JBL 7 Series Unusably Bad - Help?

[SadMonster]

So I read pages of reviews on these before deciding to order these.

The bass output is impressive on first listen for such a small speaker, however, something I didn't see anyone mention, is that at even just moderate volume levels, on pretty much any modern, professionally mixed movie, like Frozen 2 or some sucky Avengers movie, the ports on the bottom of the speakers make the most loud and awful and unacceptable noise on high dynamic range low frequency effects.

I've had monitors that cost 1/3rd of what these do that have not had this problem.

Is there anything to be done about this at all? How is no one talking about this? Stuffing the ports with socks removes the horrible sound but there is a dropoff in bass level. And stuffing $2000 speakers with socks just so they aren't embarrassingly bad while messing up the frequency response seems wrong.

Are these speakers meant exclusively to be used as PC speakers or something? Am I doing something wrong or missing something obvious? Do I need to return these?

 

[Dialectic]

The reason you are noticing port chuffing is that these loudspeakers have enough power to deliver significant woofer excursion, causing audible port chuffing with bass-heavy content. Any speaker with 5" woofers, no matter how expensive or well-engineered, is going to struggle with bass-heavy content on modern movie soundtracks. The LFE channel in modern movie soundtracks is really just a rumble channel, and, when that channel is included in a downmix and sent to a minimonitor, the results are almost always terrible.

If you had passive minimonitors before that sounded okay on movie soundtracks, they probably were not getting enough amplifier power to experience excessive woofer excursion, which is the cause of port chuffing among other problems.

My KEF LS50s, which also have a small woofer, sounded fine alone when listening to music. However, when I switched them from music to TV duty, I found that they were unlistenably bad on movie soundtracks: I didn't notice port chuffing, but, with the woofers visibly struggling, dialogue was unintelligible. The solution was to put them on a high-pass filter at 79 Hz. With the high-pass filter engaged, movies and TV shows sound fine with the LS50s alone. If I'm watching an action movie and want thunderous bass, I turn on a subwoofer to fill in below 79 Hz.

The good news is that the JBLs are excellent and should be capable of wide dynamic range outside of low bass frequencies. You might experiment with applying a high-pass filter first at 40 Hz or 50Hz and moving it up if port chuffing continues to be a problem. If you add an inexpensive subwoofer (or two or three) and spend a little time experimenting with placement and crossover frequencies, your system will be capable of strong full-range performance without port chuffing or other distractions.

 

[SadMonster]

The reason you are noticing port chuffing is that these loudspeakers have enough power to deliver significant woofer excursion, causing audible port chuffing with bass-heavy content. Any speaker with 5" woofers, no matter how expensive or well-engineered, is going to struggle with bass-heavy content on modern movie soundtracks. The LFE channel in modern movie soundtracks is really just a rumble channel, and, when that channel is included in a downmix and sent to a minimonitor, the results are almost always terrible.

If you had passive minimonitors before that sounded okay on movie soundtracks, they probably were not getting enough amplifier power to experience excessive woofer excursion, which is the cause of port chuffing among other problems.

My KEF LS50s, which also have a small woofer, sounded fine alone when listening to music. However, when I switched them from music to TV duty, I found that they were unlistenably bad on movie soundtracks: I didn't notice port chuffing, but, with the woofers visibly struggling, dialogue was unintelligible. The solution was to put them on a high-pass filter at 79 Hz. With the high-pass filter engaged, movies and TV shows sound fine with the LS50s alone. If I'm watching an action movie and want thunderous bass, I turn on a subwoofer to fill in below 79 Hz.

The good news is that the JBLs are excellent and should be capable of wide dynamic range outside of low bass frequencies. You might experiment with a high-pass filter first at 40 Hz or 50Hz and moving it up if port chuffing continues to be a problem. If you add an inexpensive subwoofer (or two or three) and spend a little time experimenting with placement and crossover frequencies, your system will be capable of strong full-range performance without port chuffing or other distractions.

Thank you so much for your detailed post!

1. Yeah highpass filter at 80hz removes it. So does no filter and putting a sock in the speakers. Not sure which is better.

2. I have a JBL LSR 310s subwoofer that comes with an unchangeable 80hz crossover but for the life of me I just cannot get it to sound decent. It's completely localizable no matter where I put it. And the only place I really have space for it it sounds incredibly uneven and obviously worse than just not having the subwoofer in the system. Do you think getting a second matching subwoofer would help? Could you show me how I'd hook them both up into the 7 series? I honestly have no clue.

3. Should I just return these and get some 8 inch KRK V8?

Thank you again!!

 

[FrantzM]

I haven't heard the JBL 7 Series, I have the LSR308. its cheaper "cousin" and these do very well with movies. I would suggest to keep the JBL and add two or more cheap subwoofers. That's not all: you will have to work (a lot) to integrate them but...based on what I am getting from my 3 LSR 308 and 2 LSR 305 in my HT, you will be pleased.

 

[Soniclife]

Do you have any way of high passing the signal before the speakers? A subsonic filter at 20hz might help a lot.

 

[SadMonster]

I haven't heard the JBL 7 Series, I have the LSR308. its cheaper "cousin" and these do very well with movies. I would suggest to keep the JBL and add two or more cheap subwoofers. That's not all: you will have to work (a lot) to integrate them but...based on what I am getting from my 3 LSR 308 and 2 LSR 305 in my HT, you will be pleased.

