I suspect this means the imminent retirement of the Studio 5 Series, but the Studio 6 Series seems certain in the US and elsewhere after debuting in Japan.
https://jp.jbl.com/on/demandware.sta...et_English.pdf
The Studio 6 line continues with the Polyplas low and mid drivers, but places a compression driver inside a faux M2-looking horn..
This means another Timbers-designed Series passes into history.
Out.
Wow! I didn’t realize JBL was still in business!
Just kidding, but over the last 10+ years it seems that JBL Consumer has continued to demonstrate it has lost its way and has been losing what made JBL unique. It is really getting harder and harder to care about anything they do.
When I joined this forum in 2001-2002 you could have 20,30, even 40+ year old drivers rebuilt at the factory and the majority of the JBL systems were able to be repaired and restored by ordering replacement parts from JBL. Try that today.
So far JBL Pro has remained reasonably true to their Lansing Heritage. If we’re lucky they will be allowed to continue their R&D and production of quality gear... but I wouldn’t count on it.
Widget
The Studio 5 Series is still finding a lot of love from recent buyers ( many testimonials are found over at AK ).
See this thread ( one of a handful )!
Here's one beefy little driver from that ( Studio 5) series ( compared to Klipsch which is seen on the right ).
"I wish JBL would bring back more of their old products"
Why would JBL wish to bring back designs from 40 or more years ago? Back then, the designs were questionable at best: 12" woofers that were run up to 1,500Hz? Five inch midranges that were run up to 5,000Hz? Drivers placed seemingly at random on a baffle? Harman has spent huge amounts of money into researching what people like and those parameters are simply not what their testing tells them people like.Originally Posted by Mr. Widget
Why would the cost of manufacturing old drivers be expensive today, other than that Harman no longer has tooling to do so, and that cobalt is now harder to obtain? In any event, who cares? Has not Harman spent years researching new magnetic materials and new motor geometries to improve their speakers? Are you really saying that a Century will sound superior to a Classic? Are you really saying that the woofer on a Century is more highly engineered than the woofer on a Classic?
When it comes to esthetics, I agree with your wish to bring back old school design. Old JBLs were gorgeous. I suspect that Harman would be only to happy to replicate that look, except that modern laws about what can be permitted with regard to woods and wood finishes prevents them from doing so.
I think you will find The Widget is correct.
It’s more about the manufacturing process, tooling and labour involved to the create what these vintage drivers were back in the day. Do you know the capital investment to put a new driver in production. I have been quoted close to $1 mil in sales to break even.
Incidentally your comments on the 12 inch driver are out of context.
The 4310 design was developed specifically to emulate the 1.5 khertz response peak in the Altec Duplex 604 in which an array of 4310 had a size advantage over the 604 enclosure. The 4310 was JBLs foot hold into the studio market and went on to become one of the most successful loudspeakers of all time. The engineers liked, everyone liked it so who are you to challenge historical events.
Besides a correctly engineered 12 inch driver can be optimised to crossover at 1500 hertz if you know how. Most if not all pro loudspeaker manufacturers on the planet have drivers in their catalogues that can do this.
You might want to think twice before blowing off any more provocative tripe around here.
On the other hand if you feel like bagging where Jbl is right now go right ahead.
I am told there was nothing coming out of Consumer for two years until recently. They fired everyone or they left.
That would be cool! Could you be more specific about what it is that "The" Widget is correct about?
This does not address my point: were the drivers of yore, and I owned a few of them, audibly superior to the ones available today? Are you saying that the Century had better bass response than the Classic?
I'm not the one challenging historical events: Harman themselves are doing so. The published specs of the Classic have the 12" woofer crossing over to the midrange at 450Hz. Their LSR6332 monitor had the 12" woofer crossing over at 250Hz.
Did not JBL themselves market a speaker called the L88? As I recall it was a Century without the midrange driver. Are you arguing that the L88 should sound as good as the L100? If you are not, then what were the differences between the two that made the L100 sound better? If you are, then what was the point of the L100?
I sincerely regret if my post was provocative. That was not my intention. I was merely trying to probe the thoughts of another poster. However, I do not think my posts were "tripe." While I challenged Widget's assertions, I did not insult Widget personally, nor did I ever intend to do so. Why do you feel you have license to insult me?
I feel no need to denigrate JBL's consumer division. They are doing quite well by themselves.
Hi Doug,very good news,expecting JBL more new products
46 lover
I wish JBL would bring back more of their old products
Boy oh boy me too. What old products are you most interested in?
Of course,4344,4345
I am confident that they never will… especially since the cost to manufacture the old drivers would be horrifically expensive today. That said, the Classic L 100 retro speaker seems to be a decent performer, is getting good reviews, and I believe it is selling pretty well. This may lead Samsung to produce more vintagesque speakers.
Widget
L100 Classic is too expensive
True, but even the old stuff in their day was expensive..to me anywayL100 Classic is too expensive
Colleagues;
Yes the L 100 Classic is expensive, and I, at the time of introduction, too thought that they were too expensive. They appear to be selling quite well, and getting reasonably good reviews. So is ti too expensive? Maybe not. Consider the Klipsch re-release of the Forte III. Priced similarly they too are getting good reviews and selling quite well.
There is in Tacoma Wa. ( not too far from the glorious Hood Canal ) a high end store, where one of the guys there has gone off round the bend over the Forte III, and these guys were so locked in to the BBC dip that if it wasn't a made across the pond it wasn't worth considering. WHAT JBL? Well if you like P.A. speakers............. I should point out that this guy is a semi-pro muscician (clarinet, symphonic music ) and states the Forte "Sounds like real music " So maybe the era of the audiophile dip is beginning to come to and end.
As always, we shall see.
Happy Listening,
Ed
Last edited by Ed Kreamer; 07-19-2019 at 10:19 AM. Reason: clarity
KEEP ON LISTENING!
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