JM Labs

[gnxsam]

I am thinking about purchasing a set of JM Lab MiniUtopia's- fronts, rears, center and sub. Has anyone been able to compare them to B&W, or another high end speaker...looking for some input here...

sam

 

[emorphien]

I prefer Focal (JM Lab) to B&W almost across the board of everything I've heard.

I'd listen to them though, no sense in just asking out opinion. You're looking to drop a lot of money there.

 

[tlqualman]

I have listened to both

I have heard both the Focal and the B&W your talking about both sounded great but I liked the Focal better. In the end I bought Montana SPX and SPC (center) speakers.

 

[highfihoney]

Ive yet to hear any B&W speaker system that i really liked ,with that said i do really like JM/focal speakers,the JM stuff always sounds great with pretty much what ever gear you run it with in a normal home enviroment.

Ive owned speakers from both manufacturers & ended up dumping every set of B&W's i tried while i kept & still own JM labs speakers & ill never sell the jm labs centris center channel speaker in my main system i like it so much.

 

[furrycute]

No one liked any of the B&W speakers they heard? That's surprising.

I once demoed a pair of B&W 802's. I think you would be hard pressed to find another set of speakers that can top those 802's.

 

[jaxvon]

No one liked any of the B&W speakers they heard? That's surprising.

I once demoed a pair of B&W 802's. I think you would be hard pressed to find another set of speakers that can top those 802's.

I have not heard anything from the 800 series or 600 series, only the 705s. While I did not like the 705s, I do not make any assumptions about the other models based on my experiences. The 802s and higher are highly regarded speakers and I would definitely give them a serious listen if I had the chance.

 

[highfihoney]

No one liked any of the B&W speakers they heard? That's surprising.

I once demoed a pair of B&W 802's. I think you would be hard pressed to find another set of speakers that can top those 802's.

I used to own a pair of 802's & i couldnt get them out of my house fast enough,i dont get the whole b&w sound,b&w is one company i would have very much liked to be in love with their house sound,great company,world class service,great looking cabinets,terrible sound.

After long listening sessions they made me feel as though if i had listened any longer i'd have gotten an earache.

 

[WmAx]

I used to own a pair of 802's & i couldnt get them out of my house fast enough,i dont get the whole b&w sound,b&w is one company i would have very much liked to be in love with their house sound,great company,world class service,great looking cabinets,terrible sound.

After long listening sessions they made me feel as though if i had listened any longer i'd have gotten an earache.

It may be that you find the extended flat response of the B&W reference speakers to be annoying. Or perhaps it was an interaction of the specific off axis behaviour(s) with that speaker in the room you used. I certainly can not stand a flat response through the treble on most recordings. A gentle roll off past 5 or 6 kHz, targeting 2 or 3 dB down by 10 kHz, is probably desirable for your preference(s). A precision equalizer is in order in any event. The upper end B&W units are superbly engineered and linear. A little E.Q. goes a long way.

-Chris

 

[WmAx]

I am thinking about purchasing a set of JM Lab MiniUtopia's- fronts, rears, center and sub. Has anyone been able to compare them to B&W, or another high end speaker...looking for some input here...

sam

I don't think B&W makes a bookshelf speaker of the caliber of the JM Lab Mini Utopia. B&W only has full size speakers(and one center channel) in their premium level speakers(802, 801, 800) last time I checked. Being as such, Do you have the space requirements to use 4 full size floorstanders in a surround system? Or is it acceptable to use lesser quality speakers for the surrounds? JM Labs offers both bookshelf size and full size speakers in their premium line.

-Chris

 

[mike53]

I don't think B&W makes a bookshelf speaker of the caliber of the JM Lab Mini Utopia. B&W only has full size speakers(and one center channel) in their premium level speakers(802, 801, 800) last time I checked. Being as such, Do you have the space requirements to use 4 full size floorstanders in a surround system? Or is it acceptable to use lesser quality speakers for the surrounds? JM Labs offers both bookshelf size and full size speakers in their premium line.

-Chris

I agree with you, Chris, on your observations about B&W. The bookshelf speakers are nice but there are others that are better, for the money. I auditioned the 700 and 800 series floorstanding speakers and was very impressed...if only I could afford them. I'm waiting for the chance to hear the CM7s. BTW, the 600, 700, 800 and CM series all have center and bookshelf models.

 

[mike53]

I don't think B&W makes a bookshelf speaker of the caliber of the JM Lab Mini Utopia. B&W only has full size speakers(and one center channel) in their premium level speakers(802, 801, 800) last time I checked. Being as such, Do you have the space requirements to use 4 full size floorstanders in a surround system? Or is it acceptable to use lesser quality speakers for the surrounds? JM Labs offers both bookshelf size and full size speakers in their premium line.

-Chris

I agree with you, Chris, on your observations about B&W. The bookshelf speakers are nice but there are others that are better, for the money. I auditioned the 700 and 800 series floorstanding speakers and was very impressed...if only I could afford them. I'm waiting for the chance to hear the CM7s. BTW, the 600, 700, 800 and CM series all have center and bookshelf models.

 

[Nick250]

No one liked any of the B&W speakers they heard? That's surprising.

I once demoed a pair of B&W 802's. I think you would be hard pressed to find another set of speakers that can top those 802's.

I demoed the 602 and 602.5 and liked the 602 a lot, I did not like the 602.5 that much.

Nick

 

[drobbins]

I used to own a pair of 802's & i couldnt get them out of my house fast enough,i dont get the whole b&w sound,b&w is one company i would have very much liked to be in love with their house sound,great company,world class service,great looking cabinets,terrible sound.

After long listening sessions they made me feel as though if i had listened any longer i'd have gotten an earache.

