JBL Stage A130 Review (speaker)

[dealpapa]

Erin's review is up: https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/jbl_stage_a130/

oh yeah

My Top Ten Speakers Regardless of Price​

cheapaudioman

Emotiva Airmotiv B1+

he is agree with Erin's review

 

[Geezerman]

I watch his videos. On his "Best Speaker Under $200 Edition 2 - JBL vs Sony vs Jamo vs Micca vs Cambridge Audio Speaker Shootout" he picked the JBL A130 as best for regular listening.
Here are the speakers:

JBL Stage A130
Cambridge Minx XL $169
Jamo S803
Micca RB42
Sony SSCS5

In his video, “My Top Ten Speakers Regardless of Price”
JBL A130 is not a winner, but the Sony SSCS5 is

Emotiva Airmotiv B1+
Elac Uni-Fi UB5.2 -
Elac Unifi 2.0
Sony SSCS5
Elac Debut Reference
Jamo C93ii
Polk R100
SVS Ultra
Emotiva T1
Klipsch RP6000F

no criticism is intended at all. He speaks of different uses for the speakers

 

[MarkWinston]

Bought it because of the golfing panther, hated it when I got it. Erin's measurements confirmed what I heard, lean and thin. Some will defend the a130 till kingdom come, I hated it with a passion.

 

[Chromatischism]

Bought it because of the golfing panther, hated it when I got it. Erin's measurements confirmed what I heard, lean and thin. Some will defend the a130 till kingdom come, I hated it with a passion.

The golfing panther I believe was with EQ, otherwise it was just ok. Did you use any EQ?

 

[abdo123]

For people running this speaker with the ports closed, try this EQ Based on Erin's data (flat on-axis).

Measurements with the EQ applied (and a small subwoofer).

 

[MickeyBoy]

Now that second measurements are here. You were absolutely right the mid peak is from cabinet.
Don't understand how to compare distortion from both (Amir's and Erin's) though.
Thanks again and regards.

I wonder whether there is a way for the user to damp these cabinet resonances from the outside. Perhaps affixing some kind of pad against the sides. E.g. take something like a BBC-like bituminous pad and tie it in place with thick string. Or better, use flexible caulk to glue it in place. I would imagine you would not need to cover more than the central 15-25% of the side. The disadvantage is that this would be one try and hope it is not an error.

 

[abdo123]

I wonder whether there is a way for the user to damp these cabinet resonances from the outside. Perhaps affixing some kind of pad against the sides. E.g. take something like a BBC-like bituminous pad and tie it in place with thick string. Or better, use flexible caulk to glue it in place. I would imagine you would not need to cover more than the central 15-25% of the side. The disadvantage is that this would be one try and hope it is not an error.

Or you can just buy a Quadelix 5K for a 100$ or so and have a USB DAC and Pre-amp capable of 10 PEQ filters, saving time and money.

 

[pjug]

I have a pair of these I'm not using that I think are like the speaker that Amir measured. The reason I say that is mine seem to have the resonance just above 200Hz that does not show up in Erin's impedance and distortion measurements. I would be happy to send one or both of these down if @hardisj wants to investigate what is different. I'm guessing you can't afford to spend too much more time on this though.

I did the resistor tweak on these but I can short it out before sending.

 

[abdo123]

I have a pair of these I'm not using that I think are like the speaker that Amir measured. The reason I say that is mine seem to have the resonance just above 200Hz that does not show up in Erin's impedance and distortion measurements. I would be happy to send one or both of these down if @hardisj wants to investigate what is different. I'm guessing you can't afford to spend too much more time on this though.

I did the resistor tweak on these but I can short it out before sending.

it's very difficult to say the difference in the bass is because of Quality control. my measurements of my unit (Purchased in March/Feb last year) perfectly aligns with Erin's measurements. this post here

 

[pjug]

it's very difficult to say the difference in the bass is because of Quality control. my measurements of my unit (Purchased in March/Feb last year) perfectly aligns with Erin's measurements. this post here

I do think there is something different, whether it is QC or a design change. There is that resonance just above 200Hz that I mentioned. Compare Amir's and Erin' 86dB distortion curves, and see the kink there in Amir's impedance curve.

 

[abdo123]

I do think there is something different, whether it is QC or a design change. There is that resonance just above 200Hz that I mentioned. Compare Amir's and Erin' 86dB distortion curves, and see the kink there in Amir's impedance curve.

for me the speaker always sounded too bright with EQ based on Amir's data, i kind of 'sucked it up' thinking that Pop music is just suffering from Smiley EQ on most mixes.

