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expired Posted by DJ3xclusive • Sep 14, 2021
expired Posted by DJ3xclusive • Sep 14, 2021

JBL Studio Speakers: 590 Floorstanding Speaker $500, 520 Center Speaker

& More w/ 2.5% SD Cashback + Free S/H

$100

$1,000

90% off
JBL
37 Comments 63,383 Views
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Deal Details
JBL has select JBL Speakers on sale for the prices listed below. To earn 2.5% in Slickdeals Cashback, before purchase, follow the cashback instructions below. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community members DJ3xclusive & xgator1992 [Discuss] for finding this deal.

Available:

Editor's Notes

Written by slickdewmaster | Staff
  • About JBL Studio 520 Dual 4" Center Channel Speaker:
    • Highly rated and receives 4.8 Stars out of 5 Stars based on 40 customer reviews.
  • About this deal:
    • The price on the 520 Center Speaker beats our previous frontpage deal back in June.
  • About this store:
    • Details of JBL's return policy can be found here.

Original Post

Written by DJ3xclusive
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
JBL has select JBL Speakers on sale for the prices listed below. To earn 2.5% in Slickdeals Cashback, before purchase, follow the cashback instructions below. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community members DJ3xclusive & xgator1992 [Discuss] for finding this deal.

Available:

Editor's Notes

Written by slickdewmaster | Staff
  • About JBL Studio 520 Dual 4" Center Channel Speaker:
    • Highly rated and receives 4.8 Stars out of 5 Stars based on 40 customer reviews.
  • About this deal:
    • The price on the 520 Center Speaker beats our previous frontpage deal back in June.
  • About this store:
    • Details of JBL's return policy can be found here.

Original Post

Written by DJ3xclusive

Community Voting

Deal Score
+29
Good Deal
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Top Comments

Blahgod
597 Posts
123 Reputation
Can the stupid Reference RC263 just go on sale please!!!!!
SmilingWinter1751
28 Posts
22 Reputation
The 520c as a center doesn't keep up with the 580's or 590's. It will work with the 530's in a small room near field. For $100 its is a great price for the quality of components it has, I got a pair of 520c on the last deal and put the drivers, woofers, crossover and binding post in a diy speaker cabinet and they sound great as bookshelf stereo speakers. Its a great way to build your own speakers with quality electronics made to work great together.

If you buy components to do your own diy you will end up spending more for less quality and most diy sound mediocre since the components were never intended or designed to measure well acoustically.
nottrollin
11209 Posts
11222 Reputation
It would have to come back in stock first, then maybe it could go on sale. Hasn't it been OOS since February?

36 Comments

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Sep 15, 2021
1,187 Posts
Joined Jun 2008
Sep 15, 2021
springs113
Sep 15, 2021
1,187 Posts
Quote from SmilingWinter1751 :
The 520c as a center doesn't keep up with the 580's or 590's. It will work with the 530's in a small room near field. For $100 its is a great price for the quality of components it has, I got a pair of 520c on the last deal and put the drivers, woofers, crossover and binding post in a diy speaker cabinet and they sound great as bookshelf stereo speakers. Its a great way to build your own speakers with quality electronics made to work great together.

If you buy components to do your own diy you will end up spending more for less quality and most diy sound mediocre since the components were never intended or designed to measure well acoustically.
Not if you order from places like diy sound.
Sep 15, 2021
618 Posts
Joined Nov 2017
Sep 15, 2021
fieldcar
Sep 15, 2021
618 Posts
Quote from PhillyChad :
Would the 520c pair nicely with a set JAMO S809'S as opposed to the S81 I'm currently using?

Always looking to upgrade whenever something decent (in my price rage) comes along.

