JBL Control One Speakers...

[Darth Mike]

Sound Great.

Lol, anyways, I snagged a pair from a buddy in payment of a (legal) favor, it was an offer I couldn't refuse, I wanted to hear them for a long time and was too cheap to try them when I used to work at Best Buy.

I must say these little things are a GREAT value. They have a very convincing quality to them that I have only heard in speakers much more expensive. The amount and quality of the bass these put out is simply divine. I can only compare them to some minimonitors I listened to at the local SamAsh prosound store when I was into DJ/Music. I am simply amazed by the utter lack of quality some companies eek by with when I hear a small set of speakers out perform a much more expensive speaker 2x thier size. I had never considered JBL a hit as far a speakers for my home, but these have a taste of the professional stuff they make, and it is a very good taste at that.

My PC audio system is very unconventional, this I know. I have absolutly no doubt that many standard PC speakers are garbage as compared to this setup though.

Insignia Car CD deck with 3.5mm aux input
Noise filter to cleam up the signal a bit
PC Power supply
Envy24 Soundcard
JBL control Ones
Yamaha NS-A636
12'' 250W Homebrew Sub

For all listening I used only the Control Ones. Here is my playlist:

Santana Ft. Chad Kroeger - You & I
Habib Koite and Bamada - Your Work
Coheed And Cambria - The Running Free
Luciana Souza - Muita Bobiera (I'm Portuguese)

From the Begining of the song I was immediately impressed with the realism and impact of the bass. Even at fairly high volumes I was able to easily forget I was hearing a 4'' woofer. Carlo's guitar sounded as sweet and smooth as a Carmel Apple Empanada from Taco Bell without even a bit of harshness, I don't think I could ask for more on this track. My only complaint was that these speakers seemed a tad warm, at low volumes but the more I listen I tend to enjoy it at lower volumes these speakers sounded nearly lifelike and the warmness faded as the volume got higher. I have no doubt that a bit more power would clean these speakers right up.

I still am unable to grasp the realism of drums on these speakers. The mixture of the acoustic guitar and clean male vocals makes me regret ever saying these speakers are too warm. It really is just a quality I am not used to with a size this small. The more I listen to these the more I begin to believe I am biasing myself on how a pair of smaller speakers usually sound instead of just judging the sound as if it were coming from nowhere. Female vocals sound very smooth and laid back on these speakers and the bit of extra midrange seems to make female vocal sound very much as if a woman were singing only feet away form me.

As far as what types of music these speakers shine on... I can only say that every genre I normally listen to sounded great and my playlist was comprised of many different genres of music.

 

[Seth=L]

I wonder how they would compare to the JBL Northridge Series N24 speakers. They have 4" woofers with .75 ceramic tweeters (aluminum). The Control Ones have foam surrounds where as the N24s have rubber surrounds (each may have certain advantages).

Nice little write-up though, thank you.

 

[Darth Mike]

I wonder how they would compare to the JBL Northridge Series N24 speakers. They have 4" woofers with .75 ceramic tweeters (aluminum). The Control Ones have foam surrounds where as the N24s have rubber surrounds (each may have certain advantages).

Nice little write-up though, thank you.

It would be a great comparison, if I ever had a chance.... I think these foam surrounds may be the reason the bass doesn't seem to have that slappy punch that most small woofers have. I just don't see that the extra tightness a rubber surround provides would make these speakers better it'd probably be a detraction. I like rubber on larger woofers for that quality, but in those cases they need it.

I like to write, I usually don't have the greatest gear though.

 

[Seth=L]

Yeah, I don't always have the greatest gear either. I can't say I have ever used a car stereo in my home though.

 

[Darth Mike]

Works great with a noise filter, sounds much better than many "PC sound systems" and takes up only a small part of my shelf and the display matches my PC case. I'm going to get a mini amp from parts express when my spare change allows.


For the record all listening was done nearfield with this setup as it is a PC system. As I back up my chair they actually image a little tighter.

 

[Twexcom]

Hello.

I agree that these are good for the price.

