JBL Studio 530 Speaker Review

[HammerSandwich]

The differences are evident to me. Maybe the mic?

More like 4ms gate versus Klippel's reflection removal. ASR's measurement resolution is 100x better.

 

[napilopez]

I know how this would stand up in court but years of listening to speakers have put me off speakers with audible uncontrolled cone breakup resonances, more often than not before I was able to look at the measurements. .
Anyway, the peak at ~1.5kHz would prevent these JBLs from making it into "worth listening to" list, in spite of the "perfect" horizontal directivity plot.
In my opinion and experience, or in other words personally, I would add more weight to this aspect of speaker performance in the Preference Ratings.
Violins and presence region resonances don't go well together.

Nah I can totally see how that might be an issue - resonances are bad. Don't think any of us disagree with that, we've just debated on how audible/unpleasant they are based on how they show up in the spins.

In this case it's clear the speaker has a resonance there, but it's hard know for sure how audible the resonance is based on these measurements alone. Amir didn't seem to be particularly bothered by it, but if that's something you've consistently found to be an issue that's fair reason to avoid these. All it takes is one really bad resonance to make a speaker unenjoyable. I'd personally take the gamble given the consistently good impressions these have gotten before any measurements, but I'd have to listen to see what I really think of course.

 

[ROOSKIE]

I know how this would stand up in court but years of listening to speakers have put me off speakers with audible uncontrolled cone breakup resonances, more often than not before I was able to look at the measurements. .
Anyway, the peak at ~1.5kHz would prevent these JBLs from making it into "worth listening to" list, in spite of the "perfect" horizontal directivity plot.
In my opinion and experience, or in other words personally, I would add more weight to this aspect of speaker performance in the Preference Ratings.
Violins and presence region resonances don't go well together.

I really, really, really doubt you are going to hear this. It is not that bad. You have to imagine hearing it and now you know what to imagine so I guess it will be easy
The distortion rises here but with 10volts, I would like to see what it is at 85 or 90db levels.

 

[ROOSKIE]

JBLs website is infuriating. I'm living in Japan, but am from the US so trying to access the JBL.com site so I can have a chance of reading and understanding it. Also, I can see what's available in the US when I return in 6 months. It recognizes I'm in Japan and ask me which one I'm really trying to access; .com or .jp. However, I CAN NOT click on the button for the US site. I've tried on Chrome, IE and Edge all with the same results. Thanks Obama.

Dude get a VPN. A VPN is practically a requirement when fully exploring the web. This experience is very common. It is JBL that doesn't want you to have access from Japan. Obama - what??

 

[Deleted member 2944]

As to what he said, it is immature and without a point. His measurements were quite crude compared to what I have here. So not sure what he thinks we need to learn.

When Danny starts posting speaker measurements that aren't 1/3 octave smoothed, people might start taking him seriously.

I'm really not understanding the fascination that Maty and a few others here at ASR have for Danny Richie. Amir, I suggest that you have some shills operating here. That's not a good look for ASR.

Dave.

 

[maty]

I am not fascinated by Danny Richie but I TRUST HIM after verifying for myself several of the things he proposes to improve a loudspeaker. Other things I had already verified and used many may years ago.

The others, do what they consider appropriate.

 

[Jmudrick]

When Danny starts posting speaker measurements that aren't 1/3 octave smoothed, people might start taking him seriously.

I'm really not understanding the fascination that Maty and a few others here at ASR have for Danny Richie. Amir, I suggest that you have some shills operating here. That's not a good look for ASR.

Dave.

Accusing a regular contributor of shilling because you have a difference of opinion is not a good look.

 

[Deleted member 2944]

I am not fascinated by Danny Richie but I TRUST HIM after verifying for myself several of the things he proposes to improve a loudspeaker. Other things I had already verified and used many may years ago.

The others, do what they consider appropriate.

Would you PLEASE stop posting his YT pages ad-nauseum! These ASR threads are a humongous, cluttered mess because of it.
We're all perfectly capable of surfing over to his YT channel and enlightening ourselves, ourselves.

Dave.

 

[Deleted member 2944]

Accusing a regular contributor of shilling because you have a difference of opinion is not a good look.

A regular contributor who's "Ignore"d by many people on this website.
But your point is noted.

Dave.

 

[BYRTT]

This has been considered cheating when discussing the Harbeths though.

The M30 in-room curve has a higher pitch and the response of the port is much better integrated. Trifles...

Higher pitch? The M30 is much darker tuned, i.e. falling to the high frequencies. Also don't really see in your plot why its port should be much better integrated, the JBL port is just tuned lower which has also advantages.

Here we go focused on those two including some say ideal target curves and their impedances altough M30 impedance is the one from over stereophile site (thanks) because the ASR M30 impedance sweep looked more like a fart or so in lower plots their LW is EQed flat 40Hz-20kHz and say isolated for the eye in tonality domain makes 530 shine over M30 .

 

[tuga]

Here we go focused on those two including some say ideal target curves and their impedances altough M30 impedance is the one from over stereophile site (thanks) because the ASR M30 impedance sweep looked more like a fart or so in lower plots their LW is EQed flat 40Hz-20kHz and say isolated for the eye in tonality domain makes 530 shine over M30 .

View attachment 56544

Shouldn't the target curve be overlaid on the estimated in-room response?

Edit: I see you have. Had to go on the computer, the colour is too faint.

 

[spacevector]

I added the JBL Studio 530 to Loudspeaker Explorer where it can be compared to other speakers.

Good consistency within listening window, except at crossover. You don't want these below ear height as the +10°V looks especially bad.

View attachment 56469

Love these charts. Bit of feedback: it may make the chart easier to read if more distinct colors for the +/- traces are used.

