JBL Conceal C62 Invisible Speaker Review

[Aperiodic]

If you check the "evolution" of the Harman curve it is going for the V curve (for the masses), not for studio reference (aka neutral, semi-neutral hi-fi)

This is one of my reservations about ASR, that the Harman curve has literally been pronounced the "proper" voicing for a speaker or headphone and all such are evaluated by their adherence to this criteria.

 

[Mikig]

This is a review, detailed measurements, listening tests and EQ of JBL Conceal C62 "invisible" speaker. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member and costs $US 660 each.
View attachment 350121
This category of speaker is used in custom installations where a whole is cut out in the drywall (or whatever material) and speaker is fitted flush into it. It can then be "mudded" and painted, making it totally invisible. As you can imagine, this presents massive challenges for the driver and speaker designer. The C62 seems quite similar to Stealth Audio speaker and seems to be some kind of collaboration given the inclusion of a custom JBL mid-woofer:
View attachment 350122
The little box on top right is the "magic" handling midrange and tweeter duties.

Speaker frame seems quite substantial, likely due to it being some kind of cast metal (?). It comes with backbox:
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Given this configuration, I first decided to measure it like a normal speaker. But then thought the results may not be representative so built a custom baffle for it and measured it that way. The latter assumes the speaker is in an infinite wall with no diffraction losses or interference from back side. The difference turned out to be minimal due to backbox all but silencing the rear wave.

Acoustic center was the center of the speaker.

Note: our company, Madrona Digital is a dealer for JBL and indeed, the owner ordered this through us. I don't personally know if we have sold any of these but do know that we have sold some other speakers of this type. Here is an example of the installation in our old showroom of Amina invisible speakers:
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There are actually three speakers around that LCD TV for left, center and right channels in a living room surround system mock up. We would ask people if they could locate the speakers and they would never be able to do it! It was uncanny in that manner and quite a conversation piece.

JBL Conceal C62 Measurements
As usual, we start with our frequency response measurements. Do note however that the concept of "early window" does not quite work here as there are no valid rear reflections:

View attachment 350144
Yes, I was as shocked as you are. I don't know what I expected but it wasn't something this messy. The front panel likely has multiple modes being activated (which may change when speaker is mudded). As noted, our early window model is not quite accurate but still gives us some idea of off-axis response:
View attachment 350126
For good or bad, you get similar response to on-axis. Predicted in-room response model is for normal stand-alone speakers so definitely not a fit for C62 but here it is anyway:
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Directivity is all over the place:
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Power handling was a major issue expectedly in this class. The highest level I could push the speaker without audible distortion during frequency response sweep was 78 dBSPL:
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As you see at this level, there are cries of discomfort in bass and midrange frequency range. (The threshold on the left graph is not correct due to much lower playback level.)

JBL Conceal C62 Listening Tests and Equalization
I put the speaker on a stand in my normal far-field listening. Yes, I know it is not the intended application but this is the best I can do. First impression was a wide and diffused image coupled with some brightness and oddness I could not describe to you. Mind you, it was better than I expected. I brought out the EQ tool and attempted the impossible: trying to correct that frequency response by eye:
View attachment 350133

Working backward, I had to put that high pass filter in order to keep the speaker from breaking up during content with bass response. That also forced me to compromise in other filters in the bass region to keep distortion low. The rest of the corrections are wet thumb in the air. Overall, I managed to get the speaker sound more "normal." The boost in 200 to 300 Hz gave some needed warmth and other filters improved clarity if not the response itself. When done, I still could not get much of my reference tracks to be enjoyable. An automatically generated filter set optimized by ear for distortion would likely work better.

Touching the front of the speaker when playing dynamic content revealed a membrane that is quite flexible. I would say it was easily moving a few millimeters. This is good for dynamic capability but would present challenge as far as mud and paint used. They could easily crack.

Conclusions
Clearly these are not the kind of objective results we like to see a speaker. But how do we judge them when this speaker brings an impossible trick to the table: ability to be completely invisible. That is a huge feature. Indeed, I have been thinking for a while to put a couple on the wall behind our sofa behind us in the living room for surround duty. I would not image putting a grill there for an in wall speaker let alone an actual box speaker. Without having measured other such speakers, hard to know how to rank these speakers. From memory, the Amina speakers we had in our showroom had very limited response and dynamic range (they used an array of small drivers) so likely would lose to the C62.

I can rule out the JBL Conceal C62 for music usage. What it does for surround and EQ, is hard to judge but likely can be made to be acceptable.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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Hi Amirm,
thanks for the test: above all, very interesting to see “special” components in shape and relative performance!

Are they similar in operation to flat panel speakers?

