I don't think he's implying that at all. Use reviews as a gauge, then buy from a shop with a good return policy so you can listen yourself. Better to pay a 10% restocking fee then be stuck with something you don't like.
A mid-range heavy speaker for detailed vocals and more favored for clarity than a dynamic exciting music experience (hence the "studio" in the name). Looking at specs it has decent broad frequency range.
It really depends on what you are mainly wanting to use these speakers for - if you just care about clear vocals and enjoy fine detail these are decent speakers I personally wouldn't pay more than $250-299 for.
Better speakers that favor a more dynamic energetic feel for movies or more vibrant music than I would look elsewhere.
Don't buy the speakers solely because they dropped in price and lowest ever price. Low is relative.
Idk...... mediocre frequency response for its price class.
"Frequency response" numbers are meaningless. Manufacturers pull them out of their backsides on a regular basis. Only newbies and other low-info consumers put any stock in them. The main weakness of the JBL Studio 6 bookshelves is their crappy sensitivity, just 85-86db which means they're ok in a small room (no more than 10ft listening distance) or at moderate volume levels only. JBL did that to steer consumers towards their more profitable towers while squeezing more mid-bass out of the bookshelves to impress low-info consumers in the showroom (consumers typically pick a speaker by how much bass it produces, oblivious to the existence of things called "subwoofers," lol).
Yes, looks like JBL is having trouble selling the wood color vs the semi-black "dark wood" color. Hopefully they will pull this stupid wood color from the US market so that in the future we'll see deep discounts like this on the semi-black instead.
"Frequency response" numbers are meaningless. Manufacturers pull them out of their backsides on a regular basis. Only newbies and other low-info consumers put any stock in them. The main weakness of the JBL Studio 6 bookshelves is their crappy sensitivity, just 85-86db which means they're ok in a small room (no more than 10ft listening distance) or at moderate volume levels only. JBL did that to steer consumers towards their more profitable towers while squeezing more mid-bass out of the bookshelves to impress low-info consumers in the showroom (consumers typically pick a speaker by how much bass it produces, oblivious to the existence of things called "subwoofers," lol).
Agreed.
Important to note is that this is more suited for small rooms or you are using it at your computer or in your bedroom for low moderate volumes. If you try pushing it at high volumes you better have a decent amp powering this in order to avoid distortion.
Studio really doesn't fit this well unless small extremely quiet room.
Studio use is usually 90db +. 85 to 90-91 may not seem like much but that 90-91db speaker requires only 25% the power of the 85 db speaker.
So this speaker let's say at low moderate volumes would require an amp to produce 30-40 watts per channel where the 90db does at say 10 watts.
Now at high volumes let's say you use 50 watts for the 90db speaker - you would need approximately 160 watts per channel for these 85db speakers to match the volume - significantly more power requirement for the lower sensitivity speaker.
Every 3db difference higher is half the power requirement.
Eg the Fosi BT20A Pro ext amp can provide 165w per channel RMS for a budget friendly dedicated amp.
In comparison I bought the Klipsch RP-500m for $275. To me that is a much stronger value than these speakers if wanting an alternative decently priced speaker when on sale.
They're not made up measurements but done so by the best measuring device out there that gives near anechoic chamber results.
This speaker has wide horizontal dispersion and the directivity is smooth as it falls off. This means it will EQ very well. The problem is that it needs EQ because of the mid range suck out between 200 and 1000hz. There's a bit of room in the distortion and compression to move that range up with EQ but the safest way is to move everything else down.
And there in lies the problem. The speaker can be EQ'd well but since its sensitivity is low already, the distortion and compression aren't great, you will be left with a speaker that can't play very loud without issue.
Kind of disappointing for a compression driver JBL. If that 200-1000hz suck out wasn't there this would be a great speaker. For moderate listening levels and using EQ, it still is good.
I'd look elsewhere for $300 though. Like the KEF Q150 for a wide dispersion speaker or the Klipsch RP-500 II for a narrower dispersion speaker.
Got the HDI-1600 for $799 during that random sale on their website. Theyre fantastic speakers. Sold my Revel M126Be to put funds towards another project and have been very happy with the HDIs.
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prices...
prices...
Yet somehow people really seems to enjoy their sound.
I honestly think these benchmarks don't always do a great job helping the average listener pick speakers.
Yet somehow people really seems to enjoy their sound.
I honestly think these benchmarks don't always do a great job helping the average listener pick speakers.
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It really depends on what you are mainly wanting to use these speakers for - if you just care about clear vocals and enjoy fine detail these are decent speakers I personally wouldn't pay more than $250-299 for.
Better speakers that favor a more dynamic energetic feel for movies or more vibrant music than I would look elsewhere.
Don't buy the speakers solely because they dropped in price and lowest ever price. Low is relative.
https://www.musicdirect
Agreed.
Important to note is that this is more suited for small rooms or you are using it at your computer or in your bedroom for low moderate volumes. If you try pushing it at high volumes you better have a decent amp powering this in order to avoid distortion.
Studio really doesn't fit this well unless small extremely quiet room.
Studio use is usually 90db +. 85 to 90-91 may not seem like much but that 90-91db speaker requires only 25% the power of the 85 db speaker.
So this speaker let's say at low moderate volumes would require an amp to produce 30-40 watts per channel where the 90db does at say 10 watts.
Now at high volumes let's say you use 50 watts for the 90db speaker - you would need approximately 160 watts per channel for these 85db speakers to match the volume - significantly more power requirement for the lower sensitivity speaker.
Every 3db difference higher is half the power requirement.
Eg the Fosi BT20A Pro ext amp can provide 165w per channel RMS for a budget friendly dedicated amp.
In comparison I bought the Klipsch RP-500m for $275. To me that is a much stronger value than these speakers if wanting an alternative decently priced speaker when on sale.
They're not made up measurements but done so by the best measuring device out there that gives near anechoic chamber results.
This speaker has wide horizontal dispersion and the directivity is smooth as it falls off. This means it will EQ very well. The problem is that it needs EQ because of the mid range suck out between 200 and 1000hz. There's a bit of room in the distortion and compression to move that range up with EQ but the safest way is to move everything else down.
And there in lies the problem. The speaker can be EQ'd well but since its sensitivity is low already, the distortion and compression aren't great, you will be left with a speaker that can't play very loud without issue.
Kind of disappointing for a compression driver JBL. If that 200-1000hz suck out wasn't there this would be a great speaker. For moderate listening levels and using EQ, it still is good.
I'd look elsewhere for $300 though. Like the KEF Q150 for a wide dispersion speaker or the Klipsch RP-500 II for a narrower dispersion speaker.