Jamo D 500 LCD THX Select2 Speaker Preview

[admin]

Until now, true THX sound required a large dedicated room to accommodate the oversized speakers…and their often less-than-attractive cabinets. Jamo D 500 THX Select2 home theater speakers bring the full THX experience to smaller rooms, with their compact size and stylish good looks. The D 500 THX Select2 system consists of the D 500 LCR left, center and right speakers and D 500 SUR rear surrounds. Jamo recommends its SUB 650, which employs a high-output 12-inch driver, to perfectly anchor these D 500 THX speakers.

Discuss "Jamo D 500 LCD THX Select2 Speaker Preview" here. Read the article.

 

[dalumberjack]

I wonder how these compete with Klipsch's THX Ultra2's

 

[avliner]

Pretty nice speakers indeed, but what about their power ratings??

 

[highfigh]

Pretty nice speakers indeed, but what about their power ratings??

Jamo speakers have never been particularly fragile and in the case of my J-101 speakers I bought in '81, they have taken a lot of power with no problems.

 

[TjMV3]

Jamo states they can handle 150 watts continous/ 200 watts short term/dynamic peak.

I don't have any experience with these specific Jamo models.

But I have owned and still do own several current Jamo speaker models.

The C603, C607, C803, C807 and C809 have all been driven by my McIntosh MC252 and Van Alstine Fet Valve 500. Never had a problem with any of them. They sound great.

Admittedly, I don't typically listen to music or movies at ridiculous levels.

But I have cranked them all very loudly for extended periods of time, while I was going from room to room......doing stuff around the house. None of my Jamo speakers ever had a problem handling power and loud music or movies.

 

[InTheIndustry]

I wonder how these compete with Klipsch's THX Ultra2's

They are different in many respects.

- The D500 LCR is roughly 1/5th the cost ($349 Jamo vs. $1500 Klipsch).
- These are THX Select2 (Klipsch is Ultra2)
- There's a D600 LCR speaker available for $599 that is for larger rooms & is THX Ultra2
- The D500/600 use a soft dome tweeter vs. the Klipsch using horns.
- The Jamo are much much more family room & WAF friendly. They would look awesome hanging underneath a plasma. The D500 is a beautiful speaker.
- I know the preview mentioned the Sub 650 but, & Jamo's been late to market with this, the THX Ultra2 D600 SUB should be available in Oct/Nov. It's a 15" driver and MSRP is supposed to be set at $1799
- Both the Klipsch & Jamo systems should easily be purchased under MSRP – or include free installation or some sort of pricing consideration.
- Why these speakers are really cool & different: They remind me of the old M&K THX stuff, only designed to be seen and used with flat panels. That’s awesome! They are very pretty with a great gloss black finish. My pics don’t do them justice. They are heavy for such a compact box.

At the end of the day, the bigger, heavier Klipsch system is going to be more well suited for very LARGE rooms that have multiple seating heights. I have three D500s laying around waiting to go into a project for a behind screen theater in a very large open basement. I'll check back and give my impressions of them in that environment after it's all hooked up.

Bottom Line: This product allows for a very very reasonably priced, lifestyle oriented (hang on wall, gloss black, low profile, etc.) system to be used in anything from a dedicated theater to a high style WAF approved room. IMO they are priced way too low compared to other pieces in the market. In other words... a great value.

If I have time I'll post pics of the completed project. For now, I can do these....

To get an idea of size View attachment 8744

The rear to see wall mount design, although these are heavy enough to sit in cabinet without a problem PS: Sorry for all of the hand prints! View attachment 8745

Drivers View attachment 8746

Next to a 65" & 50" TV for size View attachment 8747

And a 50" & 42" for size View attachment 8748

 

[l0wdawg78]

klipsch and jamo

if im not mistaken klipsch has jus recently bought and/or now makes the jamo's, i think. along with several others like energy and mirage, too name a few

 

[InTheIndustry]

if im not mistaken klipsch has jus recently bought and/or now makes the jamo's, i think. along with several others like energy and mirage, too name a few

Klipsch bought two companies around 3(ish) years ago Jamo and API which consisted of the brands: Athena, Energy, & Mirage. The move was strategic in the sense that Jamo is the largest speaker manufacturer in Europe and API was one of the larger manufacturers in Canada. The main reason Klipsch bought these specific companies is for distribution channel relationships internationally.