I already have one LSR subwoofer. I don't know how to use 2 though. Could you show and explain it to me?

I used to have the 3 series and while way worse with music they sounded way better on movies without this horribly distracting noise.

 

[SadMonster]

Do you have any way of high passing the signal before the speakers? A subsonic filter at 20hz might help a lot.

I do have a programmable EQ on the sound card that is pushing sound to the speakers. I hadn't thought of using it until now. I can get rid of the noise with the EQ controls on the back of the speaker with a 80hz cutoff.

My soundcard doesn't have subsonic features, all I could do is EQ down the 31HZ band.

 

[Thomas savage]

If I were you I'd buy a processor with automated room/bass management and plug the speakers and sub into that .

Having said that I ran the 705p straight from the TV and had no issue with port chuffing .

 

[Thomas savage]

I do have a programmable EQ on the sound card that is pushing sound to the speakers. I hadn't thought of using it until now. I can get rid of the noise with the EQ controls on the back of the speaker with a 80hz cutoff.

My soundcard doesn't have subsonic features, all I could do I EQ down the 31HZ band.

Find out the port tuning frequently and cut them off around there , that will give you more bass without chuffing.

 

[SadMonster]

If I were you I'd buy a processor with automated room/bass management and plug the speakers and sub into that .

Having said that I ran the 705p straight from the TV and had no issue with port chuffing .

Can you recommend me a cheap unit that would go with my speakers and JBL subwoofer?

I don't believe that you aren't having issues with chuffing but that you just haven't listened to problematic content. I didn't notice it until I switched to modern Hollywood movies though.

 

[Dialectic]

Thank you so much for your detailed post!

1. Yeah highpass filter at 80hz removes it. So does no filter and putting a sock in the speakers. Not sure which is better.

2. I have a JBL LSR 310s subwoofer that comes with an unchangeable 80hz crossover but for the life of me I just cannot get it to sound decent. It's completely localizable no matter where I put it. And the only place I really have space for it it sounds incredibly uneven and obviously worse than just not having the subwoofer in the system. Do you think getting a second matching subwoofer would help? Could you show me how I'd hook them both up into the 7 series? I honestly have no clue.

3. Should I just return these and get some 8 inch KRK V8?

Thank you again!!

My pleasure.

I wouldn't switch to the KRKs, which will be worse in most respects than the JBLs.

I don't know the details of your setup, but I think it would be possible to integrate most subwoofers into your setup. In light of your use of the JBL monitors, it probably would be easier to use subwoofers designed for pros.

 

[Soniclife]

I do have a programmable EQ on the sound card that is pushing sound to the speakers. I hadn't thought of using it until now. I can get rid of the noise with the EQ controls on the back of the speaker with a 80hz cutoff.

My soundcard doesn't have subsonic features, all I could do is EQ down the 31HZ band.

If you are using a PC to feed them there are a lot of free EQ options to try e.g. https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/
Try a high pass at 40hz to start with and see if you keep the bass weight, but lose the noise.
Do you have any way to measure the speakers, with a mic and something like REW?

 

[SadMonster]

If you are using a PC to feed them there are a lot of free EQ options to try e.g. https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/
Try a high pass at 40hz to start with and see if you keep the bass weight, but lose the noise.
Do you have any way to measure the speakers, with a mic and something like REW?

Not using a PC unfortunately and also no REW ;[

 

[Dialectic]

Not using a PC unfortunately and also no REW ;[

What is sending a signal to the speakers?

 

[aac]

7 series has built-in DSP you can use.

 

[SadMonster]

What is sending a signal to the speakers?

TV > Optical > Soundblaster X G5 > No Subwoofer Because It's Localizable Literally Everywhere > JBL 7 Series

 

[SadMonster]

7 series has built-in DSP you can use.

Yeah but I need to cut all the way up to 80hz to get rid of the effect.

 

[Soniclife]

TV > Optical > Soundblaster X G5 > No Subwoofer Because It's Localizable Literally Everywhere > JBL 7 Series

Does the TV offer any EQ options?

Are you confident that the G5 is not downmixing the .1 channel when it creates the 2.0 output? You don't want the .1 sent to small stereo speakers?
Does this happen with all sources on the TV?

 

[SadMonster]

Does the TV offer any EQ options?

Are you confident that the G5 is not downmixing the .1 channel when it creates the 2.0 output? You don't want the .1 sent to small stereo speakers?
Does this happen with all sources on the TV?

1. TV has EQ options but only for internal TV speakers. They are disabled when optical.
2. That is an interesting possibility that I had not considered. I think Apple TV is actually downmixing to stereo. Is that bad? I don't think there is anything I can do about it even if it is though x.x
3. I have only noticed the horrible noises when streaming movies

 

[Soniclife]

1. TV has EQ options but only for internal TV speakers. They are disabled when optical.
2. That is an interesting possibility that I had not considered. I think Apple TV is actually downmixing to stereo. Is that bad? I don't think there is anything I can do about it even if it is though x.x
3. I have only noticed the horrible noises when streaming movies

1 Typical TV, mine does allow it though.
2 I would expect the aTV to send 5.1 to the TV via HDMI if the TV say's it can decode 5.1, then the TV to downmix to 2.0. You might be able to control what it does, if so try getting the aTV to do the the downmix.
3 Can you change to a stereo soundtrack when streaming movies? You can in Netflix.