But i have to say now listening to it as i'm writing this with EQ based on Erin's data it really sounds phenomenal and effortless. give it a try.

because of this I'm almost certain that the bass wasn't summed correctly in Amir's measurement. Or that there are two versions and for some reason JBL botched the second version, but the chances of that are really slim since Amir's and Erin's measurements usually align very well (With Erin's being more accurate in the highs because he removed the microphone's guard).

 

[hardisj]

I do think there is something different, whether it is QC or a design change. There is that resonance just above 200Hz that I mentioned. Compare Amir's and Erin' 86dB distortion curves, and see the kink there in Amir's impedance curve.

One thing to keep in mind: you cannot compare anechoic distortion measurements against non-anechoic distortion measurements. The room is a big influence on the sound. A reflection is essentially harmonic distortion. Unless you are in the near field with no room influence, distortion measurements can be skewed easily by the room environment. Also, distance can effect the distortion profile due to proper summation of all drivers in loudspeakers. I don’t know how yours were performed but just making sure you are aware of this.

My measurements for harmonic distortion are performed using Klippel’s ISC module and are therefore anechoic.

In-Situ Compensation (ISC)

www.klippel.de

 

[Buckster]

Very very tempted with a pair or two of these - only slight thing putting me off is the Wharfedale 220s are half the price they are on offer atm at £99 a pair !

 

[abdo123]

Very very tempted with a pair or two of these - only slight thing putting me off is the Wharfedale 220s are half the price they are on offer atm at £99 a pair !

If you don't have a 10 PEQ EQ capable device don't bother honestly. but that doesn't necessarily mean the Wharfdale are any better.

 

[amirm]

(With Erin's being more accurate in the highs because he removed the microphone's guard).

I removed my guard before Erin purchased his machine. I did not fully remove all of the adjustments however and instead used absorption to get rid of a bit of reflection that was remaining: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...o-corner-gets-a-klippel-nfs.19445/post-673175

So please don't spread misinformation like this.

 

[abdo123]

I removed my guard before Erin purchased his machine. I did not fully remove all of the adjustments however and instead used absorption to get rid of a bit of reflection that was remaining: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...o-corner-gets-a-klippel-nfs.19445/post-673175

So please don't spread misinformation like this.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend in anyway, your measurements usually align very very well (Which says a lot about the accuracy of the NFS), it's just that for this particular speaker it's a little bit of a pickle. When Erin measured the KEF R3 he pretty much had an identical spin with yours.

 

[amirm]

I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend in anyway, your measurements usually align very very well (Which says a lot about the accuracy of the NFS), it's just that for this particular speaker it's a little bit of a pickle.

My quick read of the measurement difference is that it could be explained with stronger roll off of the woofer. If you look, Erin's measurements show less of the resonant peaks between 1 and 3 kHz as well. That is before the crossover frequency. Higher end speakers are factory tested and matched to 0.5 dB. Something like these mass market ones likely have much more relaxed criteria so crossover filters could very well be different between units. Short of testing the same unit, it is not possible to figure out more than we have.

 

[dfuller]

It seems to me that the measures broadly speaking align; it's mostly the bass roll-off that's different.

 

[pjug]

One thing to keep in mind: you cannot compare anechoic distortion measurements against non-anechoic distortion measurements. The room is a big influence on the sound. A reflection is essentially harmonic distortion. Unless you are in the near field with no room influence, distortion measurements can be skewed easily by the room environment. Also, distance can effect the distortion profile due to proper summation of all drivers in loudspeakers. I don’t know how yours were performed but just making sure you are aware of this.

My measurements for harmonic distortion are performed using Klippel’s ISC module and are therefore anechoic.

In-Situ Compensation (ISC)

www.klippel.de

I think it was the cabinet, though. I happened to try these on sorbothane hemishpheres and then the 220ish problem was amplified to the point that the speakers were really terrible (they were much better blu-tacked to stands). So pretty sure not to do with the room.

 

[Chromatischism]

I think it was the cabinet, though. I happened to try these on sorbothane hemishpheres and then the 220ish problem was amplified to the point that the speakers were really terrible (they were much better blu-tacked to stands). So pretty sure not to do with the room.

That's really interesting - you sent the resonances through the stands to the floor rather than leaving the speaker to its own devices.

Maybe put a brick on top of it to double down on the effect.