Oops I did it again...

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Originally Posted by Jack in Wilmington

I'm sure you don't have different cars for rainy days and snowy days and hot sunny days. That might not be a good analogy, but you get the idea.

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:) I'll bet he's got different clothes for different occasions and even for different moods. He probably eats and drinks according to mood from time to time. I suspect there are times when he wants to spend time with some people and not with others or even when he wants no company at all.

:) Hope you don't think I'm being argumentative. I'm positing there are many ways to look at choice and preference as an alternative to one-size-fits-all. When I lived in Michigan, I had a winter car, a summer car, an off-roading car, and a work car. Well the last two were technically an SUV and a pick up truck. I only had one house.

When I moved to CA, I only had one car--a summer car--and somehow was able to have a house in CA and a second home away from CA. I didn't need more than one car in that mess, but I sure needed a place to go to get away from it.

JM is a lucky guy to be able to have satisfying variety in something he loves, and I applaud him for being openly happy about it.

I do know a few guys who have uber expensive speakers who have to force their enthusiasm when certain music is played on them, because they just really don't like how some things sound on their system. Other music--their favorite demo track(s)-- sounds glorious, and they want so much for everything to sound glorious but it doesn't.

When it comes to speakers, I do believe that variety is the spice of life. :)

I should have added that having a very understanding partner or living alone really helps in this regard. Most people I know subscribe to the "one set ought to be enough" school of thought on music in the house, and if you're in residence with one of those thinkers, you're out of luck.

Coincidently, I saw the guy from Enjoy the Music website giving a seminar on YouTube at RMAF, his point was not to get so caught up in upgradeidus and "enjoy the music" BUT he was addressing audiophiles and some of them had 12 sets of speakers, he at one time had 15 sets, so it is not unusual to have more than one set of speakers if you have the room and money. Some speakers are unique and hold a place in your heart and even though you find one you generally enjoy more you hate to let go of the beloved set. A friend of mine has a bunch of Hales, he just replaced all his Revel with the new Performa 3 series and although the Performa 2's are for sale he still has them. Besides we as audiophiles can seem content at one point and then hear a speaker or piece of gear that strikes us in a way we are no longer content. The plus and minus of listening to a lot of other gear, LOL

Mr. P, I wondered why you never kept any of your old speakers around. Do you ever wonder what your Dyns would have sounded like with your Pass gear? I guess I'm lucky, in that being retired, if I want to hear a different set of speakers, I just drive up to the local hifi shop. They're always happy to see me and I get to talk about gear with the guys and we talk about new restaurants that we've tried. But I never think about replacing my Dyns with anything that I've heard. I do have 3 other sets of speakers to listen to at home, but I never get the urge to put them in the 2 channel mix.

My issue is not enough space. It would have been interesting to hear the Dyn's with my system but the F52's are superior than the model I had, they are exceptional, you'd have to hear them to understand, some of the reviews are spot on. I can't understand why the resale value isn't higher. There are very few speakers I've heard at any price that go as low as the F52's, remain controlled and provide detail in that region. I have a friend in the area who upgraded, and I use the term loosely, to the Performa 3's and wants to sell his F52's, I've been trying to get Harley to come up and give a listen to them. I wouldn't trade my F52's straight up for the top of the line Performa 3. I still like Dynaudio, I just like my F52's better. If I had room and going to hang on to speakers there are models of Klipsch I would keep, I'd want a set of JBL's LS series, a set of Dynaudio's Focus 110. Who knows what else I might have ended up with :).

How do you like that Goldring cart? Have you used anything else you can compare it to?

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Originally Posted by Mr Peabody

My issue is not enough space. It would have been interesting to hear the Dyn's with my system but the F52's are superior than the model I had, they are exceptional, you'd have to hear them to understand, some of the reviews are spot on. I can't understand why the resale value isn't higher. There are very few speakers I've heard at any price that go as low as the F52's, remain controlled and provide detail in that region. I have a friend in the area who upgraded, and I use the term loosely, to the Performa 3's and wants to sell his F52's, I've been trying to get Harley to come up and give a listen to them. I wouldn't trade my F52's straight up for the top of the line Performa 3. I still like Dynaudio, I just like my F52's better. If I had room and going to hang on to speakers there are models of Klipsch I would keep, I'd want a set of JBL's LS series, a set of Dynaudio's Focus 110. Who knows what else I might have ended up with :).

