JBL HP-520 speaker thread. Fun.

[HaGii]

Here:

 

[HaGii]

That’s a new one for me what size are they .

Inner diameter without the wooden frame is about 180mm.

But in the advertisement from around 1990 it is advertised as two 200mm woofers.

 

[Mark E. Long]

Inner diameter without the wooden frame is about 180mm.

But in the advertisement from around 1990 it is advertised as two 200mm woofers.

I’ve never seen this version before is that saying 18 inch across?

 

[Mark E. Long]

Inner diameter without the wooden frame is about 180mm.

But in the advertisement from around 1990 it is advertised as two 200mm woofers.

These appear to be from the European market as well as I’ve seen this design but the but the woofers was not mounted to a chamber and not in the top this a new one on me . Interesting how do these sound ?

 

[HaGii]

I’ve never seen this version before is that saying 18 inch across?

It’s 18 centimetres. Even though it says 20 centimetres on the original data sheet.
See here:

These appear to be from the European market as well as I’ve seen this design but the but the woofers was not mounted to a chamber and not in the top this a new one on me . Interesting how do these sound ?

They sound very good. The bass gets better when I’m placing them towards the room. The mids and highs are awesome. And I really like the stage it creates.

Regarding the woofer, I found this original ad and translated it via AI.
Here‘s the translation:
A strong principle from JBL
The woofers of the HP 430, 530, and 590 are invisible, but unmistakable. They are positioned directly behind each other and are acoustically connected via an air tube. The front side of the upper woofer radiates into a pressure chamber to enhance the upper bass frequencies. The plastic and glass cabinet top is a component of this pressure chamber. The back of the lower bass chassis, on the other hand, interacts with a bass reflex volume that amplifies the lowest tones. Despite their slim design, the new HP speakers therefore deliver exceptionally strong and tight bass. Together with the improved midrange driver and the specially tuned crossover, these JBL design speakers achieve outstanding detail and naturalness across the entire listening range.

And here’s the original picture:

 

[Mark E. Long]

It’s 18 centimetres. Even though it says 20 centimetres on the original data sheet.
See here:
View attachment 71694





They sound very good. The bass gets better when I’m placing them towards the room. The mids and highs are awesome. And I really like the stage it creates.

Regarding the woofer, I found this original ad and translated it via AI.
Here‘s the translation:
A strong principle from JBL
The woofers of the HP 430, 530, and 590 are invisible, but unmistakable. They are positioned directly behind each other and are acoustically connected via an air tube. The front side of the upper woofer radiates into a pressure chamber to enhance the upper bass frequencies. The plastic and glass cabinet top is a component of this pressure chamber. The back of the lower bass chassis, on the other hand, interacts with a bass reflex volume that amplifies the lowest tones. Despite their slim design, the new HP speakers therefore deliver exceptionally strong and tight bass. Together with the improved midrange driver and the specially tuned crossover, these JBL design speakers achieve outstanding detail and naturalness across the entire listening range.

And here’s the original picture:
View attachment 71695

By the model numbers it would seem these are the second version of these towers I don’t think theses were sold hear hence the 430, 530 ect only ones I’ve seen hear our 420’s 520’s ect . Same cabinet although on my version all the corners use a lock miter on the corners . If these are anything like mine they love good clean power but don’t take much to get loud either how are replacement parts for these .as with mine they do sound best about 2 feet from a wall or corners of the room and the switch on the bottom set to 0 db .
Congratulations on a great find put good quality media threw these and they will sound way above there original price point .

 

[afterlife2]

Congratulations on the speakers I truly love mine. Post some pics when you have them fully setup with your system.

 

[HaGii]

By the model numbers it would seem these are the second version of these towers I don’t think theses were sold hear hence the 430, 530 ect only ones I’ve seen hear our 420’s 520’s ect . Same cabinet although on my version all the corners use a lock miter on the corners . If these are anything like mine they love good clean power but don’t take much to get loud either how are replacement parts for these .as with mine they do sound best about 2 feet from a wall or corners of the room and the switch on the bottom set to 0 db .
Congratulations on a great find put good quality media threw these and they will sound way above there original price point .

