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The official JTR speaker thread

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23K views 42 replies 12 participants last post by  Reefdvr27 
#1 ·
Don't see any discussion on JTR speakers?

Lets get the discussion rolling!

I presently own a pair of JTR 212's a 228 center and 4 slanted 8's. Love it.

Looking at jumping up to the new 215's in the next few months.
 
#2 ·
Upgrading in the 'next few months' eh? I know you Dave, and that means June! You change components more then I change my socks. :D Tired of the Triax's yet? Must be 6 months you've had them by now, so I'm sure you're getting the itch again. :spend:
 
#3 ·
Hey I had the JTR 212's a year now! that is a long time for me :dumbcrazy: I am sure you know that I bought Brandon's Danley's after the last GTG and was not overly impressed with them at home. Gooddoc bought them off me a month ago and he seems to love them. I went down to NC and heard Beast's SH50's and liked them also, but still prefer my JTR's. I am going to hopefully hear the new 215's in June. I certainly want to hear the 215's first and see if there is really much to be gained over my 212's. Still IMO basically the same speaker, but the 215 will really be a great speaker for 2 channel music. I will totally have to be floored with the 215s to make the jump. The good thing is I am going to hear a direct comparison with the 212's with subs vs the 215's, not sure with or with out subs, but word is no subs are needed wit the 215's. :dontknow:

I am loving the Triax's, not getting rid of them. I am still building my theater room and they are going be more than enough in the smaller room, they will be going in there in a month or so. I mean they are insane in my current large untreated room, I cannot wait to see how they sound in the new room.
 
#5 ·
I heard the 215s at a GTG and they sounded great... Without a sub too. :T:
You were at RMK's right? Honesty other than they sounded great, can you give me a review of how they sounded? I mean not many people have heard them, your probably 1 of a 100 or so that has. Have you heard allot of other speakers to compare them to? Did you like them enough to buy them for you own theater? I already have an idea what they sound like. I feel they are vey close to mine, just with stinger bass.
 
#7 ·
You were at RMK's right? Honesty other than they sounded great, can you give me a review of how they sounded? I mean not many people have heard them, your probably 1 of a 100 or so that has. Have you heard allot of other speakers to compare them to? Did you like them enough to buy them for you own theater? I already have an idea what they sound like. I feel they are vey close to mine, just with stinger bass.
Sorry, but I had never heard any JTR speakers before, or his old setup so it would be hard for me to review them, as I was not familiar with his room sound either. I liked them but not enough to buy them for my own theater as they are too expensive for me, and I am not sure they will sound better than my current setup that I am making. I have had the following speakers in the last 10 years, Klipsch La Scalas, Martin Logan Sequels, and Paradigm Studio 80s, although I have listened to quite a few high end speakers... Martin Logan Statements, CLS, Monoliths, Wilson Watts, Wilson Wham, Vanderseins, Quad, NHT, CVErwin Vega S2 (actually owned some S1s) etc.. Each of the speakers sounded different, and would appeal to different people. My favorites were the Martin Logans (if you have the room and enough clean power), and the La Scalas which don't need much power at all just a nice size room.

I can say though that they were better in the bass than any of the 3 speakers I have had in the last 10 years though. The bass output is what impressed me the most about them. The wooden horns sounded very nice (first time I have heard a wooden horn), and smooth, no shrillness at all. Voices sounded great as did watching movies @ 125db. That is about all I can say about them. If you already have JTR speakers and you can afford the upgrade I would say they are definitely deserve a listen.:T
 
#6 ·
Heard many JTR speakers at GTG's I've attended. Here was the latest bad boys on loan to HTS member Mojave for demo, the 212 HT. Combined with Mojave's eight 15" Acoustic Elegance IB subs, gunshots were almost realistic in level.

Loudspeaker Audio equipment Subwoofer Studio monitor Room
 
#11 ·
When I heard the 515s I believe they were directing the sub output to the center channel woofers.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Makes sense. I know they worked quite a bit on tuning them. I know they said they had a problem with Audyssey kicking on or off or something like that or with bass management.

So you like the Martin Logans huh? I heard a pair of electrostatics at Magnolia and I have to be honest, they were some of the worst things I ever heard. The guys that worked there thought they sounded great, but I was running for the car LOL. I would certainly love to hear a set of electrostatics in someones home that has them set up right with some nice power off something like a McIntosh. Best to just do it right if your going to have em? I have never heard any Maggies either. I gotta get out more.

The wooden waveguide was a nice touch that Jeff incorporated into the 215's. Looks allot more contemporary than the metal waveguide. I actually like the aluminum waveguide in my 212's, but the 215' do look sharp. Certainly very nice to look at. I am not sure if the 215's use the same BMS driver as the 212 or not. I have to look that up.
 
