When the clock in the publishing office strikes 3 p.m., a sense of excitement that's been building all afternoon reaches a crescendo. It's at this time of day delivery people arrive with new electronic products for the editorial staff to test. It's almost
like Christmas every day of the week. Many of the products we test are delivered after we've requested (or sometimes begged) for them, while others arrive unsolicited. It's the unsolicited products and the great companies that provide them that make my job easier and more enjoyable. That is, if my job could get easier or more enjoyable.

One company intent on getting the word out on their products is JBL. When a new JBL product arrives, I know it must be something special because the folks at JBL are proud of their electronics and want everyone to experience them. During a recent delivery from the Santa in the big brown truck, I yielded a new loudspeaker ensemble from JBL. The new system, part of the Surround Cinema Speaker (SCS) line, is a 7.1 surround sound speaker system perfect for complementing a flat panel display.

Unique Features - There are hundreds of speaker systems on the market for confined listening environments and flat panel applications. Just about every manufacturer has jumped on the small speaker bandwagon. But the seven slender speakers in the JBL SCS300.7 ensemble are small without sacrificing sound quality. They are accompanied by a brawny 10-inch powered subwoofer for a complete home theater loudspeaker package.

The SCS300.7 has six identical vertical satellite speakers and a corresponding horizontal center channel. Each of the nearly one foot tall satellites has a uniquely designed cabinet with shapely curves and an attractive faux-metal removable grille. The center channel looks identical to the satellite speakers, but is designed to rest on its side. The speakers all share the same dual three-inch midrange driver
design with a center mounted half-inch titanium-laminate dome tweeter between them. The two-tone silver cabinets that house the three speakers have a curved bottom so they cannot stand upright on a shelf on their own. Therefore, JBL includes both wall brackets and small table stands for the sats and center channel. FS1000 floor stands sold in pairs are optional accessories for the 300.7 system.

With a 150-watt power amplifier, the subwoofer included in the system fits well with the satellites. The bass-reflex enclosure has a downfiring 10-inch woofer and port on the front baffle. The cabinet has a dark carbon-fiber looking vinyl laminate on the top and front, with silver side panels to match the satellites. Connection options for the subwoofer are plentiful. On the rear panel of the cabinet, you'll find stereo speaker-level inputs and outputs, line-level inputs and a dedicated LFE/RCA input.

Installation/Setup/Ease of Use - The good people at JBL sent along two pairs of optional floor stands with the SCS300.7. In my experiences with JBL speaker stands, I have found them to be flimsy, delicate and completely unacceptable. They were nothing more than thin steel rods screwed into heavy base plates that when touched, oscillated back and forth like a metronome. Perhaps they've read my past remarks, because the FS1000 floor stands available for the 300.7 system are far superior. The floor stands have a tubular shaft that conceals the speaker wire and a stylish "I" shaped base. Because Infinity is a sister company to JBL, it's no wonder the FS1000s have a comparable design as the well-done Infinity TS-Stands.

The left and right speaker pairs for the middle and rear satellites were attached to the floor stands, and the front left, center and right speakers were mounted to the table stands. Both styles of stands use oval adapters that attach to the back of each speaker and cover the spring- loaded wire clips. The adapters can be secured to the wall mounts or the stands. Assembly of the first stand took me a long time. The speaker wires must be threaded through the speaker stands and inserted into the tiny wire clips that are recessed into the back of the speaker. As I installed more speakers on stands, my competency level rose but the process took far longer than I had hoped. The wire clips are undersized and have small holes for the wires. The supplied speaker cables were small enough to fit; however, upgrading to a larger gauge wire is virtually impossible.

The JBL SCS300.7 ensemble is a 7.1 channel system, and thus requires a 7.1 amplifier/receiver. My receiver supports 7.1 surround sound; however, owners of receivers that are a couple channels shy can split the system up. By removing two satellites, the SCS300.7 package can be used as a 5.1 channel home theatre in one room and the remaining pair of speakers can operate in a stereo configuration in another room, although the stereo speakers may sound tinny without an accompanying sub.

Final Take - It was my pleasure to listen to these speakers while reviewing a Sony DVP-CX777ES 400 disc changer and Video ReQuest system. I had all my favorite test discs loaded up and ready to play like a jukebox. First, I listened to action movies like Terminator 3 and the Matrix series of DVDs. I was impressed by the punchy reproduction of dynamic action scenes. There was a fairly good transient response with a strong impact from the subwoofer that occasionally raised the hair on the back of my neck. I would have liked the roll-off from the satellites to meet the subwoofer better, but the gap was reasonably small. Explosions and gun battles were detailed without being bassy, all the while rattling my windows at high volume. You would expect loud volume levels from big floor standing speakers, but not from small satellites. That's why the output of the 300.7 system was a real surprise.

Movie dialogue in the original Star Wars Trilogy was clear and concise, but the center channel was tame. More audible emphasis from the center stage would have helped because with music playing in the background or sound effects off to the sides, dialogue was sometimes hard to hear. As for movie soundtracks, I found plenty of crisp detail and good high frequency response. The positive performance during movie watching was very enjoyable.

Since most home theater loudspeaker systems are tuned for movie playback, I tend to put more emphasis on how a system performs while watching movies. That's not to say theater speakers can't double as a two-channel stereo. In fact, the SCS300.7 system gave a full harmonic representation without being harsh. The low frequency response was good, but not necessarily extended. At reasonably loud levels, mids were strident, making brass and string instruments sound shrill. Lowering the volume corrected some of the imperfections and opened up the ambience of the instruments.

The eight-piece JBL SCS300.7 ensemble has stylish and attractive cabinets with useful sturdy table stands. The 10-inch sub powered by a 150-watt amp has a complementary weighty sound and many connectivity options. The sub could have sounded a bit more refined but it provided good bass emphasis. I discount stereo functions of surround sound systems because their foremost use is multi-channel audio from movies. The 300.7 system did a splendid job with movies and merely faltered with stereo music at high volume. The reasonably priced JBL SCS300.7 ensemble is perfect for space-conscious or flat panel display owners looking for a complementary loudspeaker system.

JBL SCS300.7 Surround Cinema Speakers Satellites
Frequency Response: 100Hz -- 20kHz
100 Watts Maximum Power (RMS)
(1) 1/2" Titanium-Laminate Dome Tweeter
Dual 3" Midrange Drivers
111/2"H x 4"W x 31/2"D
(without shelf stand)
Weight: 3 lbs.

Center Channel
Frequency Response: 100Hz -- 20kHz
100 Watts Maximum Power (RMS)
(1) 1/2" Titanium-Laminate Dome Tweeter
Dual 3" Midrange Drivers
4"H x 11 1/2"W x 31/2"D
(without shelf stand)
Weight: 3 lbs.

Subwoofer
Amplifier Power: 150 Watts
Frequency Response: 30Hz -- 20kHz
10" Woofer
Bass-reflex Enclosure Design
20"H x 13 3/4"W x 15 3/4"D
Weight: 35 lbs.

MSRP: $699

FS1000 Floor Stands
MSRP: $250 (per pair)