JBL K2 S9900 vs Klipsch Heritage Jubilee Horn Speakers.


I recently had the opportunity the have extensive listening sessions both these two wonderful speakers. And, as great as the JBLs sounded (I believe that all horn type speakers are an acquired taste), I much preferred the Klipsch Jubilee speakers over the JBL speakers, and it wasn’t even close!!!. Also, the Jubilees are significantly cheaper than the JBLs. Are you kidding me??? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a horn speaker lover, per se, although, years ago, I did own a pair of Avantgarde Duo horn speakers for a while, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. But, it didn’t last. However, my goodness gracious, the Jubilee speakers just swept me off my feet!!! At the dealership, they used SS amplification for the bottom end and tubes on top to drive the Jubilee’s, and it was absolutely breathtaking!!! I found the Jubilee speakers so impressive that, I swear, if I had enough space in my listening room, it would’ve been extremely difficult for me to resist purchasing a pair of them right there on the spot. IMHO, the Jubilee’s are one of the greatest sounding, and also one of the greatest values in high end, cost-no-object speakers in the world, regardless of price. I believe that the Jubilee’s can complete with any speaker on the planet. And, I’ve heard just about all the greatest speakers in the world, either locally or at audio shows. The Jubilee speakers incredibly, just poured out a wide, open, huge soundstage, lush, greatly emotional, greatly involving, detailed, transparent, hugely dynamic, smooth, airy, bass to die for, holographic, 3D musical presentation like an ocean or a waterfall of musical delight. The Klipsch Jubilee speakers have got the one of the greatest best kept secrets in high end audio. Yes, you get the idea, I was supremely impressed with the Klipsch Jubilee speakers.  If I only had the proper space for the Jubilee's, I would buy in an instance and never look back.  Happy listening.

kennymacc

Showing 6 responses by james633

The Jubilee has always looked interesting. The active crossover in the Jubilee allows for manual balance adjustment between the bass drivers and horn which is needed to use different amps. It also corrects the time domain. the 340hz crossover is impressively low too and It acts like a point source for much of the frequency.

how was the bass on the Jubilee (Klispch specs are worthless). I have not heard the S9900 but the extension looks severely limited. I have found bass extension to have a profound effect on soundstage. Even with the JBL 4367 that has better bass extension than the S9900 I still use subs.

 

If I remember correctly you are using Salon 2s. Did horns tempt you from the Revels?

Kennymacc,

 

high praise for sure. I would like to hear/own them sometime.

I wonder if they are using celestion Axi2050 compression drivers. The specs seem to match up.

In YouTube videos Klispch confirmed the use of the Axi2050. Interesting to have such a high tech driver, probably a big part of why they sounded good.

 

Whitestix,

Good to hear. I was just measuring my basement door and told the wife if I buy some Jubillees I will have to remove the door frame to get them downstairs… she rolled her eyes and walked away, I would say that was a firm, yes go ahead lol.

Honestly though they are a bit out of my budget. I would want to sell some gear to offset the price. I will keep an eye out for a demo or used pair though.

Deep_333

 

Not really any different from the JBL S9900 mentioned in the first post. It also has less than $1500 in drivers and is $55,000. It is all over priced. 

AlexBerger,

 

I think you are correct I in saying this is a digital system and true analogue is lost. Klispch really does not say how the crossover works but it does not have a digital input. Does it add another digital to analogue conversion or is it done in the analogue domain (active can be analogue) . I am no expert but I always believed time delays really needed done in the digital domain.

From my own experience of using external crossovers (highpassing subs) I have found them to be very clean and it would be hard to tell in a blind A/B if they were in the circuit or not. I would guess making a passive crossover to smoother the drivers would degrade the sound as much as the active. Both muck things up a bit from a purist standpoint.