Jamo S 803 Bookshelf Speaker Review. Pass. 

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Don't change the thing about your reviews and testing. You're doing us all a huge service to put in this much effort. Thank you!

between the beatbox intro, the dual binding posts, the vocal stylings.. I was cracking up the whole way. amazing. ty!

Thanks for this review, Erin! I have never seen a simpler demo of what a treble bump sounds like than your voice change example.

The demonstration of the 5db upper frequency response lift was a nice touch. Thank Erin

This is the best review you have done. I wish ALL reviewers would stop talking about obscure music they demo'd with the product. Tell me about a song I've heard a thousand times so I know what you're talking about. We get it, you like music...review the product.

Erin, you've done a valuable service. It's good to KNOW exactly why some speakers fail, and this one does in a big way. I can't believe this passed anyone's "spec." Again, thank you so very much for TEACHING your data. PS: I used have a project called "the bonehead research project" where doctoral students had to find, then dissect, the WORST piece of published research in their area of study. They then had to present exactly WHY it failed to their colleagues. You done this very well--what a BONEHEADED speaker. Some folks might whine, but the data are all (in their proper context). BRAVO!

absolutely legit! one of the best videos i've ever seen describing speaker inaccuracies or deficiencies without being disrespectful.

You learn more from your failures than you do your successes & that is what the review of this speaker is doing. Showing us all what a bad speaker looks like and why its bad. Learned a lot from this one.

Thank you for the review. The content you are putting out to the world is GOLDEN. Keep up the great work. 🔥🔥🔥 I love how you listen first, collect data and then interpret it. You got a good ear 😎

Thanks Erin, this was great. A really concise and well supported analysis of these speakers.

Spot on review Erin, one of your best! Your transparency and candor are unmatched. Also, some of the best B roll ever. 😆

I love the moment you give with those sick beats to let’s us calm down before the review

Thank you for the examples with your argument and also the lessons. It really helps me along my hifi journey.

This video is informative and hilarious at the same time. Excellent work.

I almost bought a pair of these once. In a big open store they sounded 'better' than the other offerings. It wasn't until later that I realized that in a giant warehouse with no wall behind them the smile response would sound better but that it would get old at home. And that the neutral sounding speakers that sounded bland in the same space would sound much better in real use. There aren't really places selling speakers setup like Frys used to but back then I thought they needed an option for a 'display' mode like TVs have so they don't look washed out in the bright store.

This is the exact video I needed. Much appreciated. Great channel!

This is a great review explaining how numbers translate to actual sound experience. I have the Jamo 7.3 and was very impressed, I bought the Jamo e410 which turned out just ok. Turns out one has a nice crossover while the other uses straight capacitors. Guess they have a wide range quality wise

i have a pair of these and they sound very good to me! i enjoy them :)

You are becoming my go to reviewer good video sir

This channel is my scientific reference versus subjectivity. However, this video is definitely among the most lighthearted I've ever seen on the channel. I'm a sucker for brains and a good sense of humor. Keep up the great work!

Thank you. Your conclusion is in line with other reviews regarding the bass bump and treble boost with these speakers. Obviously the folks at Jamo didn’t screw this up or make a mistake…. at this price point most consumers are not critical listeners and may even prefer the gimmicked up sound curve. I’m sure they did marketing research and guys in lab coats and clipboards noted that the average listener LIKED the artificial presentation over a more neutral sound. These are nicely designed as far as the aesthetics. Perhaps a crossover guru should design an aftermarket crossover replacement to flatten the response curve and turn these speakers into a poor man’s reference speakers/monitors. I’d buy that upgrade! Anyone?

Data cant lie. I was about to go to buy the Jamo S803. Thanks for your deep explanation with data.

Waited for this!

I had a white pair of these. I really enjoyed them. They were in a large living room area with the treble reduced by EQ. The bass boost was actually helpful in such a large space. I did notice the dip in sound but it didn't quite affect me as much as Erin 😉. I eventually replaced them with some DIY Swan speakers with a modified crossover to be very flat. And then....I bumped up the bass and treble 😜... Just a little

Clever and helpful display the 5dB boost!

