Help Subwoofer to go with JBL Studio L880 and TV ?

[aindriu80]

hi.

I bought a set of JBL Studio L880 loudspeaker several years ago along with a NAD C720BEE Receiver. Recently I bought a new Sony BRAVIA KDL-55HX853 which comes with a sound bar but doesn't cut it against my speakers even if they are a few years old now.

I am thinking of getting a sub woofer and go all sound to my HiFi rather than using the TV sound bar. I have been looking at this JBL ES150PBK/230 Subwoofer (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=avsforum00-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2Fgp%2Fprod uct%2FB001AW2RS0%2Fref%3Dox_sc_act_title_1%3Fie%3D UTF8%26smid%3DA3P5ROKL5A1OLE)http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avsforum00-20&l=ur2&o=1. I live in the republic of Ireland and have problems getting items shipped to me, this subwoofer is one of the few that they will.

There are very few reviews on this subwoofer on the internet and I was wondering what is the subwoofer like ?
Does such a subwoofer go with my Studio L880 speakers ?
Are there any major features that I might lose out on with the cheaper subwoofer?
My reciever does not have wireless built in, if I bought a wireless JBL subwoofer could I still use it ?

[aindriu80]

any help would really be appreciated.

[hjames]

So - you have a PAIR of L880 speakers [http://www.amazon.com/JBL-L880-Performance-Floorstanding-Loudspeaker/dp/B000G1NWYO]
and want to add an ES150PBK sub [http://www.amazon.com/JBL-ES150PBK-300-Watt-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B00166VDLC/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1349811938] to expand the low end response??

SO - your speakers will normally go lower than that sub will ...


The L880 speakers shows Frequency Response Curve 30Hz-40kHz (+/- 3dB)
The ES150PBK sub shows Frequency Response Curve 50Hz-150Hz


The specs for the NAD http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-receivers/C-720BEE-Stereo-Receiver show


2 x 50W Continuous Power into 8 ohms [Peak power is 100w at 8 ohms]


The JBL specs page for the L880 is here -
http://www.jbl.com/estore/jbl/us/products/Studio-L880/STUDIO L880_JBL_US#sthash.mxsTUoqX.dpbs

That page for the L880 shows

Power Handling (Recommended) - 100W
Maximum Recommended Amplifier Power - 200W
Power Handling (Peak) - 400W



looks like the NAD is a bit underpowered for that pair.

Maybe if you had more power you'd would get more "oomph" out of your existing speakers?

That page on the NAD shows it has a Preamp output - Have you thought about getting a power amp?


Help us out a bit here - what do you want to do ...?





hi.

I bought a set of JBL Studio L880 loudspeaker several years ago along with a NAD C720BEE Receiver. Recently I bought a new Sony BRAVIA KDL-55HX853 which comes with a sound bar but doesn't cut it against my speakers even if they are a few years old now.

I am thinking of getting a sub woofer and go all sound to my HiFi rather than using the TV sound bar. I have been looking at this JBL ES150PBK/230 Subwoofer (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=avsforum00-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2Fgp%2Fprod uct%2FB001AW2RS0%2Fref%3Dox_sc_act_title_1%3Fie%3D UTF8%26smid%3DA3P5ROKL5A1OLE)http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avsforum00-20&l=ur2&o=1. I live in the republic of Ireland and have problems getting items shipped to me, this subwoofer is one of the few that they will.

There are very few reviews on this subwoofer on the internet and I was wondering what is the subwoofer like ?
Does such a subwoofer go with my Studio L880 speakers ?
Are there any major features that I might lose out on with the cheaper subwoofer?
My reciever does not have wireless built in, if I bought a wireless JBL subwoofer could I still use it ?

[gferrell]

The JBL ES150PBK/230 Subwoofer (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=avsforum00-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2Fgp%2Fprod uct%2FB001AW2RS0%2Fref%3Dox_sc_act_title_1%3Fie%3D UTF8%26smid%3DA3P5ROKL5A1OLE)http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avsforum00-20&l=ur2&o=1 is what I call a movie sub and not bad for a 10" movie sub. But for music heather is right on.

[aindriu80]

hi

Thanks for your helpful response. I'm not sure if you are still following this thread.

Well I went ahead with the subwoofer and but got the following:

JBL ES250PW/230
I got the 250 instead because of the marginal price difference on offer. The sub woofer is a welcome addition although I am in two minds about my current set up. I think that I may be missing the extra power alright. I'm not sure about the pre amp bit though I will consider it. Will the preamp just provide extra power ?

I have been thinking of surround sound ( 1 center, 2 bookshelf speakers, 1 AV receiver) and I was recommended the following to finish my system off :

JBL ES20 or JBL ES30 bookshelf speakers
JBL ES25 center
Yamaha RXV673
What do you think of the above ? I am a fan of stereo and I was reading that a new AV receiver may not be able to produce stereo quality for music etc. Although I do enjoy my current 2.1 stereo system it may be lacking a bit of oomph like you say and maybe I needed a better stereo receiver in the beginning.

