JBL -ti-6K purchase? Advice?

Hi. I have a chance to pick these up for about $1200 USD. They look to be in good shape. My question is this. I currently have the S3100. They are big and heavy. I love them. I am getting old and thinking about possible downsizing. In other words, sell the 130 lb 3100 and buy the 65 lb Ti. I cannot audition the Ti but in any case, would need to hear them in my room to really know. I do not listen to loud music; usually in the 70-75db range. The S3100 sounds full and rich at these levels.. big soundstage and all. Am I foolish in pursuing this? Just how good is the Ti?

Thanks for any thoughts that you might have.

Bernard

These are totally different speakers. I have S3100's and Ti2k's (Have not heard Ti6k's). The Ti series is much more of an audiophile speaker - it will give you more pin-point imaging, where the S3100's give you a really big soundstage. In my room, the S3100's have awesome bass too, which I would not expect from the Ti6k's. I've said this on other threads, but the Audax tweeter in the Ti series is, I think, the best tweeter I've heard in a JBL speaker. You really ought to listen to them, but they're not replacements for S3100's - better in some ways, worse in others. If you get them, you'll probably end up moving them both in and out of your system for different music. Good luck!

Thanks for that. It does beg the question of what would I replace the 3100 with. I am in a very large room now but that may not always be so. Ditto on the bass. I thought the Ti had a titanium tweeter?

The Tweeter in the Ti series is titanium, but instead of having the stamped titanium diamond surround we’re used to in a U.S. titanium tweeter, these have a polymer roll surround.

Both of these speakers have the “Advantage” of being front ported, so you can place them against the back wall without the bass becoming overwhelming (room dependent, of course). In my room, the S311’s are a few inches off the back wall, while I have to place my rear-ported 1400 Arrays about 3 feet off the back wall to keep the bass from being overwhelming. The S3100’s may work better in a small room than you think.

For a while, I had a pair of Array 800’s and a really pair of subwoofers and really enjoyed them - if you need something for a smaller room, you might consider and option like this. Array800’s were weird, though, in that they were a “Bookshelf” speaker, but way too big for a bookshelf - they need about a 12-16” stand, which may take some work to find. My Ti2k’s are similarly difficult - they need a normal height stand, but I think they’re almost 18” deep - haven’t found a pair of stands that will fit them yet.

Hi Bernard,

Many ( if not most ) of us will need to wrestle with this downsizing question at some point.

In the case of someone who's gotten used to their "big" sound > one approach is to build up a new system using separate boxes ( with beefy components ) to minimize weight.

In your case, the JBL SAM1HF ( Synthesis Line ) would maintain that big sound while giving plenty of soundstage and good imaging.

Attachment 90448

One could have their own custom SAM2LF made using the 8" woofers that are found in the JBL Studio 590 ( to save a few bucks ).

Here's a link to the woofers ; Studio 590 8" Woofer

FYI, these Studio 590's go on sale ( US only ) a few times of year for silly cheap dollars ( $400 ea ).
- Over at AudioKarma there's a very enthusiastic fan-club for these speakers ( which were essentially a derivative of the SAM1HF + SAM2LF concept melded into one box ).

I'll be going this direction ( functionally ) while using up my cache of JBL le10's, le120h or le14h woofers for the low-end.

The two box approach is ( in my opinion ) the answer to maintaining the big box sound ( but in a more mobile > geezer friendly setup ) .

:)

Thanks Earl