How do you like that Goldring cart? Have you used anything else you can compare it to?

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I was all set to purchase either a Goldring Eroica H from my Music Hall dealer or a Sumiko Blue Point Special from my local shop, when I went up and heard a Bryston 4B-SST2 and I believe that will make a bigger over all improvement in my system.

I do enjoy 2 sets of speakers as well, which are quite the opposite type. My main speaker is a pair of Apogee Grands and for normal listening, where i do not want to turn on 8 monoblocks i use a pair of slightly modded Hales Transcendence 8 speakers. They are quite apart but i can enjoy music on both and accept the limitations of the Hales. By the way, its actually one of the very few box speakers i can enjoy.

Cheers

Hi,
I just installed a pair of Studio 530 and I am browsing my iTunes library for 7 hours now !
Rock, solo violin, choirs, acoustic guitar, opera singers, everything is a joy to listen to !
Long ago I had a pair oF JBL L15, then modest Mission 731i; but these 530 are amazing. For one year, I have been listening music in my office with a pair of Adam AX7 with a Dynaudio BM14s sub, but the 530 are much faster than the ART ribbon; transients are absolutely amazing and gives a huge sense of realism.
In order to extend basses, I added a BM14s sub, and then I get a huge and wide scene.
I played "das Lied von der Erde" of Malher and I was surprised, when the singer raises his voice at the end of his breath, to litteraly hear the tension of his neck´s muscles.
Rite of spring oF Stravinsky becomes organic with the 530. For jazz, you are sitting in the Club. Bob Florence' serendipity results in a huge stage, horns are blowing. The piano of Nathalie Loriers is authoritative as it must be. In classic, Vengerov's violin is very realistic, Harpsichord (Leonhardt) is outstanding. And all voices are so detailed, the specificities of each are respected (Bobby Mc Ferrin, Franck Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Marisa Monte). Dynaudio BM14s is sufficiently fast and tight to smoothly blend with the 530. The 3 double-bass tune "Splanky" of Christian Mc Bride is a delight and each of the 3 bassists is clearly located and fully heard during his solo.
These 530 are a bargain, and their horns are unbelievably giving life to digital music. To find these horns on such relatively cheap speakers is a Luck of one's life. Compare with similar price Klipsch and you will admit that JBLs are infinitely superior.

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Originally Posted by R2D2

Hi,
I just installed a pair of Studio 530 and I am browsing my iTunes library for 7 hours now !
Rock, solo violin, choirs, acoustic guitar, opera singers, everything is a joy to listen to !
Long ago I had a pair oF JBL L15, then modest Mission 731i; but these 530 are amazing. For one year, I have been listening music in my office with a pair of Adam AX7 with a Dynaudio BM14s sub, but the 530 are much faster than the ART ribbon; transients are absolutely amazing and gives a huge sense of realism.
In order to extend basses, I added a BM14s sub, and then I get a huge and wide scene.
I played "das Lied von der Erde" of Malher and I was surprised, when the singer raises his voice at the end of his breath, to litteraly hear the tension of his neck´s muscles.
Rite of spring oF Stravinsky becomes organic with the 530. For jazz, you are sitting in the Club. Bob Florence' serendipity results in a huge stage, horns are blowing. The piano of Nathalie Loriers is authoritative as it must be. In classic, Vengerov's violin is very realistic, Harpsichord (Leonhardt) is outstanding. And all voices are so detailed, the specificities of each are respected (Bobby Mc Ferrin, Franck Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Marisa Monte). Dynaudio BM14s is sufficiently fast and tight to smoothly blend with the 530. The 3 double-bass tune "Splanky" of Christian Mc Bride is a delight and each of the 3 bassists is clearly located and fully heard during his solo.
These 530 are a bargain, and their horns are unbelievably giving life to digital music. To find these horns on such relatively cheap speakers is a Luck of one's life. Compare with similar price Klipsch and you will admit that JBLs are infinitely superior.