Erin, This posting from you is EXACTLY why I watch your work. Thank you for being so honest. All the very best to you and yours, Kevin. Also, I bought a really cheap center channel speaker on a whim last year just to try it and I found it "beams" like a laser. It is a total POS. A clock radio is pretty close to it. I'd send it to you if you would like a speaker to tear apart and run down in a review. Or, you could use to educate us further on why things like this happen in poorly designed/built speakers.

I gave my jamos away for free twice. First time they came back!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for being a Honest RU-vidr! No embellishments, just measurements and Proof!

Excellent review!

Hey Erin those speakers look like they are serious as hell.

So I do own and listen to these in my home office. They are my first set of bookshelf speakers and I do have and use pre-set tone controls on my amp. I added a sub (the Jamo mate, it is getting better, but not that great) to them because I like to listen loudly and at higher volumes they don't have enough bass. I would say overall I have been very pleased with them and feel they have gotten better with time and are probably the best speakers I have ever owned. I returned a set of Fluance powered speakers and grabbed these instead, so I do have some preferences to what I like. However, watching this makes me curious and a bit excited to try out some more speakers when budget allows! On the other hand, I wonder if I even have the ear to notice these things. I have these on the wall (perpendicular walls in line with me 12' away from each ear) with the tweeter about 7' off the ground (I stand while I work, 5' 8") and according to the review, it should sound like garbage with the vertical center off axis that much. I certainly don't feel that way, the one thing I will say is at lower volumes I don't think this speaker shines, but at higher volumes I really do enjoy my music and look forward to listening to vinyl or digging through my old CD collection every day. I feel like we are talking pretty subtle differences to everyday people in reality and Erin has one hell of an ear to really nitpick. That is not a criticism, but sometimes while he is talking, I get lost lol. Maybe I will gain that ability as I try more speakers? I don't think that ultimately this is my style of speaker per the music I listen to. I have heard the Sony's mentioned and while not in my room or back to back with mine I didn't have any really strong reaction to hearing them. I think next though will be the Emotiva B1+ and maybe a smaller sealed sub.

Your review is spot on and brutally honest..... some folk might not like that ! Oh well your purpose is to spread the knowledge and share your expertise and you do that well! I agree with you because I own a pair of jamo’s, the smaller version the 801 which costs a whopping $119. They perform just like you described but then again they go so well in my bathroom area and come in white with wood veneer surrounds around the tweeter. LOL! I’m running them with a fosi bt20a in silver with both treble and bass controls well below neutral to counteract the boomines and piercing highs. So clearly this is more of a decorative set up which gets masked by running water in a large Bathroom! I knew it would be a bad speaker but a great looker ! I would not recommend them to anyone unless they are using them mostly for decor like I am🤣

That background music during the visual spin :D

Crazy interpretations with your vocal sounds 😂😂😂😂 very enjoyable review Erin !!!! 😂😂😂😂

I listened to these on the Crutchfield speaker compare tool on their website and they sound pretty much as Erin explained. The bass will crush your skull.

I liked this review a lot!

Love the beginning. Indicates you have good emotional intelligence.

My experience with these is quite good. Maybe its my use case which is HT paired with a Yamaha V673. I have other speakers too and I really enjoy these. I do have a sub crossed at 80z but I’ve used these without them without much to complain about.

This is the Klipsch/Jamo house sound, and it works for them, as they sell a boatload of these and the similar sounding R and RP Klipsches, although that may have changed with the new Klipsches. We haven't seen the new R series yet, only the RP500II and 600II. I'd like to see the data on the new R40 and R50 entry level bookshelf models

I have a Jamo s8 I got as part of a set with the center channel and surround for $200. For that price they are hard to beat for a cheap surround system. I EQ'd these with an older pioneer elite receiver and they sound very good to me at normal listening levels. If you try to push the speakers, they do quickly start to sound bad.

