Possible new discrete amplifier for JBL 590 advice requested

[jameson71]

Hi all,

Currently have JBL 590's FR and FL, 520c center, some Polk OWM3 surrounds all driven by a NAD T777 and 2 PB2000 subs. In stereo mode the T777 can drive the 590s to what I would call "sufficiently loud" at -7db (before the amps distortion curve starts rising according to the review here.) This is with newer music that is "mixed loudly" if the music was mixed as recommended, with room for dynamic range bursts, I cannot listen to music as loudly as I would like. I bought this receiver for Dirac and I love it, but I think I notice losing a little dynamic headroom when using Dirac as well. I do plan to expand to more channels "some time in the future". Probably.

Most of my music listening is via Tidal these days from an NVIDIA Shield. Tidal has released some "Atmos" remixes of a bit of music. I like these remixes. When listening to these, I have to turn it up to 0db to get close to "sufficiently loud" for me. -7db is like a casual listening volume. Movies do seem sufficiently loud for me, I have never ran out of volume.

For a long time I have been thinking about a Nord amplifier using Hypex modules for the price and performance. I believe the DACs on the T777 measured around 85db and the amplifiers at 73db when reviewed on this site, so I thought that this may be a worthwhile upgrade anyway. My major questions are as follows:

1) is it worth going for a "Nord One NC500DM" or "NC500DM MKII" 3 channel monoblock for the RCL instead of using some of the NCxxxMP multichannel modules for LCR?

2) Should I go with 500 watt modules or 250? One worry here is the possibility of damaging my speakers. I'd likely have no qualms with replacing the Polk's anyway if it will greatly improve the system. The 252 seems to only put 130 watts into 8 ohms which seems like I wouldn't be gaining much if anything. Nord also seems to spec both at 26db voltage gain which is confusing me. Shouldn't a more powerful amplifier have more voltage gain?

3) Is it important to have the same wattage on all speakers? If not how will the fronts not drown out the others?

With one small follow up question, I read in many reviews of "the amplifiers take down the DACs as well." Don't the preouts come straight from the DACs more or less and avoid the amplifiers? If the amplifiers are not in this output path, how are they affecting the signal in this case?

 

[Diatribe]

I have a pair of JBL Studio 590's and a 520c just like you. For my 590's I've decided to go with Crown XLS2502, mainly for music dynamics, but also for price/performance. My center is powered by a Dayton Audio APA150, bridged mono. I have another APA150 for my rear surrounds.

I can't imagine needing more power for the center channel. It's not a very big speaker, so 150-200 watts powers it plenty. The 590's can take just about what ever you throw at them though. I'd recommend a 400-500 watt/channel class D from Hypex or Purifi if you can budget it. However, 250 watts is plenty given their high efficiency.

 

[jameson71]

Thank you Diatribe for the suggestion. One followup question, you don't experience the 590's overpowering the other speakers during multichannel content with the power mismatch do you?

I can't help thinking that my L&R would be much louder than the other speakers if I don't give them all the same power.

 

[diablo900t]

Thank you Diatribe for the suggestion. One followup question, you don't experience the 590's overpowering the other speakers during multichannel content with the power mismatch do you?

I can't help thinking that my L&R would be much louder than the other speakers if I don't give them all the same power.

I own a pair of JBL 590s, the 530, 520C and the whole set of Infinity Reference speakers. I've actually been comparing the 590s to the Infinity R263 and had a few observations you might be curious about:

• The Tidal app on the Nvidia Shield is messed up, the dynamic range is not right. The Atmos tracks are really low and I have to bump the volume up a massive amount. Even outside of the Atmos tracks when listening to Master tracks, it doesn't sound correct. Initially I was comparing the speakers using the app and they lacked so much bass I questioned whether my subs were working. I switched over to playing FLAC files in Kodi and it sounded exponentially better.

• I noticed (and it was quite obvious) that for surround sound content, that the R263s were a better compliment to the rest of my system. I watched probably 2 hours of movies yesterday and noticed I heard my field of other speakers much more than when I had the 590s in place.

I think the 590 is a great speaker, but I'm starting to wonder if its overpowering the rest of the sound in my room. The way it disperses sound is so wide, it has a huge soundstage. I think its just literally filling my ears with sound so that other sounds in the room are not as apparent. I'm also using a 5 channel OSD A5500 amp (120w / ch) for the LCR and surround back.

 

[Pulkass]

I have a pair of JBL Studio 590's and a 520c just like you. For my 590's I've decided to go with Crown XLS2502, mainly for music dynamics, but also for price/performance. My center is powered by a Dayton Audio APA150, bridged mono. I have another APA150 for my rear surrounds.

I can't imagine needing more power for the center channel. It's not a very big speaker, so 150-200 watts powers it plenty. The 590's can take just about what ever you throw at them though. I'd recommend a 400-500 watt/channel class D from Hypex or Purifi if you can budget it. However, 250 watts is plenty given their high efficiency.

I guess they are one of the last Greg Timbers creations at JBL.

 

[MASKINEN]

• The Tidal app on the Nvidia Shield is messed up, the dynamic range is not right. The Atmos tracks are really low and I have to bump the volume up a massive amount. Even outside of the Atmos tracks when listening to Master tracks, it doesn't sound correct. Initially I was comparing the speakers using the app and they lacked so much bass I questioned whether my subs were working. I switched over to playing FLAC files in Kodi and it sounded exponentially better.

• 
  I have also noticed this. I use Tidal on the Shield and the actual app does not sound as good as using tidal chromcast through the shield. Although I’m thinking about buying the Bluesound node to get mqa unfold and hopefully slightly better sound as well.