They seem the same (530s and 520s), but the woofers are different in size and orientation, as well as the missing switch for db-settings on the 530s. I don't have it and I searched for it for far too long.

They do sound awesome. I put some nice music through them and was blown away by some performances.
For example:
Hotel California (Live on MTV, 1994) by Eagles is just spectacular, I got goosebumps from its stage, clarity and striking bass.
Crucify your mind by Rodriguez is another damn classic sounding awesome through these.

What really changed the way I look at these speakers is when I downloaded Qobuz and played some hi-res music. The difference in detail and frequency response
Sometimes there are songs these speakers can't handle quite right, wether its because their sound doesn't fit those tracks oder the recording of said track isn't of a high enough quality. Bad recordings and songs that sound like a big pile of mud make themselves literally unplayable through these speakers. These speakers show if a song isn't precisely mastered or when instruments and frequencies are an undifferentiated mix (mess).
You'll start to hear if songs were taken care of or not.

I'm using an AV receiver (Denon X2600H) since I don't have another one right now.
I'll try a Sony TA-F 630 SED soon, since it's collecting dust in my parent's home.

I'm hooked now, so just purchased a Wiim Ultra, which should be arriving today. I want to play with connecting an active sub for some electronic music I like to listen to sometimes, because the sub bass is something the speakers' are lacking of sometimes... in rare occasions. Mostly when the songs I want to listen to are a 'big pile of mud'

Congratulations on the speakers I truly love mine. Post some pics when you have them fully setup with your system.

Maybe I'll post some pictures, when I moved to my new home and got it renovated.

 

[HaGii]

So I’m reporting back after a few weeks of intensive testing.
I listened to a great amount of songs and enjoyed the hell out of these speakers. The highs and mids are excellent for my test. Highs don’t stress or get annoying. The mid-bass section was quite pleasing and more than enough for most songs from the 80s.
But…. The speakers lacked deep bass.
It just wasn’t as present as I hoped it would be.
I tried everything. Every position in the room I could imagine. I tried different amp settings. Different sources. Even different speaker cables.

I was devastated. So I pulled the subs again. Inspected them. Tried just ONE sub per speaker to no avail. When inspections both speakers I didn’t notice any defects or cracks, but when actuating the paper cones by hand I needed more force to do so with the upper subs of each of the speakers.
I found out that the foam edges were pretty hard and stiff.
I thought about getting new once and applying them. I searched the internet for replacements, but couldn’t find any. I was thinking about cutting them myself or something, but didn’t want to spend money on something that I didn’t do before.

So I tried:
Glycerin.

I applied a good amount of it on the cones foam edges with a microfibre cloth. I did three rounds of applying the glycerin while carefully actuating the cone by hand to massage the glycerin into the foam edges.
After that I reinstalled the subs while also making sure to blacken the parts of the glass plate where the black foil has been detoriated. I just used a black text marker in 3 layers that I let dry for a few minutes.

Then I played a 30hz test tone through YouTube for a few minutes, left the room, came back and was… amazed.

The sound the speakers produced when listening to the first song after the procedure was totally different to what I’ve heard before from these very speakers.
It was rich and full of perfectly placed and full bass.

This really changed the speaker to something phenomenal! I’d highly recommend to do so if you’ve problems with deeper bass.

Even though it’s by no means a repair, you may call it maintenance or care routine.
I know that I may have to do this again in a few months or so, but I’ll do it happily again!

 

[TLS Guy]

These appear to be from the European market as well as I’ve seen this design but the but the woofers was not mounted to a chamber and not in the top this a new one on me . Interesting how do these sound ?

It is an isobarik design with a two drivers connected by a coupled cavity. This halves the Vas so that reduces enclosure volume by half. But you have to add back the volume of the connecting tunnel and the added driver. It does not increase power output and in fact halves efficiency. The only advantage is reduced enclosure size.