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Need New Speakers-Are JBL's really that bad nowadays?

1758 Views 9 Replies 9 Participants Last post by markwriter, Jul 16, 2009

jwill45

Discussion Starter · Jul 15, 2009

Hello all, first time posting-long time reader. I've always relied on good information and experience from avsforum and recently selected a 3.1 budget/starter speaker setup based on advice here and other sources on the net. I ended up with an Energy C-100 bookshelf pair, C-C100 center, and a Velodyne VX-10 sub. I've had all for under a month and just came back from out of town for two days and my sub was shot, all I could hear was a faint flutter when I put my ear right next to the woofer. So I guess I'm going to return to Fry's. As for the Energy's, I always felt they are lacking as my mains-I know that the center speaker does most of the work, right? But it seems like the bookshelfs are more like surrounds sometimes with tv and movies. My father had a 2.1 JBL setup back in the day (early 90s) and I was throughly impressed with it, esp. the sub. But it seems like most say that the quality of JBL has gone down quite a bit. And I was looking at the ES line to replace my current setup. Particularly the ES20 Bookshelf speakers, the ES25 or 35 for a center and don't know to stick with the ES 10" sub or another brand. Even considering a pair of ES 90 tower speakers just to bump up my sound.Not many reviews out there on these-so what's your take? Am I wasting my money on entry JBL's, will these sound better than Energy entry speakers? I am interested in this line because of the outstanding price, but am afraid that maybe these could be to good/cheap to be true (like the velodyne VX, and C-100s) I also think they may sound nice with the Harman Kardon AVR 354 I recently purchased-any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Jay1

· #2 · Jul 15, 2009

Why not just put all that money toward a kick a** sub? Those JBLs would be a sideways move, you would need Studio Ls for an upgrade.

http://www.edesignaudio.com/
http://www.hsuresearch.com/
http://www.svsound.com/products-sub.cfm

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quadriverfalls

· #3 · Jul 15, 2009

While I'm not all that familiar with the JBL stuff, the real measure is how they sound to YOU. If you feel they are worth the investment/upgrade, then by all means I would say go ahead. But, I would caution that they would need to be significantly better than what you have or you will find yourself right back in the same boat a year from now. Maybe the next time you make the speaker upgrade, listen more with your ears rather than what someone says or what you read. We all hear things differently.

Just my $0.02, IMHO, YMMV, FWIW and all that.

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rdgrimes

· #4 · Jul 15, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by jwill45 /forum/post/16826006

I was looking at the ES line to replace my current setup. Particularly the ES20 Bookshelf speakers, the ES25 or 35 for a center and don't know to stick with the ES 10" sub or another brand. Even considering a pair of ES 90 tower speakers just to bump up my sound.Not many reviews out there on these-so what's your take? Am I wasting my money on entry JBL's, will these sound better than Energy entry speakers? I am interested in this line because of the outstanding price, but am afraid that maybe these could be to good/cheap to be true (like the velodyne VX, and C-100s) I also think they may sound nice with the Harman Kardon AVR 354 I recently purchased-any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The ES line is decent for the price. You could certainly spend more and get less. The Studio-L line is a better value if bought at auction. You can read up on both lines in the JBL thread. If you're strapped for funds, the HarmanAudio eBay store is the best deal. Though it requires patience and persistence to be successful.

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Knucklehead90

· #5 · Jul 15, 2009

The newer JBLs aren't all that bad but there are many speakers for the same price that sound much better - unless you are willing to search ebay.

Harman Audio sells lots of JBL stuff. The "L" series is a pretty good speaker line. A friend of mine has the L820s with a small Dayton sub for a 2 channel setup that sounds great. And its driven with a Sherwood R-4105.

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mikeronesia

· #6 · Jul 15, 2009

I have both the L Series and Performance Series and both setups sound better then anything else I've heard in their price range. My experience is limited but I do love them and got the 2 L820's and a LC2 for about $400 which I think was great deal for what I got.

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jwill45

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 16, 2009

thanks for the advice everyone-it seems like I really hear a lot about SVS for subs, might try that PSB10. As for my bookshelf and center dillema I just didn't know that's where you're supposed to spend a good deal, at least more than the C-100s I have. For better fronts I've considered the PSB Alpha B1s & the NHT Classic Twos, and the reason for these models is because I am limited to around 13 inches high on space. Anybody have experience with these as I would also be getting the matching center. If bookshelf speakers are not going to be enough sound for me then maybe the towers. I think my top choice would be the JBL L890 & LC1-my only reservation is can my HK AVR 354 power the three with a 10" sub?

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Cleveland Plasma

· #8 · Jul 16, 2009

These are pretty nice:

Mains

JBL L890
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...at=BFS&ser=SLS

JBL L880
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...at=BFS&ser=SLS

Center

JBL LC2
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...at=BFS&ser=SLS

JBL LC1
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...at=BFS&ser=SLS

Rears

JBL L820
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...at=BFS&ser=SLS

JBL L810
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...at=BFS&ser=SLS

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Nuance

· #9 · Jul 16, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by quadriverfalls /forum/post/16826189

While I'm not all that familiar with the JBL stuff, the real measure is how they sound to YOU. If you feel they are worth the investment/upgrade, then by all means I would say go ahead. But, I would caution that they would need to be significantly better than what you have or you will find yourself right back in the same boat a year from now. Maybe the next time you make the speaker upgrade, listen more with your ears rather than what someone says or what you read. We all hear things differently.

Just my $0.02, IMHO, YMMV, FWIW and all that.

+1. I love riding the coattails of quad's posts because he always says what I would have. Well said!

jwill45 - let yours ears make the decisions for you, and nothing else (well...maybe your brain to haha).

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markwriter

· #10 · Jul 16, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by jwill45 /forum/post/16826006

My father had a 2.1 JBL setup back in the day (early 90s) and I was throughly impressed with it, esp. the sub. But it seems like most say that the quality of JBL has gone down quite a bit.

Hey, it's actually the opposite. Sound quality of JBL's has never been better. In 1998, Harman, JBL's parent company, finished their state-of-the-art R&D facility, one that is still unsurpassed. The entry level JBL's have vastly more technology utilized in their design and development than most high end speakers. They have top notch people and do rigorous double blind testing against the toughest market competitors. Definitely do some listening if you can, but at least understand that JBL's are produced in one of the world's most sophisticated speaker building companies. That said, Energy is also a really good brand, designed with much of the same methodology as today's JBL (and Infinity, and Paradigm and PSB).

This is from Stereophile in 1998:

"Floyd Toole was promoted to senior vice president of acoustic and transducer engineering---Harman International Industries has put the finishing touches on a new 10,000-square-foot audio laboratory. At company headquarters in Northridge, CA, north of Los Angeles, the laboratory includes a 10,000-cubic-foot anechoic chamber for testing and measuring loudspeakers, and a multichannel room with computer-controlled, hydraulically operated platforms for positioning front left, center, and right speakers (a reviewer's dream!).

Another innovative feature is a bank of keypads through which listeners can feed back their impressions to engineers. These impressions are logged into a database that is used to optimize the performance of systems under development. Listeners include both experts and non-experts, company spokesmen explained. The lab also has three smaller rooms, from 2000 sq. ft. to 4500 sq. ft., for speaker evaluation."

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