The above speakers were recommended as a match for surround sound but I saw the following :

JBL L830 3-Way 6-Inch Bookshelf Loudspeaker
JBL LC1 3-Way, High Performance Dual 5 -1/4-Inch Center Channel Loudspeaker
The above have the same design as my current 2.1 system so would they not better match ? Any thoughts ? Please post !

Would the Yamaha solve the power problems but not match the stereo quality ?

[Mr. Widget]

Why buy 7 channels of mediocre amplification and more speakers that will suck up your resources? Less but better bits can offer a definite upgrade, more of the same or lesser quality bits will very likely not give you any improvement.


Widget

[aindriu80]

I guess the reason for thinking of surround sound was for a more immersive film experience. Although in saying that I am pretty happy with the 2.1 system I have at the moment. I was told about the amp part of it which I never thought of. It might provide me with a better experience to what I am getting at the moment ? A new A/V receiver will seem almost certainly not to be able to deliver on what I am getting at the moment. Still I would enjoy the surround sound for blu ray.

[hjames]

As I said before, what are you trying to do with this gear?

Movies? TV? Music?

You said >>I am a fan of stereo ...

and as Mr Widget said, why get a mediocre surround system instead of a high quality stereo system?


I keep missing this - we know the NAD is underpowered for your PAIR of L880 speakers ...
get yourself a good 200+ w/ch standalone amp for your speakers,
and a clean preamp to feed it, and you'll really hear all the parts of the music!

Adding more pieces to a system that isn't working well in the first place just makes it even more muddy, and gets you even further away from the good music!










hi

Thanks for your helpful response. I'm not sure if you are still following this thread.

Well I went ahead with the subwoofer and but got the following:

JBL ES250PW/230

I got the 250 instead because of the marginal price difference on offer. The sub woofer is a welcome addition although I am in two minds about my current set up. I think that I may be missing the extra power alright. I'm not sure about the pre amp bit though I will consider it. Will the preamp just provide extra power ?

I have been thinking of surround sound ( 1 center, 2 bookshelf speakers, 1 AV receiver) and I was recommended the following to finish my system off :

JBL ES20 or JBL ES30 bookshelf speakers
JBL ES25 center
Yamaha RXV673

What do you think of the above ? I am a fan of stereo and I was reading that a new AV receiver may not be able to produce stereo quality for music etc. Although I do enjoy my current 2.1 stereo system it may be lacking a bit of oomph like you say and maybe I needed a better stereo receiver in the beginning.

The above speakers were recommended as a match for surround sound but I saw the following :

JBL L830 3-Way 6-Inch Bookshelf Loudspeaker
JBL LC1 3-Way, High Performance Dual 5 -1/4-Inch Center Channel Loudspeaker

The above have the same design as my current 2.1 system so would they not better match ? Any thoughts ? Please post !

Would the Yamaha solve the power problems but not match the stereo quality ?

[aindriu80]

As I said before, what are you trying to do with this gear?

Movies? TV? Music?

You said >>I am a fan of stereo ...

and as Mr Widget said, why get a mediocre surround system instead of a high quality stereo system?


I keep missing this - we know the NAD is underpowered for your PAIR of L880 speakers ...
get yourself a good 200+ w/ch standalone amp for your speakers,
and a clean preamp to feed it, and you'll really hear all the parts of the music!

Adding more pieces to a system that isn't working well in the first place just makes it even more muddy, and gets you even further away from the good music!

Well its primarily for music then films and console games. Like you say yes why get a mediocre surround system and lose out. Well I guess I was looking at enjoying blu ray films and was thinking of 5.1 surround sound but it looks like I will lose out if I switch.

I didn't know about the preamp and amp ? I don't know exactly what it does / how it works / which amp and pre amp to get ?

[hjames]

Folks here kept telling me I was crazy to expect everything good from a single system - and i did finally get it - I wound up building 2 different systems and while music is nice in the surround sound system, the 2 channel music system upstairs is really where I go to just relax and hear the music.

I spent about 6 years here getting a sense of what was what before I got to that point.

Okay - unless you have a pretty big budget, the best approach for just music is to go with separates. Its a modular way to build a system. You have the ability to swap pieces in and out without changing up the whole system every time.

First are your sources. Turntable, CD/Disc player, Tape deck, tuners ... these are where the sound starts

Your preamp is sort of the "front-end" or selector for the whole system. Its where the really weak signal from turntable, Cds or your tuner come in and get the boosted to a standard level. But its not enough to run speakers from it.

The next step is the power amp. Its the piece between the preamp and the speakers. Its where the real power boost happens.

Finally, your speakers get connected to the power amp - they are where the sound comes out and makes the air move.

And a receiver is a combination of a tuner, a preamp and a power amp all in a common box

This is EXTREMELY simplistic - but hopefully it gives you the idea of what all the pieces actually do.






Well its primarily for music then films and console games. Like you say yes why get a mediocre surround system and lose out. Well I guess I was looking at enjoying blu ray films and was thinking of 5.1 surround sound but it looks like I will lose out if I switch.

