Phil Iturralde
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Oct 7, 1998
- Messages
- 1,892
Danny Tse wrote: I will wait for Phil I. to chime in for his opinions on the JBL S26.
Well, I'm still in the evaluation process but I can say the following, from my notes so far...
JBL S26 (from my HT set - four S26 & S-Center) vs. JBL N24 (from my NSP1 HT Set - going up to my vacation house when I go spring skiing)
The JBL S26 has about the same accuracy vs. JBL N24; violin sounds like a violin, a trumpet like a trumpet, a tenor sax sounds like a tenor sax, a Grand Piano like a Grand Piano (I have a 6' Yamaha Grand in my HT/family room), etc. Where the S26 surpasses the N24 is its ability to reveal subtleties or characteristics within the encoded music/instruments sound/movie effects, . . . they are just more evident with the JBL S26 vs. N24; i.e. with close mike recording of an acoustic guitar, you can hear the artist fingers (George Benson; Earl Klugh; Russ Freeman) sliding up and down the frets; you can tell that that two violins are playing a melodic line, rather than just one violin; the air harmonics off the crash or ride cymbal sounds just like our Tama Rock Set Zilgin cymbals. I do chalk up the improvement to JBL S26 1" Pure titanium dome vs. the N24 3/4" Titanium-laminate dome High-Frequency Driver.
Soundstage about the same vs. N24 with the left to right placements of instruments & voices. The JBL S26 front to back soundstage is better as well the dynamic's resolution (soft vs. loud) in playing back the encoded instrument sounds which helps provide excellent location placement of the instruments. Though the front to back soundstage can be a result of how close the microphones were to the instruments, like my JBL N24, the JBL S26 plays back my Jazz CD Music with relative smoothness, with no surprising between the eyes unnatural frequency peaks because of it's super flat & wide Pro Monitor like frequency characteristics. The JBL N24 midrange playback (voices) was raved by Brent Butterworth and in direct comparison, the JBL S26 is equal to task providing the same balanced, clear unstrained playback ("Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" 1967 Digital remastered DDD Music CD)
Imaging was another hallmark of the JBL N24's and it does seem to just slightly out-image the S26, but that is attributed to the N24's smaller (cabinet) point source size. The JBL S26 makes up for that 'just' slightly less imaging with a sound presence comparable to a floor standing speaker, again attributed to the S26 larger (cabinet) point source. Without direct comparison though, I know that I wouldn't notice the difference because the JBL S26 exhibits excellent precise imaging and localization.
The JBL S26 ambience in my room is about the same vs. N24. Both speakers gave me the feeling that "you are there" and if the recording is from a live concert, the ambience provided the right amount of reflections to make you think your listening to the performance outdoors, or in the symphony hall. (Smothers Brothers The best of Sibling Revelry; DVD "The Corrs - Live at the Royal Albert Hall").
One advantage to JBL Studio Series is that they utilize many of the same leading-edge testing and design technologies included in JBL Professional Series LSR Linear Spatial Reference studio monitors. What I'm enjoying at the moment with my JBL S26, is the same neutral, uncolored, detailed and spatially accurate sound quality that the TEC Award winning JBL Pro LSR Monitor's are known for. No surprise though, since the JBL S26 takes it design queues from JBL LSR25P Pro Monitor.
FYI: My full review will be published about 2-3 weeks after I receive my recently pre-ordered SVS 25-31PCi (April?)
Phil