It might have been some issue with your components. What did you have hooked up to them? I demoed some B&W 805s speakers and they were very laid back and musical. I've heard some decade-old B&Ws that I didn't really like (too bright) but the new crop of 800-series speakers seems to be really, really good. And when I demoed the 805s, I wasn't anticipating that I was going to like them at all. They won me over by being really, really good.

(Still using my NHT Classic 2s for now, though...

 

[highfihoney]

It might have been some issue with your components. What did you have hooked up to them? I demoed some B&W 805s speakers and they were very laid back and musical

I doubt my dislike for them was the fault of the associated gear or some kind of gear mismatch,i tried them with alot of my gear,tube & solid state which included mcintosh,krell ,audio research,im just not a big fan of the b&w sound which to me is way too laid back.

 

[PENG]

I doubt my dislike for them was the fault of the associated gear or some kind of gear mismatch,i tried them with alot of my gear,tube & solid state which included mcintosh,krell ,audio research,im just not a big fan of the b&w sound which to me is way too laid back.

I read your comments on the 802 bofore but I can't remember if you were referring to the 802D. If you found even the 802D way too laid back then I wouldn't understand why. From reading your posts in the past, you can easily hear the differences between amps, I mean mid to high end amps, so I trust you can do the same between different speakers.

I have no trouble telling speakers apart by listening to them even for a short time yet I did not find the 802D or even the 803S or 804S laid back at all. I don't like the labelling things but if I am forced to say it, I found those 800 series, D or S, as bright as my Energy Veritas. They all sounded great to me during the demos in 3 different stores (using my own CDs in one of them), whether they were powered by the Musical Fidelity, Bryston 14B, Anthem or even a B&K. As expected, the D series did a better job with the violins than the S series, but even the bass was impressive. I have not heard any of them powered by a Krell or Classe yet but I doubt those more expensive amps will make them sound laid back. The 802D is still in my long term plan, but thanks to you, I am going to audition them more carefully before I pull the trigger eventually.

 

[AndrewLyles]

To jump back to the orignal question JM Focals were some of the first speakers I auditioned when I was shopping around. I have not heard the model's you're looking at but I can weigh in on a few differrent sets. I auditioned the Chorus 716 V and 726 V a while ago and while they were okay sounding speakers they didn't do anything that wowed me. They were capable of producing accurate sound, they had a handsome appearance, they tout some technological advancements that may or may not be impressive. Overall I felt that while good speakers, I could get more for my money elsewhere.

This past weekend my I went with my brother to audition a couple of their sattelite systems. I had the opportunity to listen to the Sib and the Sib XL series and was less than impressed. Again I didn't think they were performing near the level they should have been for the money. Granted, they are a sat system, but I didn't feel they had very good imaging nor high end response. After that and my previous experience we didn't bother looking at the bookshelfs there.

In both situations, the room could have played a serious role in my opinions. The Utopia line could be much better than the two rather entry level lines that I looked at. I love my Anthony Gallo set up, but some people don't like their sound. I haven't listened to them but you may want to consider Vandersteen's as well. I've read some very good things about them and from what I can tell they make a high quality product. They're not as mainstream as Def Tech or B&W but that never bothered me.

Good luck though, and if you like the results and the products then my opinion doesn't matter. Happy hunting.

 

[highfihoney]

I read your comments on the 802 bofore but I can't remember if you were referring to the 802D. If you found even the 802D way too laid back then I wouldn't understand why. From reading your posts in the past, you can easily hear the differences between amps, I mean mid to high end amps, so I trust you can do the same between different speakers.

I have no trouble telling speakers apart by listening to them even for a short time yet I did not find the 802D or even the 803S or 804S laid back at all. I don't like the labelling things but if I am forced to say it

Good morning peng,i hope your holiday went well,i too hate putting labels on a sound but it really is necessary in some cases,i owned the 802n & not the d model,i did briefly audition the d's at my house,a friend of mine bought the 802d's to run with vtl tube monoblocks & he wanted to hear them on a krell class a amp & my mac gear so we hooked them up in my room,my audition was admittedly poorly set up as i really wasnt into moving the khorns or the line array's so we just put them where we could which was not the best location.

What im about to say may sound real stupid but it's the best way i can explain what sound i like & look for in a speaker & what i find b&w speakers to be lacking,when im listening i want to go wow! & i want the sound to not only be good but i want it to make me feel glad that im listening to music instead of any other kind of entertainment,in no particular order i get this feeling from klipsch,older mcintosh speakers(the new ones are garbage),jm labs,dunlavy & a few others ive owned.I dont get this feeling with anything ive heard from b&w,even though they sound good they leave very little impression on me much like listening to magnepans where the sound is good but has very little impact or wow factor.

As for the 802n's i owned i did set them up in a good location & played around with placement & tow in & i could never get them to sound great,good but not great,i also found the sweet spot to be too small for me,the mids & highs were very clean but allmost to the point of sounding too far in front of the sound stage,the biggest bummer was the lack of impact in the bass & dynamics,the sound left me feeling much like i was listening to a pair of magnepans where the speakers focus is on the mids & highs with very little impact.

 

[PENG]

Hello highfi, my holidays went quite well, not much to do today though. Thanks again for sharing your experience with the 802, my dream speakers. As I said, I was actually quite impressed with the 802D's bass response. I brought my own CD for one of the audition, and played only the tracks that I was famiiar with so I knew what to expect at the time. The 14B's 600WX2 had no trouble making the speakers reproduce the bass drum to my liking.

As I said before, if and when I am ready, I will auditon them again more carefully, and I may also listen to other makes in the same price group including the KEF, Focal JM Lab speakers. Happy New Year!