's. It was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time.

I can hear things in my music on these speakers that I've never heard before on audio tracks. The highs are impeccably crisp - I can practically hear each one of Eric Clapton's fingers moving around when I listen to him. The bass provides a solid foundation as well. If you're looking for something wall-rattling, these may not be for you. But if you're looking for a quality product, I would highly recommend these speakers.

I love watching movies with these speakers. I've got a Toshiba DVD player with an optical digital audio cable, and the sound quality is outstanding.

For reference, I'm currently using them in my dorm room (about 14x17 feet) in only a 2-speaker configuration, as I wait for the money to expand my system. They're powered by a Yamaha HTR-5840 receiver. For Amazon's great price on these speakers, you can't get a better deal. I am very pleased.

These speakers are absolutely incredible. I purchased them from an auction several months ago and have paired them with a Denon 5.1 channel amp running about 100 watts continuous per channel. The result is some of the greatest sound I have ever heard.

As far as size goes, they are actually a lot bigger than they appear in pictures. Still, compared to many floorstanding speakers they are on the small side. Visually they look pretty nice, especially with the cover off, but even with it on the black wood accents the room nicely.

Soundwise, these speakers are incredible. As I mentioned earlier I'm running them through a Denon amp; they are the only speakers I need. The bass is thick and punchy, and I can squeeze enough volume out of these things to hear the music through my entire two-story house as well as on the street outside. Treble can be a little harsh at times, but with a good EQ and good placement these speakers have an excellent, well-rounded response that practically makes the addition of a subwoofer unnecessary.

The only downside to these speakers is that they're so small. You would think that with such a big sound you'd have more magnet to show off, but they're suprisingly undersized. However this DOES NOT subtract from their sound at all.

Overall its a TOTAL STEAL, don't hesitate to pick these up... you won't be disappointed.

I got these last night, set them up and wow! The sound is so clean, perfect for my needs in a bedroom. The bass is not overpowering but can be felt given the size. I highly recommend these speakers as fronts for a small to medium sized room or possibly the rears in a surround setup.

After doing quite a bit of online research for a pair of front speakers for my new home theatre room, I decided on the JBL Northridge E30 bookshelf speaker and was not disappointed. I have two rather large front surround stands and these speakers barely fit on them so they are by no stretch of the imagination "small."

I've been running a pair of Bose 10.2 floor standing bass reflex speakers and can honesty say that these JBL's more than hold their own against them. I can't speak strictly fir audio in the form of music but for front surrounds in a home theatre, these babies are jaw droppers. Rich, deep bass, superb highs and outstanding clarity and the hallmarks here and if you are looking for a pair of reasonably priced speakers which are capable of delivering top drawer sound, try them. You will not be sorry.

These are great speakers for the price you get them on amazon.com. I have these paired with an E C35 center, E 250P sub, E N24WII for surround and a Yamaha RX-V767 AV receiver/amp.

Great - highs are detailed, clear and crisp; Good - punchy midbass and clear midrange; Not so Good - mid highs are a little bright and over powering; imaging is also very good. (I have a E250 sub and have not listened to these on their own so I don't know about bass response/output).
These speakers are great for movies/HT, Jazz, R&B, Hip Hop, etc. they are only OK for Rock or Classical music due to the over powering mid highs (probably the screeching referred to). They match seamlessly with the E250P sub which makes a great sat-sub system for the price.

Bottom line - these are great speakers for music and HT systems for the price you can get them on amazon and I have already suggested these to others, everyone that has listened to my system is impressed. However, if you are paying MSRP there are probably other speakers in that price range that will sound better.

...but what ISN'T? Other than some generic Walmart brands maybe.

JBL's Northridge series is their lowest, mass-market model line and it shows. Much harsher and cruder sound than their pricey Studio series, pair these with an equally bright-and-cheap receiver like a Sony or entry-level Yamaha and your ears will be toast. Not quite as bad as Cerwin Vegas but similar ballpark: boomy bass, shrieking treble, hollow midrange.

In this price range you're much better off looking for online deals on Mission, Wharfedale Diamond, Fluance, and Athena speakers to name a few.