JBL Studio 530 Speaker Review

[Teeter]

Jan 2021, I visited JBL's website to look at their 530 and their Stage A130 w waveguide. I have a set of old Northridge bookshelf E20's, and time to replace. I choose the Stage A130 and a huge improvement on the L/R. I have 5.2 system and watch mostly movies. When I listen to music, I switch the AVR to "Virtual," sound. The 530's have been around for a long time with nice reviews.

 

[Kotter67]

JBL.com has these on sale again for $279.99 shipped.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Usually sell out quickly.

 

[Fuzziekiwi]

Have the 530, had the DBR-62. The most noticeable difference is the narrow vs. wide directivity. The 530 is noticeably more tight in its presentation. Better for smaller, untreated rooms if you want to maintain sonic purity (like headphones). I lose a lot of detail with the DBR-62 because my 20x11.5 room can't handle the reflective energy.

DBR-62 goes lower in the bass but has an upper-mid recess. JBL 530 is more energetic; a better rock, pop speaker.

I have the DBR-62 but I'm super curious to hear more more of your thoughts on these. How would you say they do with mediocre recordings vs the DBR-62? More revealing? Less revealing? Does sibilance get smoothed out? The waveguide has me interested since I love the waveguide on my LSR305's.

The metallic (i think?) tweeters of the 530 are a little intimidating.

 

[More Dynamics Please]

... The metallic (i think?) tweeters of the 530 are a little intimidating.

As with all the Studio 5 series the 530's compression tweeter is said by JBL to be made with Teonex which is said by its manufacturer (Teijen) to be a crystalline thermoplastic polyester using a polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) resin. I'm not a chemist. I just looked it up.

 

[melomane]

i have buy a pair of used 530, because in Europe they are not more sell.
also i have the big brother 590 from 7 years.
they are very similar sounding, of course the difference is in the size.
At least 6 dB less sensitivity, 2 times less power, lower bass extension.
in a small room the 530 is ok without subwoofer, in a medium room is ok with subwoofer, in a big room the 590 is best!
it is logical, but they are all 2 wonderfull speaker

The 530 at $279.99 shipped, dont esitate!

 

[More Dynamics Please]

@ROOSKIE, your concept of running Studio 530s with bass modules is intriguing. Since the 530 has the same compression driver as the 570/580/590 it should be able to produce the same maximum clean SPL as the larger towers >1,500 Hz. The big question is whether or not the 530's 5.25" driver can match the same maximum clean output as the compression driver if it's relieved of bass duties and crossed over to the bass modules at a sufficiently high point (125 Hz? 150 Hz? 200 Hz?), effectively operating as a midrange rather than a woofer? The images I've seen of the 5.25" driver suggest a robust construction that may be capable of much higher SPL if used as a midrange.

A question for you is whether or not your 530s + bass modules are capable of playing at the same maximum clean SPL as the 580s that they replaced? If so will they do that at the 125-150 Hz crossover point you are currently using or do you think you might have to have an even higher crossover point? Assuming the bass modules can keep up with the compression driver it seems the 5.25" driver is the key to matching maximum clean output of the larger towers with a 530/bass module combo.

 

[ROOSKIE]

@ROOSKIE, your concept of running Studio 530s with bass modules is intriguing. Since the 530 has the same compression driver as the 570/580/590 it should be able to produce the same maximum clean SPL as the larger towers >1,500 Hz. The big question is whether or not the 530's 5.25" driver can match the same maximum clean output as the compression driver if it's relieved of bass duties and crossed over to the bass modules at a sufficiently high point (125 Hz? 150 Hz? 200 Hz?), effectively operating as a midrange rather than a woofer? The images I've seen of the 5.25" driver suggest a robust construction that may be capable of much higher SPL if used as a midrange.

A question for you is whether or not your 530s + bass modules are capable of playing at the same maximum clean SPL as the 580s that they replaced? If so will they do that at the 125-150 Hz crossover point you are currently using or do you think you might have to have an even higher crossover point? Assuming the bass modules can keep up with the compression driver it seems the 5.25" driver is the key to matching maximum clean output of the larger towers with a 530/bass module combo.

Based on my testing 200hrz might give even more clean SPL.
125-150 works fine for my needs and is a better match in my room in terms of SBIR.
That is why I use it but from a pure SPL level 200hrz is slightly better and could be a better match for room responce in other rooms as well.
At some point the driver is thermally overdriven.
Whether the 530's with the bass modules is better than simply a pair of 580's is hard to say.
I do try a lot of speakers and design some as a hobby as well so moving "bookshelf" sized units around to match with the modules is much easier and I can really fine tune the match.
In active speaker diy one can also put tweeters and mids in seperate enclosures and really mix and match everything while experimenting with designs.

