The OFFICIAL JBL Owners Thread - Page 329

Would you be putting Ti units in those big beautiful cabs?

If you gut those L250 to make some space-age hybrid PS-hardware weirdness, the vintage JBL gods will strike you dead. But can I have the LE14H-1 drivers?

EDIT: I don't know why this won't let me put "DD44000" in the title; it reverts to Dd44000

It is an impressive design statement, indeed a landmark product.

Nontheless

No other loudspeaker developed by JBL has the mystique or desirability of the D44000 Paragon. It was a landmark product, based on a unique design principle, that remained in production longer than any other speaker system from JBL.

is pretty far over the top.

The first sentence may be true for a few collector or vintage folks, but certainly not true for the masses or for anyone who's ever actually heard them. Audition them: mystique over. Place them in a normal house: desirability gone.

The second statement is often quoted, but never completely true.

No worries, this is a mercy killing. The guts are already salvaged for future use, and the cabs will be refurbished into a new life, hopefully. Many of the drivers are damaged, grilles missing, etc. There were reasons I got them so cheap.

I have heard the Paragon, a few times, and it was impressive. First in '68 and then in 2000. One hell of a soundstage. And when I heard the Paragon as a center with a pair of Hartsfields as the L/R, even better.

I'm going to discount '68, since of course it would be impressive in that context. Not much to compare it to, and you were young (I hope).

As for 2000, where did you hear it? Those I've heard in typical home settings were overblown, overdriven, and underwhelming. No doubt in the right environment, if it were the centerpiece of a room's layout, it could be satisfying. I wouldn't want one anywhere in my house, taking up space, getting in the way, not getting played.

Maybe you should get one for your concrete house?

ok i'm still liking my first gen studios in my living room that i've had for awhile now. bought two single S36's off ebay this year. one AWII and the other the normal S36II. unfortunately one has no grill. this week i received from Harmon the S36PMII's. sure they're plastic casing but i still like them. i plan on spraying them black acrylic and use them as front and rear height channels in the future when and if that gets off the ground completely in receivers. hoping it does, cause that would sound cool for movies. i have the s-channel, S310II's for the fronts and S26II for the four surrounds. S38 would be nice but too bulky for my 14x15 living room. i'm stuck on the older studio models i don't think my system will ever be replaced. just add another sub to pair up with my epik sentinel and i'll be good.

Sounds good. The S Series is a great value, and it lasts and lasts. For you happiness does end in SS: S Series!

Heck, I'd LOVE too but I suspect my wife would kill me or wonder when I'm taking her clothes shopping to equal the cost of those babies.

They are indeed impressive.

L250/250ti actually have a fairly high WAF due to the sheer beauty of the things, and the fact that they sound amazing. And you can easily cover the grills in a wide range of designer fabrics to match those new dresses you have to buy her.

That's a plus. It gives you the final straw you needed to take the other ones off. They're just not as much fun unless you can see the moving parts; even Ferrari knows that.

Then you'd really better not read this, Doug:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/clsk...ull&1261771731

I have to say it really is a pretty piece of craftsmanship. I've seen worse looking legs on some really pretty girls. That said, I'm already having enough trouble figuring out the logistics of moving a piano myself. I'll wait awhile on these kinds of speakers...

I would not discount '68, my hearing would have been much better at 19~20.

We listened to the Paragon, Hartsfields in Mill Valley when Hal Cox was living there. It was quite a large room, 24ft wide, I think, with a Hartsfield in the front corners and the Paragon in between. With many other JBLs besides, the newest being a pair of aquarius 4.

As for the concrete, I've got 10 panels total spread out to suck up the reflective sound. Quite a bit better. A friend and I found out about a company that sells all kinds of panels for dirt cheap here in SA. We're going to order some and split them between us.

It was and always has been the world's largest consumer center channel speaker. That sounds like an amazing set up.

I don't suppose anyone here is interested in the NEW JBL offering!