They have not changed engineering teams or manufacturing practices from the stand point of integrating technology across brands. If you look at the Mirage & Energy brands you will see definite similarities between things like in-ceiling speakers and subwoofers. This has always been there - even before being bought by Klipsch. Athena was a brand that was killed off because it was not needed as Klipsch already had product in Best Buy, so why compete with itself?

Klipsch & Jamo products could not be further apart from a technology, design, or materials stand point. Very very different products made in different factories.

Internally there have been a lot of changes because of the mergers, but that effected us dealers and Klipsch/Jamo/API employees and independent reps. Nothing that consumers would ever notice or care about.

 

[3db]

I just hope that Klipsch keeps their dirty mits off of Energy's designs. One thing Energy doesn't lack is speaker know how. I would dare say that Klipsch could learn a few things from Energy.

 

[highfigh]

if im not mistaken klipsch has jus recently bought and/or now makes the jamo's, i think. along with several others like energy and mirage, too name a few

Jamo has had many components made in Asia for years, like most other companies but Klipsch bought them more for the CE access than anything else. Jamo already had it and Klipsch wanted it, the founders of Jamo wanted to retire and the two coincided. The head designer from Jamo has moved on and although Klipsch told the Jamo employees that it would be "business as usual", all of the people who moved from the Chicago office to Indianoplace have been let go. I hate that Klipsch bought Jamo because I had a lot of friends there.

From what I hear, Klipsch is letting Jamo design Jamo with no interference and that's a good decision, since Jamo was #3 in the world in terms of finished speakers built and sold (not components to be assembled). Jamo had more market share outside of the US and in the US, they probably sold more of the in-wall/ceiling and custom install products.

 

[highfigh]

At the end of the day, the bigger, heavier Klipsch system is going to be more well suited for very LARGE rooms that have multiple seating heights. I have three D500s laying around waiting to go into a project for a behind screen theater in a very large open basement. I'll check back and give my impressions of them in that environment after it's all hooked up.

Have you used any of the new Jamo Sub650? I only heard it at a rep firm's open house but in that big, open space, it still sounded decent.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Have you used any of the new Jamo Sub650? I only heard it at a rep firm's open house but in that big, open space, it still sounded decent.

Sub 650? No, not yet. I was waiting on the new THX Ultra2 D 600 SUB which is the 15" replacement for the D6 & D7 models from the old Jamo THX systems. I had planned on using two of them in a larger system open basment we were doing but the ship date had been pushed back twice. I'm sure we'll try it out eventually. The products from Jamo have always been excellent in terms of value so I'm excited to see what the new big sub can do.

I might bring the D 600 SUB in to put head to head against the new PhaseTechnology WL-12: http://www.phasetech.com/products.html?product_id=WL-12 . They are priced almost identically. I've had the WL-12 on sample for a while now and it is no joke. Absolutely impressive in all respects. And it's wireless! I've tested the range and it's every bit of 50' & that's with obstructions.

I have used the D6 15" THX Ultra sub twice before and it was a beast. We'll see how the new one is.... eventually. Here is a spec sheet on it...

Type D 600 SUB
System Active DSP based subwoofer,
sealed enclosure, motional feedback
User interface Touch panel with backlight
Woofer 15” / 380 mm
Rated power 600Wrms @4Ω@THD+N <1%
Dynamic power 800Wrms@4Ω
Peak power 1600Wpk@4Ω
Maximum SPL TBD
Frequency range 20 – 200 Hz
Variable cut off 40 – 200 Hz
Variable phase 0 to -180
Level control Range 27 dB
Boundary gain compensation Variable
Line input Yes, stereo pass through for daisy chain
LFE input Yes, pass through for daisy chain
Speaker level input Yes
Sensitivity 100mVrms (line in only)
Sound modes Default, Personal, THX
12V trigger Yes, pass through for daisy chain.
Mains switch On / Off
Voltage switch (fuse) 115V/60Hz (6.3A) / 230V/50Hz (3.15A)
Auto enable switch Off / Auto / On
Stand-by power < 1W
Dimension 557 x 587 x 501 mm
Weight 32 kg

 

[TjMV3]

Jamo has had many components made in Asia for years, like most other companies but Klipsch bought them more for the CE access than anything else. Jamo already had it and Klipsch wanted it, the founders of Jamo wanted to retire and the two coincided. The head designer from Jamo has moved on and although Klipsch told the Jamo employees that it would be "business as usual", all of the people who moved from the Chicago office to Indianoplace have been let go. I hate that Klipsch bought Jamo because I had a lot of friends there.