 

[Teeter]

I recently opted for the Stage A 130 for upgrading from my Northridge E series. I guess I like the A 130 over the 530's with better pricing and wave guide feature. I have not been disappointed. But my ears aren't really acute.....either. lol

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I recently opted for the Stage A 130 for upgrading from my Northridge E series. I guess I like the A 130 over the 530's with better pricing and wave guide feature. I have not been disappointed. But my ears aren't really acute.....either. lol

Give yourself time. When you enter this world you can never leave. I know my generation thinks those behind cannot appreciate due to smart phones and ear buds. Nothing has really changed. Only a small group of individuals have ever truly appreciated good sound. In 1970's none of my friends knew of Dynaco, Dahlquist, Advent, KEF, etc. It was Bose then and Bose now. My son in law was over this weekend. He thought 2 subwoofer setup was for bone jarring football field low hz. I spent 30 seconds trying to explain nulls and quickly changed the subject. He is a smart energetic kid. Just not his cup of tea.

 

[Teeter]

Give yourself time. When you enter this world you can never leave. I know my generation thinks those behind cannot appreciate due to smart phones and ear buds. Nothing has really changed. Only a small group of individuals have ever truly appreciated good sound. In 1970's none of my friends knew of Dynaco, Dahlquist, Advent, KEF, etc. It was Bose then and Bose now. My son in law was over this weekend. He thought 2 subwoofer setup was for bone jarring football field low hz. I spent 30 seconds trying to explain nulls and quickly changed the subject. He is a smart energetic kid. Just not his cup of tea.

Yupper......lol. I have always enjoyed technology. I still have the first gen Sony Walkman, Sony Beta VHS camera, Harman Kardon Tape Deck. My first so called Hi Fi sound in the family room, was a set of 4 Radio Shack speakers in 1990 or so, with a Yamaha AVR. Those were the days and have family movie of me doing selective music recording onto cassette, with head phones on. lol Today, what is HT.... per say? Today, I have everything on DVD or CD and Flash Drive as back-up. lol Life has been good along with hobbies. I am a JBL fan along with Denon and DELL. TV...currenty TCL. My wife has the latest phone technology, along with iPad, along with Amazon Fire and laptop. She is now the Tech person at 77 with current generation....lol. Sorry to steal the thread! GO JBL..........

 

[More Dynamics Please]

Thank you for the review Amirm !
I own a pair of Jbl 530, and in passive mode they are good loudspeakers, but not excellent. The main problem is the crossover frequency that is set to low i frequency , thus showing the tweeters resonance without enough suppression made in the crossover.

I have modified my Jbl 530 to be driven fully active with a Dbx dsp crossover.
The optimal crossover frequency after two years of modifying and carefully listening is 1,8 kHz with, at least, 24 dB /oct linkwitz Riley crossover, acoustically.

With those modifications plus a couple of other small ones ( lowering 1,5 dB at 125 Hz with q=3, boosting the tweeter beyond 12 kHz and some more eq for the waveguide ) , this standmount speaker is one of the best sounding speaker regardless of price, considering the size of the loudspeaker.

JBL apparently agrees that the 1.5 kHz crossover frequency used on all the Studio 5 series speakers is a little too low for the compression driver. The Studio 6 series that has replaced the Studio 5 in some markets uses higher crossover points for all models, ranging from 1.7 kHz for the largest towers to 2.3 kHz for the smallest bookshelf. The Studio 6 uses a new HDI waveguide in place of the bi-radial horn in the Studio 5 series and the speakers are visually similar to the JBL Synthesis HDI series.

 

[Descartes]

https://vn.jbl.com/en/loudspeakers/...Wood-GLOBAL-Current&cgid=loudspeakers#start=1

 

[More Dynamics Please]

The Studio 630 would be the most comparable in performance to the Studio 530:

STUDIO 630
Single 6.5", 2-way compression driver bookshelf loudspeaker
6.5" (165mm) PolyPlas Low-Frequency Woofer
High Definition Imaging (HDI) Waveguide with 1" (25mm) High Frequency Compression Driver
Recommended Amplifier Power: Max 150W
Frequency Response: 45Hz – 40kHz
Sensitivity: 85dB @ 1M, 2.83V
Nominal Impedance: 6 Ohms
Crossover Frequencies: 1.9kHz
Enclosure Type: Bass-Reflex via Rear-Firing Tuned Port
Dimensions (W x D x H): 230 x 280 x 372mm Weight: 9.02kg

https://vn.jbl.com/en/loudspeakers/...Wood-GLOBAL-Current&cgid=loudspeakers#start=1

 

[More Dynamics Please]

The Studio 630 looks like a poor man's version of the JBL Synthesis HD-1600 pictured below:

 

[boselover61]

630 is a refined 230 rather than a replacement for 530 per JBL support

 

[More Dynamics Please]

630 is a refined 230 rather than a replacement for 530 per JBL support

The Studio 230 uses a 1" dome tweeter so it's interesting they would say converting it to a compression driver is a refinement. The Studio 630 seems to be more of a mix-and-match with elements of both the 230 and the 530.

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

630 is a refined 230 rather than a replacement for 530 per JBL support

Must be highly refined given the limited availability and 5x cost increase.

 

[boselover61]

Must be highly refined given the limited availability and 5x cost increase.

It costs $700 in asia. The JBL 230 retailed for $500 i think? So not that much of a increase

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

It costs $700 in asia. The JBL 230 retailed for $500 i think? So not that much of a increase

The JBL 230 was $299 in the states. The 630 isn't sold in the US and looks like it's $1200+ from places that will import.