are JBL Studio's considered "bright" or "warm"? (1 Viewer)

[dale^g]

i have a HK7200 and an SVS pb2+ (screw the neighbors)!

 

[Phil Iturralde]

The JBL Studio ensemble offers excellent bang for the buck for those who are looking to get their feet wet in home theater.

Phil

 

[Frank Carter]

I agree with Phil. They are neutral.

 

[Michael R Price]

There is no neutral! And a "neutral" tone doesn't mean the speaker sounds perfect. Some people sacrifice that "neutral" sound to get something they enjoy more.

 

[Frank Carter]

OK, to me they're not bright and they're not warm so you take you're pick of words.

 

[Pablo Abularach]

I agree on the speaker being neutral as Phil said, but stlighty going to the brighter side, but not much. I have four S26, an S center and an SVS 25-31PCi, incredible setup for the money.

 

[MarkMaximus]

I'd just like to say that I can't really comment on if they are "Bright" or "warm" but I have a pair of S312's and S26's for surrounds, and a S-center driven by a HK-525 and I am thoroughly pleased. I have held several parties (dance, movie, etc) and everyone is very impressed.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

My definition of 'neutral' is fully discussed in Loudspeakers and Rooms for Multichannel Audio Reproduction by Dr. Floyd E. Toole Vice President Acoustical Engineering Harman International.

Dr. Floyd Toole White Paper basically says ...

The S-Series JBL consumer line was designed utilizing Dr. Floyd Toole "Science of Audio" - White Paper linked above!

Phil

 

[Joseph Sabato]

I consider them pretty neutral but your set up can affect that. I have S38's in front (on shelves) an S Center and S-36 surrounds, with 2 sealed Tempest subs. Having the s-38's on shelves affects the lower mid-frequencies making them sound warmer than if freestanding ( similar to having a center on top of a big TV ) .

Having speakers on shelves is not ideal but a good compromise with my wife considering she is putting up with 7 not so small speakers in the room ( especially the tempests!). I run the LR speakers through an equalizer and tamed most of the muddying affect from bookshelf placement and I am pretty happy with the setup.

Room placement and acoustics will definitely impact the perception of warm or bright. Good Luck

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Some people sacrifice that "neutral" sound to get something they enjoy more.

Yes, that's what (hopefully) we all do. It's funny, though, how such disparate-sounding speakers as those represented in this forum are all thought of as "neutral" by their owners.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I tend to favor a brighter sound and I like my S312s very much. Draw your own conclusions.

 

[John Pine]

I have the S310II's, S-CenterII, S36II's(rears), Yami RX-V530 with a Velodyne CHT-12. I'd say my front stage is near neutral, slightly bright, whereas my backstage is even a little brighter. Just the way I like it! Awesome budget system! Thanks JBL!

 

[Burki]

Hey Phil,

What kind of receiver u using with JBL NSP1 and how do they sound? Especially listening to music? ( 5.1 stereo maybe )

 

[Phil Iturralde]

April 11, 2000 -- There's a popular misconception that the more expensive speakers in a line sound better than the inexpensive ones. My life would be oh-so simple if this were true. I can't tell you how many times I've marveled at hearing a little two-way bookshelf speaker blow away its top-of-the-line three- and four-way siblings. That's what happened at JBL's 1999 line show last fall, when the company demo'ed nearly every speaker from its Northridge line. To my shock and delight, the speaker with the best midrange was the humble little N24 under review here, which you can pick up for the paltry sum of $199.98/pair list.

... The added fullness makes for a good trade-off, though -- unlike the SuperZero XU or the ProMonitor 80, this speaker is very easy to match up with practically any subwoofer.

I think the midrange of this speaker may be the cleanest I've heard at $200/pair. I was astonished to hear voices on music CDs clear up when I switched from other mini-speakers to the N24. I've come to prize the ProMonitor 80 as a mini that gets the mids right, but the N24 gets the midrange even more right. Every singer I listened to sounded better even than on a lot of good $1000/pair speakers.

Hope this helps,
Phil

 

[Bill_Wil]

It depends on what your idea of bright or warm is. If you compare the JBL's to Klipsch then in my opinion the JBL's are definately warm. Depends what you like. I really like the sound of JBL.

 

[Michael R Price]

I guess I made the above post to voice a different opinion. The JBLs are wonderful speakers, just look at the reviews. But I think it's nearly pointless for people to go around calling their speakers neutral, warm, or bright except in specific comparisons. My speakers, for example, have unsmoothed on-axis response within +/-3.0db and yet most people seem to think they are bright. There are a lot of other speakers with really flat frequency response that seem to have big variations in tone. Look at the frequency response plot of a Klipsch RB-5 and of a GR A/V-1. Both are great speakers and both have flatter frequency response than usual, but those are probably about as different sounding as you can get. And then there's the issue of a speaker's tone being only one part of the overall performance.

 

[Angelo.M]

And then there's the issue of a speaker's tone being only one part of the overall performance.

What Michael said...

 

[Manuel Delaflor]

Michael

I agree. And I think that the problem arises with that +/-3dB "standard", we have a 6dB bracket and that means two speakers can be as different as 6dB between them in FR and still will be considered as relatively flat!!!

Of course this is not the case. I think FR responses are overrated, specially because in the end our room will be at least as important as the speakers to the final result. For example "warm" speakers can sound bright in some rooms and viceversa.

Oh, and one thing that makes me laugh is that everybody will consider their OWN speakers as "flat" or "neutral" or "accurate"! ... yes... even me! :b

 

[Michael R Price]

Manuel,

You raise a good point: +/-3db is a really huge variation in amplitude when you think about it (some frequencies with 4 times the power of others), and even so, it takes quality components and good design to achieve this with a speaker in any reasonable listening window.

And of course my speakers are neutral and my electronics are not. (No, really, because of constant adjustment, changes in temperature, different warm up times, and my changing moods, my stereo never sounds the same two days in a row. I don't think that is because of the speakers.)

 

[Wayne Ernst]

OK, to me they're not bright and they're not warm so you take you're pick of words.

I think BRAWM would suffice.