Thanks!
If you don't have audyssey XT32 or DIRAC, I wouldn't. The timbre would be off and it may sound out of place if a voice pans from the L+R channels and back to the center. Pixar movies do this a ton, so matching the speaker series is probably a better choice. Unless you don't care that much or you plan to go with more JBL 500 series speakers in the future, go for it.
Sep 16, 2021
190 Posts
Joined Jan 2015
Sep 16, 2021
brandonross
Sep 16, 2021
190 Posts
Quote from SmilingWinter1751 :
The 520c as a center doesn't keep up with the 580's or 590's. It will work with the 530's in a small room near field.
Do you use room correction? If so what flavor? What's the crossover on the center set to?

I have 2x 590s in use and a 520c in a box- with the magic I've witnessed Audyssey XT32 perform on the 590s I'm curious how similar your setup is.
Sep 16, 2021
618 Posts
Joined Nov 2017
Sep 16, 2021
fieldcar
Sep 16, 2021
618 Posts
Quote from brandonross :
Do you use room correction? If so what flavor? What's the crossover on the center set to?

I have 2x 590s in use and a 520c in a box- with the magic I've witnessed Audyssey XT32 perform on the 590s I'm curious how similar your setup is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKGobUJ5dxI
Sep 16, 2021
190 Posts
Joined Jan 2015
Sep 16, 2021
brandonross
Sep 16, 2021
190 Posts
I understand this more than most because I had a 3.1 setup on a bottom line Yamaha, got a Denon with Xt32, was amazed, then got the pair of 590s and went through calibration and was amazed yet again. XT32 made great choices but that's also room dependent. I'm looking to understand why the 520c 'can't keep up.' Is it calibration? Frequency response? Someone's bad setting? An older more inadequate version of Audyssey?
Pro
Sep 16, 2021
11,209 Posts
Joined Feb 2012
Sep 16, 2021
nottrollin
Pro
Sep 16, 2021
11,209 Posts
Quote from springs113 :
Not if you order from places like diy sound.
If you're okay with DIY speakers, just check out craigslist. They're always languishing there for months on end, even at 10 cents on the dollar.
Sep 16, 2021
33 Posts
Joined Apr 2013
Sep 16, 2021
JaredN
Sep 16, 2021
33 Posts
Quote from brandonross :
I understand this more than most because I had a 3.1 setup on a bottom line Yamaha, got a Denon with Xt32, was amazed, then got the pair of 590s and went through calibration and was amazed yet again. XT32 made great choices but that's also room dependent. I'm looking to understand why the 520c 'can't keep up.' Is it calibration? Frequency response? Someone's bad setting? An older more inadequate version of Audyssey?
Maybe I'm an outlier but I think the 520c is just fine in my 5.1. 2x 590, 2x 530, 520c, and a Rythmik L12.

I cross (IIRC, could be -+ 10hz on each) the 590s at 70, 530s at 100, 520c at 120, and then I run a custom Audyssey XT32 calibration target with Ratbuddyssey and it sounds fantastic. Previously on a NAD AVR with Dirac Live I ran similar settings and it also sounded good, but I wanted HDMI 2.1 so I got the Denon X4700H instead. I actually prefer the Audyssey results to the Dirac. The Dirac sounded "good" but the Audyssey sounds VERY good. My room is pretty bad too, with absolutely no treatment, so I was very surprised at how good Audyssey got it.