I've seen some videos online, and those who have demonstrated them speak of them in enthusiastic terms.

 

[Multicore]

People are this adverse to seeing speakers in their living room??

Amir says "That's a huge feature." I'm surprised. I never heard of such a thing or even wondered about it myself. Speakers mounted flush with or without a decorative grille obviously make sense. But concealing them behind the wall's surface, I had no idea there was a demand for that. Good old ASR, I learn something new every day.

 

[wwenze]

I think a cloth artwork over the speaker would have a better result. Heck, most speaker covers are cloth anyway.

 

[Sal1950]

I can rule out the JBL Conceal C62 for music usage. What it does for surround and EQ, is hard to judge but likely can be made to be acceptable.

I got to strongly disagree with you there @amirm There's no DRC in the world that is going to make that acceptable for the playback of a good movie soundtrack, let alone surround music.. Maybe earplugs?
I'm actually a bit shocked to hear you say this.

 

[eddantes]

This is one of my reservations about ASR, that the Harman curve has literally been pronounced the "proper" voicing for a speaker or headphone and all such are evaluated by their adherence to this criteria.

Harman curve <> "proper" | Harman curve = ~"likely to be preferred by most"

 

[Prince Valiant]

This is one of my reservations about ASR, that the Harman curve has literally been pronounced the "proper" voicing for a speaker or headphone and all such are evaluated by their adherence to this criteria.

I find it more irksome with headphones. I do appreciate the free data from our host and the other reviewers, though, and determine from there.

 

[Sal1950]

The instructions seem to indicate that the entire face of it can be skim coated with plaster as well. Up to 2mm they recommend. I’d think that plaster and paint would make a difference?

Yes, and the mud coat plus paint would be the only "correct" way to install.
You wouldn't cut in a piece of drywall that size to cover a repair without "mud coat plus paint" and call it invisible,
it would stand out like a sore thumb, as will this speaker unless that process is followed.

All speakers are hidden. The surround speakers are in the ceiling and we built a custom sub that is below the fireplace landing. Customer would not accept anything else.

I really couldn't give a dang what some idiot with far more money than sense does. He's spent a fortune on that room and
ended up with some decidedly second rate sound quality. That in no way should justify giving this speaker a passing grade.
Would you replace your Salon2's with a pair of these and find a way to make/call them "acceptable"?

Typical Harman product trash. I worked in this company and they don't respect the engineers. Full of greedy managers. Avoid Harman products folks! They don't care about the product quality. Only the profit ...

Please, that's not fair and it's a cheap shot. Revel and JBL make some of the best sounding speakers in the world.
Did someone from Harman piss in your Rice Krispies or what ?

 

[MAB]

Was there long term test if 2mm plaster can hold against continuous vibration?

They discuss plaster and cracking in the manual:
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.jbl.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-masterCatalog_Harman/default/dw778b64d9/pdfs/JBL%20Conceal%20Series%20OM%20-%20EN.pdf
I was was also wondering, but given that this designed for sheet rock and plaster construction, which is already resistant to vibration-induced cracking from things like slammed doors, perhaps minimal.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Are they similar in operation to flat panel speakers?

If I may…
Stealth Acoustics from which the JBL model is an OEM version, were the first to market with an invisible speaker. Their designs remain the same today in that they use a conventional woofer behind a flexible membrane for low to mid frequencies. The air gap between the woofer and membrane has its own inherent resonances, but the sound is generated in a mostly pistonic way. The high frequencies are essentially a small flat panel or distributed mode loudspeaker. Interestingly when NXT were granted its patents in the mid 90s they didn’t chase Stealth for infringement under a gentleman’s agreement because Stealth got their first, they just didn’t patent what they were doing.

Sonance’s models work in a similar way to Stealth and have caught up in terms of sound quality.

Amina use only distributed mode technology (aka NXT). What they lack in low frequency they have very wide, albeit very lobey, dispersion. In some applications like low ceilings, this is beneficial.

 

[Lewzke]

"Please, that's not fair and it's a cheap shot. Revel and JBL make some of the best sounding speakers in the world."
JBL was good ... when Harman was a separate company. Today? It's just a brand name. Best sounding? What are you talking about? It was best a long time ago. Not today. This is a fact. Just throw in a Genelec or Neumann measurement and compare it with some modern JBL measurement, it is no question ... Harman is trash, objectively. Just roll up the recent Harman/JBL products here in the reviews. Every modern JBL has a major flaw in the acoustic design. I was working in the company and I know what is going on there. Forget the reputation and name, this company is trash. There is no serious engineering involved, only serious marketing.

