Ok, this surprised me, JBL 520C [emoji44]

[Hetfield]

I upgraded my HT speakers a month or so ago to the JBL Studio 570 mains, they were on an insane sale. I have my old Def Tech SM55 as surrounds and they sound great. I needed a center channel, the center channel in this series is the 520C which was not on sale and 4 inch drivers with that awesome compression driver. I was worried about it just not matching, plus it was more than I wanted to spend. I ended up buying the JBL Stage A125C from Crutchfield because it has 5.25 drivers which matched the 570, tweeter is different. It worked excellent, very clear powerful dialog.
Then the 520C went on sale for 89.99 and I yeah I'm not passing that up. I got it and to make a long story short I tried everything to get it sound good except the most obvious. Let that be a lesson to me. [emoji1787] I raised it, moved, tilted it and I just couldn't hear the dialog. I was ready to box it up and send it back or sell it.
Then I busted out the old RadioShack SPL meter. Set the levels correctly which I haven't done in a million years, got lazy letting Audyssey do everything. I will NEVER do that again, got to check the levels. Well once I set all the levels of all my speakers the 520C shined! It's amazing how nice that speaker sound now. Blown away to say the least. Overall my enjoyment after setting the speakers levels with the SPL meter is a million times more now.
Lesson learned!

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[Genchic]

Audyssey is a different animal. You have to study it, and you absolutely must to buy their app. Then, you can use it at full capacity.

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[Hetfield]

Audyssey is a different animal. You have to study it, and you absolutely must to buy their app. Then, you can use it at full capacity.

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I have the app and it's awesome but I guess you still have to check levels no matter what. Nothing is perfect.

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[Genchic]

You got that right. Specifically for the center channel. For that I set the same levels as fir the left and right, and it did the trick with speach volume in movies.

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[Pogre]

If the A125C worked excellent and the 520 needed to be adjusted I'm wondering if it's more the speaker than Audyssey.

 

[Hetfield]

If the A125C worked excellent and the 520 needed to be adjusted I'm wondering if it's more the speaker than Audyssey.

Well the A125C worked well in that the dialog was very clear and intelligible but the tweeter did not match. The 520C just made the whole thing sound better, and could tell it matched the 570s excellently or perfectly. I could telp even though I couldn't hear the dialog very well, it still sounded better with the 570s of that makes any sense at all.
I was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I took what Audyssey did with the A125C and just bumped it up 3 db for the 520C. I figured that should be good. Audyssey set the A125C at -1 so I bumped the 520C to +2 then plus +3 to account for the smaller 4 inch woofers. When I finally used the SPL meter it set the 520C at +5 which I set at +6 to give me just a pinch more. It's absolutely 100% perfect now. Very happy with it. Now when I used the SPL meter the mains were a tad low and the surrounds we're a tad high. Once balanced out the entire HT began to just take off into space. Quite surprised and I learned a valuable lesson with checking speaker levels.

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[Pogre]

I've never had an issue with levels and have had 4 different center channels come through my system. You're saying you had to bump the 520 +6 dB? That's a lot. So much so that it makes me think something else is going on. What's the difference in sensitivity between the 2? The 125 and the 520?

 

[Mark E. Long]

It could be the difference in drivers one is a has a compression driver and the other is I think with out digging up specs a titanium driver . I’ve had a bunch of jbl centers they’ve all measured some what different on setups .

 

[Hetfield]

They are the same sensitivity, 88db, at least that's JBL specs. SPL meter set it at +5, I bumped it to +6 just for a little extra. I figured the channel level was because of the difference in woofer size, 4 inches to 5.25, that's a good difference but guys know more about his stuff than I do.

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[Hetfield]

It could be the difference in drivers one is a has a compression driver and the other is I think with out digging up specs a titanium driver . I’ve had a bunch of jbl centers they’ve all measured some what different on setups .

Exactly, that and the difference in woofer size. But that's just what in thinking.

