JBl Northridge E90 EC35 E10

**Sonnie** · **10-23-06, 07:11 PM**

My JBL distributor made me a mad offer today on some of their close-out Northridge speakers so I ordered up some. They slashed the cost so they can move them on out and make room for the newer models coming soon. I looked at few reviews on these and am surprised at what they can offer for the price. These actually seem like a fairly popular speaker. I can't wait to see how they perform in the HT room.

E90

EC35

E10

**Exocer** · **10-24-06, 12:23 AM**

Cool stuff sonnie. I like CHEAP stuff

Those were the first speakers that caught my eye entering into this hobby...I'll be awaiting your impressions of these

**Fincave** · **10-24-06, 01:23 AM**

I had some of those before I was struck down with 'upgraditis'. I was using the E35 as a centre, E10s as rears and an E25 as rear centre. I had xTi 80 as mains, could have gotten the Northridge series but I preferred the xTi's which are an earlier model. They were my first 'proper' speakers and I did get very many hours of enjoyment out of them. The person who bought them from me is still as pleased as punch wth his speakers. For the price I paid for them they were hard to beat!

**azjimmy** · **10-24-06, 02:22 PM**

Sonnie,
I've always been a big fan of JBL's stuff. I have the Studio 38's and Center for front stage, and the new Venue Balcony's as my rears (replaced my S26's, moved to the bedroom).
I think you'll be pleased with the way they sound. The E90's rock, and the EC35 is a nice center as well. I did find the E10 sounded a bit on the thin side. If your receiver has assignable x-overs, you may want to cross them at 100 as they roll off pretty hard below 90Hz.
Good luck.
Jim

**Exocer** · **10-25-06, 12:01 AM**

Im interested in a subjective comparison between these JBL's and your current system Sonnie. Interesting stuff indeed.

**Sonnie** · **10-25-06, 12:46 AM**

HA! My hearing is terrible and that may be why just about anything seems to sound good to me. I'm beginning to wonder if I could get by with the cheapest of the cheapest when it comes to the sound system and put more focus on the image quality.

**Rodny Alvarez** · **10-25-06, 09:09 AM**

Quote:

Sonnie wrote:

HA! My hearing is terrible and that may be why just about anything seems to sound good to me. I'm beginning to wonder if I could get by with the cheapest of the cheapest when it comes to the sound system and put more focus on the image quality.

Hey Sonnie you might have to BFD your hearing aids

**Sonnie** · **10-25-06, 11:22 AM**

HA HA HA! Might not be a bad idea.

**Exocer** · **10-25-06, 09:22 PM**

Quote:

Rodny Alvarez wrote:

Hey Sonnie you might have to BFD your hearing aids

Haha, nice one. Wish I would've thought of that.

Sonnie, please don't let your poor hearing stop you from building that IB. You'll barely be able to hear it but you WILL feel it

**MrPorterhouse** · **10-25-06, 09:30 PM**

Quote:

azjimmy wrote:

I think you'll be pleased with the way they sound. The E90's rock, and the EC35 is a nice center as well. I did find the E10 sounded a bit on the thin side.
Jim

I agree completely. I had the E90 mains/EC35 center/E30 rears in my setup for just over one month. They were the set that I assembled for my sister and had to "store" them in my house for a month while she was moving into a new place. Over the course of that month, I came to the conclusion that they were one of the(if not THEE) best value speakers ever built. Yes, I mean EVER built. The E90's significantly better than the E80 mains, and they have tremendous clarity and detail. The EC35 is a very capable center channel and blend perfectly with the E90's, and the clarity and detail mimic the E90's. The power of that front soundstage is going to floor you! When you look at the price paid, you are going to be shaking your head at how such a small investment can produce such an amazing sound.

The E10 rears are weak. Even for rears, the E10's can't give you much at all. I didn't think the E20's were even enough, so that's why I went with the E30's for rears, even crossed over at 80Hz, the E30's are about as little as you can go in the Northridge line and get decent dynamics. The E10's are certainly going to be thin and you'll likely miss out on any significant dynamics coming from the rears. You're in luck, though, because the rears are only called upon to carry such dynamics less than 5% of the time. I don't know how much you got your package for, but I paid $700 for the E90/EC35/E30 package back in 2005. You can still get the E30's for $119/pair shipped to your door from B&H Photo Video. You could donate the E10's to a good cause, and pick up the E30's at that minimal cost to add a significant upgrade to your rears.

**Sonnie** · **10-25-06, 11:37 PM**

MrP... I may even step up and opt for the E50's... I'm liking those since they have the separate mids and seem to handle quite a bit of power with pretty good response too. They have the same 8" driver as the E90 and are rated down to 45Hz so crossing them over at 80Hz should do well.

**bobgpsr** · **10-26-06, 08:45 AM**

I have E20's for the side surrounds and E30's for the two rear surrounds. My experience agrees with MrPorterhouse about the weak E20's. They are nice and small and one of them is even on a CD rack in my case. If I had the room I'd use E30's or even E50's for the side surounds. Movies nowadays put a lot of sound into the surround channels.

Bob

**Sonnie** · **10-26-06, 03:16 PM**

I went ahead and order up the E50's just to be safe.

