Full range floorstanders ~$1500 budget

[MKR]

When I bought mine new (not refurb) there was either a big piece of paper on the speaker or a manual that was warning the customer that it is too heavy (and to anchor it) but provided no mechanism for anchoring it. If they had a nice eyelet that didn’t destroy the cabinet it would have been great.

For me, the fact that they had bright bold warning (and I have little ones and live in an earthquake zone) had me sending it back.

I am pretty sure the 590’s would out measure the TAD speakers which were just measured.

@GXAlan Same "tip" warning is on this set (sticker upper back of speakers). And not to beat a dead horse, but ... You really have to give them a strong push from behind to get them to tip (I would venture to guess there are several other speakers out there that would tip much more easily and they do not have a "warning"). Would be quite the earthquake to tip these babies over (you would likely have much worse issues than just the speakers falling over with that size of a quake).

But I totally hear ya ... If I had little ones, I would anchor them (or purchase some outriggers that extended to front of speaker). I suppose what I would say is this "top heavy" issue is certainly not enough to cause me to return the speakers! But if you have little ones and no way to mitigate the tip hazard, I can certainly understand why you would return them.

As to the 590s vs the TADs just measured, I have heard megabuck TADs in the past and I do not feel I am giving up anything at all with these 590s. So I suspect you may be correct.

 

[MKR]

OK, I am going to give you the "truth". I of course will be roasted by pretty much all of the usual people for this. That material that you see in the ports is in reality not an issue. You will not and can't hear the difference between what you hear now and what you would hear after gluing it to the speaker wall. The super easy way to fix it is to use it as is and don't worry about it. It is NOT important. If it drives you nuts then you an go through the hassle of returning it, fixing it on your own or whatever JBL says to do. But, just remember it will not affect your sound. I say enjoy them! I'm glad you were blown away with the sound. Shows what a decent pair of speakers can do. The sound stage being shifted to one side is your room/speaker placement interacting with the speakers. It would do it with any brand. Well, I think you will have many hours of enjoyment listening to them. Glad the wife didn't throw a fit. She might be a keeper!

@Spkrdctr Good stuff, thank you. Yeah, I expect I am blowing the baffling issue out of proportion, and likely not affecting the sound at all. But, being a perfectionist and a bit obsessive, gonna drive me nuts LOL. I will likely do a little "surgery" this weekend and fix this, shouldn't be to difficult. Be a good opportunity to make sure all the connections on the woofers are solid and everything tight anyway.

Recommendation for the adhesive to use to tack down this baffling?

And these are MAJOR bang for the buck speakers at what I paid, again even at $2k they are a great value IMHO. I think if the build quality were a little better they would not have the infamous "not worth $2k but I would pay $1K" reputation

And yep. the wife is a keeper ... After 32 years together I already knew that ... She is a VERY patient woman to deal with all my nonsense

 

[GXAlan]

OK, I am going to give you the "truth". I of course will be roasted by pretty much all of the usual people for this. That material that you see in the ports is in reality not an issue. You will not and can't hear the difference between what you hear now and what you would hear after gluing it to the speaker wall. The super easy way to fix it is to use it as is and don't worry about it. It is NOT important. If it drives you nuts then you an go through the hassle of returning it, fixing it on your own or whatever JBL says to do. But, just remember it will not affect your sound.

Could it affect resonances? Or is it the equivalent of poly fill that random positioning is OK too?

The main thing is that @MKR will probably an easy replacement or another 10-15% discount.

 

[Spkrdctr]

Could it affect resonances? Or is it the equivalent of poly fill that random positioning is OK too?

The main thing is that @MKR will probably an easy replacement or another 10-15% discount.

I would think of it as poly fill. It looked like it was not all that substantial. But I know MKR is chomping at the bit to pull out a driver and "fix" it. MKR just be VERY, very careful to not scratch anything with a screwdriver. Pretty much any decent glue will work. Just lay the speaker on its side so the glue doesn't run on anything and once it has hardened you will be good to go. The thing you want to be careful about is if JBL has a gasket under the rim of the woofer. If they do be careful. You do not want any leaks around the woofer that might cause any whistling when pressurized by bass notes. Good luck! Oh and take some pics of the project and post them up. We live vicariously by guys like yourself posting cool pics of a project. I can't wait to see how it goes. Reminds me of when I was younger, had a lot more money, better looking and 100 pounds lighter. I am past my project days......