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[Mark E. Long]

I've never had an issue with levels and have had 4 different center channels come through my system. You're saying you had to bump the 520 +6 dB? That's a lot. So much so that it makes me think something else is going on. What's the difference in sensitivity between the 2? The 125 and the 520?

That’s a lot of gain for a center +6 I’ve never had a difference like that at the most +2 . In fact I run my new one on just what the auto calibration set it too no boost at all .

 

[Pogre]

They are the same sensitivity, 88db, at least that's JBL specs. SPL meter set it at +5, I bumped it to +6 just for a little extra. I figured the channel level was because of the difference in woofer size, 4 inches to 5.25, that's a good difference but guys know more about his stuff than I do.

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Woofer size shouldn't have anything to do with levels. 88 dB sensitivity is 88 dB. They should be the same volume with the same power regardless of woofer size.

For instance, my Sierra towers have three 5 1/2" woofers compared to my Ultra towers with two 6 1/2" woofers and two 8" woofers. The level adjustment for my Ultras was at +1.5 and the Sierras are -1.5 with smaller drivers for the same volume levels.

*Edit: I'm not trying to crap in your Cheerios, I just think there might be something else going on.

 

[Hetfield]

That’s a lot of gain for a center +6 I’ve never had a difference like that at the most +2 . In fact I run my new one on just what the auto calibration set it too no boost at all .

Well to be fair I never properly set the A125C with an SPL meter, I just let Audyssey set it. Maybe -1 wasn't correct either, in fact I'd that most likely the case. Don't forget, it's not +6, it s +5. I bumped it up one. In any event it sounds excellent and not out of balance.

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[Genchic]

Center channel box is much smaller in size than your main speakers, that is the difference in gain number. I wouldn't worry about the numbers, just go with the sound you like.

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[Pogre]

Well to be fair I never properly set the A125C with an SPL meter, I just let Audyssey set it. Maybe -1 wasn't correct either, in fact I'd that most likely the case. Don't forget, it's not +6, it s +5. I bumped it up one. In any event it sounds excellent and not out of balance.

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Okay, both speakers are 88 dB right? Did Audyssey set them both the same or close? Then you checked the 520 with a spl meter and bumped it +5 more, then another +1 after the fact? That's what we mean by +6 dB, above what Audyssey set, and above the 125. Bottom line with the same sensitivity Audyssey should have set them pretty close to the same. My Sierras are +3 dB more sensitive than my Ultras were and it's reflected almost perfectly in my level settings with Audyssey.

I've found it to be very accurate so that's why I'm asking questions. If you had to bump it +6 dB compared to the 125 something definitely doesn't seem right. Whether JBL is off on their specs or something else it just doesn't seem right.

 

[Pogre]

Center channel box is much smaller in size than your main speakers, that is the difference in gain number. I wouldn't worry about the numbers, just go with the sound you like.

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Yeah but the sensitivity specs are identical. Woofer size or box size shouldn't be a factor if the specs are right, and I trust JBL's specs.

 

[Hetfield]

Yeah but the sensitivity specs are identical. Woofer size or box size shouldn't be a factor if the specs are right, and I trust JBL's specs.

No idea but at +4 I couldn't hear dialog very good but at +5/+6 I could. Maybe adjusting the other channels helped? I'm not an expert, this just what happened here that's all I know.

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[Pogre]

No idea but at +4 I couldn't hear dialog very good but at +5/+6 I could. Maybe adjusting the other channels helped? I'm not an expert, this just what happened here that's all I know.

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Did Audyssey set the levels for the 520 the same as or close to the 125? That's what I would expect for the same sensitivity.

 

[Hetfield]

Did Audyssey set the levels for the 520 the same as or close to the 125? That's what I would expect for the same sensitivity.

I didn't run Audyssey for the 520. Just set the levels with the SPL meter.

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[Pogre]

I didn't run Audyssey for the 520. Just set the levels with the SPL meter.

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Ah ha! There's where you might be running into differences! You're using the same correction curve meant for the 125 on the 520. You really should run Audyssey again when replacing any speaker.