The OFFICIAL JBL Owners Thread - Page 408

Very nice, they sound beautiful already, and i haven't even gotten them yet! I was a little hesitant in having bought the 180 over the flagship of the series, but you've definitely convinced me I've made the right choice. I've got a little 10" Mirage prestige S10 (same as VSW10) to help fill out the lower end so I should be good. Thanks for your words, they should further help fill the hype void regarding these seemingly great price/performance floorstanders.

And it's good to hear people talking about these guys, makes me feel better in not waiting for something more expensive/higher end. Less ($) is more as they say!

Here's a picture with the grille off. This is the review from the "Hi-Fi News & Record Review".

For me, E50 is a bit small and therefore E80 will be a better choice and how is about ES80 ?
If you guys have been using both E80/ES80 then pls give me some advices ?

Nice review, I haven't seen that anywhere on the web. Interesting to note on the shorting bars - I might replace them with speaker wire when i get my 180's. Copper wire vs. less conductive brass plates, I understand the logic, but you see so much placebo in the audio scene it's not even funny.

A pair of Northridge E90's popped up on the local craigslist today. Actually he was selling an EC25 and the E90's for $275. I don't need the EC25 (already have one plus an EC35), and he emailed back wanting $230 for the E90's alone. Says they are in very good condition. This seems like a solid deal. I already have the E80's, E50's, E30's, 2 sets of E10's, and the EC25 and EC35. I would use the E90's in my bedroom setup (70% music/30% movies) with an H/K AVR1600, EC25, E10 surrounds, and Energy S10.3 sub. I currently use the E30's as the mains in this setup. The room is 14 x 10.5. Would the E90's overpower the room? I may move my E80's to this room and use the E90's in the main HT room downstairs, with the EC35, and also move the E30's to the main HT room as surrounds (replacing another set of E10's). This would probably be best.

Any opinions on the E90's for $230? I will try to work him down a little but am perfectly willing to pay $230 in all honesty! Seems like a steal.

Edit: There is also a pair of Def Tech BP2000's for $250. An older speaker but I guess would be considered a bit more "higher end"? But these would not match up well with my current all JBL Northridge ES series setups. Need to stay off craigslist!!

You'll kick yourself if someone takes them for $230 while you try to get him down a couple of bucks. If you want them, do it now.

I'm thinking I'll bi-amp the 1400 Arrays if they need it. But I'm using them primarily for movies, and with the 1500s for the LFE channels, the 1400s shouldn't be working that hard at the low end.

It's killing me to have to wait a year before I put the whole system together.

I'm only three hours away, and I'm up in San Jose often. I'll "store them" for you until you're ready for them.

I've said it once and I will say it many more times, the E50 is a better sounding speaker to my ears than the E series towers. At least the E80 and E90 models I have had... I am assuming the E100 is even worse because my issue with them is a generally "muddy" sound. The hardware is there it just doesn't seem tuned right, and the E50 does not have this problem.

The only time I could see arguing for the E series towers would be for pure bass output capacity. So long as you have a decent sub or do not need booming bass, I will always recommend the E50.

Feel the same way about the original Studio series with the S38/38ii being awesome.

$230 is more than I would pay for clean E90's, but I don't like the sound of them and know it. If you like the sound of them then $230 is a very fair price for the hardware. They are built pretty well and should have a lot of life left in them.

Is it just me or does the reviewer suggest that the biradial horn will limit the horizontal dispersion of the tweeter? Isn't that the exact opposite of its function? (Hence the "constant directivity" moniker?)

If I had the Studio series, and the bi-radial horn was separate, I'd remove those plastic pieces. But its all one piece. Despite the fact most speakers today have 2sd, 3rd, 4th order XOs. There is something to be said about the smoothness of a 1st order XO, as used in the Studio series.

The reviewer's right. The horn limits horizontal dispersion - the "directivity" part, and within that limited area it helps smooth out the tweeter's response - the "constant" part. The result is that as long as you're sitting within the coverage area, tweeter response is largely the same on or off-axis. And that allows us to toe the speaker in aggressively to avoid first reflection on same-side wall without loss of treb due to off-axis listening position.
And looking closer at it, I notice the midrange driver is mounted recessed. Wonder if the plastic thingy around it is another waveguide.

The mid is recessed to keep it out of the bi-radial's path. I've never seen these speakers in real time, but looking at the pic, it would appear that if you extended the horn out on its radius, that it would clear the raised edge of the plastic.

Unlike you, the reviewer said he turned out the speakers 15* and got a warmer, fuller sound, with better imagining. But one would assume that room was quite wide, so not to have a problem of a first reflection off the side walls.