However, although they felt firm on the outside, I was not very pleased with their build quality. The tweeters crystallized and one stopped working. The surrounds of both woofers rotted out, and soon after purchasing them. I do not like how the woofers were installed. They had glue all over the edges. They look sloppy. They are still sticky, too.

 

[orAgon]

Nice write-up. It mostly echoes my impressions of these speakers when I auditioned them at BB a couple of weeks ago. I now have a pair of these as back surrounds in my 7.1 system and, so far, am very happy with the purchase. They're just the right speakers for my application (especially in size and weight for ceiling mounting). I had to jury-rig the wall mounts, with <$2.00 worth of hardware, for ceiling mounting and to obtain my desired position. I'm sure they're out there but I have yet to find a better value for my money.

 

[WmAx]

Twexcom showed me some pictures of these speakers disassembled. I must say, the enclosure is alarming: (1) It appears to be very thin plastic, and with zero bracing or re-enforcement molds. (2) There is no effective acoustic damping material inside. It has a material, but it looks to be low density filter as one would expect to find in some commercial HVAC systems. Worthless for sound absorption, except maybe at 15khz.

-Chris

 

[Darth Mike]

After some extended listening with a sub I find these to be still a great computer speaker, they far surpass any 2.1 PC system I have heard. I can see where some enclosure moding would help the sound as they are missing certain things that there is no explaination as to why. I am guessing with very minimal effort I could fix up the poor quality of the cabinet's construction. It is odd though that they feel so tough fromt he exterior. I even accidently dropped one from six feet and it was fine... I'm going to crack mine open and have some fun one day, then I'll update.

 

[Rickster71]

Twexcom showed me some pictures of these speakers disassembled. I must say, the enclosure is alarming: (1) It appears to be very thin plastic, and with zero bracing or re-enforcement molds. (2) There is no effective acoustic damping material inside. It has a material, but it looks to be low density filter as one would expect to find in some commercial HVAC systems. Worthless for sound absorption, except maybe at 15khz.

-Chris

I bought a pair of these, about seven years ago at Costco, or BJ's Wholesale club.
I used them for background music in an upstairs bedroom.
I wonder if some DynaMat applied to the interior of the enclosure would be worth the effort?

 

[majorloser]

On a Path to the Dark Side

I seem to remember another person who liked these speakers

 

[Rickster71]

I seem to remember another person who liked these speakers

I have mine nailed to the bedroom door, just like that!
It all works fine until my wife swings open the door, and yells to turn it down!

Rick

 

[WmAx]

I bought a pair of these, about seven years ago at Costco, or BJ's Wholesale club.
I used them for background music in an upstairs bedroom.
I wonder if some DynaMat applied to the interior of the enclosure would be worth the effort?

With a normal MDF cabinet, there is a substantial energy time decay and narrow energy peaks of acoustic energy output from the cabinet. A thick application of Dynamat can substantially reduce this time decay, and have some small reduction of the overall output level of the cabinet peaks(as well as slightly shift the frequency bands). With the plastic composite enclosure, it is probably already a rather short time decay duration - Dynamat would reduce overall amplitude of the walls by some amount, but I don't expect that this alone would be sufficient. However, it would be EASY to reinforce the enclosure walls in this speaker. In the pics that I saw, the entire front of the speaker comes apart allowing complete access to internals. Use an epoxy glue designed to adhere to plastic, one could come up with a creative way to reduce output of the cabinet by a substantial degree. My first thought was to use some plastic composite grate, as seen on some feet wiping 'mats', though not all that common. Cut this to fit the walls and adhere it and this would provide a massive reinforcement strength with minimal volume reduced internally. Add some cross bracing and replace the worthless internal acoustic damping material with one that is effective, and I believe the quality would be substantially improved, assuming the JBL spec sheet measurements of the speaker are accurate.

-Chris

 

[orAgon]

Twexcom showed me some pictures of these speakers disassembled. I must say, the enclosure is alarming: (1) It appears to be very thin plastic, and with zero bracing or re-enforcement molds. (2) There is no effective acoustic damping material inside. It has a material, but it looks to be low density filter as one would expect to find in some commercial HVAC systems. Worthless for sound absorption, except maybe at 15khz.

