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The true reason why vintage JBLs are so popular in Japan

datafone said:
The distortion that is inherent to MP3 compression.
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Nothing MP3 is being used to feed this DAC. This DAC is a running-hot, smelly and heavy type of device that has NSTC video output, which produces some type of chess-board-like images on a video monitor. Although I find this DAC sounds weird, bright yet very precise(I do like), I guess that this DAC is kind of rubbish since a dog wouldn't approve the sound. =(
 
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Some may find a series of postings interesting in the context of this thread. It also demonstrates the commitment of JBL to the Japanese market over the years both in a commercial sense and in terms of a shared passion.

The author, Don McRitchie, is also a photo buff and so these are more of a travelogue than all-audio discussions. Still, you get a sense of the Japanese tradition of fine craftsmanship and aesthetic design detail that may likely spill over to their audiophile's attraction to the high end names of the golden era of sound production and home HiFi.


http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?12157-Tokyo-Trip-Day-1&highlight=
 
DavidF said:
Some may find a series of postings interesting in the context of this thread. It also demonstrates the commitment of JBL to the Japanese market over the years both in a commercial sense and in terms of a shared passion.

The author, Don McRitchie, is also a photo buff and so these are more of a travelogue than all-audio discussions. Still, you get a sense of the Japanese tradition of fine craftsmanship and aesthetic design detail that may likely spill over to their audiophile's attraction to the high end names of the golden era of sound production and home HiFi.


http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?12157-Tokyo-Trip-Day-1&highlight=
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Wow. Takes me back to the 70's, but somehow 'forward' to the 70's. Here, it's all about the 'means'. There, it's amazingly and retrospectively still a means to an end.
 
Hi David, thank you for the interesting link.

The last pictures of first day are from the house of Mr. Sugano that I had mentioned in this thread. His published speakers are JBL custom (537-375-500 + ribbon ST) and Macintosh XRT20. German Physics must be added recent years. The woofer enclosure seems to be custom, looks a bit like Olympus (Olympus is also highly demanded in Japan.) This is the first time to see his system for me. Very interesting indeed.

Pictures in Day 3 is from one of the most famous “Jazz Coffee Shop”, Basie. They also serve light alcohol, but they are not the Bar. The pictures are from private party at this place, that’s why we see a lot of alcohol. They sometimes hold Jazz live, Elvin Jones always played there whenever he went to Japan.

It’s interesting to see how many “Studio Monitor” look speakers are selling in recent Japanese audio shops. I guess younger generation really don’t know why those blue faced JBL has been very popular, and Harman selling them as “improved” version of old JBL. They certainly should sound better than 4343 for average consumer.
 
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And, also it's rare to see 4430 in Japan.

I always feel it's interesting to see people in japan sometimes "upgrade" their 4430 to 434x, then 375+075 or S9500.
 
It's amazing seeing those 4430's just sitting out on the curb! Very interesting thread Plam. Thanks for posting.
 
IMHO Hereseys and L-100s both sound amazing except for one large, objectionable frequency response peak. The JBLs peak about an octave higher than the Klipsch, so if something sounds lousy on the one, it usually sounds great on the other.
 
sansui was a jbl distributer, at one time.



plam said:
This is very true. Japanese engineers and mastering house tend to make everything bright. But when Ted Jensen masters Japanese pop music, he makes it bright, too.

The reason why they do this is

1. Japanese house is usually very dead.
2. Humidity in Japan.

Forward presentation speakers for Jazz, big sound stage speakers for classic, is Japanese audiophile consensus.
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the so called 'kabuki' speakers were also designed ,

for conditions in japan.

people in the 'us of a' don't seem to realize this.

doucanoe said:
The always entertaining, Romy.

RC
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he called me a fool,

on his forum

i was not even a member,


so i signed up and responded -

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PageIndex=2&postID=12984#12984
 
While there's no factual source the OP I feel hasn't deviated from the actual scene too much. But he seemingly does not appreciate that there are quite a few variants among the Japanese philes. Klipsch fans are there. So are the AR fans (the pre-9 classics only). There are B&W fanatics. What's outside their radar is likes of Polk, Advents, Cerwin Vega, etc.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
jomondz said:
Have audiophile in the USA tried Yamaha NS-10 to listen to Pop music?

Rumour suggest that Pop music(s) in the 80's and 90's are mastered using Yamaha NS-10 because, if the engineer can make it good on NS-10 speakers, the mastered recording will sound good on any speaker.
Also, don't forget to cover the NS-10 tweeter with a piece of toilet paper to make it sound "smoother" or "darker".
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When I was in high school my band went into the studio to record a demo (c1981) and the ns-10m's were there on the console. I remember talking with the engineer about them because I thought they looked cool and was of the belief they were high end being in a studio and all; he reponded that they didn't sound good and that you wanted the mix to sound good on those to know the music will sound good on anything. He also had the tissue paper covering the tweeter.
The big monitors in the studio were JBL's but I don't recall the model number.
 
SuperLead100 said:
When I was in high school my band went into the studio to record a demo (c1981) and the ns-10m's were there on the console. I remember talking with the engineer about them because I thought they looked cool and was of the belief they were high end being in a studio and all; he reponded that they didn't sound good and that you wanted the mix to sound good on those to know the music will sound good on anything. He also had the tissue paper covering the tweeter.
The big monitors in the studio were JBL's but I don't recall the model number.
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When I found a pair of AR Rock Partners at a thrift needing reconing, I looked them up and found many engineers preferred using them to the NS-10 for monitoring. The NS-10 top end was said to be intolerable with way it emphasized the steely/edgy studio sound of much of the performer's gear.
Of the JBL, in spite of their excellent machine shops, I don't recall in my rather limited experience hearing any JBL I wanted to take home to live with. The NS-690s otoh will be hard to part with. I'm keeping the ARs, fwiw, good near field and small monitor speakers.


Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
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SuperLead100 said:
When I was in high school my band went into the studio to record a demo (c1981) and the ns-10m's were there on the console. I remember talking with the engineer about them because I thought they looked cool and was of the belief they were high end being in a studio and all; he reponded that they didn't sound good and that you wanted the mix to sound good on those to know the music will sound good on anything. He also had the tissue paper covering the tweeter.
The big monitors in the studio were JBL's but I don't recall the model number.
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Interesting a clearly a widely held view. Dr Toole talks about how Studios almost universally have Very poor 'monitors'. For reasons he can't comprehend.. and the pore engineerrs Mix to fit the sounds of those speakers which are typically seriously flawed in frequency response.
Resulting in a Flawed recording.. which all of us have tripped over.. too often.
I guess the upshot is to Run, not walk from Any speaker claiming a Monitor function.
Not much we can do about the crappy recordings.. beyond using the Tone controls (Tooles' suggestion)
 
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