 

[SDX-LV]

@amirm thank you for measuring the JBL Studio 5 series! This data is an excellent reason to keep me from upgrading away from Studio 580 + 520C. With hissing in most powered monitors that I was considering and problems driving active monitors in budget home theater, I am a happy camper with my Studio 580s as the mains. Will keep more money for retirement and an eventual AVR update

+ @Chrispy - thank's for mentioning Studio 6 series in Japan! Harman is crazy as usual selling such cool speaker line there for reasonable prices without even announcing them in most of the world... Looks like Studio 6 series fixes everything that was lacking in Studio 5 - less extreme design, latest wave-guide and great center speakers to choose from. Still does not help anyone if they are sold only in Japan

 

[headshake]

Studio 580s

Mine too- except LCR 580's. Plenty of home theatre folks put 590's around the room.

Studio 6

We get the HDI. When I can get those at 1/3th the cost as a refurb I'm in! Until then, my refurb 580's gave me new perspective on all of my old jams and are currently rocking the house.

Thank you for the review Amirm !
I own a pair of Jbl 530, and in passive mode they are good loudspeakers, but not excellent. The main problem is the crossover frequency that is set to low i frequency , thus showing the tweeters resonance without enough suppression made in the crossover.

I have modified my Jbl 530 to be driven fully active with a Dbx dsp crossover.
The optimal crossover frequency after two years of modifying and carefully listening is 1,8 kHz with, at least, 24 dB /oct linkwitz Riley crossover, acoustically.

With those modifications plus a couple of other small ones ( lowering 1,5 dB at 125 Hz with q=3, boosting the tweeter beyond 12 kHz and some more eq for the waveguide ) , this standmount speaker is one of the best sounding speaker regardless of price, considering the size of the loudspeaker.

I've been itching to hook a hypex plate amp up to my jbl's good to know you found improvement ditching the crossover and changing it. I imagine JBL shoots for some middle spec and tuning it to your ear/room is where the improvement can be found?

Any improvements time aligning all of the drivers?

 

[Trouble Maker]

Dude get a VPN. A VPN is practically a requirement when fully exploring the web. This experience is very common. It is JBL that doesn't want you to have access from Japan.

Or they could just let me visit the site? I visit the international or other countries websites of large companies on a regular basis, both from Japan and US to the rest of the world and it's rarely an issue. If anything they will say, 'Are you sure you wanted to visit Fords Kyrgyzstan website?' Click yes, no problem. On the JBL site, there is a greyed out button to stay on the US site, it feels like it is broken, or they are just fucking with me. There is no legitimate reason to block this other than a company trying too hardly to control their ecosystem. I shouldn't need a VPN to look at speakers. This isn't TV or music where you have rights holder issues and licensing to worry about. We already decided no need for VPN, for TV for example, whatever is available here is fine. So many people come here and NEED a VPN since they can't live without XYZ TV show and their sportsball streaming service.

Obama - what??

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=thanks+obama&t=i

 

[andreasmaaan]

Measuring distortion at a constant SPL requires licensed Klippel module. The manual way is tedious so I am not opting for that right now. Over time, I will move to that.

Just one last idea @amirm as to how to standardise this without use of Klippel's module: for each passive speaker you measure, its average efficiency can be determined in dB/2.83V/metre between (for example) 125Hz and 8kHz (or perhaps you could select 100Hz - 14kHz to be consistent with the frequency range over which the preference ratings are calculated).

Voltage and gain are related by the following formula:

Lv = 20(log10(V/Vo)

where Lv is the gain (in decibels)
V is the final voltage
and Vo is the reference voltage

From this, it is trivial to calculate the voltage required to produce a given average SPL at 1m using:

V = 10^(Lv/20 + log10(2.83))

where Lv = (target SPL) - (efficiency in dB/2.83V/m) i.e. gain in decibels
and V = voltage required to reach the target SPL

For example, solving this equation for a target SPL of 96dB/1m for a typical passive speaker of 86dB efficiency at 2.83V/1m, you get the following:

V = 10^((96-86)/20 + log10(2.83))
= 10^(10/20 + log10(2.83))
≈ 10^(0.5 + 0.4518)
≈ 10^0.9518
≈ 8.94V

For a much more efficient speaker, say 92dB/2.83V/1m, you would get:

V = 10^(4/20 + log10(2.83))
≈ 10^(0.2 + 0.4518)
≈ 10^0.6518
≈ 4.49V

Would you consider standardising the SPLs at which you take distortion measurements using this formula?

 

[ROOSKIE]

No apologies needed. Although I still think EQ'ing can do more harm than good depending on how and where it's implemented, there's no question that passive crossovers in general are in the same league as carburetors (I don't miss my 1973 BMW 2002). I expected to be chewing grass in the back 40 acres years ago. But there's still strong demand for passive loudspeakers that can perform well without added tinkering, so I'm going to keep putzing around.

Yes, the passive is now more fine art now than it used to be. Still I find that I really appreciate the talent it takes and it is fun.
I'd also guess that as long as there are folks who want Vinyl that stays analog from the needle forward, there will be a very strong demand for excellence in passive design.
I am an all digital listener now and I personally like seeing multiple strategies in play so folks can enjoy what they enjoy.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Yes, the passive is now more fine art now than it used to be. Still I find that I really appreciate the talent it takes and it is fun.
I'd also guess that as long as there are folks who want Vinyl that stays analog from the needle forward, there will be a very strong demand for excellence in passive design.
I am an all digital listener now and I personally like seeing multiple strategies in play so folks can enjoy what they enjoy.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Rooski sounds like Rookie Comparing passive to vinyl and carburetors?

 

[Jmudrick]

Rooski sounds like Rookie Comparing passive to vinyl and carburetors?

How could anybody not miss a '73 2002? What a fine car.