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View Full Version : JBL Apollo's Vs JBL Olympus Opinions



Audiobeer
04-17-2011, 11:30 AM
I'm just curious as to what the opinion is on those that would have heard them. Which did you find more pleasing to your ears when loaded with the S7 configuration. The Volume in the Olympus cabinets is much larger. I'm wondering if the Olympus sounded that much better with the larger cabinet? I'm polling those who have heard it themselves. Thanks in advance! :)

saeman
04-22-2011, 01:53 PM
Hi Beer:

I think you'll find the S7R Oly to sound better then the S7 Apollo. If you look at the minimum cabinet volume specs that JBL offered for the LE15A you will find that the Apollo cabinet was shy in volume by a fair amount. Non the less they did it anyway. When the Olympus was offered in the 60's it quickly became popular and sales were real good. There were many eager buyers that lacked the space for the large cabinet so JBL quickly offered the Apollo. When the C60 Sovereign I came out the C61 Sovereign II was offered concurrently. The price difference between the large cabinet S7R's and smaller S7's was small so those you had the space bought the bigger speakers. Sovereign II's are tough to find.

Six or so years ago I had a big fire sale and sold off a lot of speakers that I thought I had to have and keep forever. Included were S7R Olympus and 2 pairs of Apollos. One pair was S7 with LE15A and LE85. The other had 130A, LE175 with potato masher and the 075. This pair had a slightly better defined high end but both pairs lacked the base of the S7R Olympus. I did a lot of A/B testing back then which included comparing them to my S8R Sovereigns.

Don't let my negative opinions about the Apollo stop you from giving them a ride - it's still a nice sounding system. My Sovs sound good in a large room but the 375 will wear you out after a while. I've always kept the l-Pad dialed down a bit. There's something to be said about the sound of a good 2-way using the LE85. I can listen all day.

With large format 4-ways dominating my interests the Sov's have been in the bedroom for several years but I still listen to them near every night - just not cranking like I used to do. I have 2 pairs of Sovereign II's to someday restore (both S7) and some day I will have a pair sitting with my Sov Equipment cabinet along the wall in my listening room.


Rick

Audiobeer
04-22-2011, 09:10 PM
Thanks for the response. I have only the space for the one pair. When finished I'll give them an AB. Thanks!