JBL Studio 630 and Studio 698 - Review & Measurements by Erin

[VintageFlanker]

Floorstander JBL Studio 698 measurements:

JBL Studio 630 and Studio 698 - Review & Measurements by Erin

I don't do much on Youtube, but if Erin is reading this or somebody wants to comment on his Youtube video, ask him if he has results of the impedance for the Studio 530s that he measured. Sure, Erin has just sent me the following graphs. Here is the result of the two of Erin's samples (taken...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[DSJR]

Turbocharged BBC LS3/5A? Similar response to a classic 1970s pair of these now overpriced antiques...

 

[fpitas]

Turbocharged BBC LS3/5A? Similar response to a classic 1970s pair of these now overpriced antiques...

Well, these aren't real expensive at least. The response is oddly wavy, though.

 

[changer]

EQ.

 

[fpitas]

EQ.

Yes, at this price point it's not out of the question.

 

[VintageFlanker]

EQ.

Considering how smooth are Sound Power DI and ER, that could do the trick.

 

[thewas]

Really weird to see a Harman loudspeaker with such poor FR tuning while the directivity and even multitone distortion are fine.

 

[goldark]

Also interesting to note in the video review are Erin's measurements of the Studio 530, which were not published before. They can be seen at the 21:10 mark of the video. The 1.5 kHz peak is much more pronounced in Erin's 530 measurements than Amir's. The treble afterwards shows a more heightened response. This doesn't bode well for unit to unit variation of JBL's lower lines considering the differences in the Stage A130 measurements as well.

 

[Mr. Widget]

Well, these aren't real expensive at least. The response is oddly wavy, though.

Ugly as hell, measure rather poorly, and smell bad, but what the heck... they're not expensive.

 

[YSC]

“Not expensive” yet quite some better options at the price point it seems… with all that Harman research I wonder why can’t they do better, this seems like mainly a woofer issue, if they are going for a bat curve for showroom then better not call it studio. i was having high hope on jbl given their active 7 series performance

 

[tw 2022]

surprisingly close to a "batman" curve... i truly expected a bit more flat response...

 

[Beave]

Ugly as hell, measure rather poorly, and smell bad, but what the heck... they're not expensive.

Did you just describe me or the speakers?

 

[Beave]

I've been looking forward to a review of these. Good in some ways but that un-EQed on-axis response is quite disappointing. It's interesting to finally see his measurements of the Studio 530 and how they differ from Amir's results. Makes you wonder how much unit-to-unit variation there is in those - and these, for that matter, as he shows a fair amount of variation between his 630 samples.

Looks like JBL could have designed a much flatter response but would have lost a fair bit of sensitivity in the highs as a result.

I'm kinda disappointed overall. I thought, like he says, these may be a cheaper almost-as-good version of the HDI-1600, but they're not.

 

[MKR]

Terrible and tragic … Harman going down the toilet best I can tell

 

[Sokel]

That 1-4Khz response is the horror visualized in a chart.

 

[TurtlePaul]

I am guessing that at 85 dB sensitivity they weren’t willing to sacrifice another 4 dB to baffle step compensation (if there is any BSC at all).

 

[Buckster]

results look to me quite similar to the much cheaper A130 ? even similar response curves

A130 seemed to have lower distortion at the lower end of the frequency curve too ?

surprised at the results as I had my eye on them as a possible future upgrade from my A130s

 

[JAJDACT]

Terrible and tragic … Harman going down the toilet best I can tell

Seems like they are more interested in the marketing and development of automotive and lifestyle/portable speakers. Is Revel even developing anything new or are they slowly fading away? JBL seems to be relying on their name and retro appeal. Definitely hasn't been much to get excited about lately.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Definitely hasn't been much to get excited about lately.

This:

JBL 4329P Studio Monitor Speaker Review

JBL 4329P Studio Monitor Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

 

[MKR]

Seems like they are more interested in the marketing and development of automotive and lifestyle/portable speakers. Is Revel even developing anything new or are they slowly fading away? JBL seems to be relying on their name and retro appeal. Definitely hasn't been much to get excited about lately.

Exactly. And indeed, best I can tell, Revel not developing anything new. Usually you hear rumors about this stuff, but nothing. Doesn’t help all of the JBL and Revel design legends have all been fired or left of their own accord.

Seems Samsung running Harman into the ground. Hope they don’t do same to Roon.