• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

JBL A180 Tower Speaker Review

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 35 16.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 121 58.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 48 23.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 4 1.9%

  • Total voters
    208

mdsimon2

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 20, 2020
Messages
2,477
Likes
3,315
Location
Detroit, MI
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!

Haha, back in 2006 I had a pair of Sony SS-MB350s, a Dayton Sub-100 and a Yamaha HTR-5150 in my dorm. Obviously not high end stuff but I thought it was great at 18 years old and received many noise complaints :). Those Sony's honestly sounded surprisingly good and are my test speakers to this day.

Michael
 

ROOSKIE

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 27, 2020
Messages
1,915
Likes
3,394
Location
Minneapolis
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.
So what does the HD type of "distortion", in the quantity and region presented in this model sound like?

Nobody who is upset wants to answer.

I have to suspect you don't have a good idea what it will do to the sound nor how drastically different distortion that smaller drivers make when trying to pay multiple frequencies together (IMD and mechanical issues due to limits being teached or neared)is from HD.

The tweeter on the A130 did give out before some similar models such as the JBL 530 in my testing.
The audible result is a slight lack of dynamics, some hardening of the sound a slight sense the tonality was changed for the worse. (Sounding subjectively "brighter") all at extremely high SPL.
The 5" woofer has low HD however it cannot handle very high volumes with music unless high passed.
No way it compares with 2 decent 6.5's.
 
Last edited:

Cars-N-Cans

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
May 19, 2022
Messages
819
Likes
1,009
Location
Dirty Jerzey
Haha, back in 2006 I had a pair of Sony SS-MB350s, a Dayton Sub-100 and a Yamaha HTR-5150 in my dorm. Obviously not high end stuff but I thought it was great at 18 years old and received many noise complaints :). Those Sony's honestly sounded surprisingly good and are my test speakers to this day.

Michael
I had a set of those and the MF315s back in college. Got the towers back in ‘99 from Circuit City of all places. Way better than the Optimus 990s I bought new with my lawn mowing money when I was younger. Expensive and only bought them cause they were loud. :) Otherwise I think they were some of the worst speakers I had heard with those piezo horn tweeters. Back then these JBLs would have been like something that just fell out of heaven by comparison.
 

Dennis Murphy

Major Contributor
Technical Expert
Joined
Mar 17, 2020
Messages
1,071
Likes
4,535
he's got one already.. idk how fixable he thinks it is just yet..
Yup--I have one about 4 feet away. I've been too busy with BMR shipments and some related Fed Ex nuclear attacks to perform a proper triage. The patient is definitely ill. The brightness is searing on complex music. I measured the same high distortion as Amir, although I would need to disconnect the woofers to see whether it's coming from the tweeter. My initial thought was that the tweeter was crossed too low, and that was the source of the problem, but looking at Amir's plots, the woofer peak may be the main problem. I think Amir has it exactly right--too bright, but excellent bass. Are these things still on sale? If so, I would be tempted to get rid of the 2.5 architecture and just go with a properly designed 2.0 with a higher crossover point. Directivity control will suffer, but I can't imagine that this approach wouldn't improve the sound. None of this would make sense if they're back up to the old selling price.
 

TonyJZX

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 20, 2021
Messages
1,891
Likes
1,821
Danny can "fix" it....


In the same way that my vet can "fix" my dog or how Robocop OCP doctors can 'fix' Alex Murphy.

I think for me, this is a no brain buy at usd$200... that's not even a question.. as furniture around the house you couldnt even buy the MDF for $200, heck you couldnt even buy the cones...

Average prices are around CAN/SG/AUS $1,500!

With DSP you could smooth out all that 'war zone'?

I actually really really like the JBL "house" sound from the budget Studio/Stage series but admittely they can run ragged at the top and bottom but at this price, what did you expect.
 

