JBL speakers are they really that good?

[hwirt]

Here's some eye candy from that sight, enjoy:

 

[hatrack71]

I went through that whole link yesterday and unless I missed them, I have a pair they don't. NANANA NA NA NA. JBL Apollos!

 

[hwirt]

I went through that whole link yesterday and unless I missed them, I have a pair they don't. NANANA NA NA NA. JBL Apollos!

They may not have Apollos but do you have this:

 

[hatrack71]

Sadly no! But if acquiring huge JBLs will get me one of those, I will keep collecting. Nice!:drool:

The shorts would have to come off though, I wouldn't want the metal buttons to scratch my cabs.:dammit:

 

[70salesguy]

I don't believe that any other brand of speaker generates as much excitement when found as a "score" as a JBL does.

 

[hwirt]

The shorts would have to come off though, I wouldn't want the metal buttons to scratch my cabs.:dammit:

:nono:

 

[juniorJBL]

The Cascade was never put into production so you won't be able to do that. Find a JBL Synthesis dealer and audition one of the Array 1400 speakers or similar.

I sure like my 1400 clones!! They truly are in a different league!

I don't believe that any other brand of speaker generates as much excitement when found as a "score" as a JBL does.

+1 to that!! :yes:

 

[Frank Sol]

For a pair of JBL 4338 or 4328 I would find a way to buy them and make room in my apt

 

[Tom Brennan]

Thanks for the correction on the driver size - don't know what I was thinking when I said it was a 4" dia :stupid:

Well the diaphragm is 4", it's the throat that's 2".

 

[krazygrrl]

Compared to Bose - yes.:yes:
Compared to Klipsch - no.

Well, that ought to take care of it.:thmbsp:

Even Sparkomatics, 1980's Sounddesign, and some other even less notable ones are superior to Bose. That wasn't a fair comparison!

 

[krazygrrl]

For a pair of JBL 4338 or 4328 I would find a way to buy them and make room in my apt

Please do... BTW: So would I!

 

[dnewma04]

On another note as Infinity was ruined when Harmon Kardon took over it, where as at least JBL has been able to have freedom to manufactor some hi end quality audio speakers for the hi end market. But the engineer that designed the vintage Infinity's that I referred to is still creating some great audio speakers under another name (Genisis) and I would be willing to bet anyone that was able to listen to a top of the line Genisis speaker and the top of the line JBL would most probably pick the Genisis over the JBL. As far as price range it really isn't a fair comparison, as the top of line JBL goes for around 70,000 dollars where as the Genisis is around 250,000 dollars.

Not me. Give me the current top end JBL offerings any day. A lot of vintage JBLs don't do much for me, but their TOTL products of today are pretty stellar.

 

[gdwrench]

Here's some eye candy from that sight, enjoy:

Did somebody say "FIRE" !!! Ha Ha !!! Thats some serious sound reproduction there ...

 

[jfine]

Many JBL's could be found guilty of such, by improper adjustment of L-Pads, or Room Acoustics-Equipment used.

Or the Lpads are worn out, old caps, or wrong ones used, etc.,

If you just throw older JBL's in a room and set the Lpads in the middle, chances are, they will sound too forward, IME. Unless you like that.

My L150's are really that good, after I figured out how to implement them to my environment.

 

[Littletoot]

... It's Nostalgia, pure and simple.

But it's more than that. Besides their sound, scarcity of this level of excellence would be closer to the mark, I think. That, combined with JBL's history & reputation, gets closer in explaining their enduring value. Although I hesitate to say it, some of the models approach what constitutes 'art', both in demand and price. But, be all that as it may, I still bought mine for their sound and build quality. They truly are a testament to the uncompromising visions of a relatively few people, led by James himself, to build the best speaker(s) they knew how. That they were successful goes miles in explaining why that logo is so magical.

 

[similost]

One other thing to note about my feelings towards JBL speakers... I can't say I've ever heard a pair of JBL's that had cone tweeters I've really cared for.. I guess being a person that has pretty much always been around horns or ribbons, I've never found cones to quite sound right as tweeters...

 

[jn229]

I have been at this hobby for some forty plus years. My knowledgeable opinion of the JBL sound is………………………………………………………… just an opinion!

Got to say love the pics.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Well the diaphragm is 4", it's the throat that's 2".

Only I can figure out a way to be wrong by being right

 

[myu701]

Impressive, hwirt. Must be nice to be that affluent, to afford such top cream JBL and McIntosh products.

Alas, my only set of JBL speakers is the L80T/3. Very nice. My Canton Ergo's edge them out a bit, though. I'm afraid I may have to let the JBL's go, as I'm starting to downsize.

 

[Ken Boyd]

Yeah that guy on the couch with the red hair guy is the owner of that collection, he is German. He has a video on youtube titled the most expensive speaker system and it demos the JBL everest tol model. The JBL is by no means the most expensive speaker system and it is far from the best. The man who worked for Infinity and designed the IRS V and RS-1a and Rs-1b since selling Infinity to Harman Kardon builds his own lineup under the brand name of Gensis. The Gensis 1.2 is a super hi end IRS V and I doubt the JBL would come near to it as in every class except price. The Gensis is over three times the price, but you do get servo bass amps for with it.

But those JBL's pictured do look like they are well built and probably sound very good. I would wonder how flat of a response they have as they look very bass heavy with all those big bass drivers and hardly any mid and hi drivers. Sometimes people are overly impress by big boomy bass, which sometimes overpowers the delicate, highs of female vocals and stings. I have never heard any of those models so I am just speculation based on the looks of them. But I would love to hear some of them, to be proven wrong. And I don't see those on CL very often going cheap.

Its pretty impressive how many people have such great audio systems, and their listening rooms are so impressive. I wish I had some friends like that to just sit down with listen to good music and compare recordings. Where I live the best system other than what I have and I have seen is like one of the Bose home theather set ups you find at Sams club, it really is dismal.