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/s...20cbk-130bk-fl

I give you the Studio 1 Series....

These look like a re-entry into the cheapo consumer market. A dual 4" center? No thanks.

They look like nothing I'd put in my room.

You don't like speakers that look like windmills? Whatsa matta witchu?!

But I agree. I think they've lost their minds at Harman.

JBL and Infinity having a child was bound to run into the detriments of incest. CMMD tweets and a Hapsburg lip grill. What kind of marketing research listened to the guy/gal that said "Grills on speakers aren't interesting enough. I'd spend more on speakers if the grills were more bizarre."

In my search for more information, I came across something distinctly unexpected:

http://www.jblstudio.com/

I suppose one could argue that those grills will attract attention on a showroom floor, and they would. But of course they would have to actually BE on a showroom floor to do that.

Are these new speakers better then the studio l towers?

I doubt it.

Hmmm, royal blue thule would be sexy on those.

The L820s arrived today. Good things also come in small packages. Back on the side immersed in the music. Life is good.

No. At the very best they will be mechanically comparable. But they are so fugly Harman either hired the design team from the Pontiac Aztek... or they really want to just kill off mainstream consumer.

I think it's a freakin' tragedy. Would it really be that hard to modernize the L series lineup?

But look at it this way... the resale value of the Studio L series just got a nice bolstering.

Well I have a pair of 2 month old jbl l830's for sale on eBay for 275 obo if interested

I don't know what needs modernization. You want they should put them in black plastic cabs?

Supertweeter, check.
Sci-Fi 60's robot look with grills off, check.
*Real* vinyl wood grain laminate, check.
Cheap plastic feet, check.
Sound so nice it's like a religious experience sometimes, check.

My setup
Onkyo AV TX SR806
Infinity Primus P362 front
Infinity PC350 center
Outlaw LFM-1 EX Sub
Old onkyo speakers as surrounds

I am planning to upgrade my front 3 speakers move my Primus fronts to surround and get rid of old Onkyo speakers.

I have a budget of 2500$.

I was looking at JBL and Polk RTi A series. Which is better?

I tried to auditioned RTi A9s at a near by Frys, they had issue with speaker. Could not get it going. FRYs told me JBLs are discontinued and they sold them last for $149 and do not have any in stock (except ES90s).

Looking for some help/direction to move forward.

The discontinued would be on Fry's part, not JBL. For $2500 you could get a pair of L890s and a LC2 and have money left over. Fry's dropped the Studio L series when the ES series came out. The Studio L series is much better.
Look on Harman's ebay store.

And he means a LOT of money left over. I got screaming deals on the towers and paid full (realistic) retail on the sub, but I put together an L880 X 2, LC2, L830 X 2, L8400P full 5.1 system for under $1,500 using Harman's ebay store, J&R, and Mikeronesia on here selling me his L830s for about what I'd have paid in the last few rounds of them that have gone on Harman's ebay.

Hell, B&H Photo has the L890's for $450 each right now, so you could grab them, and pay the ridiculous sum of $500 for an LC2, and still be $1,000 under your budget for your FCR. You could even go monster at your budget and just get 5 L890s and still have a few dollars left over.

Now that would be a killer 5.0 system.

Or you could just flip me the cash and save yourself all this worrying and fretting...

ASIDE: I'd been doing well at resisting the temptation to post a pic of this till I get the wires into the wall, but with the wife going out of town and my summer having blown past me without completing my checklist item of hiding the wires, I'm giving in. I finally figured out the solution to that "too-wide" and "off-balance" stereo image you guys were talking about with my HT's previous incarnation. The TV wasn't big enough.

That is a decent budget for front three. Would you consider used? Not necessarily these, but it's an example of some really gret used JBL's on Ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT
These have the 2226 bass speaker which is among the very best.

Or these can be had for under your budget: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-JBL-MRX512m-...item563ee0bb0d

I recently sold the three I had. They were really good HT speakers. Very dynamic.