Loathecliff

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2021
Messages
377
Likes
487
Location
Iberia & UK
Are these things still on sale?
In the UK they have yet to reach that erm.. Stage.. (sorry)
£499 @Richer Soundso_O
....
Probably a daft thought, by-pass the crossover and go direct, (with capacitor for the tweeter of course), then EQ afterwards.
The firing squad is awaited :(
 

cavedriver

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jul 10, 2020
Messages
629
Likes
602
Location
Maryland, USA
Glad to see Amir's data matches my un-instrumented impression rather well. Distortion and some brightness, especially at higher volumes (which is what ruined them for me). Good bass extension and ability to play that bass fairly loud (and in general they can play fairly loud despite the distortion). Virtually unlistenable at higher volumes for typical audiophile content, but they'll be great "sacrificial" speakers to set out on my patio for parties or in my garage for working on the cars. I returned the A180's and kept the A190's for the bass and total output (and at $250 a pair, yes they are a bargain despite possibly having even more cone breakup in their larger woofers). Hopefully a mod is developed. It sounds like Dennis' suggestion of a conversion to a 2-way crossover could be the best fix, perhaps with a new tweeter, but is it worth the time? That waveguide does seem to be working fairly well if we can get the back-mounting dimension right on a swap and 2 kHz is a pretty low frequency to be asking a quality tweeter to operate at.

Edit: the sale on both the 180 and 190 appears to be over. There is a less substantial sale running on the 130's right now. I would expect more sales in the future based on reports of sales from the past.
 
Last edited:

cavedriver

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jul 10, 2020
Messages
629
Likes
602
Location
Maryland, USA
In the UK they have yet to reach that erm.. Stage.. (sorry)
£499 @Richer Soundso_O
Being in the UK I think you have so many better options. I would think the Wharfedale diamonds, the Q Acoustics, and the Monitor Bronzes would all be better speakers than these for the money, and if you can stretch to 750 you get a ton of good options. I personally would almost always sacrifice spend elsewhere in the chain to get better speakers.
 

bunkbail

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 27, 2018
Messages
520
Likes
662
Yup--I have one about 4 feet away. I've been too busy with BMR shipments and some related Fed Ex nuclear attacks to perform a proper triage. The patient is definitely ill. The brightness is searing on complex music. I measured the same high distortion as Amir, although I would need to disconnect the woofers to see whether it's coming from the tweeter. My initial thought was that the tweeter was crossed too low, and that was the source of the problem, but looking at Amir's plots, the woofer peak may be the main problem. I think Amir has it exactly right--too bright, but excellent bass. Are these things still on sale? If so, I would be tempted to get rid of the 2.5 architecture and just go with a properly designed 2.0 with a higher crossover point. Directivity control will suffer, but I can't imagine that this approach wouldn't improve the sound. None of this would make sense if they're back up to the old selling price.
Please make the xover mods for it, I'll be ordering them for sure.
 

Dennis Murphy

Major Contributor
Technical Expert
Joined
Mar 17, 2020
Messages
1,071
Likes
4,535
Me too - in a heartbeat.
Bad news. I measured the woofers without the tweeter running, and all of that distortion is coming from one or both of the woofers. I can try and use a trap filter to suppress the resonance while still maintaining a proper summed response, but that will be tricky and might not have much effect on THD. I guess it's worth a try. The good news is that I could keep the same crossover point, which would still allow the wave guide to do its job properly. Other good news--the crossover is on the rear terminal plate, which means there's no need to remove the woofers and deal with the cosmetic rings. Here's my THD measurement at 90 dB. The woofers are doing great below the problem area.
JBL Stage 180 THD.png
 

fieldcar

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Messages
821
Likes
1,258
Location
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Bad news. I measured the woofers without the tweeter running, and all of that distortion is coming from one or both of the woofers. I can try and use a trap filter to suppress the resonance while still maintaining a proper summed response, but that will be tricky and might not have much effect on THD. I guess it's worth a try. The good news is that I could keep the same crossover point, which would still allow the wave guide to do its job properly. Other good news--the crossover is on the rear terminal plate, which means there's no need to remove the woofers and deal with the cosmetic rings. Here's my THD measurement at 90 dB. The woofers are doing great below the problem area. View attachment 212388
Now I'm not surprised that JBL crossed the woofer on the studio 590's right below this issue point.

