Anyone seeking a high performance speaker on a working man's salary, look no further. The JBL Stadium speakers offer a house-rocking experience for a very modest price.

Let's face the facts: a lot of speakers under $500 a pair are pretty anemic when it comes to listening to music at "party" volume levels. That kind of money can buy one a pretty decent pair of bookshelf speakers, but try playing those loud and see what happens. If you're a person that has a bookshelf speaker budget, but bookshelf speakers just won't do, then JBL has an answer for you with the Stadium speakers.

The JBL Stadium speakers are a 3-way bass reflex design. The drivers include dual 8-inch PolyPlas woofers, a 4-inch PolyPlas midrange driver and a 3/4-inch titanium laminate dome tweeter. All drivers are magnetically shielded, too (though we doubt too many people will be placing them close enough to a CRT-based display to reap the benefits). The dual 8-inch woofers are assisted by FreeFlow flared ports to limit unwanted distortion and boominess. The speakers also incorporate JBL's Elliptical Oblate Spheroidal (EOS) waveguide for improved dispersion and more intelligible dialogue. The Stadium speakers have decent quality binding posts for large gauge wire and they are finished with nice wood grain style finish, complete with silver grills. The cabinets are very solidly built, and weigh in at a back-straining 43.5 lbs--best to order these online and let the shipping guy handle the load.

In our listening test, we found the JBL Stadium speakers to be stand out performers. High-end was clear and undistorted, and never harsh or grating at moderate listening levels. Midrange was not quite as detailed, but it was certainly acceptable at the asking price of these speakers. Bass performance was very, very good and deceptively low as well. With a measured real-world frequency response down to 36 Hz, these speakers go lower than many of the inexpensive dedicated subwoofers you'll find on the market. Furthermore, with a sensitivity rating of 91 dB at 1-watt/meter, even the most modest of receivers can drive the Stadium speakers to party-worthy levels. In fact, these speakers will get very loud and might get you into trouble with your neighbors. Overall, we found the JBL Stadium speakers to be very good bargain and we can eagerly recommend them.

Pros: Plays very loud, quality cabinets
Cons: Midrange not as well defined as it could be

Warranty
5 years