A friend of mine just bought the JBL PRX635 stage speakers and they sound just great! These are not the typical high end speakers that are in demand among audiophiles and they cost far less than their high end siblings. Sometimes I wonder if all the money is well spent, because for far less $$ someone can become an owner of a pair of these JBL's and be happy for the rest of his life. Are those high end (and very expensive) speakers really better than the JBL's?
'Once you stack them side by side with great stuff though, you can hear the deficiencies.'
Only if you can see the equipment, will you be able to 'hear' the imagined differences / deficiencies. Put everything out of sight and NO ONE can tell or hear a difference. Not wanting to revisit this 'sensitive' subject, except that there might be new people here who do not know the history of blind testing. I am primarily speaking of electronics. Cheers.
Are those high end (and very expensive) speakers really better than the JBL's?
All things considered, NO! The media we are playing was not recorded by God. None of it sounds live. So why spend a lot of your hard earned money trying to reproduce imperfections mo better! I am considering JBL myself. I have owned JBLs model: L-150 and 4311 and LX-44. loved them all. cheers
The OP doesn't say that the stage monitors are every bit as good as some expensive audiophile speaker. Instead he talks about being happy with the stage monitors. His question is whether the audiophile oriented products are better than the JBLs. Related to that question is whether everyone really needs all the speed, low resonance, detail and resolution offered by modern loudspeakers. It's not like everybody wants a 600HP car.
My brother auditioned speakers in Swiss (Geneva) audio store. Sales guy presented smaller speakers first and my brother liked them a lot. Then he switched to more expensive larger speakers and my brother liked them even more to finally play the largest, most expensive speakers of this line that sounded absolutely excellent. They took break and talked for a while about prices and options. Seeing hesitation salesman offered one more audition of not very expensive but a "gem" of a speaker. My brother liked it as much as the last big speaker. "That was the first speaker you heard" salesman said. My brother left store with pair of those.
To follow-up Onhwy61's comment on JBL/Harmon, I always wondered why some of their product such as the Infinity Prelude Compositions (which I own) didn't do better in the Audiophile market. Robert Harley gave them a great review while driving them with the Cary CAD 300B SEI with great success. I also own that same Cary 300B and agree with Harley's review. A 96db speaker, 6 Ohm nominal impedance with a self powered sub built in that went down to 25Hz. Robert Harley bought the review pair. Great HT as well as 2 channel, cost about 3 grand. I was surprised that more SET folks did not jump on these speakers. My only complaint was that I would have preferred an 8 ohm impedance, not that I have any real problems as is.
I'm sure the JBLs work fine. But don't expect them to be the last word in resolution- from what I have seen of them (I use them in the studio and with my band) and heard they are good but resolution is not their forte.
High end audio speakers usually put a premium on resolution, often sacrificing efficiency (but not always) to do so. We run a set of High Emotion Audio monitors in our shop and you can hear the difference in speed and detail over any JBL in a heartbeat. But the JBLs are easier to drive.
I always try to get good bang for the buck. I will listen to folks opinions, read a lot of reviews and hit the various boards; but I always trust my own ears in my listening environment. Hence, your comment has puzzled me as well.
I like fooling around with lowish-powered amps and high impedance, high efficiency speakers, which often provide excellent sonic results. For example, I recently purchased a used Almarro MK II for a little over $600. I paired this 5 watt integrated with Tekton Lore and Tekton 4.5 speakers with an older Sony DVP S9000ES and Eastern Electric DAC with Shuguang Black Treasure 12au7 tube. Sonic results are way, way above its cost. Cabling is good quality Silnote, Goetz, Cardas at various times. Speaker wire has been 8TC, PS Audio Statement, Goertz A1, and Jeff Day's White Lighting home brew. 16x14 listening room. Now, that's music, and all for less than than $3,000. Oh, must often tube swap as well. Best for me, Mullard EL84, NOS 7189, Ei EL84, Tubestore Preferred EL 84. For the 12ax7, have substituted GE 5751-WA blck plate, Sylvania 5751 3m black plate and Telefunken with great success.
If it's a match for your system & you like it, keep it. Don't worry about others opinions. I still have a pair of JBLs, which I had through college, I really cannot believe they still work! The grills still reek like smoke.
There is no dilemma in an absolute sense; far more capable (and yes, far more expensive) speakers are abundant.
The dilemma may be fiscal, prompting a desire to believe that inexpensive or cross-application (these JBL's are for P.A. applications with plywood cabinet and Class D - I'm sure not too svelte - amps) speakers are every bit as good as elite products. :)
Unless you desperately seeking the approval of others, you should buy what you like. (Even if you admit your likes and dislikes are swayed by popular audiophile opinion, you should still know that you'll never get 100% consensus -- there will always be some audiophiles who think you're an idiot for choosing any particular piece of gear.)
The problem is there are endless variables to consider in speaker design. The characteristics that impress me may be meaningless to you.
That's not to say you shouldn't remain open to new ideas, but just don't accept them automatically because someone said so.
So, give the JBLs several good, long listens. If they still impress you as the best option in that price range for you, go for 'em.
Compared to the typical audiophile manufacturer JBL/Harmon have massive amounts of resources devoted to R&D. Because of this they are capable of producing very high quality, cost effective components. I would recommend highly their current production passive 3 way studio monitor (LSR6332) costing slightly over $3k. Honest performance at a reasonably price. Why wouldn't that appeal to audiophiles?
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