JTR Triple 8's (stream of consciousness rambling)
I had the opportunity to hear the Triple 8’s (LCR) in combo with 4 Slanted 8’s and two massive DIY subs at another Forum member’s house this week. The system was setup in a living room with no acoustic treatments outside of some heavy “blackout” curtains along one (left) sidewall and a brick fireplace along the other. This made the room a bit brighter than I am accustomed. The power was mostly pro audio (Crown amps) and a Denon 3806 AVR was the SSP. Like me, he had a dual display setup with an LCD flat panel and a nice Epson 1080 PJ and screen.
He uses Audyssey (via the Denon) and initially he had it engaged. With Audyssey engaged, the volume easily maxed out on the Denon. While it was reasonably loud, it did not seem loud enough for me (I may need a hearing check
) considering these were action movies. After disengaging Audyssey, we gained quite a bit of headroom and the system sounded better (more crisp and alive). This deadening effect is something I have noticed with Audyssey. Apparently, some like it … I do not.
We ran a series of movie and music clips in the relatively short 40 min demo. I chose the HD-DVD ver. of Last Samurai and he chose the BR ver. of I Robot (played on a PS3). He was using a Berringer EQ for his DIY subs and like me, he plays with the settings quite a bit so they needed a bit of taming initially. Once he dialed them back a bit they sounded good and blended reasonably well with the JTR’s.
The JTR’s are finished with Truck Bed liner and look very pro-audio. If you are placing these in a living space you share with a female this will be a problem. I spoke with JTR before the demo and wood veneer finishes will be an option for a reasonable per speaker up-charge.
Ok impressions. Much of what I heard was familiar material. The speakers have very good dynamics (to me that means capable of volume without distortion) and dialog was reasonably intelligible amid the chaos of the sound tracks. These T8’s were the standard config with the coax driver (you can get the coax mounted on “top”) mounted in the middle of the two bass drivers. The center was on the horizontal and the LR’s were on stands vertical. There was quite a height difference in the L/R’s vs. the center and that may have accounted for some lack of cohesion with the front soundstage.
In any case, the JTR T8’s sounded good, but not as good as I had hoped. Musically, they presented the material in a “wall of sound” mode lacking the clarity and detail I am used to with all of my HT speakers dating back to my Monitor Audio Gold’s. Knowing how unreliable audio memory is and considering all of the other variables, I am reluctant to go much farther with any criticism of the JTR’s. Suffice to say that for their price, these could be a very good option for someone looking for big, Theater like sound in an HT.
I owe the JTR owner a demo of my system and I am thinking of doing a side by side with the JTR’s and my Revels. This would be a much longer session and would take power and room acoustics out of the equation. It would be interesting to hear the difference between such widely differentiated concepts and price points in a side by side comparison.