**azjimmy** · **10-27-06, 04:21 PM**

Sonnie,
I've had what amounts to the E50 for over 4 years now (S38II) for my mains. I really love these speakers. I like the horizontal imaging they give, and now that I have some power behind them, they rock.
I'm not sure how they will do as surrounds, but if your room is big enough, they would probably work.
I have recently upgraded to the Venue Balcony for my surrounds and I couldn't be happier. I'm posting a mini-review today.
I agree with MrP when he says that these are great speakers. I've had upgrade-itus for some time now and I have yet to run across a set that sounds as good as my S38II/S-Center/Balcony setup without spending $3000 a pair. I'm not going to be so bold to say that there are no better, because I have heard better. But not at this pricepoint or higher.
Good luck with your new setup.
Jim

**Eddie Horton** · **11-20-06, 04:54 PM**

Bump. So, whaddaya think, Sonnie? These were some of the top contenders when I first got back into A/V a couple three years ago after a fairly long hiatus. Great, great speakers for the coin.

**Sonnie** · **11-20-06, 07:05 PM**

Well, Wayne Pflughaupt and his family have been visiting with us since Saturday evening and the JBLs have gotten a real workout... I mean a very serious workout. They are getting 300wpc with my Earthquake amp and we have been pushing them hard. Actually before this weekend they may have had 5-6 hours on them... now they have over 24 hours easily. They've pretty much run non-stop for quite some time. When we started out we thought they might be a little forward... a tad bright, but then I realized they are more sensitive than the previous speakers and I hadn't even level matched them to the subs. So we got it balanced out more and they sounded some better. A little while ago we stopped for a break (which brings me here) and I mentioned to Wayne that the speakers seem to have mellowed quite a bit. I wanna go back and listen to the David Gilmour in concert which is the first thing we listened to Saturday. I'll know for sure then, but it does appear they needed some breaking in. I'll update later to be sure.

**avliner** · **01-17-07, 03:20 PM**

Hi there,

must agrree with you guys, JBL is probably the best bang-for-the-buck, indeed.
My current setup (7.1) comprises 02 E-50's as L/R mains, 01 EC-35 as C, + 04 E-30 as S/SB.

No regrets at all!

Cheers / Avliner.

**jackfish** · **01-18-07, 07:04 PM**

The Infinity Primus line seems to be a much better value right now. They just sound better to me than the JBLs.

**avliner** · **01-18-07, 08:07 PM**

Well, I never got a chance to audition the Infinity's. Notwhistsanding the fact that they're all coming from the same source, I wouldn't doubt that the latter sounds better, IMO.
Bear in mind that the Northridge E-Series are not being produced any longer. Don't know about the Infinity's though. Have heard prettty good comments on those.

Cheers / Avliner.

**Sonnie** · **01-19-07, 12:18 AM**

Yeah... they are pretty much the same speaker. I think both are looking at new models.

**kano32** · **01-19-07, 02:37 AM**

I've heard the JBL's and was impressed for the price. But for the same price as a pair of floorstanding JBL's I built some TMWW with the Dayton RS driver's that sound fabulous. But I am DIY bias.

**Sonnie** · **01-19-07, 12:50 PM**

I wanted to build, but I'm so lazy...

**01-26-07, 07:23 PM**

I have to put in my agreement with the statement about the value of JBL speakers. I've auditioned dozens of speakers and that is the one truth I've found. The best bang-for-buck speakers come from JBL. It's really amazing that they get so little press on the (ahem) 'other' forums. I, too, have found that I'd need to go to ~5 grand/pair to sense an 'upgrade' from my S312's. (I'm using antique J350A's and Infinity Refs for surrounds, and a JBL E35 center.)

My hearing is plenty shot, too, from one too many concerts, R&R jams, and ear infections....maybe I just can't tell the difference between a 'good' speaker and a 'bad' one. Or not. LOL.

(Still...these lovely S312's are goners the second I can afford some Sonus Faber Grand Pianos or Aerial 7B's.

)

Good cheer.

**kano32** · **01-26-07, 07:55 PM**

Quote:

rjbudz wrote:

I have to put in my agreement with the statement about the value of JBL speakers. I've auditioned dozens of speakers and that is the one truth I've found. The best bang-for-buck speakers come from JBL. It's really amazing that they get so little press on the (ahem) 'other' forums. I, too, have found that I'd need to go to ~5 grand/pair to sense an 'upgrade' from my S312's. (I'm using antique J350A's and Infinity Refs for surrounds, and a JBL E35 center.)

My hearing is plenty shot, too, from one too many concerts, R&R jams, and ear infections....maybe I just can't tell the difference between a 'good' speaker and a 'bad' one. Or not. LOL.

(Still...these lovely S312's are goners the second I can afford some Sonus Faber Grand Pianos or Aerial 7B's.

)

Good cheer.

Not to put Sonus Faber down, but I saw a recent review of some of their most expensive speakers and they did not measure so great and had audible port noise. But I'll never afford a pair of those so.....

**01-29-07, 06:33 PM**

Quote:

kano32 wrote:

Not to put Sonus Faber down, but I saw a recent review of some of their most expensive speakers and they did not measure so great and had audible port noise. But I'll never afford a pair of those so.....

Have you heard them, Scott? If so, what was your listening experience?

I consider reviews, unless involving A/B/X or double blind testing methods to be reasonably useless. Perhaps you could put up a link to the review you mentioned. Speakers are subjective...one does not hear 'measurements'...and reviews generally involve a huge variety of front-end equipment, depending upon the reviewer...also rendering the results/opinions below some level of 'truth' or 'proof'.

Here are 38 reviews of the Grand Pianos.

http://www.audioreview.com/PRD_125560_1594crx.aspx

They all represent a different opinion, whether from audiophile or average Joe (sorry AverageJoe). Some say too much bass. Some say too much treble. Some say too much midrange. Most say "JUST RIGHT". Reviews, for the most part are merely opinions.

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