I have the Cerwin Vega SL5M, which cost me $150. They are just the opposite and require a little lift of the treble, but then they sound fantastic, with great balance, dynamics, and imaging

They're just ok. Mine are from 2018. They work quite well for mainstream music, which so many of the more flat measuring speakers can tend to suck at without subs and room corrections, positioning and a host of other tweaks, at least in full range duty. Without the performance boost in the bass and treble, these would need the same audiophile treatments as just about everything else under 6". These are not designed with audiophiles in mind, which is why I bought them. This review caused me to revisit these. I just listened to Emerson Lake and Palmer's "From the Beginning," Boston's "Rock and Roll Band," Eva Cassidy's "A Bold Young Farmer," Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again," and Van Halen's "Mean Street." They did fine with those selections with all vocals easy to follow. Bass is forward on some of the lowest frequencies on some songs but on average, it is necessary for most of the above 40hz that most mainstream rock and pop has as it's foundation. For under $200, they are decent and they are fun to listen to. The bass boost is a byproduct of WAF causing large enough displacement speakers to fall out of fashion. We hear it all the time with this penchant of trying to squeeze performance out of drivers that are too small to start with, in exchange for the aesthetic presentation. We hear it all the time with; "It sounds like a much bigger speaker" and "I was looking for the hidden subwoofer. . .ha ha ha." Every one of these less than 6.5" speakers leaves me hanging with bass/presence, regardless of how accurate and clean or flat it is. I end up driving them all to the verge of destruction, which is worse, while dangling on the edge of mechanical distortion due to over-excursion. The "smiley" curve was a direct result of people buying speakers too small that sounded large enough initially at the store and compared to what crappy speakers they were used to, yet not so, once they got a little used to them. I was lucky and got to listen to roommates speakers that were on the verge of being too small for loud, mainstream music. This pushed me towards large speakers, and as a result, much flatter, or even inverted (more towards frowny) EQ curves. ETA: After listening further, I feel that the treble boost is to help compensate for the grilles. With them on, there is significantly less audible brightness. This was also a condition of most '70's-'80s mid-fi choices, that also sounded better with the grilles on.

Bought this speaker a while back before I learned anything about objective measurements...within 2 days I ordered a B1+ pair and got lucky that they were much better. I will say though, the soundstage on the Jamo's was absolutely insane for my horrible listening area(my bedroom right now). Sounds were circling around behind me almost, really awesome. But that was the only thing I enjoyed. I use speakers more for stuff other than music so I find tonal balance more important.

Thanks man , i was looking to buy them because so many people and youtubers saying that they are good speakers . Now i know with data to stay away.

Jamo has made “some” good speakers in the past but is mainly comedic relief in speaker reviews today.

hilarious!! great review... loved it!

Love that you are putting up the DSP settings. Thanks Erin.

I have the 5 piece set and listen to about everything on them and I like them. They could use some crossover work to help in the midrange and some cabinet bracing. To me for the price its a decent value. And as an FYI I hate a totally flat response.

Super detailed and excellent review works! I do have a quesiton though, could you please elaborate more on why EQ won't help if DI curve is not smooth? I tried to figure out why but could not understand. I would like to know why applying EQ on top of the anechoic freq response won't be reflected to the actual in-room response when DI is not smooth.

Mismatched driver and tweeter , no excuses Jamo even at this price point . Great vid 👍

That's why I'm not worried about the Emotiva B2+. Compared to most it's pretty linear even costlier speakers. That's why I'm keeping them.

Granted I'm no audiophile, but I have these speakers with the S801 and the C 81 in home theater and it sounds good to me. But I'm also coming from a lesser system and the cost was a factor in getting a complete surround sound system. Even though I say I'm no audiophile, I know I'm the demographic that leans towards the V curve.

Interesting enough I believe these were made to be part of their theater setup, which has a center.

Great video. 👍 I wanna know how bad my Jamo 807s are now. Lol. I only paid 200 for the pair so I felt like that was fine.

Okay, you're right. Upon even further listening, they are not so great. I don't like many small bookshelf speakers for serious listening so, I had just chalked it up to the size. Also for the fact that I tend to push just about all of these little speakers to distortion because of it.

Before being acquired by Klipsch, Jamo was a pretty good European brand, even the low-end S series still sounded neutral. The D590 was my childhood dream

Whatever you hate, I know I will like it. The Jamos sound great.