 

[Chrispy]

Personally if it bugged me it would already have been fixed, soon after noticing it I have no qualms about pulling a driver out of a box....

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Ok, so finally got the 590s fired up. My very subjective opinion … First, I am stunned by the sound coming out of these speakers. I simply did not expect this level of sonic performance from $760 speakers. I have heard many systems in my audiophile days, including the megabuck stuff, and these 590s hold their own. I am driving them with nothing more than an old Onkyo receiver (albeit a nice one, with high current discrete amp channels, 80W into 8 ohms) and I can easily drive the 590s to ear splitting levels, with no discernible distortion. Clean, crisp, and smooth. So clean that I had to be careful about the volume level, far too easy to approach hearing damage levels when the sound is this free of distortion. The LF output is substantial, I see no need for a sub in my room, as I had hoped. Soundstage is wide and deep.

Note these speakers are very transparent. If it’s a bad recording, you will know very quickly. If a good recording, it’s glorious. Note I am using an older (very nice) Sony CD player as a source.

If I have any complaint, it’s the imaging. Always seemed smeared to one side, regardless of the recording. But, I suspect this is not the speakers, but the setup, placement, and room. Again, some tweaking will likely fix this.

Now I just need to figure out the baffle issue. Pic below. If it affected the sound I certainly didn’t hear it, but it is bugging me for sure. Will contact Harman to tomorrow.

That’s it for now folks, more to come later as I get things dialed in. But wow, just wow. These are an absolute steal at the refurb price. I would even say worth full retail of $2k. To all the folks that recommended the 590s, thank you!

Not surprised...I tested the 590s pretty much of a lucky considence and was blown away! I have tried many towers since and the 590s are still the ones for me. Heck, thats why I named my theater Stonehenge Cinema...6 x 590 towers and a Revel C208 for center (because the 520 sucks and AT screens are not for me..plus that C208 is pure bliss!).
Congrats!

 

[fallawayjay]

What about used speakers selling new for 3+ grand you can buy at half price or less that's local to you( just in case)?Might not be evaluated here but do your due dillegence and you can score. It has worked for me in audio, autos,and camera gear. Just sayin.
As an aside I wish ASR had an east cost satilite I'd love to get a review of my gear, but shipping from Jersey to Calf. is risky and costly.

 

[Chrispy]

What about used speakers selling new for 3+ grand you can buy at half price or less that's local to you( just in case)?Might not be evaluated here but do your due dillegence and you can score. It has worked for me in audio, autos,and camera gear. Just sayin.
As an aside I wish ASR had an east cost satilite I'd love to get a review of my gear, but shipping from Jersey to Calf. is risky and costly.

Well you wouldn't want to ship to California....Amir is in Washington. Used speakers can be a great way to go, granted that you have some choices where you live (I'd have a fair drive to the nearest cities that have anything worthwhile...which isn't a lot from my perusing craigslist occasionally.

 

[fallawayjay]

Well you wouldn't want to ship to California....Amir is in Washington. Used speakers can be a great way to go, granted that you have some choices where you live (I'd have a fair drive to the nearest cities that have anything worthwhile...which isn't a lot from my perusing craigslist occasionally.

Thanks for the address correction I though all 2 channel folks lived in Calf. er ah at least that where most of the used gear seems to originate from.
Craigslist ouch sketchy, audiogon,or us audiomart are two I frequent. use the advanced serch in us audio mart to dial in distance you would travel.

 

[Chrispy]

Thanks for the address correction I though all 2 channel folks lived in Calf. er ah at least that where most of the used gear seems to originate from.
Craigslist ouch sketchy, audiogon,or us audiomart are two I frequent. use the advanced serch in us audio mart to dial in distance you would travel.

Mostly we just don't have a lot of population where I am....big city (Portland) is a couple hours drive, but definitely more choices (and ugh, traffic...)

 

[MKR]

Not surprised...I tested the 590s pretty much of a lucky considence and was blown away! I have tried many towers since and the 590s are still the ones for me. Heck, thats why I named my theater Stonehenge Cinema...6 x 590 towers and a Revel C208 for center (because the 520 sucks and AT screens are not for me..plus that C208 is pure bliss!).
Congrats!