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Yes they are very nice speakers and that horn tweeter is so good. I heard a little dryness but I attribute that more to the cables I was using at the time

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Originally Posted by JohnMichael

Yes they are very nice speakers and that horn tweeter is so good. I heard a little dryness but I attribute that more to the cables I was using at the time

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I do use very ordinary cables but I crease an aluminium foil around the cable near the speaker's end. A friend oF mine showed me this trick and it gave better sound than a 10,000 $ cable lent by a reseller that he was testing at that Time.

Say what!?

Just try it, you will hear the difference, and blind listening is easy, one friend put or not a foil oF aluminium around the cable and then creases it around the cable. It suppresses Metallic or harshness, especially of voices.

I think its time the magic pixie dust comes back... but then again, i think its already here in spades ;-)

I am not a fan of these magic tricks, but I heard a difference in blinded conditions. And it is not expensive to try it. A friend of mine, a mathematician developing a plasma loudspeaker explained me that there were micro-currents getting out and in the cables all along the traject and that this trick could stop it. I don't have the scientific background to judge the value of his explanation. I am usually sceptic when someone says that he uses quantic mechanic to help the air move in a room, as I am involved in many scientific projects where we scrutinize any placebo effect or any bias or confounding factor. This does not result in perfect immunization against placebo effect but it can help. Any way, as the placebo effect produces a release of dopamine in the accumbens nucleus, it has an effect on brain-reward. Maybe this could affect sound perception, nevertheless sound perception is not the only factor. A japanese team demonstrated that frequencies above 20 Khz were not identified by participants but clearly affected brain responses disclosed by functional neuroimagery techniques.
Maybe future reviews of Hi-Fi products will include not only measurements of gear but also brain responses in addition to human judgements ;-)

Addendum : this discussion about cables does not prevent Studio 530 to be very enjoyable. In order to better describe my feelings, I am listening my Adam A7X with the same tunes (but not the same DAC, Teac UD-501 at home, and Apogee Duet in the office) : I think Adam A7X are not bad, but clearly Studio 530 give a "sparkling sound" : you want to dance with it and just listen with the A7X. The Overture and All that Jazz from the musical movie Chicago brings snaps to your fingers. My wife confirmed that she had the feeling to be at concerts for the singers she appreciates. She also told me that, contrary to the previous system, it did not make her irritable when played at loud volumes (and in fact, she tolerated very well the well above usual volume I played with the 530).

Hey if it works enjoy it. I recently bought cables with a network and they are sounding very good. Who knew?

Hello R2D2,

of course there is nothing wrong with trying at all but i still highly doubt the results unless your original non modified cables lack shielding/good connectors or some other thing is not up to spec. I also have several cables in my system which are worth several thousand bucks and i only bought/traded them because they look cool. But the differences between them are almost zero. My system is very highly resolving and changes are easily audible, but cables are simply not responsible for too much. What equipment do you run to judge this by?

Just curious

Flo

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Originally Posted by JohnMichael

They do not do loud or very low well but in the range I listen they are just right.

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John, can you elaborate more when you said "very low" not doing very well. Do you mean it lose the detail and dynamic of sound and become muddy a little? How does it sound in low volume during quiet night or late evening time?

I heard that JBL is discontinuing the JBL Studio 5 series. I'm really hoping they continue this series with a better version to replace it after receiving so many positive reviews.

Maybe Filecate13 might know some new speakers coming out in 2014 to replace the JBL Studio 5 series. Any thought Filecate13?

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Originally Posted by magi44ken

John, can you elaborate more when you said "very low" not doing very well. Do you mean it lose the detail and dynamic of sound and become muddy a little? How does it sound in low volume during quiet night or late evening time?

