Hello all, this is the last resort for a plausible explanation.
In 2010 Audioholics did a review on a few towers. One of them was the towers I own and were purchased in 2009 - debuted in 2007.
They are 4 way JBL ES 80 series. Paired with an integrated amp pushing 110 RMS@8ohm, 165@4ohms, source is redbook CD's. They are Great and sometimes Jaw dropping with Jazz, EDM, slow rock, classic rock and female vocals, their weakness is when the pace pics up on faster tracks where male vocals and instruments get clumped.
However; after auditioning speakers form the likes of SVS ultra towers/Polk Audio reserve/ paradigm Founder 100f/ wharfedale 4.4, Lintons, Aura 2 / dynaudio emit 50/evoke 30, JBL 82's / 698/3600 Hdi, Dali oberon 9, KLH model 3/5 and Passif 50 all of them being 2.5 to 3 way. None of them sounded better only a different sound signature.
I realized to better what I have, I would need to spend in the ball park of 7000 USD. I paid 1200 for both JBL towers in 2009. Specification white page included form manufacture. P.S I called JBL California and spoke to a manager about their line up, he said if I still have my 4 ways and if they work great to keep them. Hmmm?
How is this possible?
What happened?
Thank you!
You have put your finger right on the problem with speakers.
When I visit dealers, which I don't do often, as I am a time waster as I have no intention of buying their speakers,
But you have this array of speakers and they switch from one to the other, and they all sound different.
So naughtily I ask them "which one is correct?"
Now I have never bought a speaker. I have built my own for seventy years now. I have to say that designing and developing a really good speaker is actually a steep climb and they can be long in genesis.
I would say that it took me most of my life to come up with consistent results. I do think though in my later years they have got far more consistent.
This is due to the hard work and research of others as well as my own. Software modelling has helped enormously as well as improved measuring techniques.
All this has increased cost. Top end drivers have risen in price over the years, but their performance has also increased.
So this is complex. Then you have to add deliberate errors as I think dreaded marketers have this idea of a brand or corporate sound.
To top it off, you can not entirely rely on speaker measurements with speakers like you can on amps for instance. If it measures badly it will sound bad, but if it measures well it won't necessarily be a good speaker.
The reason for that is that you can drive an amp to full power across the frequency spectrum. If you do that with a speaker you will blow it up.
So, when I design a speaker I am very much cognisant of where the power bands of music actually are. My beef with a lot of commercial designs is that I feel they get this wrong more often than not. So many speakers are woefully short of power in the major power bands, which actually is above the low bass. Many instruments require enormous resources across the midrange power bands. Then there is the organ that can put colossal power in any audio band it feels like.
So, there is an awful lot that goes into building a really good speaker. They are seemingly simple, but that ends up being the last thing about them.
