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JBL Stage A130 Review (speaker)

chad2

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chad2

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i removed the top sony emblem from the fabric covers so it does not look stupid lol
 

Chromatischism

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There was a post here that showed, with measurements, why that is a bad idea. The result was a degraded frequency response due to all the interference. There is a reason why good speakers only have one tweeter.
 

chad2

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I also run individual sscs5's as my rear surrounds and I have tried both ways. with my individuals, the sound is just to bright and very lacking in the low end, when I placed them in this manner the response was much less ear fatiguing. I found that when listening at high volumes which I do on a regular basis while we are cleaning the house, this MTM style highly excelled the individual book shelf speakers. If this style introduces distortion it is so little that it is not audible.
 

pjug

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There was a post here that showed, with measurements, why that is a bad idea. The result was a degraded frequency response due to all the interference. There is a reason why good speakers only have one tweeter.
If those are driven in parallel Isn't the impedance about 2 ohms over a broad band?
 

pjug

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they re 6 ohm speakers so parallel puts them at 3 ohms
Here is Amir's impedance measurement of the SS-CS5. Maybe the parallel impedance is not 2 ohms like I said but it dips well below 3 ohms. What are you driving them with?


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chad2

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Here is Amir's impedance measurement of the SS-CS5. Maybe the parallel impedance is not 2 ohms like I said but it dips well below 3 ohms. What are you driving them with?


View attachment 145780
they have run for about a year on asc200/ac200 in parallel and sound great to me. but right now i am running them series on my AVR for home theater because my receiver can only handle 6-16 ohm loads.
 

pjug

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they have run for about a year on asc200/ac200 in parallel and sound great to me. but right now i am running them series on my AVR for home theater because my receiver can only handle 6-16 ohm loads.
The IcePower spec is 3-ohm minimum. Maybe this is conservative but it sounds like you were pushing it. Were you unhappy using single L and R as designed? Or did you just have extra speakers that you figured you'd put to use?
 

chad2

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The IcePower spec is 3-ohm minimum. Maybe this is conservative but it sounds like you were pushing it. Were you unhappy using single L and R as designed? Or did you just have extra speakers that you figured you'd put to use?
i bought 4 to run as surround but it was very fatiguing to the ears when i was listen to music in stereo. so i played around with diff set ups like on the floor, diff areas in the room, further from the wall and so on. the best way i found as individuals was about 6 inches off the ground but like 4 feet from the wall so then i started messing around with putting them together and that is when i was astonished with how much better they sounded. the set up i have now i run them on the floor MTM style and the highs are very clear but not fatiguing and the bass is WAY BETTER. so i glued them together like this lol then i bought a second set of sscs5s for my rears and integrated a sub into the mix.
 

chad2

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when i listen to music i run a heresy to the asc200 dual mono and rarely go above 75% volume because it is way to loud!!!! like concert loud and my neighbors would not like that very much. but i regularly go to about 60% volume for hours on end, when cleaning and they sound fantastic. i have tested them at 100% volume only a couple of times for a couple of secs and at 100% its to loud to be able to hear any kind of clarity in my living room, anyways so there's no reason to run this loud.
 

chad2

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I guess I'm confused. This is a thread about the JBL A130 speakers so why are we discussing Sony speakers?
I was thinking the same thing but I was just trying to answer the questions sorry for derailing the thread.
 

mrpunkk

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Someone is testing the jbl a130 with or without modification? distances between them and the wall, etc.
 

Hiten

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You mean A & B zones? Usually only one of them can be turned on at one point.
pardon me. No I meant i have seen some amplifiers have connections for two sets of stereo speakers and capable amplifier can drive the both at same time. (Some amps do insist that second pair should not be less than 8 ohms as it would stress the amplifier)
regards
 

cbracer

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So I just purchased and received my A130 speakers from JBL. With some music they sound great, but other music the mids are too high. I think it's that 800-2k rise that is making me not love them. The increase in volume of that range takes away from the bass and treble (less noticeable). Especially with low volumes when it just sounds dull. When I turn the speaker up, it's not as bad or noticeable. Now granted my ideal response is flat with add a little bass and treble, slight V shape I guess. I see many here love the A130 and the low distortion is really nice. But some other's have written they don't and I've heard in mine what they have also found.

75HP2482 said "They are voiced to the B&K/Harman "house curve," ...... Which is OK when playing at/above the B&K levels of 83 dB or so. At lower levels they can use a touch of the Treble control"
Teeter said "not fun or vibrant, to my listening pleasure, when required:
Chromatischism "gets a little shouty in the 1-2 kHz range"

I agree with those statements. Then
JeffGB wrote "I find that slight peaks or rises in the mids can make a speaker sound "more dynamic". Certain instruments stand out"
and that's also correct for some music it's great, but most music the rise in mids just overshadows the lows and highs.

The speakers I've been listening to for years, and enjoy, are the B&W 686. But they have a dip in the cross over range and the highs are raised up some along with good base. So that's more of my preference, more dynamic built into the speaker, but the cross over dip I can now identify after listening to the A130 and that's a negative.
 
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MarkWinston

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Neutral speakers are sure goin to sound dull at low volumes and that 800 - 2000 lift isnt goin to help things out either. Coming from a B&W, most speakers will sounded faded at lower volumes, but I would rather buy a neutral speaker to begin with and bump the extreme ends on the amp. I have had the A130 for nearly 2 months now and Im ready to sell it as I dont have a PEQ and that midband lift is very obvious and just annoying. If it was flat in that area it would be a keeper for sure, I dont really mind that 15k spike as its not really audible.
 

cbracer

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Neutral speakers are sure goin to sound dull at low volumes and that 800 - 2000 lift isnt goin to help things out either. Coming from a B&W, most speakers will sounded faded at lower volumes, but I would rather buy a neutral speaker to begin with and bump the extreme ends on the amp. I have had the A130 for nearly 2 months now and Im ready to sell it as I dont have a PEQ and that midband lift is very obvious and just annoying. If it was flat in that area it would be a keeper for sure, I dont really mind that 15k spike as its not really audible.
I'm going to do the resistor mod very soon and use REV to compare. I think it will help my situation! The mod seems very easy for me to do.
 

Presently42

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Without eq, they're passable speakers. Pleasant, but after good headphones, the resonances in the mids are all kinds of annoying. After eq (especially my own, if I dare be so bold), they're just superb. Amir's review is very correct in these assertions, as are the panther ratings.
 

375HP2482

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LF/HF boosting at low levels is required for just about every speaker I have ever heard. It's a human perception phenomenon addressed by the legacy Loudness switch, which lives on in many AVRs under different labels attempting to "refine" it and make it proprietary.

If you have a computer you can acquire and use Equalizer APO rather easily. It's a useful exercise as you can cancel out any of the midrange peaks using the settings listed in this thread. I used it for the first month or so. When switching it between ON and OFF, you only hear the difference if you are listening for it,. Nowadays I only use it for the "Loudness Switch" mode at low volumes.

This speaker's main strength is its ability to play loud and clean, including bass. In its size class there are few that can match it -- some can play fairly loud but the bass falls apart.
 
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