According to the JBL website you can buy them directly from the Harmon on line shopping site, for a mere $15,000 per speaker plus frieght. And yes they say they are in stock.
Anyone experienced JBL's K2 S9800?
There is such a dearth of commentary on this speaker anywhere, and yet I have some reason to believe that this may be one of the finest speakers currently in production. I recently was able to audition a pair in a most unusual setting--an art gallery.
The speakers were raised up off the floor on pedestals (perhaps 18 inches) with no walls or corners within 10 feet or more. All the front-end equipment, including amplifiers, were Mark Levinson, but I later learned that in order to hide the speaker cabling, there was approx. 80 feet of speaker cable running up vertical columns and then across the ceiling and down other columns in order to reach the speakers. Now that's gotta hurt.
Nonetheless, during that audition, I was blown away by this speaker's ability to resolve complex orchestral passages, its dynamic capability, and its overall neutrality (though it was distinctly lacking in warmth), but I was also completely non-plussed by a lack of transparency that I heard in two separate piano recordings of the highest quality (the pianos sounded muffled and much low level detail was missing). I found this mix of good and bad to be most unusual.
Is there anyone out there who owns these speakers and could comment on their performance relative to others they have owned or listened to? I have a feeling this one may be a real sleeper that, by virtue of its price tag, has been overlooked by most. If I could resolve the transparency issue, I just might blow my life's savings a buy a pair. Any commentary from anyone with actual experience would be most welcomed and appreciated. Thanks!
The speakers were raised up off the floor on pedestals (perhaps 18 inches) with no walls or corners within 10 feet or more. All the front-end equipment, including amplifiers, were Mark Levinson, but I later learned that in order to hide the speaker cabling, there was approx. 80 feet of speaker cable running up vertical columns and then across the ceiling and down other columns in order to reach the speakers. Now that's gotta hurt.
Nonetheless, during that audition, I was blown away by this speaker's ability to resolve complex orchestral passages, its dynamic capability, and its overall neutrality (though it was distinctly lacking in warmth), but I was also completely non-plussed by a lack of transparency that I heard in two separate piano recordings of the highest quality (the pianos sounded muffled and much low level detail was missing). I found this mix of good and bad to be most unusual.
Is there anyone out there who owns these speakers and could comment on their performance relative to others they have owned or listened to? I have a feeling this one may be a real sleeper that, by virtue of its price tag, has been overlooked by most. If I could resolve the transparency issue, I just might blow my life's savings a buy a pair. Any commentary from anyone with actual experience would be most welcomed and appreciated. Thanks!
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- 17 posts total
- 17 posts total