JBL Stage A130 Review (speaker)

[Hiten]

There is no A130C. I'm guessing you mean A125C? (The only other center in the Stage line is the A135c which has six 3" woofers.)

My mistake. I meant A125C.

 

[pio80]

How close are the speakers to side walls? The DBR62 can sound pretty soft (lack "liveliness" and clarity) in a small room with close proximity sidewalls because of the reflections from the ultra-wide dispersion. You can alleviate this effect if you cross the speaker axis in front of the listening position. Even so, they didn't really work in my room. The A130s work better in my room before EQ as well. Frequency response isn't everything.

the right one has 25 cm from the back, 35 cm from the side , left one has 25cm from the back, lots of free space from the sides , room 16m2

 

[hardisj]

FWIW, I did a little comparison between the JBL Stage speakers and the Emotiva B1+

 

[zxcvbnm]

FWIW, I did a little comparison between the JBL Stage speakers and the Emotiva B1+

Wow I bought the A130 after seeing ASR measurements and always feel there is something wrong about it.
Aside from the known resonances, the mid bass and low mid are muddy and the treble is fatiguing at high volume.

I EQed furthermore based on your measurement on top of the Maiky76's PIR EQ on the 1st page and it cleans up beautifully.

The 1st one is a low-shelf to reduce the response from (400Hz, 0dB) to (120Hz,-3dB).
The 2nd one recovers the bass response after 70Hz from the 1st filter.
The 3rd one is a high-shelf to reduce the response (2k, 0dB) to -3dB from 6k onward.
Filter: ON LSC 6 dB Fc 80 Hz Gain -12 dB Filter: ON LSC 12 dB Fc 65 Hz Gain 12 dB Filter: ON HSC 12 dB Fc 3500 Hz Gain -3 dB

 

[Geezerman]

Do the room correction features that the surround receivers have do the same thing as what you guys are doing with the EQ?

 

[abdo123]

Do the room correction features that the surround receivers have do the same thing as what you guys are doing with the EQ?

No not really, infact what most receivers do is a bit destructive.

 

[Geezerman]

sure would like to see what the A170 tower speakers measure at.

 

[Presently42]

sure would like to see what the A170 tower speakers measure at.

Stereophile measured them: https://www.stereophile.com/content/jbl-stage-a170-loudspeaker-measurements Do note, that their measurements are not as accurate as Amir's or Erin's, particularly in the bass region.

 

[Geezerman]

Boy, I'm not qualified to read all those graphs. What do you guys think about the A170 towers? Should be better than the A130?
thanks

 

[Presently42]

Boy, I'm not qualified to read all those graphs. What do you guys think about the A170 towers? Should be better than the A130?
thanks

Have a look at our host's youtube channel, in particular

 

[DavidMcRoy]

Do the room correction features that the surround receivers have do the same thing as what you guys are doing with the EQ?

Yes, they are at least “designed to“ adjust levels, EQ, polarity and timing/distance automatically, but many aren‘t “good enough” at doing it. A qualified human generally does a better job, with one or two very expensive exceptions. Like most automation and AI though, it’s only a matter of time and R&D $$$ before it catches up and surpasses humans’ best efforts.

 

[Geezerman]

Have a look at our host's youtube channel, in particular

thanks.

 

[Buckster]

I ran REW at weekend on my old rear speakers (Tannoy Eyris Rs) they haven't sounded great for a while - minor crease in one of the tweeters but nothing that should affect sound - but both speakers showing very fast treble roll off even when on axis - completely different profile to the Genelec 8030C centre and JBL 308 IIs fronts. No wonder Audyssey XT32 was trying to add tonnes of 4K plus EQ

BF prices have left me in a quandry - currently some great deals all round

I'm most tempted with the JBLs - but concerned with the limited manual EQ on amp I'll struggle to tame the mid peaks as I only have 1k, 2k, 4 granularity. I've never got on with the Audyssey XT32 so I don't use that.