-Chris

Chris,

I haven't opened mine so I don't know how thin the enclosure is. It does feel, however, of sufficient strength to withstand moderate abuse. Furthermore, owing to its relatively small size and its monocoque construction, the need for internal bracing/reinforcement is minimal to nil unless one is concerned with the negative effects of the enclosure's elasticity. And the application for which these speakers are designed, I'm not sure if that is even a factor. Thoughts?

 

[WmAx]

Chris,

I haven't opened mine so I don't know how thin the enclosure is. It does feel, however, of sufficient strength to withstand moderate abuse. Furthermore, owing to its relatively small size and its monocoque construction, the need for internal bracing/reinforcement is minimal to nil unless one is concerned with the negative effects of the enclosure's elasticity. And the application for which these speakers are designed, I'm not sure if that is even a factor. Thoughts?

The durability is not an issue. The walls are of sufficient flexibility to move in response to internal SPL pressure and direct physical excitation by transmission of the mounted driver to the cabinet, that the material will be highly likely to vibrate in sufficient amplitude to behave as a secondary audio diaphragm, but one with narrow frequency response bands, that combine with the direct speaker radiation in the total room response, causing timbre distortion.

Now, is a speaker that can be purchased new for about $100 or so a pair worth the effort of modification? I can't answer that, as I have not personally tested/measured the drivers and crossover system in this speaker, nor have I seen a credible 3rd party analysis/measurement set. But for surround use only, I don't believe it is worth modification, except perhaps simply changing out the internal acoustic dampening material for an effective one.

-Chris

 

[orAgon]

The durability is not an issue. The walls are of sufficient flexibility to move in response to internal SPL pressure and direct physical excitation by transmission of the mounted driver to the cabinet, that the material will be highly likely to vibrate in sufficient amplitude to behave as a secondary audio diaphragm, but one with narrow frequency response bands, that combine with the direct speaker radiation in the total room response, causing timbre distortion.

Now, is a speaker that can be purchased new for about $100 or so a pair worth the effort of modification? I can't answer that, as I have not personally tested/measured the drivers and crossover system in this speaker, nor have I seen a credible 3rd party analysis/measurement set. But for surround use only, I don't believe it is worth modification, except perhaps simply changing out the internal acoustic dampening material for an effective one.

-Chris

Thanks, we're on the same page...

 

[Darth Mike]

Off topic, but relative to those pics... How would one decode "hieght surround"? What is that room used for? I didn't see any screens? I just want to kno more about that entire system.

 

[Alex2507]

Off topic, but relative to those pics... How would one decode "hieght surround"? What is that room used for? I didn't see any screens? I just want to kno more about that entire system.

I'm pretty sure the less you know about that system, the better. IIRC admin stepped in to ward people away from setting anything like that up if they wanted a system that sounded good. Kind of like saying that they did not endorse such a set up and they wanted to go on record as having said so.

Hope that helps.

 

[Darth Mike]

I don't want to criticize it, I am just interested in what equipment was used and how it was set up to operate with all those speakers, and positions. And if that system was crap, would that mean majorloser contributing that system to this thread mean he is criticizing me for liking my control ones?

 

[Seth=L]

I don't want to criticize it, I am just interested in what equipment was used and how it was set up to operate with all those speakers, and positions. And if that system was crap, would that mean majorloser contributing that system to this thread mean he is criticizing me for liking my control ones?

Darth Mike,

The guy with all the Control 1's had this idea that he could recreate a more movie theater like surround sound experience by using multiple speakers with a lot of older Dolby pro logic decoders and stuff I don't understand. Now whether it works or not, well only he knows, but I think doing anything like that demonstrates an obsession (not that we don't all have our own little obsessions). I would personally never do it, and I have never seen anyone else ever do it.

I don't think that Major is criticizing you for owning and enjoying your Control 1's. You enjoying your speakers is your business, and no one can make you not like them. Even if someone is criticizing you, even if you had Bose, it isn't like it really matters does it?