From what I hear, Klipsch is letting Jamo design Jamo with no interference and that's a good decision, since Jamo was #3 in the world in terms of finished speakers built and sold (not components to be assembled). Jamo had more market share outside of the US and in the US, they probably sold more of the in-wall/ceiling and custom install products.

All along Klipsch has been playing a little dirty pool, with this Jamo acquisition.

Don't kid yourself, if it hasn't happened yet; it will happen soon. Klipsch will assume complete and total control of Jamo, Jamo speaker designs and the whole manufactoring process. If they already haven't done so. One of the two original founders' son was designing for Jamo, prior to this Klipsch abortion. From what I hear, he also flipped them the finger and moved on.

Over the last year there's been a noticable downgrade and odd behavior of the local "Jamo" (Klipsch) Rep in my area; who handles distribution for this area. Not with my long time dealer, but Klipsch's Jamo rep. Very strange.

Of course he and other Klipsch reps will claim that it's just the usual upheaval, confusion and disarray that occurs when acquisitions occur.

But there's more to it. Jamo's distribution is in a complete mess. Klipsch has been attempting to clear out all of Jamo's USA stock. Certain, specific Series and models all of the sudden are availble to a few specific on-line retailers, but not to long time Jamo dealers. Response and follow through from the local Klipsch/Jamo Rep has been odd and rather questionable.

All this nonsense has motivated me to swear off any new, future Jamo models and sell off a large majority of my Jamo speakers. Except for the Jamo C809, C803 and C80 CEN. I had many, many Jamo speaker models from the C60, C80 and C400 Series. 10 pairs and three Center Channels.

No more.

I don't like Klipsch's tactics, the way they are handling this and their odd behavior. They lost a customer who enjoyed buying many different models and trying them out. I'm sure they couldn't care less. But I had enough of Klipsch and their new approach to Jamo management. Or lackof.

 

[tom67]

Yeah, Klipsch to retrofit existing stock of Jamo products with little horns, secured by velcro in an attempt to move them out...

 

[InTheIndustry]

All along Klipsch has been playing a little dirty pool, with this Jamo acquisition.

Don't kid yourself, if it hasn't happened yet; it will happen soon. Klipsch will assume complete and total control of Jamo, Jamo speaker designs and the whole manufactoring process. If they already haven't done so. One of the two original founders' son was designing for Jamo, prior to this Klipsch abortion. From what I hear, he also flipped them the finger and moved on.

Over the last year there's been a noticable downgrade and odd behavior of the local "Jamo" (Klipsch) Rep in my area; who handles distribution for this area. Not with my long time dealer, but Klipsch's Jamo rep. Very strange.

Of course he and other Klipsch reps will claim that it's just the usual upheaval, confusion and disarray that occurs when acquisitions occur.

But there's more to it. Jamo's distribution is in a complete mess. Klipsch has been attempting to clear out all of Jamo's USA stock. Certain, specific Series and models all of the sudden are availble to a few specific on-line retailers, but not to long time Jamo dealers. Response and follow through from the local Klipsch/Jamo Rep has been odd and rather questionable.

All this nonsense has motivated me to swear off any new, future Jamo models and sell off a large majority of my Jamo speakers. Except for the Jamo C809, C803 and C80 CEN. I had many, many Jamo speaker models from the C60, C80 and C400 Series. 10 pairs and three Center Channels.

No more.

I don't like Klipsch's tactics, the way they are handling this and their odd behavior. They lost a customer who enjoyed buying many different models and trying them out. I'm sure they couldn't care less. But I had enough of Klipsch and their new approach to Jamo management. Or lackof.

WARNING: LONG POST!!!!

The above post is way off base. Seriously, these assumptions are flat out wrong and there's no evidence for 90% of what you're saying even after 3 years of changes. I’m not attacking you, but I’d like to shed some light on things because you’ve been obviously so passionate about the brand. After all, I am….. “InTheIndustry”.

The Jamo rep has probably been acting weird because Klipsch decided to go with an internal sales strategy and cut their ties with costly independent reps. Internally they also combined sales territories which meant that different territory managers were let go. Again, NOTHING that affected product development, quality control, or anything else an end user would care about. Klipsch streamlined their business model, which allowed them to actually cut costs to their dealers. THAT should be a good thing for the consumer.

