Opinions on JBL F35/95

[Blackdevil77]

My home theater consists of JBL M2's and 5628 subs, and I'm loving it. I'm not looking to upgrade or change gear anytime soon, but there's one speaker JBL makes that has always captured my curiosity, and that's the F35/95. I know it's intended purposes is not for home theater, or even theater use for that matter, but I can't help but be intrigued by the fact that it uses the same D2 compression driver as the M2, a second 15" driver, and a horn/waveguide loaded 8" mid-range driver, which would keep the D2 compression driver from having to play the lower frequencies that it does in the M2, which should reduce distortion and increase output. I know the waveguide and tuning on the M2 makes a big difference, but looking at the F35, I see a potential M2 on steroids, especially if an M2 waveguide is somehow implemented and utilized. Still uses an I-tech amp with tunings, uses the D2 driver, adds a 15" driver for a total of 2, and adds a mid-range driver. The spec sheet shows limited information about off axis behavior, basically shows that it's 6 db down at 100 degrees off axis up to about 8kHz, where it starts to drop off more, and then drops off more rapidly above 10 kHz. I haven't been able to find a spinorama of this speaker, but I'd be very curious to see one.

I can't help but be attracted to this speaker. I know it's a long shot, but anybody here ever heard one of these? How do you think it would fair in a theater-like environment?

JBL Professional VTX F35/64

High Performance Dual 15-inch 3-Way Loudspeaker

jblpro.com

 

[staticV3]

@pierre can turn the EASE file that JBL offer into full spinoramas. See here.
You could try asking him to convert the F35 data as well

 

[RobL]

I see they have a “cardioid” preset available for the matching VTX sub (F18s - rear facing). That’s pretty cool.

 

[Blackdevil77]

@pierre can turn the EASE file that JBL offer into full spinoramas. See here.
You could try asking him to convert the F35 data as well

That would be great if he could! Hoping he sees this thread. How accurate is that conversion? I'm assuming it could only be as accurate as the data JBL provides?

 

[pierre]

see here. Quality of the data is low but gives an idea. Another potential option with similar properties is KV2 esr212.
The JBL is given for 143dB which is very very loud. except if you room is 10m+ the M2 should do it very well.

 

[staticV3]

Awesome work, @pierre !
Just for clarity's sake, is that the F35/95 or the F35/64 on your page?
Or did JBL publish just one "F35" Ease file for both versions?

 

[pierre]

Awesome work, @pierre !
Just for clarity's sake, is that the F35/95 or the F35/64 on your page?
Or did JBL publish just one "F35" Ease file for both versions?

they published both, you can compare them here.

 

[Blackdevil77]

see here. Quality of the data is low but gives an idea. Another potential option with similar properties is KV2 esr212.
The JBL is given for 143dB which is very very loud. except if you room is 10m+ the M2 should do it very well.

Awesome! I can't imagine there being another speaker out there with this kind of SPL capability that would measure like this.

And that 143 db rating I understand, is measured, not calculated. The F35 based on this, looks like it would work in this application in a huge room.

 

[Elitzur–Vaidman]

Are JBL's specs for the F35 without EQ (vs the M2 with EQ)? It lists the F35's -10dB fr as 39Hz - 18kHz while the M2's is ±3dB over 20 Hz - 40 kHz

 

[Eurasian]

Overkill for HT.

 

[Blackdevil77]

Overkill for HT.

So are JTR's Noesis and JBL 4722s, yet many use them in a home theater setting.

 

[Eurasian]

Agreed. I have active 4722s in my living room stereo rig! A much less expensive loudspeaker than the F35, though, and with Audiolense, approximately the same performance.

 

[behappybevegan]

6000 euro a piece. Ouch.

 

[Blackdevil77]

6000 euro a piece. Ouch.

Definitely not cheap, but uses all of their top notch stuff.