I heard that JBL is discontinuing the JBL Studio 5 series. I'm really hoping they continue this series with a better version to replace it after receiving so many positive reviews.

Maybe Filecate13 might know some new speakers coming out in 2014 to replace the JBL Studio 5 series. Any thought Filecate13?

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I am trying to find the post where I had said that for context. I was probably thinking in volume and bass in comparison to the Monitor Audio RS6's. The RS6's are more efficient and have two 6 inch mid and woofer along with the dome tweeter. The 5 1/4 inch woofer does surprisingly well in bass for it's size but can not go as low as two drivers working together in the lower octaves. The two drivers covering the lows and mids can move more air and are more efficient along with greater power handling so the potential of greater volume. I think they are very good speakers for the money and are often found discounted.

Thanks John. I'll see if I can score some discount during New Years sale.

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Originally Posted by magi44ken

Thanks John. I'll see if I can score some discount during New Years sale.

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I scored a pair of JBL Studio 570s on sale with the cherry finish. I have a very large room to fill; 1000 square feet vaulted ceiling over all. I am enjoying the speakers very much. They are very detailed, revealing and create a big soundstage. I am driving them with the HK 990 stereo integrated amp. The studio 580 or 590 would have been a better choice but my wife and I found their size too big for our tastes. For a room the size of mine, I found the 570's bottom end slightly lacking and added a 10" Mission sub. Set the crossover at 110hz and it blends wonderfully. The bass in the setup without the sub is fast and clear but just didn't have the depth I needed with the room volume I had to fill. The studio 5 series are very worthy speakers that can surprise you with imaging, detail and refinement especially for the price.

I will be experimenting with some BlueJeans cable in a few months and will report back.

Thanks for the nice impression. I agree by just listening to some youtube video. I notice the vocal is natural and up front. Imaging is very accurate and nice dynamic.

The 570 looks like a nice size for small room than 580. 590 is huge. I'm planning to get 580 for my brother whose room is 12x15. I hope it works out and not overwhelm it.

BlueJean cable is very nice and not too expensive. Enjoy your speakers.

How wide is your listening spot? How's the soundstage in term of depth? I usually find if the vocal is too upfront, the 3d soundfield is lose a bit.

The speakers are about nine feet apart and very slightly toed in. The are placed on a low profile fireplace hearth and I listen from about ten feet away. They are near the back wall because placing them in front of the hearth would not be practical. Because of that, the depth of the soundstage is a couple feet behind the speakers but I believe it could be improved if I had the speakers were placed farther away from the back wall. The sound extends a few or more feet beyond either side of the speakers. Our room extends well beyond the speakers.

Sometimes the horns can be a bit forward but the tradeoff for the accurate voice, strings and horns the 570s provide, I believe is worth it.

One thing I might add. Orchestra pieces have quite a bit more depth. It adds concert realism. Nice.

Salami have you listened to any jazz piano or solo piano. The piano is what first blew me away. I am not sure but I think the horn driver and the mid/woofers are time aligned. I think that is why some recordings sound very good and others show some flaws.

We are discussing HF drivers on another forum regarding rather ferrofluid damping is a good thing. I also have a pair of Focal speakers that do not use ferrofluid in the tweeters. I do not know if the horn tweeter uses any and if not that may explain it's speed and detail. The Studio 5 series are amazing for the money.

Here are the Studio 530's in my bedroom system.

Here is my main system with the Focal's on their dedicated stands.

Nice setup you have there John. I have demo the Focal 806V with a friend for a pair in my bedroom too. I love the detail but the high was a bit too bright for my taste. I wonder how it compare to the JBL 530.

There are several reviewers mention how the JBL Studio 5 play the piano so naturally as well as other acoustic instruments. That's what I attract me to this speaker as well as the wide sweet spot and dynamic when it comes to home theater.

My setup. For simplicity I use Bose Cinema for entertainment and the 570s with the HK 990 for serious listening. I have listened to some Brubeck piano work and yes it does sound very good.