I do like to listen to films at a fairly high volume - the 308 MKIIs probably not ideal

but anyway ref rears - current BF prices are

JBL Stage A130s are £199
Wharefedale 220 - £99 (!)
QA 3020i - £179
QA 3030i - £239

I have been wowed by the low distortion sound of the Genelecs so tempted to keep future speaker purchases to those that can cope with high volumes at low distortion as mainly used for home cinema and gaming so most tempted with the JBLs just concerned about taming the peaks - that said will be above listening position as will be used for rears

 

[Walter]

but anyway ref rears - current BF prices are

JBL Stage A130s are £199
Wharefedale 220 - £99 (!)
QA 3020i - £179
QA 3030i - £239

I have been wowed by the low distortion sound of the Genelecs so tempted to keep future speaker purchases to those that can cope with high volumes at low distortion as mainly used for home cinema and gaming so most tempted with the JBLs just concerned about taming the peaks - that said will be above listening position as will be used for rears

Just my personal opinion based on reading reviews, but I would absolutely go for the Wharfedale 220s at that price.

 

[reverbel]

Someone loaned me one for testing.

@amirrm: Any chance we could have testing results for the A125C in time to make purchase decisions by BF?

 

[VintageFlanker]

For our EU fellows...

(Europe) Master Deals Thread on Audio Product Sales

Sennheiser UK have 50% off today. Details here:- https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/50-percent-off-sennheiser-headphones-via-unidays-app-3835769

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Teeter]

Lets see, my home 5.1 entertainment audio/TV system is centered around a Denon AVR S-960H. Speakers are listed in my below Signature. It has been almost a year since I purchased the JBL Stage A130, at a sale price of $179.00/pair, from Crutchfield. Denon's auto speaker calibration, in my 12 X 10 basement HT room, watching DD movies, Netflix, and playing internet music, these speakers perform extremely well for my ears. These A130's are my FL and FR mains. For several months, I had them toed in towards my listening position and recently redirected them to be straight out. It made for better all-around surround and still have the same performance. My speaker crossovers are all set at 80HZ. The subwoofer is at 120HZ.

The JBL A130 are performers, for my application. It is suggested that the A130 is better than the old popular 530, from one independent reviewer, I recently came across.

 

[Jmudrick]

Lets see, my home 5.1 entertainment audio/TV system is centered around a Denon AVR S-960H. Speakers are listed in my below Signature. It has been almost a year since I purchased the JBL Stage A130, at a sale price of $179.00/pair, from Crutchfield. Denon's auto speaker calibration, in my 12 X 10 basement HT room, watching DD movies, Netflix, and playing internet music, these speakers perform extremely well for my ears. These A130's are my FL and FR mains. For several months, I had them toed in towards my listening position and recently redirected them to be straight out. It made for better all-around surround and still have the same performance. My speaker crossovers are all set at 80HZ. The subwoofer is at 120HZ.

The JBL A130 are performers, for my application. It is suggested that the A130 is better than the old popular 530, from one independent reviewer, I recently came across.

"It is suggested" perhaps but I'd rather listen to my 530s than my Stages (170 in my case) which are currently being used as speaker stands for the older speakers .

 

[Buckster]

ordered a pair - should be here tomorrow. Were again reduced from Richersounds - this time to £179.99 which seemed good price for here in the UK/Europe

interested to see how they perform - will be using them as rears

at some point will compare against my 308 MKIIs as would prefer fronts that can go somewhat louder/more dynamic - as good as the 308 MKIIs are

bought a Genelec 8030C as a centre and have been loving the low distortion sound

 

[Buckster]

Not had chance to measure with REW yet but so far the JBLs sound noticeably better than my previous Tannoy surrounds.

Considering another pair to replace my 308 IIs now as - as good as they sound - and they do sound fantastic - they do start to sound strained at higher volumes - seem to loose some of their dynamics. I've currently crossed them over at 90hz to reduce some of strain at higher volumes on amp and driver but not sure what difference makes