JBL goes Dirac Live ready and Class-D

[GXAlan]

The vocal fry annoys the crap out of me...

Agreed -- but it also means that they hired the right marketing team for the audience that has adopted the vocal fry! As I point out, good for all of us in making sure streaming sites continue to invest in good mixes as opposed to iPad/iPhone mixes.

The product quality look cheap when looking at the back panel.
$1600 without full pre-out RCA!

We'll have to wait and see how they measure here at ASR. These have been designed in the post-Arcam at ASR world... so maybe they've adopted the lessons of Schiit and spent a little extra time working on SINAD since it's something that people will see in a search engine. Skipping pre-outs and putting high quality Class D amps is a smart idea for keeping things simpe. The only reason we need pre-outs on a consumer AVR is because other AVRs have poor power supplies. The 16+ channel processors are a different story.

I run all active speakers, but's tricky running power *and* signal. I am able to run a lot of stuff off daisy chained PowerCon 20 and Meyer Sound 48V DC 5-wire connectios. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to run a Genelec, Neumann, or JBL 708P setup in a home environment if you wanted to have 12V triggers powering on the speakers and keep things looking tidy. My setup is already pretty messy.

 

[kyuu]

The product quality look cheap when looking at the back panel.
$1600 without full pre-out RCA!

Quality looks fine.

Not having a bunch of pre-outs I'm never going to use is a feature, as far as I'm concerned. These aren't intended to be giant boxes with a back panel full of rarely used connections. Except for the phono input, but realistically there's probably a lot more people hooking up vinyl players to their AVRs than there are people hooking up external amps.

Still need to see the measurements to see how well these were engineered, of course.

 

[fcracer]

I wonder why Harman wouldn't utilise a brand like HK or Arcam for boxes of electronics? I find it interesting how they'll use the JBL brand for everything from $30 bluetooth speakers to six figure loudspeakers

Every young person I know has a JBL Bluetooth speaker. They’re dominating the market here. Best of all, each and everyone I’ve spoken to has been ecstatic with the performance. It makes sense for JBL to harness this happy base to upsell to more expensive audio.

 

[pogo]

without full pre-out RCA!

They are not really necessary.

MA9100HP spec:
Rated Power @ 4Ω (20Hz – 20kHz, 2 channels driven, 0.5% THD max): 240 W RMS

You won't find such specs with the usual class-AB AVRs. Even with an A1H, nothing is guaranteed for 4ohms, except a short term output power
Btw. a low EPDR is not a problem for class-D.

 

[woofersus]

This is potentially very interesting to me. My home theater system is in my living room, so aesthetics and form factor matter, and I'd prefer to have a single box than separates for both reasons and for simplicity. I only have 5.1 and would max out with the addition of maybe height speakers and a second sub just in terms of WAF. (someone please design discrete upfiring atmos bar that I can put on or behind the top of my TV instead of set on top of my front speakers!)

I want a single box that measures well, has strong output power for at least 5 channels, Dirac, supports the latest standards, and preferably is as small and nice looking as possible. There are some "slimline" avr's out there, but typically have much lower power, and nobody has seen fit to do a slimline pre/pro that I could stack on a box with 5 nice channels of class d amplification. My long-term complaint with AIO receivers that shows up here again is that to get more power you generally have to get more channels, which I don't need.

I'll be interested to see how well they measure and how much power they really have at comparable levels of distortion to other tested AVR's.

 

[DrStranger]

I find the white color to be sexy, at least judging from pictures.

 

[kyuu]

At least from the videos, it seems to look better in person.

 

[JeffS7444]

IMO, a "fresh-looking" take on the AVR, and prices look competitive, though added cost of Dirac Live license (349 USD for "Room Correction Full Bandwidth") and measurement microphone (Dayton Audio UMM-6(?) @ 79.98), and if you don't already own one, a compatible MacOS or Windows PC, need to be considered.

Size, weight (<8 kg!): Look just about perfect for my purposes.

Bluetooth output for use with wireless headphones is a welcome offering, hopefully no latency issues. Alternately, I wonder if the Zone line outputs could be used in combination with headphone amplifier for wired headphone users. Tried something similar with Marantz, but the line-outs on my model didn't support HDMI sources.

Harman Kardon brand doesn't seem to be getting a lot of love these days, wonder if it's becoming more OEM-oriented (automotive), or simply being phased out.

