Hi All, this is what I would classify as the JBL listening experience of a lifetime, not just for the systems heard, but the setting and circumstances. I am on some business travel this past week and had a free day (Sunday) in the Tokyo area, for years of reading the forum, I promised if I ever got here this would be the first thing I sought out, and it turned out to be a full jackpot.
Same place as Don posted in 2006 but with updated equipment, in Shinagawa outside Tokyo, and in the Akihabara "electronics district" at Dynamic Audio, 7 floors in a dumpy unsuspecting building (dynamicaudio.com), each with multiple rooms of listening and one showcase set per. Across the street was AR store in Don's post.
Long story short, spent about 2 hours in AR, listening to the 4338 (best JBL set in the store), TS8000, TS6000, LS80, among some B?W and others. No one in the store, played through many a disc with quite a bit of patience. The 4338 was simply ridiculous, the The S4600 amazing and a close second, the TS800 beautiful but not as nice, suprisingly, as the S4600, the TS6000 very disappointing compared to many other similarly sized sets next to it, I was in complete awe having full access to systems I'd read about for so many hours, and suddenly being able to heard almost unlimited, all together--bliss is a huge understatement but pales to what came next.
Walked across the street to Dynamic Audio, up to the 7th floor, and well, insanity. I immediately saw the Everest in the private room and asked the 25yr old kid if I could listen, he pointed, nodded and in I went. He left me in there for 2 HOURS with the full rack of CDs and 100K worth of electronics powering the D6600, didn't come in once to check or say a word...it was CRAZY.... there really aren't words to describe what this L100, L5, L7 owner was feeling during that time. Music simply cannot be at any point in the past, current or future, any more breathtaking. I'm going to spare the words for now, because they simply will do no justice. My work companion who knows JBL from Circuit City fame and thought I was crazy wanting to search this brand out, just sat with his mouth open as the set with a 6,000,000 Yen price tag pounded out Jazz, Abba, Elton John, Sade, Michael Jackson and so on. He then started to tell me about his friend with the B/W 801s and how this absolutely buried them. Somehow out of guilt and a desire to see the K29900 on the floor below we said goodbye and dropped down a floor. There sat the K2 and a sea of McIntosh equipment playing some garbage new wave, lightly. I asked if I can change the disc and put on Dark Side of the Moon--Time, and turned it up. Think Everest but less impact, I think in part due to the wide open untreated room (unlike the Everest room). Spend another 90 minutes thinking to myself, how am I going to leave this room, and opportunity that I know will not come again, and that so many others would absolutely kill to have? I was hard but after 3.5 hours there, plus the 2 at AR, just had to go....so I did, glowing the entire train ride back to the hotel. I'm still a little speechless and unable to articulate how this differs from any other experience, in particular the Everest, which I somehow assumed would just be an overpowered K2. I'm going to cut this off for now and get some rest, I took an insane amount of pictures and video, and need to find time to upload etc (not sure how to do the videos here?) for those interested in the shots.
In closing, one thing that really really stuck in my mind was that the 15" woofers added so much presence to the music but had none of that overwhelming hum/thump when overblown, or not positioned well, it was in a word, perfect, unlike anything I've ever experienced, and second the use of the UHF supertweeter at a relatively low, audible xover point, adding a holographic airy, VERY APPARENT, third dimension that you could feel going through you on every track--this was a dimension of sound no mid/tweeter combo I've ever heard, including the many many B&W I heard today with that great tweeter, could even come close to reproducing. Today was a great great day, but also sad in that I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to go back to avg normal sets now that I've swallowed the "blue pill"
I've dreamt of a day where I might buy be able to buy an TS8000, S4600, or S4800, but knowing the Everest is out there, I feel I'll be haunted knowing even $10K only gets you a fraction of the way. A blessing and curse of a day maybe?
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by JBLAddict
(not much of a recommendation)