I didn't know about the preamp and amp ? I don't know exactly what it does / how it works / which amp and pre amp to get ?

[aindriu80]

Thanks for the post. I didn't know the difference.

My sources are only the CD player. I don't use tapes and the FM tuner is in the stereo receiver. I don't have a turn table but they would be really nice to have one! Every other source is via computer or TV.

I would think of a power amp would be of interest if it could provide more of the sound than I can actually hear rather than purely more volume.

I would buy a AV receiver though if I could switch between surround and with what I have at the moment.

[hjames]

Thanks for the post. I didn't know the difference.

My sources are only the CD player. I don't use tapes and the FM tuner is in the stereo receiver. I don't have a turn table but they would be really nice to have one! Every other source is via computer or TV.

I would think of a power amp would be of interest if it could provide more of the sound than I can actually hear rather than purely more volume.

I would buy a AV receiver though if I could switch between surround and with what I have at the moment.

If your NAD has preamp outs, you can just get a nice 200w/ch amp to run your pair of JBL speakers.

But if you go to a surround receiver, you need - say, something with over 100w/ch in a 5 ch receiver, with real clean fidelity and all then all the HDMI handshake issues between your disc player (CD/DVD/Bluray player - 'cause what are movies without a bluray player), plus at least 3 more of those L880 speakers to really do justice to the sound.

Well, that's kind of the issue - it basically boils down to what kind of budget you put into this ...

[aindriu80]

If your NAD has preamp outs, you can just get a nice 200w/ch amp to run your pair of JBL speakers.

But if you go to a surround receiver, you need - say, something with over 100w/ch in a 5 ch receiver, with real clean fidelity and all then all the HDMI handshake issues between your disc player (CD/DVD/Bluray player - 'cause what are movies without a bluray player), plus at least 3 more of those L880 speakers to really do justice to the sound.

Well, that's kind of the issue - it basically boils down to what kind of budget you put into this ...

I just checked the back of the receiver and checked out the online manual and it has/says

"....Main In - use these connections to an external pre-amplifier or processor ...............Pre-Out - Connections to an external power amplifier or processor such as a surround sound decoder.... "

So I could get a 200w amp. I was looking on amazon.co.uk for a NAD one but only seen a few and they were around 40w.

I could not purchase 3 more L880 as they were a bit expensive when I got them and I only want 2 bookshelf's and a center. A pair on their own is enough for me. I would go with a good quality receiver though as I would not wish to buy another one for a while.

[hjames]

First, you have to really decide if you want QUANTITY or QUALITY for the money you have to spend. It will only go so far.

You can get a 200w/ch power amp to use with the NAD receiver, the 2 speakers and the subwoofer you already have and you will have a nice STEREO system.

OR

You can go buy 3 MORE speakers, get rid of your NAD receiver, go buy a 5 channel Receiver - and you will have more channels but of much cheaper quality.



I just checked the back of the receiver and checked out the online manual and it has/says

"....Main In - use these connections to an external pre-amplifier or processor ...............Pre-Out - Connections to an external power amplifier or processor such as a surround sound decoder.... "

So I could get a 200w amp. I was looking on amazon.co.uk for a NAD one but only seen a few and they were around 40w.

I could not purchase 3 more L880 as they were a bit expensive when I got them and I only want 2 bookshelf's and a center. A pair on their own is enough for me. I would go with a good quality receiver though as I would not wish to buy another one for a while.

[aindriu80]

I'm going to go back into the store and get them to put on 5.1 for me and get a listen.

[hjames]

I'm going to go back into the store and get them to put on 5.1 for me and get a listen.

IF you go the multichannel route ... other issues present themselves.

What media?? DVD? BluRay? DVD-A? SACD? HDCD? I'm a BIG fan of the OPPO disc players -
they'll do all these formats - and don't sound too bad in the process.

The better players cost more (kinda like everything else in the system) ...

For good multichannel testing, take along something good -
DVD - Eagles - Hell Freezes Over is a good one,
DVD - Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott's

The SACD of Roxy Music Avalon sounds great - but its out of print and stupid expensive these days ...

or check out this thread -
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?20660-Multichannel-recordings-recommendations

[aindriu80]

IF you go the multichannel route ... other issues present themselves.

What media?? DVD? BluRay? DVD-A? SACD? HDCD? I'm a BIG fan of the OPPO disc players -
they'll do all these formats - and don't sound too bad in the process.

The better players cost more (kinda like everything else in the system) ...

For good multichannel testing, take along something good -
DVD - Eagles - Hell Freezes Over is a good one,
DVD - Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott's

The SACD of Roxy Music Avalon sounds great - but its out of print and stupid expensive these days ...

or check out this thread -
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?20660-Multichannel-recordings-recommendations

I use my PS3 as a DVD/Blu Ray player. Its pretty good.

[hjames]

I use my PS3 as a DVD/Blu Ray player. Its pretty good.

Have fun!