JBL HDI-1200P Subwoofer Review: Good Performance At A Premium Price?

[shadyJ]

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JBL’s HDI series hit a home run in our review of the HDI-3800, and they had high praise for their HDI-1200P sub in our interview with their Senior Product Manager, Jim Garret, in our Livestream VPE (VPE Event: JBL HDI Series Loudspeaker Tech Overview), so we decided to check the HDI-1200P out for ourselves. In for review today is the HDI-1200P. The HDI-1200P is a modestly-sized ported subwoofer with a very high-quality finish and build, but it is a not inexpensive subwoofer with an MSRP of $3k. The question before us is what does the HDI-1200 set out to accomplish exactly, and is $3k a reasonable sum for what it is doing? Read our full review to find out!

READ: JBL HDI-1200P Subwoofer Review

 

[ryanosaur]

Another good write up, Shady. Thank you!

 

[Hetfield]

This line from JBL certainly is pretty I will say that . Whew expensive but very pretty.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[ryanosaur]

@shadyJ
Perhaps in Subwoofer Candy, or as a separate post/thread, it would be really cool to see a compiled list of the music and movies you’ve used in your reviews (especially .
(Of course I could always just research every review you’ve done… but that means there’s music I won’t get to hear until 2030 at the rate I’m going. )

 

[shadyJ]

@shadyJ
Perhaps in Subwoofer Candy, or as a separate post/thread, it would be really cool to see a compiled list of the music and movies you’ve used in your reviews (especially .
(Of course I could always just research every review you’ve done… but that means there’s music I won’t get to hear until 2030 at the rate I’m going. )

Lol, that would be a large amount of work! For those looking for some new subwoofer candy, it would be a great thread though. One problem is that not all of the music that I used is freely available online, and much of it was streamed from Qobuz (although a lot of what you can get on Qobuz can also be had from Amazon HD and Tidal). Some of it was also from CDs that might not be available anywhere online. Also, not all of it will blow the barn doors off your system, and much of it has much subtler use of bass than what is found in the subwoofer candy thread. It still might be worth it for me since I am always looking through my old reviews so I don't accidentally re-use something I had already written about in a previous review. It might not be the best practice as a reviewer to avoid writing about the same content (I do have my standard playlist that I go through with most products although I don't write about that), but I don't want to write about content that I have already used for a product evaluation.

 

[ryanosaur]

I wasn't necessarily looking for everything to "blow the barn doors off," but thought it would be a cool list to have access to just for giggles.

Likewise, since you brought it up, it would be really cool to see your standard evaluation playlist much the way Erin lists his list.
You guys (@gene and @Matthew J Poes ) could do an article and video even about your guys evaluation playlists... what you use, why you chose it and how it helps you identify the good and bad in a critical examination.

 

[Danzilla31]

Great writeup Shady! Man I'm just confused. The HDI towers are just beasts for $3000 I feel like this could have been made to match them better performance wise? It's not like JBL doesn't have the knowledge or economies of scale to do it. I guess maybe they were looking for aesthetics and size? It is a pretty looking sub

 

[shadyJ]

Great writeup Shady! Man I'm just confused. The HDI towers are just beasts for $3000 I feel like this could have been made to match them better performance wise? It's not like JBL doesn't have the knowledge or economies of scale to do it. I guess maybe they were looking for aesthetics and size? It is a pretty looking sub

Despite internet hype on audio enthusiast social media, large subs have always been a hard sell. While these are a great aesthetic match for the 3800 towers, they aren't a great performance match since they don't dig that much deeper than those towers do. They are still useful for smoothing out room modes though.

 

[NINaudio]

Despite internet hype on audio enthusiast social media, large subs have always been a hard sell. While these are a great aesthetic match for the 3800 towers, they aren't a great performance match since they don't dig that much deeper than those towers do. They are still useful for smoothing out room modes though.

Personally, I feel like $3k for something that doesn't even reach 20 Hz is a whole lot of money for a pretty enclosure.

 

[shadyJ]

Personally, I feel like $3k for something that doesn't even reach 20 Hz is a whole lot of money for a pretty enclosure.

You can't get worthwhile deep bass out of a small enclosure period. JBL was wise not to try.

 

[Mark E. Long]

Always found it kind of weird that a company with the accolades of jbl and there history have never put a lot of effort into subs I mean they do have subs for about every line they have out but just not on par with a lot of the competition like Hsu , SVS , monolith etc . You would think they’d want a chunk of that market . It is a very nicely made sub though I’ve always liked there real wood veneers on there products .

 

[NINaudio]

You can't get worthwhile deep bass out of a small enclosure period. JBL was wise not to try.

I'm not arguing that, just saying it's a steep price for what you're getting.

 

[Danzilla31]

I'm not arguing that, just saying it's a steep price for what you're getting.

I once spent 3k on a prostitute. I told her for 3k she better have an enclosure that can hit 20hz

I dont care how pretty the veneer was.

Wait...... did I just say that out loud?

Siggghhhh I forgot to take my meds this morning again

 

[Danzilla31]

And if we're being honest she looked at my enclosure and said I'd be reaching to call mine a mid bass module

OMFG I did it again the meds haven't kicked in yet

 

[ryanosaur]

I once spent 3k on a prostitute. I told her for 3k she better have an enclosure that can hit 20hz

I dont care how pretty the veneer was.

Wait...... did I just say that out loud?

Not touching this with a 16Hz extension!

And if we're being honest she looked at my enclosure and said I'd be reaching to call mine a mid bass module

Well, I have heard it said that not everything in TX is big.

 

[Danzilla31]

Not touching this with a 16Hz extension!




Well, I have heard it said that not everything in TX is big.

Well I'm not from Texas bro maybe that's the issue?

 

[lovinthehd]

I don't think JBL has ever done a really deep digging sub, they tend to be "for music" I think. The kind of music that doesn't dig that deep, tho

 

[Danzilla31]

I don't think JBL has ever done a really deep digging sub, they tend to be "for music" I think. The kind of music that doesn't dig that deep, tho

I think if you want there subs that dig deep you have to go into the synthesis line. But those are stupid expensive

 

[Mark E. Long]

I don't think JBL has ever done a really deep digging sub, they tend to be "for music" I think. The kind of music that doesn't dig that deep, tho

Mabey there trying to come up with some massive compression driver that will go way low in a little box . ;-)

 

[Mark E. Long]

I think if you want there subs that dig deep you have to go into the synthesis line. But those are stupid expensive

That’s a fact and Iam not all that sure they go that low but boy they pack the power with them and very expensive as is all the synthesis line .