@GabrielPhoto Wow, 6x 590s, Stonehenge indeed! With the sound that only two of these put out I can’t imagine 6. Would be impressive. You must have a big room to accommodate 6 of these behemoths

 

[Spkrdctr]

Even I, who loves overkill find it amazing that Gabrielphoto has 6 for his home theater. That is right up my alley, massive overkill!

 

[GXAlan]

The Studio 5 line was sold as entry level JBL Synthesis which says a lot about its performance.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

@GabrielPhoto Wow, 6x 590s, Stonehenge indeed! With the sound that only two of these put out I can’t imagine 6. Would be impressive. You must have a big room to accommodate 6 of these behemoths

Luckily I claimed our partially finished basement which is about 1630square feet to use for my stuff...at least until my wife starts reclaiming some sections of it LOL

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Even I, who loves overkill find it amazing that Gabrielphoto has 6 for his home theater. That is right up my alley, massive overkill!

It would have been 7 but I didn't like any of the AT screens so went with a revel c208 as my center instead.

 

[Chrispy]

It would have been 7 but I didn't like any of the AT screens so went with a revel c208 as my center instead.

Sweet setup. Thought I was doing okay with my 590s for mains, 580s for surrounds and 530s for rear surrounds I feel inadequate now. What didn't you like about the AT screens? Video performance or cost or ?

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Sweet setup. Thought I was doing okay with my 590s for mains, 580s for surrounds and 530s for rear surrounds I feel inadequate now. What didn't you like about the AT screens? Video performance or cost or ?

Oh you are doing great with your setup..I just went a bit far..as I always tend to do
I compared all the brands around, from Stewart, Seymour, xy, silver tickets, etc. Every single comparison, the AT image quality just couldnt match the non AT (as expected) and then the hit in brightness at 152" diag scope, it just didnt work for me. Specially when a center like the C208 can give that aural halo for great "ventriloquist" effect.

 

[MKR]

I would think of it as poly fill. It looked like it was not all that substantial. But I know MKR is chomping at the bit to pull out a driver and "fix" it. MKR just be VERY, very careful to not scratch anything with a screwdriver. Pretty much any decent glue will work. Just lay the speaker on its side so the glue doesn't run on anything and once it has hardened you will be good to go. The thing you want to be careful about is if JBL has a gasket under the rim of the woofer. If they do be careful. You do not want any leaks around the woofer that might cause any whistling when pressurized by bass notes. Good luck! Oh and take some pics of the project and post them up. We live vicariously by guys like yourself posting cool pics of a project. I can't wait to see how it goes. Reminds me of when I was younger, had a lot more money, better looking and 100 pounds lighter. I am past my project days......

@Spkrdctr Well, the poly fill surgery was a resounding success! Easy peasy … per your request, photos below. For everyone’s viewing pleasure, took some extra pics not really related to the procedure since I was poking around inside the speaker anyway. Impressed with the build quality overall. Anyway, back up and running again and sounding magnificent!

 

[Spkrdctr]

Congrats! You did an excellent job of being careful. The speakers look fantastic. Those big brutes probably put out some serious sound. I noticed they did a pretty good job on the crossover. Everything was mounted on the boards as they should be. You got a deal, I mean steal on the pricing! All in all great job!

 

[MKR]

Congrats! You did an excellent job of being careful. The speakers look fantastic. Those big brutes probably put out some serious sound. I noticed they did a pretty good job on the crossover. Everything was mounted on the boards as they should be. You got a deal, I mean steal on the pricing! All in all great job!

@Spkrdctr Thank you sir! Your warnings about being careful and that seal gasket (very, very thin) were very helpful. Your voice was in back of my mind entire time I was working … go slow, be careful, be careful!

And I am definitely feeling like I got a steal, no doubt about it.

The soundstage (immense), imaging, detail, low frequency response (rough subjective guess I am at least flat to the 30s), etc is all there with these beasts. Simply remarkable for $760. And as I have stated before, even at $2k the price to performance ratio is substantial. Best I have heard? No. But I can’t imagine better even up to the 4kish range.

Also a reminder I am only driving these with a circa 90s Onkyo Integra receiver (albeit it one of their best offerings back then). Tempted to hook up my beast Simaudio W5/P5 combo. But for now, happy as a clam. These will definitely suffice until I take the plunge into the $30k system