Edit: ok checked the Denon and its 60 front, 100 surround, 120 center for the crossovers
Last edited by JaredN September 16, 2021 at 12:29 PM.
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Sep 16, 2021
166 Posts
Joined Apr 2017
Sep 16, 2021
marcoolus
Sep 16, 2021
166 Posts
Would 590s be a significant upgrade from klipsch rf82ii?
Sep 16, 2021
238 Posts
Joined Jan 2007
Sep 16, 2021
minkyboodle
Sep 16, 2021
238 Posts
Quote from Blahgod :
Can the stupid Reference RC263 just go on sale please!!!!!
What he said lol
Sep 17, 2021
618 Posts
Joined Nov 2017
Sep 17, 2021
fieldcar
Sep 17, 2021
618 Posts
Quote from marcoolus :
Would 590s be a significant upgrade from klipsch rf82ii?
Very unlikely. The Klipsch's only weak point is that it's tuned a bit bright, but that's an easy fix for audyssey. If you don't have a receiver with audyssey or Dirac, that's where I would put the money if I was in your spot.
Sep 17, 2021
618 Posts
Joined Nov 2017
Sep 17, 2021
fieldcar
Sep 17, 2021
618 Posts
Quote from brandonross :
I understand this more than most because I had a 3.1 setup on a bottom line Yamaha, got a Denon with Xt32, was amazed, then got the pair of 590s and went through calibration and was amazed yet again. XT32 made great choices but that's also room dependent. I'm looking to understand why the 520c 'can't keep up.' Is it calibration? Frequency response? Someone's bad setting? An older more inadequate version of Audyssey?
The small drivers just can't handle the excursion of lower frequencies, so it ends up as distortion when the driver reaches a thing called xmax(fully pushed in or fully pushed out). If you play with your crossover, you should be able to find what works the best for how loud you drive it. As someone else said, 120Hz is a safe bet. I keep mine at 80Hz as I don't crank it as loud these days. As the video mentioned, experimentation is worthwhile. A lot of the critical people aren't wrong though. That 3 way infinity rc263 will play louder, but I like matching everything. I guess you just need to do what you feel is right. both jbl and harman do have free returns, so maybe get both. I hope that helps.
Sep 17, 2021
190 Posts
Joined Jan 2015
Sep 17, 2021
brandonross
Sep 17, 2021
190 Posts
Quote from fieldcar :
The small drivers just can't handle the excursion of lower frequencies, so it ends up as distortion when the driver reaches a thing called xmax(fully pushed in or fully pushed out). If you play with your crossover, you should be able to find what works the best for how loud you drive it. As someone else said, 120Hz is a safe bet. I keep mine at 80Hz as I don't crank it as loud these days. As the video mentioned, experimentation is worthwhile. A lot of the critical people aren't wrong though. That 3 way infinity rc263 will play louder, but I like matching everything. I guess you just need to do what you feel is right. both jbl and harman do have free returns, so maybe get both. I hope that helps.
To think people are wanting this to do bass! That's laughable. It's going to be nearly 100% of the dialog and various sounds, if the only issue is the bass that's easily solved by the crossover. People want everything to do everything it seems.
1
Sep 17, 2021
133 Posts
Joined Oct 2015
Sep 17, 2021
Dgstone18
Sep 17, 2021
133 Posts
Don't recommend the 520c if you're going for competent home theater system. I tried it with my 530s and it just couldn't keep up with them. Ended up returning and getting an RC263 and it is excellent. Highly recommend if you can find one on sale and have the space for it. Its really huge.
Sep 17, 2021
28 Posts
Joined Sep 2021
Sep 17, 2021
SmilingWinter1751
Sep 17, 2021
28 Posts
Quote from brandonross :
Do you use room correction? If so what flavor? What's the crossover on the center set to?

I have 2x 590s in use and a 520c in a box- with the magic I've witnessed Audyssey XT32 perform on the 590s I'm curious how similar your setup is.
I have tried different configurations with both XT322 and DIRAC, tried crossover of 90, 100, 120 and so on. The problem I believe is that in a large room the 520c will make voices sound small and localized. In comparison having a phantom image with two 580's or two 590's at reference levels sounds like the voices and sound are coming from the entire screen, this gives the impression that the voices of actors are as big as they appear in a 100inch screen.

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Sep 17, 2021
1,507 Posts
Joined Jan 2015
Sep 17, 2021
SacMcNasty
Sep 17, 2021
1,507 Posts
Quote from brandonross :
To think people are wanting this to do bass! That's laughable. It's going to be nearly 100% of the dialog and various sounds, if the only issue is the bass that's easily solved by the crossover. People want everything to do everything it seems.
People don't understand this simple fact and want a gigantic center as if a center needs to have woofers to be appreciated 🙄

I'm running a RBH r56ci center...and I still run my crossover at 100hz because I want my subs to do the heavy lifting plus I have 590s for the fronts and for the price I paid nothing beats them. Nothing.

The r55ti towers look better, though.

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