Attachment 9584Attachment 9585

Last night I fell asleep listening to solo piano music of Erik Satie. The piano sounded very good and gave a good sense of the piano's size. The Studio 530's work well in more spaces than any other speaker I have owned. Judging by the imaging and sense of space they must be time aligned.

My living room is carpeted, lined curtains and sheers on the window, and 3 upholstered pieces of furniture. The Studio 530's sounded a little dry in the living room. They are more lively in the bedroom. The Focal's do not sound bright in the living room.

My Krell S-300i is very neutral which works well with the Focal 806V's. I have my Onkyo A-9555 to power the JBL's and they are a good match. Both systems while different are enjoyable.

The JBL Studio 530's are speakers that belong in my permanent collection. They do some things in truly musical ways.

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Originally Posted by salami

My setup. For simplicity I use Bose Cinema for entertainment and the 570s with the HK 990 for serious listening. I have listened to some Brubeck piano work and yes it does sound very good.


Attachment 9584Attachment 9585

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Very nice looking setup. I bet that HK does a great job of driving the speakers. Looks like a good space to relax and enjoy some tunes.

The HK does have great control and much power and is neutral as well. Drives the semi inefficient 570s with ease. I am still experimenting a bit with placement, speaker wire and bass management. Listened to Dire Straits CD "On Every Street" Fade To Black and You and Your Friend songs the other night. Really enjoyed it. Emotional, musical and well recorded. Good imaging.

The Studio 5 series sounds really good with good amplification. My Krell S-300i did a better job with the 530's than the Onkyo A-9555. Still very listenable but the Krell really grabs a hold of the drivers.

Forgive me for being a bit off thread, but I've coveted the HK990 and the Krell S-300i both. Coupled with the Studio 5s, you each must be in fine fettle. I'd like to see both side-by-side in my house for a month. ;-)

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Originally Posted by filecat13

Forgive me for being a bit off thread, but I've coveted the HK990 and the Krell S-300i both. Coupled with the Studio 5s, you each must be in fine fettle. I'd like to see both side-by-side in my house for a month. ;-)

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Check out Music Direct now that they have the Krell S-300i discounted at $1,795.

A friend is interested in a stereo system. I thought this might be my chance to sell some of my closet stock. He mentioned that he knew the JBL name. I pulled out the Studio 530's into the living room and he laughed at the size of the woofers. In my room they work best closer to the rear wall about 24 inches out. Powered by the Krell and wired with AQ Rocket 44's I was ready to demo. Popped in some Lucinda Willaims and hit play.

He was impressed with the bass and Lucinda was singing when all of a sudden the background singers were right behind Lucinda and each singer was in their own space with their distinctive voice. Next was "Raising Sand" with Robert Plant/ Alison Krauss and last Patricia Barber "the Cole Porter Mix". Then we just listened to music randomly and by the end of our listening session he wanted to buy them and I could not part with them. I showed him the JBL site and he ordered a pair.

The dryness in the highs I complained about previously is gone with the Sony XA5400ES and balanced into the S-300i. I must admit that the Studio 530's are back in the living room. They do things better than my other speakers and are incredible for the money.

Anyone else notice that JBL tucked the 500 series up under the Synthesis brand? Makes sense as their performance is more in line with the Synthesis speakers than their consumer lines. Studio 530 Bookshelf Speakers | JBL Synthesis

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Originally Posted by Thriftstore Cowboy

Anyone else notice that JBL tucked the 500 series up under the Synthesis brand? Makes sense as their performance is more in line with the Synthesis speakers than their consumer lines. Studio 530 Bookshelf Speakers | JBL Synthesis

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Awesome, right where they belong.

Yep, it also means those cheap online deals are going away. The Synthesis systems are only available through brick and mortar dealers.

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Originally Posted by Thriftstore Cowboy

Yep, it also means those cheap online deals are going away. The Synthesis systems are only available through brick and mortar dealers.

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I hope more people get a chance to hear them.

Thriftstore Cowboy,

That's a nice heads up. Good catch.

They are clearly where they belong now.