JBL studio 230....SUPERB!

[jsf0656]

Unscrew the binding post and see if one of the wires came off -- my guess is that a wire is loose between the post and crossover, or a broken solder at the crossover input

ok I will check that.

 

[jsf0656]

harmon has contacted me awhile ago and suggest to wait until a audio team that has been assigned to look at the situation contacts me for futher instructions.

 

[Bucknekked]

I want to give a review of my new JBL studio 230 speakers. I am no audiophile by any means but I do know about these few things compared to my old polk RTI6s. soundstage, detail, clarity, power. these 4 things blow my old polks out of the water! these speakers are beautiful! very nice piano look on the top and beautiful cabinet. these studios are heavy and well constructed. I listen to 70-80s rock and I am completely astounded by the sound they produce!. I have only listened to them for a few hours as I just received them yesterday and immediately hooked them up to test them out. soundstage is beautiful and midrange is full and precise. highs are very detailed and at high volume they are clear and no distortion. I ran the volume up until I couldn't stand it any futher and remained clear and beautiful. for 159.00 from JBL on ebay this is a steal in my mind. thanks to zieglj01 for steering me to these incredible speakers!

Continue to enjoy the audio adventure -- mine will be here today

I too bought a set of JBL 230's direct from JBL for an additional system in the master bedroom.
I am not so good at the purple prose required for a good review, but, they sound terrific.
They have been installed for 3 weeks now and they are holding up wonderfully.
They are paired with an SVS PB1000 sub and they manage to make great music together.
There were enough good opinions of the JBL 230's I decided to buy them direct from JBL.
I am a happy camper

 

[zieglj01]

I too bought a set of JBL 230's direct from JBL for an additional system in the master bedroom.
I am not so good at the purple prose required for a good review, but, they sound terrific.
They have been installed for 3 weeks now and they are holding up wonderfully.
They are paired with an SVS PB1000 sub and they manage to make great music together.
There were enough good opinions of the JBL 230's I decided to buy them direct from JBL.
I am a happy camper

All in all they are one of the better options out there if you can get them for a good price, even without a sub the bass is good with them

 

[jsf0656]

harmon has contacted me awhile ago and suggest to wait until a audio team that has been assigned to look at the situation contacts me for futher instructions.

I returned the 230s today as I was told to return them with free shipping. it took a couple of days for them to get back to me so I have reordered them from ebay. still a mystery as to why the one stopped working and they did not have any idea as well. anyways I should be back in business next week!

 

[TLS Guy]

bad news.... one speaker quit working. I hooked up to the other side and same thing. I sent email to harmon for a replacement. what a bummer. I was enjoying these so much . don't know what happened.

You played them too loud. That is what happened. They have cheap Chinese drivers, and the power rating is only 45 watts continuous. With rock music which is generally highly compressed you would overpower these speakers easily. Peak power is 150 watts, bit no spec. as to duration. My guess is a msec or two.

There seem a lot of vendors selling these refurb, so I suspect customers are blowing these up with abandon.

When you get your replacements, then you need to play them at a much lower level.

 

[jsf0656]

I played my polks at pretty high volumes not max mind you but loud once in a while for years and they are still going strong with no problems!

 

[ryanosaur]

Different boxes, different xo’s, different drivers. Polk is known for building speakers that can take significant amounts of power.

 

[jsf0656]

well at no time did I max out the volume not even close as I did with the polks. I ran it up a little to get an idea how the music was coming across to my ears. I'm starting to feel like I cant really get into it like I did with the polks?

 

[jsf0656]

well at no time did I max out the volume not even close as I did with the polks. I ran it up a little to get an idea how the music was coming across to my ears. I'm starting to feel like I cant really get into it like I did with the polks?

on my Yamaha I would run the volume up to +7-8-9db all the time. maybe my hearing is going down. I am 63!

 

[lovinthehd]

Usually one can tell it's starting to sound bad and simply turn it down, but hard to know what volume level you're talking about, or even what Polk speakers you're comparing the level to. They're relatively small speakers so don't expect concert hall performance from them. What particular amp/receiver are you using?

 

[jsf0656]

I have the older polk RTI6s and Yamaha RX-V475. the night before the one speaker stopped working everything seemed fine. next day no sound from the bad speaker at all when I turned on the receiver.

 

[lovinthehd]

Did you calibrate the volume for each set of speakers using YPAO? No moving gear around after initial setup to loosen wire, anything like that? Might just be luck of the draw...at least it failed earlier rather than later. Glad JBL was easy to work with, tho.

ps How far away are you from the speakers?

 

[jsf0656]

I had already ran the YPAO when I got the receiver but that was with the polks. nothing was moved. all I did was unplug the polks and plug in the JBLs. we sit about 10ft from the speakers.

 

[lovinthehd]

I looked up the specs later, they're of reasonably close sensitivity (assuming they're measured similarly) so the volume readings would be fairly similar even without recalibrating, the Polks were slightly more sensitive too. I normally wouldn't take an avr beyond the "0" on the relative scale into positive numbered-territory, altho with music hard to tell just what volume that might be as it doesn't necessarily follow the same guidelines as a movie (for which the scale is referenced). You might have overdriven them.

 

[jsf0656]

the whole episode is a mystery and I kinda think like you said that it was just a bad apple. I just cant believe that I caused one to go bad because I ran the volume up a little once or twice. but JBL was great about the return. but now I am apprehensive about turning up the volume. I have been running the volume at I would say +4 to 0 or-5 on average with the polks. maybe now that I am getting some age my hearing is causing me to turn up the volume more.

 

[lovinthehd]

the whole episode is a mystery and I kinda think like you said that it was just a bad apple. I just cant believe that I caused one to go bad because I ran the volume up a little once or twice. but JBL was great about the return. but now I am apprehensive about turning up the volume. I have been running the volume at I would say +4 to 0 or-5 on average with the polks. maybe now that I am getting some age my hearing is causing me to turn up the volume more.

Do you have an spl meter you can measure your actual volume with? That is awfully loud IMO for the levels you're twisting the volume knob to. I'm 63 this year too. I rarely do anything above -15, mostly around -20 these days, altho that's with movies....music varies but can't think of but a few recordings where I can tolerate even -5 and that's with fairly low level recordings or a somewhat lower level source like a turntable. What are you playing at those volume levels?

 

[jsf0656]

do not have a spl meter. I only use my system to listen to my music and sometimes thru the tv like sports. I have a lot of concert dvds and also listen to a lot of Sirius xm on the tv just the 70-80s stuff, this could be a wake up call. my hearing is going down.

 

[lovinthehd]

do not have a spl meter. I only use my system to listen to my music and sometimes thru the tv like sports. I have a lot of concert dvds and also listen to a lot of Sirius xm on the tv just the 70-80s stuff, this could be a wake up call. my hearing is going down.

If you have a smart phone you can easily download an spl meter app, may not be the most accurate but can give you an idea of what levels you're pushing ...

 

[jsf0656]

WOW...my polks must be a beast! I have been listening at these levels for years