A truth you hit on in your post is that Klipsch has been a mess logistically since the merger 2/3 years ago. It is tough to take on something like that in the business world. To (finally) deal with the headaches they recently opened up Jamo to certain regional based distributers to act as a shipping hub. This hasn’t affected dealer pricing in the least. In fact, it’s been great. We get the same direct dealer pricing, we get product within a much shorter amount of time AND at a reduced shipping rate.

Yes, they finally cleared out old stock that wasn’t moving. And yes, they probably sold the pieces in bulk to e-tailers (Heck, Vanns is still trying to get out from under all of the upper end Mirage close-outs they bought). But this was only done AFTER offering buys to dealers on clearance stuff over the past several years. Klipsch/Jamo had to move out old product to make way for new. If your local dealers are crying foul over this it’s their own fault because Jamo had been offering us some fantastic pricing on close outs MONTHLY for almost 2 years. Example: When they were launching new subwoofers I bought a pallet of discontinued D4SUBs that had a MSRP of $900 each for $190 each shipped. They’ve offered dealers discounts like that for the past several years as they were launching new lines. I don’t blame them for jettisoning the old stuff out any way they could after so long.

Speaking of pricing, even after the acquisition most products in the Jamo line have gone unchanged both in quality and pricing. That’s pretty darned good. They have re-launched a few things that were getting long in the tooth, but the pricing on that stuff has gotten much better AND the quality has gone up! They’ve also introduced new entry level packages that are a tremendous value. All of this without even a hint of Klipsch design or even cross line sharing of driver materials.

I know I sound like a shill for Klipsch/Jamo but that’s far far from the case. Am I an authorized Jamo dealer? YES. Klipsch? NO (even though they call on me to carry it all the time). Am I trying to sell anyone anything on here? NO. Heck, we’re putting a design gallery into an office space we use and not one Jamo system is going in there (I will have one D500 LCR THX single speaker to show, but it won’t be hooked up to anything). Truth be told, I cherry pick the line and don’t do the volume with it that I used to. That might increase a little bit because of the new pieces they’ve just launched – the new THX stuff is just fantastic for the money. It’s a nice line and in general a great value for the consumer. Jamo is FAR from being my favorite speaker brand, but after launching some of these new pieces it's up there in my top 8-10 depending on the application.

In the end, Jamo makes some really cool speakers across the board that solve different problems for us as technology integrators and at a great value to our clients. They’ve had their teething issues, but they’ve been a good company and partner thorough the past 5 years and it’s important to me that consumers have a fair understanding of the business side of A/V because there’s a ton of misinformation out there.

Yeah, Klipsch to retrofit existing stock of Jamo products with little horns, secured by velcro in an attempt to move them out...

HUH?

 

[Seth=L]

Athena was a brand that was killed off because it was not needed as Klipsch already had product in Best Buy, so why compete with itself?

Because the Athena speakers are significantly cheaper. If one walks into a Best Buy with $1000 to spend on 5.1, they could buy Athena or another brand in that price field, if they walk in with $2500 they will probably buy Klipsch or possible Bose. Point being, the average customers don't walk into Best Buy with $2500 and leave with a $1000 speaker setup and $1500 extra in their pocket on most occassions. I think having an two budget options is a good thing, which is why most companies have a budget line. Klipsch's budget line is still more expensive on average than most other brand's budget lines.

I miss Athena Technologies.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Because the Athena speakers are significantly cheaper. If one walks into a Best Buy with $1000 to spend on 5.1, they could buy Athena or another brand in that price field, if they walk in with $2500 they will probably buy Klipsch or possible Bose. Point being, the average customers don't walk into Best Buy with $2500 and leave with a $1000 speaker setup and $1500 extra in their pocket on most occassions. I think having an two budget options is a good thing, which is why most companies have a budget line. Klipsch's budget line is still more expensive on average than most other brand's budget lines.

I miss Athena Technologies.

Most people that walk into a best Buy don't have $2500 in their pocket. They have a credit card or are looking for financing or are talked into financing in order to get them to spend more.

That being said, Athena was a cheaper version of rebadged Energy stuff. I don't mean that as a slight in any way. It was a nice line. But smaller dealers often times saw it as a competitor by it being in BB as did Klipsch (I'm sure). I'm also fairly confident that after seeing actual sales volume, profit margins, and the amount of work it took to make the brand work Klipsch decided to pull the plug on it and keep Energy. Why they've kept Energy and Mirage I have no idea as those lines offer very little these days in terms of new product while the old stuff is being washed away. I was told that real sales volumes for both brands and their upper end product were down far below expectations when API was purchased.