They aren't bad for a small outside set up but a 5.0 for $125 of jamo brand new that included these bookshelfs a cheap package to do outdoor movies where you don't care if they get dirty or dropped also I cross them over at 100hz

Hey thanks for the video, good to know as this system is on sale. Would adding the S 81center channel cure the system of the poor vocal range you are referring to? Thanks again.

I'm on a Harman tuned headphone and it's disturbing how better and clearer you sounded with that boost. opens up a lot of questions. Do you listen to your videos on a variety of devices? Edit: Ignore this, I was just not listening on Reference level.

OMG, finally someone throws measurement characteristic and does not talk that they sound backward like a 'twinkies' and bass is like a 'yogurt pudding', middles like a 'snickers' and treble like a 'cheesburger with cucumbers'.

I've been considering the S803 as a full home theater system mainly based on price and the capability to add on the Atmos modules. looks like that ain't happening after this review! would you have comparable recommendations for a budget Home theater that's more neutral as you put it? Great review backed up with data 👍

It is so sad how many 'decent' reviews this speaker has received. Even the reviewers that do clearly point out say the elevated treble, simply do not do so adequately -OR- that point out the recessed mids, but again not nearly enough. So yeah, most reviewer's tend to go 'easy' on the negative feedback, which does a huge injustess to all of us potential customers. THANK YOU Erin! Keep up the good... no GREAT work!!!

I would like to upgrade my home theater in a box system. Difficulty is choosing individual speakers, the choice is quite overwhelming. Central speaker needs to be better than what I currently have, because it is difficult to hear a dialogue from videos and streaming services. Also, the AV receiver needs to have the ability to be controlled from an iPhone application. I am blind, so cannot operate the front panel of the receiver. Any suggestions?

The adjustment of the db brought the point home.

The fact that a 4 minute preamble was required to stave off the unreasonable when the measurements look, well... like this 4:09 is pretty sad. Thanks for the great work Erin!

What he's saying about these is absolutely true! I bought these in their new look as Klipch KD-51M and they didn't do it for me at all. Boxed them up for return. Ordered a pair of the Neum's last night and just got my Elac 1010 Sub today. I honestly cant comprehend any of the good reviews on the JAMO's. I think it's worth mentioning that from what all you and others have said about the 803S, I think the KD-51M has a different crossover. I was able to tame the tweeter and the bass wasnt pumped the way I expected. Love my Klipsch desktop system, The Fives and my R-12SW Sub. I just didn't like these at all. Good Job Erin. Love your videos.

Are you using the same beatbox sample for each of these intro spin arounds? =) I like it.. !

Subbing because you just spared me from buying and having to return a pair.

This is some sort of the Jamo house sound, Ive seen quite a few Jamos measuring exactly like that. Not for the discerning listener for sure, but it seems like Jamo is sticking to such a tuning because they sell. Like Bose. Oh well, there is everything for everyone I suppose.

Check Jamo C93ii. Great review, thanks. Many reviewers liked them but I was thinking what you are saying now.

Wow! I follow your channel, as well as Daily HiFi where I think this week you really went off on some speaker reviews and these Jamo's are pretty popular. Notable reviews from Joe N Tell (2018)! Steve Guttenberg (2019) Randy (Cheap Audio Man) (2022) and Andrew Robinson (2022) had these as pretty decent for the price (Randy clearly stating there are better options in this price range). I'm a numbers guy myself still new to HT, but still trying to reconcile really bad measurements vs how people subjectively decide what's good enuff (for the price). I see lots of people buying these and saying they are great (compared to what?) I believe to some degree our spend on new gear generates a lot of favorable responses. "I just spent $2000 on speakers, they [must] sound great!!"

I wonder if you can put a longer port on it,then the bump goes down. Seems like it tuned to high.

While I basically agree with you, I would like a more in depth explanation as to why that area won't EQ. I have equalized hundreds of speakers, including speakers with horn resonances, and you can always "EQ" a speaker. It may not completely solve the issue ( as in a horn resonance where you are limiting energy in the area of the resonance in an effort to keep from exciting the resonance) but you can still make good improvements. Again, I may not be fully understanding what you are saying about the reason that area won't EQ. But sometimes you need to over eq or play with phase relationships to make it work, but you can usually do something. As a side note, one of the reasons I may have been able to do it was because I used commercial DSP with open architecture building blocks and had alot more control of the signal than mini dsp. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

"I'll always listen first". Thank you. From the bottom of my heart thank you. You acknowledge that listening to speakers matters. We seem to forget that about the hobby which is slowly becoming a test bench to rank speakers with measurements, regardless of individual preferences.

