New JBL Summit Speakers

[Grotti]

I prefer the black option,

+1

But the price tags are ridiculous. I would prefer buying the Dutch&Dutch 8c every time over the stand mount speaker and having money left for the important things in life ;o)

 

[ErinPraline]

I thought the carbon fiber = high end trend ended a few years ago. Makes me think the design was finalized a while ago

 

[Grotti]

Since our host and threadstarter @amirm is connected to Harman: can we hope for at least the smallest speaker to appear on your Klippel rig?

 

[GXAlan]

I thought the carbon fiber = high end trend ended a few years ago. Makes me think the design was finalized a while ago

Future JBL products announced in Japan

The Summit series was supposed to have been released in 2021 but the pandemic interrupted that process.

The real question is if the Summit bookshelf is meaningfully better than the JBL 708P

 

[Grotti]

Future JBL products announced in Japan

The Summit series was supposed to have been released in 2021 but the pandemic interrupted that process.

The real question is if the Summit bookshelf is meaningfully better than the JBL 708P

Or meaningful better than the 4329p.....

 

[Yasuo]

Which shall I buy first, the speakers or the house on the mountains?

 

[BeeKay]

Which shall I buy first, the speakers or the house on the mountains?

Go for the large model. And move in.

 

[kyuu]

Since our host and threadstarter @amirm is connected to Harman: can we hope for at least the smallest speaker to appear on your Klippel rig?

Harman has never provided Amir any products for review, AFAIK.

 

[MattHooper]

Here’s a walk-through of the JBL room.

I never would’ve thought I’d see a JBL speaker whose aesthetics I like, but the finish on this one catches my eye:

 

[USER]

Since our host and threadstarter @amirm is connected to Harman: can we hope for at least the smallest speaker to appear on your Klippel rig?

Harman has been surprisingly cold towards ASR so don't expect them to send out a unit. (Though Sean Olive has been incredibly generous with his time and participation.)

I wonder if its because ASR had a lot to do with illuminating, popularizing, and making its research a standard that many now adopt. It does help with any unmerited conflict of interest accusations, however.

 

[MattHooper]

Their design makes me think, that they target gulf states or east asian markets, where plain "utilitarian" designs maybe aren't that sought after.

Or they are also widening to the audiophile market that cares about aesthetics.
From what I’ve seen, more audiophiles care about their gear looking nice than I’ve ever noticed before.

Personally, I wouldn’t have given a second look at the JBLs because I don’t like utilitarian pro monitor aesthetics in my home.

But I would consider something like the new stand mounted AMA which looks a lot nicer to me.

 

[Travis]

Harman has never provided Amir any products for review, AFAIK.

Makes since, they do their own testing, and I think the key here is JBL provide Spinorama data.

If you have limited time/resources to test I would think you would skip those that have been tested.

 

[MoreWatts]

JBLs Summit line of speakers was always a bit odd below the K2. The S4700 (~$18K pair) was a lot cheaper than the K2, but appeared similar in spec and appearance, and the S3900 (~$11K pair) could be out-performed by the Revel F208 for a lot less money. The prices of these 2 JBL models overlapped with the Revel Performa Be line, which left a $30K gap in the Summit series line to the K2. TBH, I'm not sure the S4700 and S3900 were technically part of the Summit series, but their aesthetic copied Summits for sure.

Harman/Samsung here have filled in the gap between their current "Summit" speakers - the 'Everest' and 'K2' - and the top of the Revel line with the F328Be. Note the Summit standmount 'Amu' price starts above the F328Be (at least the F328Be's long-time msrp).

JBL issued a last-chance to order Everest and K2s recently, to indicate the end of these models. The introduction of these new Summit speakers however, shows the older Summits may continue to be offered. Maybe Harman/Samsung plan to refresh the older Summits to match the aesthetic/performance of the new models?

Maybe no new Summit with a 15-inch driver is because they plan to continue to produce the 2 models they already have. This gives JBL a formidable 5-speaker line-up to compete with almost any oligarch audio line of speakers. Why would you buy a Borreson?

Although none of this stuff will ever be affordable to me, why shouldn't JBL get a cut of the highest-end audio market? I know if I had a huge mansion, Everests or K2s would be my statement audio pieces. Remember, these 2 models have been hot in Asia for ages.

 

[JRR]

The old K2’s are a much more appealing piece of industrial design.

 

[BeeKay]

The old K2’s are a much more appealing piece of industrial design.

True.

 

[JRR]

It is a pita that all high end seems to get even more expensive. I cannot keep up… The M2 was way cheaper.

Gotta start an OF, but wonder who wants to pay for me…

Maybe you could make one that slowly plugs and unplugs XLR and neutrik connections in 4k and hd-audio

 

[JRR]

True.

View attachment 451840

Mine are in the garage now because the wife deems them to be ugly robot speakers.

 

[Travis]

I wonder if its because ASR had a lot to do with illuminating, popularizing, and making its research a standard that many now adopt. It does help with any unmerited conflict of interest accusations, however.

I’m trying to understand the statement (quoted above) and clarifying whose research and the standard it is referring to.

Since the context was related to Harman I’m guessing in the part about “ASR had a lot to do with making . . . it’s research a standard” that the “its” is referring to Harman/JBL? That ASR had a lot to do with the research of Harman becoming a standard?

And that the “standard” is referring to CTA-2034B? Spinorama type measurements?

 

[amirm]

Since our host and threadstarter @amirm is connected to Harman: can we hope for at least the smallest speaker to appear on your Klippel rig?

My connection to Harman is as thin as a thread, and none to JBL group. That said, I will ask when this product becomes available.

 

[amirm]

Since the context was related to Harman I’m guessing in the part about “ASR had a lot to do with making . . . it’s research a standard” that the “its” is referring to Harman/JBL? That ASR had a lot to do with the research of Harman becoming a standard?

And that the “standard” is referring to CTA-2034B? Spinorama type measurements?

We were the first organization to aggressively put the standard to use, generating CEA-2034 reports (and debugging the spec!). Prior to that, we had some done by Audioholics but they were not in full form as we do (they don't include low frequency response due to outdoor measurements). This substantially broadened understanding of this work and this style of measurements. Prior to this, only "those of us in know" knew about this work and further, lacked actual measurements across wide range of speakers we wanted to buy.