Video Asylum

Posted by Steve W (i) on July 18, 2001 at 11:20:16

In Reply to: is the JBL HT Series THX System good speakers? posted by Lecram on July 18, 2001 at 02:49:37:

These are fantastic HT speakers. These were one of the first speakers developed for the home market by JBL that were THX certified by LucasFilm. There was the Synthesis 1 and Synthesis 2, but these systems came with the associated electronics, were about $40,000 and $20,000 respectively, or something like that, and the HT series was supposed to fill in the 3 category. The 1 and 2 were practically commercial theatre systems. Back then THX certification was much more stringent than it is now. Now there's THX Ultra and THX select - (select for cheaper stuff). There was a demonstration set up by JBL about six years ago at the CES Convention in Las Vegas demonstrating the difference between the three systems in three different rooms with the same film clip (some submarine movie crashing into undersea rocks), except that they used 2 pairs of the HT dipole speaker because of the large room. All three systems were incredibly clear and extremely dynamic, but it was interesting that the HT system actually sounded clearest. With a associated THX amp or equal, the speakers will truly rock your house, and your neighbors a block down can hear it - no kidding. But room size makes all the difference in sound. The larger the better - a 20 x 40 room with 20' ceilings would be ideal, but if your room is more like 15 x 15 with 8' ceilings, you may find yourself sitting inside a jukebox.

For music, they don't sound that good as is. Clip of the plasic protection caps covering the four tweeters on the left and right speakers and they will sound much better, clarity opens up significantly. The subwoofers are also a bit boomy, since it was designed more for dynamics for home theatre. I would consider replacing the 12" drivers in the cabinet with something tighter sounding. They are 4 1/2 c.f. boxes ported to 32 hz.