JBL Pro Surround Speakers?

[smokarz]

anyone here have JBL surrounds speakers? particularly the 8330?

i currently have a pair of RS-42s, would you say these 8330's would be a big improvement over the RS-42s?

thanks

[colterphoto1]

issues:

91 db/w/mtr - they won't keep us with any of your Klipsch speakers unless you have like 500 watts available for them

three way with cone midrange will have different timbre than your other speakers

crossover points at different places will also make them sound different, as will the titanium tweeter and poly cones

I wouldn't do it. Next, make a decision as to whether you're a Heritage guy or Reference guy. I had CW with RC7 as my first system, thought it sounded pretty good until I had several good listens to other Forum members' MATCHED systems- there is nothing like having a matched system, the speakers just go away and you feel surrounded by the sound field.

Suggest getting out and hearing some other systems before proceeding further.

Michael

[smokarz]

thanks michael, i'll take your suggestion and NOT DO IT.

i think i am a heritage guy, i've already sold off both my RF3s and my RC-3II speakers.

working on building heresy clone (Bob Crites' CS1)

saw some very nice prices on the JBLs and thought it was interesting.

btw,

since you bring up crossover. is it better to have all your speakers crossover at the same point? i currently have my mains crossover at 80hz, and surrounds crossover at 100hz.

[colterphoto1]

Timbre of a loudspeaker (imho) is comprised of many factors relating to how the speaker transforms electrical energy into acoustic energy:

cabinet type (horn vs bass reflex vs sealed) LS v CW v H for instance

reproducers type - horn mid and tweeter will disperse sound differently than cone or dome drivers

# drivers and crossover points - is the fundaments of voice coming from a horn (as in LS) or cone (as in Reference speakers)

even the slopes of the network will play a part. A 1970 Khorn will have 6 db/octave slopes, a current model 18 or 24 db/octave slopes. Gentler crossovers allow more frequencies to be played by multiple drivers (woofer and mid horn) than their cousins with steeper slopes.

The relative efficencies of each loudspeaker in the system will relate to the maximum usable output. The most efficient speakers will be reduced in volume to match the least efficient, therefore limiting the system output to that the weakest speaker. So balancing your budget between all speakers is also important to some degree. Don't get killer LCR and settle for cheesy surrounds, you'll just have to turn down your LCR's to the lower level, wasting their size and design.

Remember that the ear is most sensitive to timbre differences across the front of the sound field. This is why it's so very critical to have as identical speakers as possible for LCR (like a real cinema will have). In our homes we frequently have design concerns and have to use a smaller center speaker (the most critical one of all). Side and rear surrounds are typically of a different design because they're trying for wide diffuse sound (unline the front LCR, where you want good directionality so you can sense the movement of action on screen). Still, it pays to purchase speakers from not only the same manufacturer, but the same line if at all possible.

Hope this helps.

M

[smokarz]

thanks, wow....that was a lot of info.

my dream system would be 5 cornwalls, but probably won't happen due to size limitation in the room, budget, availability of cornwalls...etc.

but i'll settle for 2 cornwalls and 4/5 heresies.

[colterphoto1]

I was collecting CW's for the same purpose, ended up with 11 of them here. But then I found a set of LS nearby so now it's LS up front (where I use em with THX subs for 2.1 channel) and CW's behind me set up as LARGE to take advantage of their low bass. KLFC7 rounds out at center nicely but I'm going to be moving to a vertical CW someday.