Pricing wise, there really isn't much difference between what BB sells from Klipsch vs. what Athena had offered. Athena was conjured up by API almost exclusively for them to put it into big-box shops and Klipsch decided it was no longer needed. Hobbiests, of course, are going to miss brands. Businesses and your avg. Best Buy shopper do not.

 

[TjMV3]

They’ve had their teething issues, but they’ve been a good company and partner thorough the past 5 years and it’s important to me that consumers have a fair understanding of the business side of A/V because there’s a ton of misinformation out there.

Thanks for your reply.

I'll tell you one thing, a lot of the misinformation has been peddled by Klipsch's own Reps. Both those who answer the phones and the local Rep in my area. I spoke with that guy trying to track down a pair of speakers.

He gave me a very odd explanation and then promised me something. Well, weeks went by and he never contacted my dealer and never sent the information my dealer was awaiting. My dealer called him several times, only to get nothing in response. When he finally responded to me, he tried to shove the blame on my dealer. Which was BS because my dealer tried to contact him many times. And I was even there at my dealers place one of the times he tried to contact him. After literally two months of trying I finally said screw it. He never followed through on his promise.

I wasn't asking for special favors. I was asking for respectful service and attention. Especially considering that I was one hell of a good Jamo customer who spent a lot of money on their speakers and love those speakers.

You can say what you want, but that's BS.

I'm sure you know a ton more about what goes on behind the scenes, than I'll ever know. But when what happens on the fore-front comes off as it has, what happenes on behind the scenes and expalnations for it; don't mean squat-diddley. BS is BS, no matter how you slice it or dress it up.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Thanks for your reply.

I'll tell you one thing, a lot of the misinformation has been peddled by Klipsch's own Reps. Both those who answer the phones and the local Rep in my area. I spoke with that guy trying to track down a pair of speakers.

He gave me a very odd explanation and then promised me something. Well, weeks went by and he never contacted my dealer and never sent the information my dealer was awaiting. My dealer called him several times, only to get nothing in response. When he finally responded to me, he tried to shove the blame on my dealer. Which was BS because my dealer tried to contact him many times. And I was even there at my dealers place one of the times he tried to contact him. After literally two months of trying I finally said screw it. He never followed through on his promise.

I wasn't asking for special favors. I was asking for respectful service and attention. Especially considering that I was one hell of a good Jamo customer who spent a lot of money on their speakers and love those speakers.

You can say what you want, but that's BS.

I'm sure you know a ton more about what goes on behind the scenes, than I'll ever know. But when what happens on the fore-front comes off as it has, what happenes on behind the scenes and expalnations for it; don't mean squat-diddley. BS is BS, no matter how you slice it or dress it up.

That sounds like a pretty crummy experience and it pains me to hear that happened to you!

I highly doubt it's Klipsch/Jamo or your dealer's fault. Here's why:

Most manufacturer's use independent sales rep firms. There are a ton of these sales companies out there for them to pick from. These companies can be as small as one person or very very large. Most work primarily on a commission base and even some will warehouse and distribute products depending on what a manufacturer demands. These rep firms sign on dealers in their territory & are kind of the go between between the manufacturer & dealer. This all saves manufacturers the overhead of having local offices while incentivizing the rep firm to offer great service to dealers, communicate specials, and make sure territories are kept in alignment.

When Klipsch decided to go to an internal sales model this made a lot of their outside reps angry because they were basically terminated regardless of how good or bad they were doing their job. And since these guys all worked on contract and commission it's not like they were given a nice "going away" party. Manufacturer's have the decked completely stacked in their favor with these guys. Often times the rep firm doesn't get paid until the manufacturer gets paid. Which is probably why the rep firm you were calling has decided to not deal with you because he's upset at Jamo. Heck, they're not paying him any more and in effect fired him, so why would he do anything but tick you off? I'm not excusing that or justifying it by any means. Only trying to paint a fuller picture.

Of course each part of the country is different so I don't know your rep or dealer's exact situation. Reps and rep firms get hired and fired every day so I don't think Klipsch/Jamo did anything wrong or out of the ordinary. They just decided to service their dealers differently.
It’s unfortunate that the experience you had wasn’t a better one. I think it might’ve just come down to bad timing and bad feelings.

 

[TjMV3]

Klipsch refered me to him and even gave me his number.