After reading this review
http://www.jtrspeakers.com/12lf_review.html
I am a little in dis-belief. The reviewer claims that these $1500 speakers out-performed the $135,000 Alexandria X2s. Every review I have ever read about the X2s has glorified them beyond belief saying they makes speakers such as the B&W 800d sound like tin cans.
In another review, the reviewer claims that these speakers have also bested the likes of the Revel Salon speakers and the $20,000 Aerial 20T's.
Could these speakers truly be a diamond in the rough?
The “review” story regarding Revel/JTR Triple 12LF's was mine and it was the Ultima2 Studio’s, not the Salons. The other reviewer is a friend. The Aerial/JTR story was his and was regarding his Model 9's and the CC5, not the 20T’s. He was talking about a friend of his with the Wilsons who was very impressed with the Triple 12LF’s but as it turns out, he still has the Wilsons
.
The JRT speakers are much more efficient and can play louder than the mentioned “high end” speakers and do so without distortion. I was able to do a side by side (although not a blind test) and found the JTR’s more to my liking for my primary use, HT. The Revels, Aerials and certainly Wilson Alexandria’s are outstanding loudspeakers. I have been lucky to hear them and they are very detailed and sound incredible with high resolution recordings. Due to their low sensitivity, I found them lacking with rock played at reference levels. The same was true with action movies with huge transients.
If you look at the engineering, build and component quality you can understand why there is a large price delta (not to mention marketing and distribution costs). Once I heard the JTR’s, I realized that I was more a function over form person. For me, a speaker’s job is to make sound and my preference is for big movie/concert sound. I don’t buy speakers as furniture. While the JTR’s aesthetic compromises are more than most people can handle, I don’t find them ugly, just utilitarian.
As nice as their relatively low price is, the value for me is in their performance. You may not feel that way and that’s fine. To each his own.
