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

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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.

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Featured Comments

Can the stupid Reference RC263 just go on sale please!!!!!
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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.
·
It would have to come back in stock first, then maybe it could go on sale. Hasn't it been OOS since February?
·

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Joined Feb 2018
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> bubble2 229 Posts
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dbiagas52
09-14-2021 at 05:07 PM.
09-14-2021 at 05:07 PM.
Quote from randyboxman :
I agree I tried pairing the 520c with 580s and thought it wasn't worth it at all.

The problem is that when you have a center channel in a system it's doing most of the heavy lifting of your entire setup. For that reason adding the 520c felt like downgrading the entire thing. I just run with a virtual center (no physical center and triangulated speakers) and it's fine. The 520c just sits on the shelf doing nothing.

Maybe I should run phantom center also and get the 520c for aesthetic reasons… the imaging is so good most people wouldn't know it's not on lol…. Currently using a 530 on its side, but I'll admit it looks weird…
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Joined Jul 2019
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> bubble2 201 Posts
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PhillyChad
09-14-2021 at 05:16 PM.
09-14-2021 at 05:16 PM.
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!
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Joined Jun 2008
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> bubble2 1,138 Posts
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springs113
09-14-2021 at 05:46 PM.
09-14-2021 at 05:46 PM.
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.
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> bubble2 568 Posts
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fieldcar
09-15-2021 at 07:03 AM.
09-15-2021 at 07:03 AM.
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.
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Joined Jan 2015
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> bubble2 180 Posts
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brandonross
09-16-2021 at 09:40 AM.
09-16-2021 at 09:40 AM.
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.
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fieldcar
09-16-2021 at 10:02 AM.
09-16-2021 at 10:02 AM.
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
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Joined Jan 2015
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brandonross
09-16-2021 at 11:41 AM.
09-16-2021 at 11:41 AM.
Quote from fieldcar :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKGobUJ5dxI
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?
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Joined Feb 2012
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> bubble2 10,375 Posts
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nottrollin
09-16-2021 at 12:15 PM.
09-16-2021 at 12:15 PM.
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.
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JaredN
09-16-2021 at 12:22 PM.
09-16-2021 at 12:22 PM.
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
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Last edited by JaredN September 16, 2021 at 12:29 PM.
Joined Apr 2017
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> bubble2 166 Posts
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marcoolus
09-16-2021 at 02:02 PM.
09-16-2021 at 02:02 PM.
Would 590s be a significant upgrade from klipsch rf82ii?
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Joined Jan 2007
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> bubble2 234 Posts
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minkyboodle
09-16-2021 at 03:27 PM.
09-16-2021 at 03:27 PM.
Quote from Blahgod :
Can the stupid Reference RC263 just go on sale please!!!!!
What he said lol
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fieldcar
09-16-2021 at 05:00 PM.
09-16-2021 at 05:00 PM.
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.
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fieldcar
09-16-2021 at 05:17 PM.
09-16-2021 at 05:17 PM.
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.
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brandonross
09-16-2021 at 05:21 PM.
09-16-2021 at 05:21 PM.
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.
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Joined Oct 2015
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> bubble2 114 Posts
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Dgstone18
09-16-2021 at 10:38 PM.
09-16-2021 at 10:38 PM.
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.
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