Here is what I've got on my 590's with a nearfield measurement while powering only one set of binding posts at a time.

fr.jpg
 

Dennis Murphy

Major Contributor
Technical Expert
Joined
Mar 17, 2020
Messages
1,071
Likes
4,535
Now I'm not surprised that JBL crossed the woofer on the studio 590's right below this issue point.

Here is what I've got on my 590's with a nearfield measurement while powering only one set of binding posts at a time.

View attachment 212389
Wow--that's a really low crossover point for that tweeter. They may be trading off woofer distortion for tweeter distortion.
 

tw 2022

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Apr 11, 2022
Messages
878
Likes
742
Glad to see Amir's data matches my un-instrumented impression rather well. Distortion and some brightness, especially at higher volumes (which is what ruined them for me). Good bass extension and ability to play that bass fairly loud (and in general they can play fairly loud despite the distortion). Virtually unlistenable at higher volumes for typical audiophile content, but they'll be great "sacrificial" speakers to set out on my patio for parties or in my garage for working on the cars. I returned the A180's and kept the A190's for the bass and total output (and at $250 a pair, yes they are a bargain despite possibly having even more cone breakup in their larger woofers). Hopefully a mod is developed. It sounds like Dennis' suggestion of a conversion to a 2-way crossover could be the best fix, perhaps with a new tweeter, but is it worth the time? That waveguide does seem to be working fairly well if we can get the back-mounting dimension right on a swap and 2 kHz is a pretty low frequency to be asking a quality tweeter to operate at.

Edit: the sale on both the 180 and 190 appears to be over. There is a less substantial sale running on the 130's right now. I would expect more sales in the future based on reports of sales from the past.
i think i'd stay away from these for anything above pure economic value in HT... if Dennis does a fix that works to his liking i might send a pair "through" him to eventually end up on my doorstep depending on price .. i think a better value may be the new aa monitors from Dennis, with sub for movies of course...
 

beagleman

Major Contributor
Joined
Sep 24, 2020
Messages
1,156
Likes
1,576
Location
Pittsburgh Pa
Bad news. I measured the woofers without the tweeter running, and all of that distortion is coming from one or both of the woofers. I can try and use a trap filter to suppress the resonance while still maintaining a proper summed response, but that will be tricky and might not have much effect on THD. I guess it's worth a try. The good news is that I could keep the same crossover point, which would still allow the wave guide to do its job properly. Other good news--the crossover is on the rear terminal plate, which means there's no need to remove the woofers and deal with the cosmetic rings. Here's my THD measurement at 90 dB. The woofers are doing great below the problem area. View attachment 212388


Dennis, do you see that as Woofer "Break up" or more as just a mediocre driver design and somewhat bad distortion?

Were you running the woofers wide open or with the crossover in place?
 

fieldcar

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Messages
821
Likes
1,258
Location
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Wow--that's a really low crossover point for that tweeter. They may be trading off woofer distortion for tweeter distortion.
For sure. If it wasn't a compression driver, the distortion would be through the roof. Just like the 530, it's asking a lot from the driver and it's not perfect. Maybe I'll have to re-measure it for the sake of some good discussion here on ASR.
 
Last edited:

375HP2482

Active Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2020
Messages
165
Likes
176
If so, I would be tempted to get rid of the 2.5 architecture and just go with a properly designed 2.0 with a higher crossover point. Directivity control will suffer, but I can't imagine that this approach wouldn't improve the sound. None of this would make sense if they're back up to the old selling price.
In my experience, in two-woofer systems with crossovers above 1 kHz you get better sound by shading the lower woofer with a 3-5 mH inductor external to the upper woofer's LPF (which in this unit may need to be modified to match a single driver). Here it may slightly reduce the distortion contribution by the lower woofer which is insufficiently shaded.

In lieu of attempted crossover bandaids the woofers may benefit from additional attention such as treatment of the cone/surround.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom