JBL 5 Series on sale again

[afterlife2]

530 Mod just went up:

 

[KEW]

530 Mod just went up:

TL/DW (too long/didn't watch):
Danny Ritchie did not see any good mods for the 530's!
Either they would cost too much (more than the price of the speakers - especially when on sale) to accomplish a significant improvement or minor things (like adding hi-rez) were not going to make much of an impact because the speaker did not show a specific weakness in that area ... only making a marginal improvement.

@Swerd you might want to check this video clip at 21 minutes where he talks about an upcoming video of building a pair of speakers, crossover, and finishing them - that upcoming video might be useful to learn something to or not to do on your BMR video (assuming you will be a while yet before you start)!

 

[shadyJ]

TL/DW (too long/didn't watch):
Danny Ritchie did not see any good mods for the 530's!
Either they would cost too much (more than the price of the speakers - especially when on sale) to accomplish a significant improvement or minor things (like adding hi-rez) were not going to make much of an impact because the speaker did not show a specific weakness in that area ... only making a marginal improvement.

A couple things about that video: the high-frequency roll-off could be due to a number of factors that wouldn't be true in a stock pair of 530s. It could easily be a measurement error, like a problem with the mic, or it could be a defect with that particular review sample. I would bet something like that is the problem more than this speaker having a rolloff at 14kHz as normal response.

Also, the 'ringing' that they talk about at the crossover frequency, insofar as they are measuring it correctly and interpreting it correctly (which are both big 'ifs' at this point) is more than 20 dB down in level compared to the first arrival of the input signal, and only goes out to 3 ms in their own measurement; so just how audible would that be? My guess is its some phase rotation from the high-pass filter in the crossover circuit.

Their nitpicks about the flaws of this speaker aren't realistic.

 

[ryanosaur]

Oof. That was almost painful. Like a two hour movie about a guy eating a sandwich... who then finished the sandwich at the 10 minute mark, and you get to see him sit and let it digest for the rest of the time!

Things I'd like to see done:
A showdown between the 590s and the already reviewed RP8000s with and without the Richie Mod.
A speaker test-off between Shady and Richie!
A speaker Mod-off between Richie and Murphy!

 

[lovinthehd]

FWIW the measurements from audiosciencereview.com are up https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-studio-530-speaker-measurements.12298/

 

[ryanosaur]

Amir's measurements look a helluva lot cleaner. In all, that would be a great speaker for surround duty!

 

[lovinthehd]

Amir's measurements look a helluva lot cleaner. In all, that would be a great speaker for surround duty!

Which is what it is....

 

[afterlife2]

Amir's measurements look a helluva lot cleaner. In all, that would be a great speaker for surround duty!

I'd use them for music.

 

[shadyJ]

FWIW the measurements from audiosciencereview.com are up https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-studio-530-speaker-measurements.12298/

Well I'll be damned, there is a roll off in upper treble. That is odd that JBL specs this speaker up to 40 kHz within a 6 dB window. Normally, Harman's specs are spot on. Anyway, I stand corrected on that point.

 

[lovinthehd]

Well I'll be damned, there is a roll off in upper treble. That is odd that JBL specs this speaker up to 40 kHz within a 6 dB window. Normally, Harman's specs are spot on. Anyway, I stand corrected on that point.

Production differences? Someone made a comment in the review thread about the air volume that can affect a compression driver like these....

 

[shadyJ]

Production differences? Someone made a comment in the review thread about the air volume that can affect a compression driver like these....

Air volume as in the internal air volume of the cabinet? I wouldn't think so since the tweeter diaphragm of a compression driver is not normally exposed on the rear side.

 

[lovinthehd]

Air volume as in the internal air volume of the cabinet? I wouldn't think so since the tweeter diaphragm of a compression driver is not normally exposed on the rear side.

I'd not seen a comment like that particularly before but was wondering if the type of driver had particular measurement challenges for Amir's setup, too.

The JBL 590 review had this comment about measuring what looks to be similar measurements:


The ‘jagged’ appearance of the
trace above 16kHz is measurement error
that’s to be expected when measuring a
horn-loaded compression driver due to
path-length differences from different parts
of the horn to the measuring microphone.
Therefore you should ignore the ‘jaggedness’
and instead concentrate on the overall trend
of the response. You can see the Studio 590’s
response rolls off to 20kHz, then picks up
again to be only around 5dB down at 25–
30kHz, then rolls off to 40kHz.

 

[Danzilla31]

Amir's measurements look a helluva lot cleaner. In all, that would be a great speaker for surround duty!

It's why I have 4 of them for my surrounds and they do indeed kick ass

 

[shadyJ]

I'd not seen a comment like that particularly before but was wondering if the type of driver had particular measurement challenges for Amir's setup, too.

The JBL 590 review had this comment about measuring what looks to be similar measurements:


The ‘jagged’ appearance of the
trace above 16kHz is measurement error
that’s to be expected when measuring a
horn-loaded compression driver due to
path-length differences from different parts
of the horn to the measuring microphone.
Therefore you should ignore the ‘jaggedness’
and instead concentrate on the overall trend
of the response. You can see the Studio 590’s
response rolls off to 20kHz, then picks up
again to be only around 5dB down at 25–
30kHz, then rolls off to 40kHz.

OK I haven't seen that comment but that makes a little bit more sense with JBL's specs. I don't think what is happening is a problem with Amir's measuring. What is happening is diffraction in the horn itself is causing interference in the response out to the driver's actual output at 40 kHz. The horn in the Studio 5 series is pretty good but it hasn't solved all the problems with waveguides. Since the 530 and 590 horns are different sizes, the interference patterns will occur at different frequencies. I would expect the image control waveguide like is seen in the JBL M2 monitors to be a significant improvement. It is a much more sophisticated waveguide. The studio 5 waveguide is still really good though, and has excellent directivity control out to 14 kHz.

 

[rrj]

Hey sorry about being late getting back to you the tweeter is right at 36 inches off the floor that was measured on a hard surface hope this helps!!!

@Danzilla31 Yes it does. Thanks again.

 

[D Murphy]

Oof. That was almost painful. Like a two hour movie about a guy eating a sandwich... who then finished the sandwich at the 10 minute mark, and you get to see him sit and let it digest for the rest of the time!

Things I'd like to see done:

A speaker Mod-off between Richie and Murphy!

I wouldn't stand a chance with those cheap, non-conductive input terminals I use. Actually, I got my start selling a kit that was a mod of an early Danny Richie design. Danny had sourced very inexpensive but solid drivers that required a more complex crossover than the cap and coil Danny was using. I of course went overboard with a 15-element filter and lost my shirt (the first of many). Wish I could remember what i called it. There are a lot of them out there.

 

[Danzilla31]

FWIW the measurements from audiosciencereview.com are up https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-studio-530-speaker-measurements.12298/

It's stated as a 6 ohm speaker but from his measurements it hangs out really in 4ohms makes a lot of sense to me

My experience with this has been that these babies like a lot of power and can handle it as well in my room

I wonder if the 590's are the same way. They are above average in sensitivity so it doesn't take much to get them going at lower volumes

But when playing around they do and will handle a lot of power with no issues

They'll get me to quit way before distortion or reference the only time I attempted to get close to reference they were so clean but I gave ought long before they did. They are not shy with power that's for sure

 

[Old Onkyo]

It's stated as a 6 ohm speaker but from his measurements it hangs out really in 4ohms makes a lot of sense to me

My experience with this has been that these babies like a lot of power and can handle it as well in my room

I wonder if the 590's are the same way. They are above average in sensitivity so it doesn't take much to get them going at lower volumes

But when playing around they do and will handle a lot of power with no issues

They'll get me to quit way before distortion or reference the only time I attempted to get close to reference they were so clean but I gave ought long before they did. They are not shy with power that's for sure

I have only had my 590’s 2-3 weeks and I am thinking about how they would sound with more power!
Should I get mono locks for the LCR or will the LR suffice?
is there a better 3 channel amp that you guys would consider?

Thanks

 

[Danzilla31]

I have only had my 590’s 2-3 weeks and I am thinking about how they would sound with more power!
Should I get mono locks for the LCR or will the LR suffice?
is there a better 3 channel amp that you guys would consider?

Thanks

If outlaw still has that sale this m2200 the monoblocks were the best deal going 3 for like 800 bucks I believe if you only want to power the 590's Id still get 2 of them

 

[ryanosaur]

FYI: Outlaw 2200 monoblocks are currently out of stock.