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JBL Array 880 Review (Center Speaker)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 25 13.3%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 83 44.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 69 36.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 11 5.9%

  • Total voters
    188

Rja4000

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So the main question is:
why are they all doing MTM ?
It seems that the better you do it, the worse the directivity issue will be there. By design.

Is there any theory behind that, justifying the use of MTM ?
Center channel has to merge with L+R anyway, and you don't want it to mess it up.
???
 

abdo123

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So the main question is:
why are they all doing MTM ?
It seems that the better you do it, the worse the directivity issue will be there. By design.

Is there any theory behind that, justifying the use of MTM ?
Center channel has to merge with L+R anyway, and you don't want it to mess it up.
???
it fits better under a screen.
 

voodooless

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@amirm: where is the usual "I'm a JBL dealer, so take everything with a grain of salt" disclaimer? Also: since when are you posting specs with a review? Is that going to be the new normal from now on?
 

Koeitje

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@amirm: where is the usual "I'm a JBL dealer, so take everything with a grain of salt" disclaimer? Also: since when are you posting specs with a review? Is that going to be the new normal from now on?
I think the specs were mostly to show the crossover frequency.
 

youngho

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@amirm , it sounds like you listened to a pair of 880s in stereo when you took a blind listening test at Harman? I thought you listened to the Array 1400s, which use the same two compression drivers but in a larger horn. What you describe is interesting, since some ASR members (@tuga ?) seem to criticize Harman's setup for favoring wide dispersion loudspeakers.
 

LearningToSmile

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Despite the limitations of this speaker as a center channel, now I'm very curious about the other speakers in the Array series, particularly the Array 1000 and 1400:
Screenshot 2021-11-08 at 12-47-36 JBLSynthesis_1400Array_Black_Web png (WEBP Image, 1024 × 102...png

Took a look at some local used marketplaces, 1000 is reasonably affordable, 1400 still quite pricey. I know there's little chance of seeing any measured as they're quite large and with being discontinued there's not much value in putting in the effort required to get them on the Klippel, but I'd be very interested. I have a soft spot for funky looking large speakers, and despite failing at its critical purpose, some parts of the design of the 880 are clearly well executed.
 

voodooless

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The big question is: what is the point of the rather large vertical dispersion?
 

voodooless

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So what would be the optimum from a quality point of view that would still fit under a screen?
Coaxial with two woofers to the side, but crossover much lower than is done here. Like 200~500 Hz depending on coaxial used. Or a vertical TM with side woofers would also work, but usually needs more height. A horizontal 2.5-way can probably also be made to work fairly well.
 

Madjalapeno

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Coaxial with two woofers to the side, but crossover much lower than is done here. Like 200~500 Hz depending on coaxial used. Or a vertical TM with side woofers would also work, but usually needs more height. A horizontal 2.5-way can probably also be made to work fairly well.
We should do a ASR Center Speaker Project.
 

youngho

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Despite the limitations of this speaker as a center channel, now I'm very curious about the other speakers in the Array series, particularly the Array 1000 and 1400: View attachment 164066
Took a look at some local used marketplaces, 1000 is reasonably affordable, 1400 still quite pricey. I know there's little chance of seeing any measured as they're quite large and with being discontinued there's not much value in putting in the effort required to get them on the Klippel, but I'd be very interested. I have a soft spot for funky looking large speakers, and despite failing at its critical purpose, some parts of the design of the 880 are clearly well executed.


http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?10641-800-Array (the 1000 seems likely to measure relatively similarly or possibly between the 800 and 1400, since it seems to use the same drivers, but slightly different lower crossover frequency, so most likely more similar to the 800)
 

GXAlan

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http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?10641-800-Array (the 1000 seems likely to measure relatively similarly or possibly between the 800 and 1400, since it seems to use the same drivers, but slightly different lower crossover frequency, so most likely more similar to the 800)

Just to clarify, the 800 and 1000 use similar compression drivers to the 4429. 1.75” compression driver. 175Nd-3.

The 880 and 1400 use a 3” compression driver for the main. But the actual horn lens on the 880 is more similar to the 800/1000 in size. 435Al-1. This is similar to the K2 5800.
 

MarkELong

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Well. For what it's worth here's pics to see the relative size of it and the back too.
b2b7b2e2-3632-462d-b260-dd5b5c89fbdb-jpeg.48920

View attachment 163976
Good morning all this is my actual rig I put this center in in early july . This top picture is from one I posted on an other forum. This center is quite large as you can see and just fit under my screen without much trouble.
Iam the first guy that will tell you I don’t know much about graphs and measurements.
My setup is jbl HP-520’s as my main bed layer with this center my main listening seats are in the middle of a 28 by 17 foot room with a 11 foot high vaulted ceiling. Not perfect I know but it’s doable.
I run this center with a bridged carver TFM -25 amp and I’ve tried bi-amping it with both channels from the amp and one single cable bi-amped from the bridged carver . Now I just run one cable with the straps in place to try it out .
This center will take crazy power and is very clear and a very good image is projected into the room I’ve set off axis to see how this does as all 4 of our seats are spread across the middle of the seating area . To me it’s seems to lock the dialogue firmly into place no mater where you sit in our room . iam still playing around with this center so far Iam very impressed with its performance in my setup so far .
 

youngho

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Just to clarify, the 800 and 1000 use similar compression drivers to the 4429. 1.75” compression driver. 175Nd-3.

The 880 and 1400 use a 3” compression driver for the main. But the actual horn lens on the 880 is more similar to the 800/1000 in size. 435Al-1. This is similar to the K2 5800.
Yes, lack of editing--I originally wrote the 800 as same drivers, but then I added the part about the 1400 since the crossover point is lower on the 1000. I don't know about the horn size itself.
 

GXAlan

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Good morning all this is my actual rig I put this center in in early july . This top picture is from one I posted on an other forum. This center is quite large as you can see and just fit under my screen without much trouble.
Iam the first guy that will tell you I don’t know much about graphs and measurements.
My setup is jbl HP-520’s as my main bed layer with this center my main listening seats are in the middle of a 28 by 17 foot room with a 11 foot high vaulted ceiling. Not perfect I know but it’s doable.
I run this center with a bridged carver TFM -25 amp and I’ve tried bi-amping it with both channels from the amp and one single cable bi-amped from the bridged carver . Now I just run one cable with the straps in place to try it out .
This center will take crazy power and is very clear and a very good image is projected into the room I’ve set off axis to see how this does as all 4 of our seats are spread across the middle of the seating area . To me it’s seems to lock the dialogue firmly into place no mater where you sit in our room . iam still playing around with this center so far Iam very impressed with its performance in my setup so far .

Anchoring the center probably requires narrower beam width.

This was one of the thoughts behind vertical versus horizontal horns and the Arrays were built in the era of DVD-Audio and SACD MultiChannel so wide dispersion would have ruined the pinpoint imaging for the MCh single listener experience.

One of the best setups in-room but as I noted above, really massive* and the soft touch surface does deteriorate with exposure to UV.
 

sarumbear

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It's strange that JBL would let it slide with this horizontal beam width issue. It pretty obvious that it's there. Perhaps the budgetary constraints where cutting into the design and execution of the build.
They also have a marketing department
 
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