 

[Svet Angelov]

"Please, that's not fair and it's a cheap shot. Revel and JBL make some of the best sounding speakers in the world."
I am leaving this topic. JBL was good ... when Harman was a separate company. Today? It's just a brand name. Best sounding? What are you talking about? It was best a long time ago. Not today. This is a fact. Just throw in a Genelec or Neumann measurement and compare it with some modern JBL measurement, it is no question ... Harman is trash, objectively. Just roll up the recent Harman/JBL products here in the reviews. Every modern JBL has a major flaw in the acoustic design. I was working in the company and I know what is going on there. Forget the reputation and name, this company is trash. There is no serious engineering involved, only serious marketing.

*cough* M2 and 4367 *cough* HDI *coughcough*

 

[Lewzke]

JBL 4312M II / here in the recent reviews. That is 1000 USD. (M2 and 4367 is just mediocre, but FAR from the "best" speaker. Far from Neumann and Genelec.)​

 

[AdamG]

Well you can’t say that they are ugly or low WAF. But damn I want my sound system to um, er, have some sound! In my book this is just too much compromise. However, I did live aboard US Navy War Ships for a couple decades and my idea of nicely furnished might be askew.

As always @amirm thank you for the review and building the speaker box for the speaker box thing. Another working weekend it is aye aye Sir!

 

[Djsedaw]

Possibly a cool "effect" speaker for a "haunted house" or something like that. Definitely would not paint or mud (!) it over inasmuch as that's the diaphragm. Maybe mud and paint over the screws. Maybe.

You put mud on your walls?, to quote Dr Mccoy, "man are we living in the dark ages"

 

[Svet Angelov]

JBL 4312M II / here in the recent reviews. That is 1000 USD. ​

View attachment 350315​

Yeah that one's pretty awful, but it shouldn't automatically discredit other things they've done.

On topic : I would still take this speaker over no speaker at all, and I imagine that could be the case for a lot of people that have,let's say, an in-wall TV. So I voted not terrible, leaning towards fine

 

[Sal1950]

I was working in the company and I know what is going on there.

Sounds more like sour grapes.
What happened, did you get schitt canned by them?

 

[Lewzke]

Well, we can compare it objectively.

Sounds more like sour grapes.
What happened, did you get schitt canned by them?

They don't respect the engineers. I was forced to PASS a test but the product was actually failing. Actually I refused to sign that report and some manager signed it. That amplifier not met the basic automotive specifications, it was full of issues. Guys I can link all the poor JBL products from Audiosciencereview but it will be a long list. Why are you defending this company? There is no reason to defend the JBL name anymore. Time passed and this JBL is not the JBL from the golden era. Just like AKG. Yes I am pissed off, but look at the products here. There is no reason to defend this company. Objective facts and measurements talk more than my "sour grapes". Even the mediocre JBL's have port resonances and uneven crossover points (4349, 4367 etc.). You cannot link a flawless modern JBL speaker at all. There is few okay'ish and that's all. Sorry about my "rampage" style, but come on guys, let's not defend poor products.

 

[Putter]

Well, we can compare it objectively,

They don't respect the engineers. I was forced to PASS a test but the product was actually failing. Actually I refused to sign that report and some manager signed it. Guys I can link all the poor JBL products from Audiosciencereview but it will be a long list. Why are you defending this company? There is no reason to defend the JBL name anymore. Time passed and this JBL is not the JBL from the golden era. Just like AKG. Yes I am pissed off, but look at the products here. There is no reason to defend this company. Objective facts and measurements talk more than my "sour grapes". Even the mediocre JBL's have port resonances and uneven crossover points (4349, 4367 etc.)
. You cannot link a flawless modern JBL speaker at all. There is few okay'ish and that's all. Most of them is straight trash from China.

I'm not quite understanding. There have been some decent products coming out of the Harman groups. Perusing Amir's speaker ratings, a fairly objective measure, I found 12 out of 60 speakers (20% or 1 out of 5) in the top rankings. I don't really dispute that there has been some slippage in their speaker quality. Revel which makes up most of the highest rated Harman speakers has not come with a new model in 5 years or so except for an in wall model. It seems like it may be phased out at some point like Infinity which also had several high rated models in Amir's tests. It seems like as time has passed they've strayed from the Floyd Toole/Todd Welti/Sean Olive research into sound reproduction. Some of it is the usual problem of a too large company that loses it focus and also that other companies have caught up in some cases surpassed them such as KEF.

 

[Lewzke]

Have you compared those "top" ranking speakers with the actual good products of this era (Genelec and Neumann)? They are just ok but not flawless. So basically 1 out of 5 Harman product is acceptable. That is far from good. Genelec and Neumann is a different category (active studio speaker) so I can forget that, but 1 out of 5 is not a good value if you ask me. I can lower the expectations with a small degree, but still this is far from good.