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JBL 590 vs Klipsch?


absolve2525

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10 hours ago, wdecho said:

The one thing that stands out to me is the sensitivity rating of 92db. Much lower than Klipsch speakers.

 

I had the same reaction.  Didn't the Aussie review measure the sensitivity at 90 dB?  If so, I would characterize the sensitivity as "near average," rather than "high" as the reviewer did.  If the true figure is 90, it would take about 128 true watts, at 13 feet, in a fairly large room, to produce film industry/home theater/Audyssey Reference Level Peaks of 105 dB through each of the main channels (not the sub, in a HT).   Paul Klipsch thought one needs very brief peaks 10 dB higher (at 115 dB to reproduce the "blood stirring" levels of a full symphony orchestra, which he often recorded and measured as a kind of hobby). True, since these peaks are usually very brief, and amplifiers can pass these and recover, someone might get away with a amp of 64 watts, or so, i.e., 3 dB lower, but if you like it loud,  there is a risk.

 

If the true figure is 90 dB, then the Klipsch Heresy II, for instance, being 6 dB more sensitive, which would produce the 105 dB with only 32 watts (I don't know the sensitivity of the Heresy III).  Another way to look at is that a Heresy II with a pretty standard 100 watt per channel amplifier would put out the same sound pressure level ("volume") as the JBL would at 400 watts.

 

Don't get me wrong!  I have had a decades long love affair with both JBL and Klipsch, my two favorite speaker companies.

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The Newegg sale is over and the 590's are currently $999/ea from JBL (Not available now from Amazon.). The Klipsch RP-280F are currently $539/ea and available with free s/h from Klipsch, Amazon, etc. With a LF (-3dB) of 32 Hz and an SPL (2.83V/1m) of 98 dB, no need for a sub. 150W RMS max - so they should get LOUD!

 

I like my '77-vintage Heresys - a bargain 9/2016 @$375/pr and now driven by a Musical Paradise MP-301 MK3 (6.5 Wpc class A SEP tube amp -  $429 8/2017 inc spare tubes and s/h from PRC. ) and, now, the JBL  connection... a JBL SUB 550P 10" sealed 300W sub-woofer ($189 Amazon 9/2017!). Love the Heresys - mostly played without the sub!

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I was very interested in a pair from this series a year ago but was unable to hear them. I have on weekends up until a year ago, worked the local FM station, we had a great set of JBL monitors in the broadcast studio ( prettynice pair of Tannoys in prod). They rocked. Only ever heard them with classic rock/80s as that was our playlist but really liked the overall JBL sound. Similar in many ways to the Klipsch sound.

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