 

[dlaloum]

Quality looks fine.

Not having a bunch of pre-outs I'm never going to use is a feature, as far as I'm concerned. These aren't intended to be giant boxes with a back panel full of rarely used connections. Except for the phono input, but realistically there's probably a lot more people hooking up vinyl players to their AVRs than there are people hooking up external amps.

Still need to see the measurements to see how well these were engineered, of course.

It's like an Onkyo NR7100, but with decent power.... (i am making assumptions)

 

[kyuu]

IMO, a "fresh-looking" take on the AVR, and prices look competitive, though added cost of Dirac Live license (349 USD for "Room Correction Full Bandwidth") and measurement microphone (Dayton Audio UMM-6(?) @ 79.98), and if you don't already own one, a compatible MacOS or Windows PC, need to be considered.

I believe the Dayton Audio IMM-6C is recommended for the built-in setup/room EQ, which is $40. I haven't seen anything recommended for Dirac Live asides from the UMIK-1, though, which is $110. But yeah, buying into Dirac Live is never cheap. I am curious to see how much the built-in room EQ can do on its own. It does specify (in the manual) that it focuses on the low-end response that's dominated by room interaction, which is the correct way to go about it.

Also, given that the science seems to suggest that you really shouldn't use room correction above 500Hz or so, right where Dirac Live Limited Bandwidth cuts off, is it really worth the extra $100 for the Full Bandwidth version?

 

[Bentail]

These remind me of the Harman Kardon AVR1510, 1610, 1710, 2700, and 3700 which were their last receivers they produced around 2013. The backs of these AVRs are almost identical. Harman used AB amps with switching power supplies in these. I remember discussing them in an AVS group back then. I wonder if JVC built theirs using a similar platform. The three smaller receivers as well as the two larger ones are very similar in size as the HK. I look forward to hearing them, and hope we will get a report soon from new owners.

 

[pogo]

I haven't seen anything recommended for Dirac Live asides from the UMIK-1

With DL, correct measurements without time shifts are important. Therefore, for a more complex RC it should be at least a UMIK-2, see also here: Link

 

[DrStranger]

 

[mhardy6647]

I hadn't really realized it until I saw the most recent YT video posted to this thread, but JBL/Harman/Samsung has apparently bought into the big (hypertrophied) chunky knobs school of design.
I blame Kinki.

 

[DrStranger]

I read the manual, this has no web browsing feature for advance configuration and also, no app for control of the AVR's, just the streaming service!? Anyone else found anything else or?

 

[Moonbase]

Looks good with all class d. I wonder what the reviews/measurements will like, have to say not expecting too much from it th, other than being a well built avr.

 

[EWL5]

I read the manual, this has no web browsing feature for advance configuration and also, no app for control of the AVR's, just the streaming service!? Anyone else found anything else or?

Not surprising from this no frills "boutique" product!
Class D amps in an AVR is so non-existent that you are paying a premium for the novelty of it all!

 

[kyuu]

With DL, correct measurements without time shifts are important. Therefore, for a more complex RC it should be at least a UMIK-2, see also here: Link

Is this really a problem? If it was, why would Dirac recommend the UMIK-1?

I hadn't really realized it until I saw the most recent YT video posted to this thread, but JBL/Harman/Samsung has apparently bought into the big (hypertrophied) chunky knobs school of design.
I blame Kinki.

They're pretty standard chunky knobs by AVR standards.

I read the manual, this has no web browsing feature for advance configuration and also, no app for control of the AVR's, just the streaming service!? Anyone else found anything else or?

Is this a big thing? I quickly looked at the manual for an Onkyo and the web interface was only for configuring network options, not any kind of "advanced" settings. Do other brands have extensive web/app control of their AVRs?

 

[pogo]

Is this really a problem? If it was, why would Dirac recommend the UMIK-1?

Only Dirac will be able to answer these questions.
Fyi - @Flak

 

[mhardy6647]

They're pretty standard chunky knobs by AVR standards.

That is, sadly, true -- now that you mention it.

That said, this marantz, e.g., isn't as jarring to me as the JBL -- the whole box is so huge, the knobs don't overwhelm it.

I guess I am just disheartened after JBL did such a nice job of evoking their classic SA-600 integrated amp in the (fairly) recent SA-550 that I had higher hopes.