JBL Studio 230 (Refurbish)

BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
I wonder what the story is behind these!
Speaker failures are generally pretty rare!
I wonder if they are open box returns or if they just got some which had a minor blemish from the manufacturing facility.
Likely these were never in hands of customers. Defect in manufacturing of speakers or box. Prior one was probably easy to fix, like incorrect polarity.

My good friend bough arena 120 and was very impressed with them. These speakers have the same DNA.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I have bought several refurbished items from Harman/JBL and all have been in great shape!
I would not be concerned about these being "refurbished" items!
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
I wonder what the story is behind these!
Speaker failures are generally pretty rare!
I wonder if they are open box returns or if they just got some which had a minor blemish from the manufacturing facility.
I think it is open box and/or minor blemish -- could be a collection from USA and Canada
 
J

jsf0656

Audioholic
I saw these on ebay and jumped on these quickly. I was about to order them from jbl anyway and it came at a great time. I know you cant really know what a speaker is going to sound like in your room but from the few youtube videos I looked at they are going to be great and cant wait! I think I need to thank zieglj01 for steering me to them. I love audioholics way better than AVR as I have gotten so much help here vs AVR!:)
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
I have bought several refurbished items from Harman/JBL and all have been in great shape!
I would not be concerned about these being "refurbished" items!
They are here and look like new -- that is impressive for $160 delivered
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
My good friend bough arena 120 and was very impressed with them. These speakers have the same DNA.
I have owned the bigger Arena, these (the 230) are a nice and clean step up. ... But yes, a lot of people will like the Arena's
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I have owned the bigger Arena, these (the 230) are a nice and clean step up. ... But yes, a lot of people will like the Arena's
Currently showing 15 of 51 pairs available sold so they have 36 more pairs to go! That means they will be around for a little bit longer!

How do they rank compared to some of the other speakers you have had?

Not that I'm in the market, but would be nice to take some of the guess out of buying these blind!

I am thoroughly impressed by the $449/pr Infinity R162 (which was on sale early this year for $190/pr).
I am wondering if these $400/pr speakers from sibling JBL are close!
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
Currently showing 15 of 51 pairs available sold so they have 36 more pairs to go! That means they will be around for a little bit longer!

How do they rank compared to some of the other speakers you have had?

Not that I'm in the market, but would be nice to take some of the guess out of buying these blind!

I am thoroughly impressed by the $449/pr Infinity R162 (which was on sale early this year for $190/pr).
I am wondering if these $400/pr speakers from sibling JBL are close!
They started with 66 and have sold 13 pairs

I would not be surprised if they are close to the Infinity R162 -- and only $50 difference in list price

Now from early listening I rank them higher than Q Acoustics 3020 and their newer 3020i speakers -- higher than the NHT SuperOne 2.1, which like the Q A's were sent back -- I rank them higher than the HTD Level Three and higher than the former Infinity Beta 20 speakers. ..... Still in the early testing, but I may end up liking them better than the Canton GLS 2 speakers and the JBL has a better cabinet .... What is nice about these is that they do not have an annoying happy bump around 1 khz like a lot of popular speakers do. With the Studio 5 series and the lower Studio 2 series, JBL has done better compared to some of their speakers of the past.
 
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KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
They started with 66 and have sold 13 pairs
Ahh!
I misinterpreted!
They started with 66 pairs and had sold 15 pairs and had 51 pairs remaining when I checked yesterday. I misinterpreted the info as 51 was the original quantity available (instead of the current number available) and 15 of those were sold!

Right now they are at 17 sold with 49 remaining (total 66).

Your number sold of 13 yesterday conflicted with 15 sold when I had checked (presumably earlier than you checked). Most likely, the reason for this is you linked to a saved page from earlier when you had used the link.
Try hitting the refresh page button and see if you get a number consistent with the 17 sold (or more, but not less)!
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
Ahh!
I misinterpreted!
They started with 66 pairs and had sold 15 pairs and had 51 pairs remaining when I checked yesterday. I misinterpreted the info as 51 was the original quantity available (instead of the current number available) and 15 of those were sold!

Right now they are at 17 sold with 49 remaining (total 66).

Your number sold of 13 yesterday conflicted with 15 sold when I had checked (presumably earlier than you checked). Most likely, the reason for this is you linked to a saved page from earlier when you had used the link.
Try hitting the refresh page button and see if you get a number consistent with the 17 sold (or more, but not less)!
They are now 49 and 17 ..... at first I got 15 and 13 mixed up
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
How do they rank compared to some of the other speakers you have had?
Not that I'm in the market, but would be nice to take some of the guess out of buying these blind!
Done more listening to the Studio 230 speakers

OK and decent/nice for music, but are somewhat limited. The bass is good and is not bloated or mushy sounding and does go low, the upper midrange is somewhat recessed. The tweeter can be a little bright on some recordings, but not sharp or ear piercing, however poor recordings will be exposed. Their overall sound signature is not in the $400 range as they are somewhat lacking in overall resolution -- the soundstage is also somewhat lacking in central imaging and depth, the soundstage is wide but not as wide as some other speakers can be. They do have a slight boxy sound, but they do not honk like the Q A 3020i and they are more cohesive sounding than the 3020i speakers. They are more linear and balanced over the SuperOne 2.1, and the JBL is more rounded and full compared to the SuperOne 2.1 -- The QA and NHT do have that forward push that can be annoying, while the JBL does not really come at you. The Studio 230 does perform better for Movies/TV and do have some decent dynamics, but they are not made for blowing your roof off or blasting your windows

If I were to use some WhatHiFi lingo, I would say that the Studio 230 lacks some pace and rhythm.
The JBL can benefit from a crossover mod, as they did not put a lot of work into it to save cost. And the cabinet could benefit with some cross bracing. The Canton GLS 2 is still an overall better speaker. But I still prefer the Studio 230 over the HTD Level Three, Polk Rti4, Klipsch RB61, the Q A 3020/3020i and the NHT SuperOne 2.1 -- For $159 a real good deal for the budget friendly minded.
 
davidscott

davidscott

Audioholic Ninja
Nice. But I don't need bookshelves I have some primus 163s to go with my 363s or Id pull the trigger.
 
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