While it would be true that a typical controlled-directivity (like an exponential or radial) horn would reduce the horizontal window (by limiting the directivity of the driver to the on-axis listening position; narrowing or "beaming" the sound more directly to the listener), the idea behind a constant-directivity horn such as the biradial is maintaining equivalent SPL through a larger horizontal window so that you don't get the "beaming" you do from other horns. Horizontal dispersion as I understand it is how much sound (equivalent SPL specifically) is directed away from the solitary forward-looking sweetspot to the wider arc of the off-axis listening window.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but as I learn, I find that seeking out input from others is beneficial in eliminating my misperceptions. Maybe I've got my head wrong about horizontal dispersion?

The vertical horns of the Arrays produce a 3 dimensional soundstage, that the typical horizontal horn will not give.

I have the E50's and was using them in a bedroom setup but for whatever reason I preferred the sound of the E30's. The E50's are currently not being used. I bought them off craigslist...$100 for the E50's and an EC25.

I picked up the E90's today for $220. They are in great physical condition. Haven't set them up yet but I really like the sound of my E80's so I expect to like the E90's as well. These big suckers should rock!

I know -- no whining. It's a high-quality problem to have...

Saw your comment on another thread -- I am seriously considering using the Outlaw 7900 amp for these. Another idea was to use the Outlaw 7700, and perhaps bi-amp the Array 1400s.

Yup I was wondering the same thing I think if he positioned the speaker far enough from side wall, 15 degree toe-out could still have first reflection point at some distance behind him, which could actually help widen/deepen sound stage. But in my small room, toe-in close to 45 works great. And the sweet spot is definitely large.

I have set up the E90's I bought yesterday for $220. No problems...speakers are in great working condition. Put on my go to CD Jack Johnson "In Between Dreams"...the E90's are sounding sweet! Crisp, clear highs, tight punchy bass...I didn't hear any of the "muddiness" that was mentioned earlier. Using an H/K AVR1600 receiver and an Energy S10.3 sub. I turned the sub off to just listen to the E90's and they sounded very good alone. But the Energy does help to fill out the low end so I will keep that in the setup.

I think I got a pretty good deal for $220. They are in great physical condition and sound great to me for the money spent. Gotta love craigslist!

I have the E90s and also love the sound. Enjoy your new toy you got a good deal of speaker for what you paid.

I am using an Emotiva XPA2 power amp on my Arrays. The sound is smooth and powerful.

Hey everyone. I'm looking at buying another set of bookshelf speakers for my home theater setup. I'm currently using an EC25 center, EC10s for left and right, ES250 for my subwoofer, but a pair of JA Audio cubes for my rears. My receiver is Harman Kardon AVR 247. I'm needing to replace the rears. Either buy something as the replacement, or buy new left and rights and use my E10s as the rears. I've been looking at local craigslist, and eyeballing a few on amazon. However, if someone is looking to part with anything that might help me let me know!

I'd like to note in another thread member 4DHD convinced me to stick w/ my current setup instead of grabbing a cheap Onkyo HTB setup. (that's a whole nother story!)

Anyways I didn't see any rules for this thread so I hope asking that isn't of any violation!

Thanks,
Jeremy

The one thread member with more JBLs than the rest of us is filecat13. Although, he sold off a bunch a year or two ago, to a few members here.
I came down to Ecuador with only about 1/2 that I had.

... put together.

That thought did cross my mind. lol
But I think I'm the only member of this forum with a pair of SUB1500s.
And I should have bought four.

New JBL 180 owner here. Looking forward to setting it up.

audiok, how do the 180's sound along with the Pioneers as the rear speakers in a 7.1 setup? I'm debating on my center channel... which would be paying $30 for the Pioneer (BB gift card), or $125+ for the JBL 120 center. Timbre matching common sense says stay with the JBL, but if I can get away with the Pioneer it would work out perfect.

Your go-to move is the E50 three-way bookshelf. I had a pair that I thought were very good, despite taking some heat from the JBL elite for praising them.

I didn't sell them, but I had pity on my poor daughter and gave them to her along with a receiver and DVD player. Even more, I sent her back home with them safely in the trunk of my beloved Hyundai Sonata that I gave to her as well. So Jeremy, if you were my kin, you would have gotten the E50s, a receiver, a DVD player, and a car for free.

Anyway, you can find E50s for very reasonable prices, and that's what I'd recommend. They are the last three-way bookshelf speakers JBL made with an 8" woofer.

If you're willing to go back one generation, I'd recommend the JBL S38 or S38II as good three-way 8" bookshelf speakers as well.

Thanks for the reply! Your daughter is very lucky! haha

Do you happen to have any spare JBL's bookshelf speakers you may part with? Or was that the last of them? I'll continue looking for the E50s!

I had a very nice pair of S26 bookshelf speakers, but I gave those to my assistant, along with a receiver and DVD player. (No car, though. )

So, Jeremy, if you worked for me...

I don't have anything else that would be a good match for what you've got.

You're like the JBL fairy. Well, maybe JBL-Claus would be more butch.