The Short Form

$2,274 / jbl.com / 516-255-4525

Plus

•Clean, powerful sound •Subwoofer really kicks for the money

Minus

•Uninspired, me-too looks •Somewhat cheesy build quality •Satellite surround speaker option not yet available

Key Features

•CST55 tower: 0.75-in tweeter, two 5-in woofers; 46 in high; 17 lbs ($379 each) •CSC55 center: 0.75-in tweeter, two 5-in woofers; 26.3 in wide; 10 lbs ($329) •CSS10 subwoofer: 10-in driver; 150-watt amplifier; 18.3 x 13.3 x 16 in, 43 lbs ($429) •Metallic silver and high-gloss black finish for all speakers •Price $2,274

MUSIC PERFORMANCE As I listened to music on the JBLs, any cosmetic issues I might have had with the system quickly faded into the background. It had the same clear, utterly present quality that I've heard from so many of the company's other speakers over the years. For example, on jazz musician Charles Lloyd's "Ballade and Allegro," the CST55 towers delivered a tangible sense of the body of Lloyd's tenor saxophone. The sound was rich and full overall, with a clear resolution of details such as the texture of breath flowing across the instrument's reed.

Moving on to more baroque styles, I next cued up Calexico's "Dub Latina." This hypnotic track - as its name suggests, a fusion of dub reggae and traditional Mexican folk - sounded wonderfully spacious on the JBL Cinema Sound system, with the speakers seeming to disappear into a soundstage as wide as the vast Southwestern desert. The drums sounded snappy and dynamic, while other percussion instruments such as wood blocks and guiro cut crisply through the hazy background wash of melodica and strummed acoustic guitar. Bass on this track and others was ample yet tight, showing off the CSS10 subwoofer's prodigious capabilities.

MOVIE PERFORMANCE Steven Spielberg's remake of the 1950s sci-fi film War of the Worlds isn't his best effort, but it's got an unbelievably potent soundtrack that can make your whole house shudder. As I watched the movie on DVD, dialogue emanating from the center channel was consistently crisp, and it continued to sound that way even when I slid over to an off-center seat in my home theater. As lightning stirred the sky during the Martians' initial descent to earth, the accompanying thunderclaps sounded powerful and clean as they rippled across the room over the quartet of JBL towers. And when the creatures finally sprang up out of the ground to stoke terror among the citizens (coolheaded proletarian Tom Cruise excepted), the resulting spray of cracked ice provided a vivid sense of envelopment, with individual particles seeming to coat the entire room. The DVD gave CSS10 subwoofer a good workout as well - as the Martian ship stirred beneath the street, the rumble of bass sounded impressively deep and full.

BOTTOM LINE There are plenty of great-sounding home theater packages in the $2,000 range, the new JBL Cinema Sound speaker system among them. But with so many like-priced offerings, it's hard not to get picky about things like appearance and build quality - two areas where, somewhat surprisingly, JBL comes up short here. Sure, the Cinema Sound towers' slim cabinets and sleek finish help them blend in with the thin new HDTVs on the market, but the same thing can be said for virtually all of its competition. Also, the fit and finish of many of the skinny speakers I've tested recently were fine enough that I would have been happy to leave them up and running on a permanent basis - something I can't say about this rig. But to look on the bright side, the JBL Cinema Sound speakers performed very well with both music and movies. When you get past the superficial concerns (something I obviously have trouble doing), that's what ultimately matters most.

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