Very accurate sound effects here. Isn't Jamo owned by Klipsch? Explains the treble boosting...

14 year old me would want these speakers.

8:27 haha, the bass compression is (unintentionally, I'm sure!) like a hardware-level loudness feature - turns down the bass as you turn up the volume

With any non-neutral setup, there will always exist bad recordings that accommodate it! 🤣🤣

for 289000 chilean pesos (260-270 usd) i can get either the white jamo s803 or walnut whaferdale 12.1. I asked everywhere for the white version, but stores simply dont work with them. After this video i decided for the 12.1 but it will look awful on my white setup, is there a problem if i cover the speaker with white wallpaper or it could affect sound quality?

I've been wondering about these, but had a feeling they weren't great. I've seen some reviews of the floorstander model and they fare better with the reviewers. Klipsch (who owns Jamo) sells what appears to be a version of these under their name. I have to wonder if the Klipsch model is better? I believe they charge more for it, so it better be.

these things are very popular, all European stores have them. I always wondered if they are any good.

Nice, I purchased these and gifted them to a family member. Interesting to see a review of them. I paired them with a Andrew Jones 8" sub in a large room. It sounds pretty warm to me actually in our room. Family member likes them too. We use it mainly to listen to Spotify in the living room. I tried Kef LS50 in the same room and it did not sound so great! What would you suggest for a cheap large room bookshelf mounted on top of a tall bookshelf, with an 8" Pioneer sub?

as Side surround would this be good enough or something like the Sony SSCS5?

Jamo bookshelf plus center speaker and sub VS sonos arc plus sub?

To the point, as usual.

Off topic: I know amplifier testing isn't really your thing but I'd love to get your take on using square waves in testing them. Rodd Elliott has a page on what they show and what we can learn from them but they are completely dismissed by others. It would be interesting to get a level headed opinion on it.

I was always intrigued by the brand as it came off as high-end, but at the places it was sold like Fry's and where they were NOT sold at - I knew something was up. I'm glad I never bit. I did bite on some Mordaunt-Short Aviano 6's, and it is very hard to want or need to replace those with other, current brands.

That makes me sad. I was planning to use these with the S809 Towers and center for a cheap wife approved 5.1 but I'm not sure that would work now.

Doe it mean the same opinions apply to the s 803 5.1 set for home cinema uses?

Wow I need an extra pair of cheap speakers and was looking at these Jamos at $99 / pair right now at Amazon in Walnut. I also have the powered Neumi version and when you say that the Neumi's are a better, the Jamos are a complete turnoff. Well I guess the Q-Acoustics 3020 at $149 are the steal of the Century!

Is this brand good? The cinematic 5.1 unit is on sale, not sure if I should pull the trigger

Not getting the need for dual binding posts on this speaker. At all.

Can you add timestamps for your future videos?

Since I know that I'm not going to like the sound signature of the Sonys, I looked at available speakers under $200. There aren't many! Maybe it's a sign to spend more cash or buy vintage (I love the Q Acoustics 2020). Because $200 is too little money for a quality speaker.

I bought these because my wife would only approve white speakers in living room. I completely agree with this review. Way too much bass and no mid range. I find the treble just ok. My brother owns the sony SSC5'S and they provide a superior listening experience. Still have the Jamos 803 as I would still rather own these then a soundbar that my wife wanted.

That bass bump is from port tuning, looks like it is tuned at about 85hz, that doesn't make a lot of sense they could have tuned it to about 60 hz and smoothed it out and went a lot lower.

That 360 swivel with the beat box jam proved randy had nothing on you. Lol

You say the Neumi/Sony will take better to EQ. The BS5 in particular, though, has DI's nearly identical to that of the Jamo, or even worse if you count the sharp peaks. What am I missing?