JBL A180 Tower Speaker Review

[anphex]

What's the point or reasonably large tower speakers when you don't get a better bass extension than bookshelf speakers? It's just a waste of space. Especially when you look at the THD.

 

[KxDx]

Paging Dennis Murphy! Time for a crossover mod and new Affordable Accuracy Towers!!!

 

[JohnBooty]

One small step away from White-Van speakers. Probably OK for a dorm room (if they still allow such a thing in 2022).

I think if you show up to a dorm in 2022 with anything besides a Bluetooth speaker they're not even going to know what they're looking at!

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

Isn't the brightness coming from distortion products at the high end of the midwoofer around 1500Hz? You'd have a lot of junk at 3000Hz, 4500Hz, 6000Hz, etc.

 

[sarakyel]

I first got to know of the less expensive JBL range by a review in HFN (I think) of the ten year plus old STAGE 180 model (with a kind of bow-tie stylee on the front). I think it came out ok for it's UK price of around £500 if memory serves, but it'd be interesting to know if anyone here ever tried a pair....

These were the Studio 180 (horrible sounding speakers with a terribly recessed midrange); the A180 reviewed here are part of the Stage series.

 

[restorer-john]

Paging Dennis Murphy! Time for a crossover mod and new Affordable Accuracy Towers!!!

And some GR Tube steak Connectors!

 

[fieldcar]

The brightness >2kHz is mostly caused by the wide vertical dispersion of the tweeter. As better seen in the Early Reflections breakout, I’d recommend a thick rug and either tall ceilings or ceiling treatment (so a dedicated listening space).

I wonder if a bit of foam added to the top and bottom of the waveguide could fix this.

 

[DMill]

Good review @amirm
Hmmm… these or the recently reviewed GR little giant killers? I’ll take these. For $200 you could do a lot worse. They really have that dorm room first real speaker I bought look about them imo

 

[ROOSKIE]

I think that it is still surprising considering how clean the A130 measured. Same tweeter I assume? It is puzzling. I also wouldn't necessarily assume it can't be heard on this speaker. When you start to get to inexpensive speakers like this you always have to wonder about running changes and quality control issues as well.

View attachment 212132

The 180's use a lower crossover point and larger waveguide.
Even though the button transducer is the same they are quite different in implementation.

I am not assuming it is not audible but based on my experience and the fairly significant reading I've done, I think most listeners will not notice it at these levels. I also beleive that most people have no idea what it is that is being shown in the HD graph and how it plays out in a speaker.

So, out of curiosity why do you think that that measured level of Harmonuc Distortion from 800-2000hrz is audible and what do you suspect it sounds like? I am curious what you are imagining/beleiving it to be here. Not a challenge just an honest question for you and others here.

 

[ROOSKIE]

I think if you show up to a dorm in 2022 with anything besides a Bluetooth speaker they're not even going to know what they're looking at!

Folks don't even bring bongs anymore. Eveyone has pen sized electronic vaporizers.
So boring...

 

[ROOSKIE]

What's the point or reasonably large tower speakers when you don't get a better bass extension than bookshelf speakers? It's just a waste of space. Especially when you look at the THD.

Is it really a waste of space or is it less crap to buy?(no stand shoping to do)

Seems like bass extension is pretty good and better than the typical bookshelf in this price range.

Surprised that the woofers measure higher than happy to the eye HD (the a130 was low in that). It is mainly 3rd order from that woofer as well so it does potentially have more "impact". But see my comment a few posts back and ask yourself if you know what it will sound like.
The bigger issue in my estimation is IMD which these woofer should have much, much less of than a typical bookshelf with a single 5-6.5" driver in this $ class or even above.(see the "little giant killer", for an extreme example of IMD/doplar issues)
Dynamics "should" be better than a typical small woofer bookshelf.
Scale is usually a little bigger in tower but not always.
Not to mention less port turbulence due to the parameters allowed for in a tower. The same tuning in bookshelf can deff be a source of chuffing in a budget speaker at high SPL though it seems most design cover this these days. Chuffing used to be more common IME.

 

[sarumbear]

What's the point or reasonably large tower speakers when you don't get a better bass extension than bookshelf speakers? It's just a waste of space. Especially when you look at the THD.

SPL

 

[sarumbear]

So, out of curiosity why do you think that that measured level of Harmonuc Distortion from 800-2000hrz is audible and what do you suspect it sounds like? I am curious what you are imagining/beleiving it to be here. Not a challenge just an honest question for you and others here.

You can answer your question when you hear a speaker that has an order of magnitude less distortion in that range.

 

[DSJR]

These were the Studio 180 (horrible sounding speakers with a terribly recessed midrange); the A180 reviewed here are part of the Stage series.

Thanks - I get confused with the different ranges we hardly ever see here

 

[DSJR]

Here in the UK, 'we've' been conditioned not to place speakers in bookshelves, but to use stands (bear with me please). A stand takes around the same footprint as a 'tower type' speaker, so if this latter is done right and keeps distortion down, it should be better all round I reckon.

I wonder if th ebean counters had too much say on this model? I mean, at $200 I doubt they were losing money per pair and if the basic main drivers were ok, then would it take much to re-configure the crossover slightly to help prevent the upper mid issues and maybe even add a simple brace inside if needs be?

 

[MacCali]

Just purchased the 190’s and haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet. Will provide my subjective opinion when I get around to them

 

[Nonick]

I had A180 though only a few days. Switched them for A190. I cant notice any distorsion in 2-5 KHz range. I found midrange more open and treble calmer while equalizing: reducing lower frequencies (50-200Hz) does it.

 

[anphex]

SPL

But SPL is meaningless if the speaker can't handle distortion better than a small speaker. I have seen way smaller speakers in here with less distortion on 96 dB SPL which is already extremely loud.

 

[amirm]

I want to be clear that this speaker reproduces deep bass far beyond most bookshelf speakers.

 

[sarumbear]

But SPL is meaningless if the speaker can't handle distortion better than a small speaker. I have seen way smaller speakers in here with less distortion on 96 dB SPL which is already extremely loud.

I’m explaining in general, you are answering in particular.