OP
- Thread Starter
- #81
I took the time to listen to this speaker and added my notes to the review. I am very glad I did as you see:
Listening Test and Equalization
Speaker was too heavy to haul into my normal listening room. So I tried something new: setup a new station in my "lab" (very large garage) to listen to the speaker. I took it down using my lift so I decided to leave it on that so I could elevate it to any height. This turned out to be important. Speaker is in the center of this very large space which is filled with huge number of boxes and such, providing for rather normal reverberation time. The large volume always helps with room modes, pushing them lower in frequency and hence less bothersome.
At first I had the speaker aligned with the tweeter at ear height. Instant impression was "hey, this thing sounds good!' A few instances later, "but boy this tweeter can be sharp!" I brought out my EQ tool and tried to tailor the highs but without a lot of success. So I took advantage of my lift and raised the height so that the mid-range was at ear height. This did the trick together with a few filters:
I must say, I was not ready for the incredibly positive experience this speaker plus above EQ provided. The sound was clean, clean and dynamic. Without the EQ the bass and highs were emphasized. With the EQ in place, the sound was just sublime in that I could turn up the level really high and the speaker kept scaling up. At elevated volumes, I could then hear a lot more detail that I would often not hear in my tracks.
I have built a large playlist with sub-bass content I use for headphone testing. Usually they stress speakers too much so I only use them sparingly there. Man, where they made for the JBL SRX835P. The experience of hearing these tracks with this speaker, in this space was transformative! It was that good!
You don't believe me? Here is the wife evidence. Half-way through the testing my wife came into the garage. I expected an complaint about the sound level. What transpired was an impromptu dance session to what I was playing then, the famous Steely Dan's My Cousin Dupree:
Except for my Salon 2 speakers, I don't find this track to be hugely enjoyable. But boy, where they the case here. Every track in my headphone playlist sounded superb.
I think what is going on here is that smaller speakers must be increasing in distortion rapidly, causing one to not turn them up. And if you don't turn them up, then you don't enjoy the full dynamics and details in your music.
On directivity, the highs are extremely directional. At my listening distance of 7 to 10 feet, you have a few feet after which the highs drop off. Without EQ, this is not a bad thing as it removes the sharp highs. Interestingly, with EQ, the mid-range is more in charge and provides a wider dispersion and a much more more normal listening width.
Note that the tweeter generates hiss. It was audible in my space to about 3 feet. At my normal listening distance, it was not audible at all.
I cranked the speaker to max volume and even then, there was no hint of stress and distortion. I remember the now departed Greg Timbers of JBL bad mouthing Revel Speakers as being good enough for elevator music. As much as I disagree with him, I think in contrast to these types of JBL speakers, he may have a point. I had a similar epiphany when I listened to the JBL 708P and 4349.
It was an interesting sensation to have frequencies above bass cause physical vibrations in you body!Yes, listening at these levels for too long is not good for your hearing. But a few minutes of it put a smile on my face that I can't yet wipe.
