product details page

This probably belongs to a different forum but I figured here I'd have better chances of getting feedback from people whose opinion I value.

The speakers are sold now at heavy discount, around $360/pr. MSRP is over $2K (i know, i know) but I did see them listed at $1.6K.

Is there any chance they may be decent well designed surround speakers with solid quality components?

The specs and the feature set seem very attractive if it can be trusted. I do not know much about the company but my general sense is they mostly tailor to installers and are not prone to gimmicks and inflated specs to the extend commonly seen in the retail market.

What do you think?

It's easy enough to find out, look at the polar response charts.

right.
the polars, or any FR measurements for that matter, are not available which is not a good sign.

I did find some tests of the smaller version, with 7" woofer. not very promising. it can only reach 85dB @ 80H @ 2m before hitting 10% THD. the 8" may do better but I am not sure they can keep up with my mains

As I oft repeat, there are only two reasons for a manufacturer not having response charts: either they don't have any, or they don't want you to see them. In this case the polars are just as important as response, since the intent of the speaker is to have a very wide and uniform dispersion pattern. Just from looking at the driver placement I believe polars would reveal serious lobing and comb filtering throughout the mids and highs. IME the best way to get a very wide and uniform dispersion pattern is with a standard two way cab aimed up at the ceiling from a few inches below it.

thank you Bill

zheka, i noticed those Niles when i was shopping for some onwall surrounds. i ended up buying some JBL 8330's off fleabay. i painted them the same color as the wall (primer and paint with foam roller) and mounted them with an aluminum french cleat i bought from Lowes. i think they are great surrounds.

I just wanted to see how good dipole would work in my set up.

The room is only 12' wide. The side seats are at most 2 feet away from the walls. Do you think JBL 8330 is worth trying in my situation?

My room is only 10 feet by like 12 feet and I have the 8340's as surrounds.
they are 96db 1w/m within 1db of the 4pi's..... I found them cheap locally or I probably would have got the 8330's.
Great sounding speakers..

I'll watch out for these, thank you. I've been using SHO-10 as surrounds. They are doing okay, I am just curious how would the whole diffused sound field thing would compare.

Aren't the SHO-10 high efficiency with a horn too? They seem pretty similar to the 8340's....
Also sorry to be off topic, but did you get the e-mail from Wayne regarding the 4Pi change? I just got the resistors in the mail.

Here is a shot of one of my 8330's. don't mind the missing trim work. I'm still finishing my basement.

right. i want to experiment with more diffused sound this time.

yes, I did. have not acted on it yet. I am glad the upgrade is cheap and easy to apply. He had some interim versions that were much more complicated.

looks great!

i sat about 2 feet from one for a little bit and i think they sound great even that close. that one is 1 foot further from the seats than the one on the right. the sound is dispersed very well IMO.

I asked a friend who sells and installs av systems, and he said his cost on the pro870fx was normally $1800 and that he had installed them before.

I absolutely love them. I am using them in a dipole configuration, which sounded better to my ears. By far the best option available at the price point.

The only downside is that my wife was NOT amused at the size. Didn't even think to ask :-)

Joel