#13 ·
I gotta tell ya... I heard the MLs at a half dozen different stores ,and I only liked them at 2 of the stores. None of the other places had them setup correctly, and they sounded horrible. When I went to the Audio Shows, and heard the Statements with Threshold amps they sounded awesome (of course it was over $100k for the setup at the show)... Just goes to show that setup makes a huge difference with stats, and Magnolia would not be the place I would even consider listening to them. The stores that had them that sounded good had only 2 or 2 pairs in the room at a time and were setup properly. When they were setup properly they disappeared into the room. :T
 
#14 ·
I also got to add that you heard the 215's in all their glory as well. I know RMKs room is heavily treated and having Jeff there to set them up with DD had to have made them shine in all their glory. I wanted to fly out for that GTG, but figured Axpona in Chicago would have been an easier trip on me and never made it to that either. I'm on a mission now.
 
#19 · (Edited)
I haven't been to this Forum in awhile but Reefdvr27 mentioned to me that he was hanging out here lately and had started this thread. I'm a bit of a fan of the JTR brand and have owned several sets of JTR's in my HT. Each speaker change has led to slight improvements in sound quality. The latest move to the Noesis 215RT full range speakers produced most dramatic change but not necessarily in pure sound quality as much as in the integration of the bass frequencies.

I had become a sub guy over the years and have owned some great subwoofers (including quads). I posted the following comments about the 215RT's in the JTR Forum. Very few people visit that forum so I am posting those comments here. I am always willing to demo my system and a one on one with them is always better than a GTG format as you can sit in the sweet spot and control the content and the remote. That is the best way to audition speakers. :)

I have been negligent in not posting my comments here about the Noesis 215RT speakers here. Please excuse the rambling stream of consciousness nature of these comments. I am not interested in, nor capable of a traditional “review” of speakers and so this is what it is.
When Jeff first mentioned these to me he wasn’t thinking about a speaker this BIG or with +-3db 18hz extension. The original idea was essentially what became the Noesis 210RT. The 215RT came as a result of JTR owners and interested parties asking for lower extension and a true full range speaker capable of playing music and movies without the support of a subwoofer. The concept of a full range loudspeaker is hardly and new one. They have been around for years and of course, predate separate subwoofers and a distinct LFE channel for low bass content.

That concept got my attention. It isn't that I was unhappy with my Orbit Shifter and Noesis 212 HT-LP combination, but there were always issues with blending the speakers and subs to get the best sound for both music and movie applications. My preference was movies, and so I setup the system for optimized bass for movies. This wasn't always the best setting for music and rather than create two (or more) different setups for music and movies I kept it to one and just didn't listen to much music, especially 2 channel.

I have had many people visit my HT and praise for the OS's was common. Folks commented on their power and articulation describing them as having none of the ringing or overhang that often characterizes high performance subwoofers. But I always felt that the OS's would overpower even the very capable 212's when playing bass intense music unless I throttled them back. So the concept of a full range speaker, with integrated subwoofers capable of near Orbit Shifter levels of performance sounded like exactly what I wanted. So, I put my money where my mind was and I became the first to order this new/old concept speaker.

With my confidence emboldened by past experiences with new JTR products, I sold my Noesis 212’s and Orbit Shifter subs in anticipation of the 215RT’s arrival. Three long months of improvised HT with no subwoofers had left me with a strong appetite for bass. When the 215’s arrived, Jeff was here to greet them and help with the initial setup. We had planned a GTG of the following weekend and so had a couple of days to get them setup properly.

Based upon Jeff’s recommendation I bought a Rane RPM88 multiprocessor to mix the LFE sub out channels from my Integra DHC-80.3 SSP into the LCR channels. The Rane is a very nice unit that is also capable of setting filters and has a full multiband PEQ. Murphey’s law kicked in and some frustrating communications issues with the Rane swallowed up a lot of the extra time we had allowed for setup but we finally got it done the day (evening) before the GTG.

AVS member desertdome had also flown out to attend the GTG as well as setup and show the JRiver software on my HTPC. He was able to duplicate virtually all of the functionality of the Rane by using JRiver and my HTPC. We had a nice supply of uncompressed music courtesy of another AVS’er HTPCAT and we had took some time to listen to music and movie clips prior to the GTG’s start. First impressions were very positive and I found the bass produced by the 215RT’s to be 90-95% of what my dual Orbit Shifters produced.

Even though the output might be a bit less, the bass is much tighter and better integrated with the other frequencies. I have watched the War of the Worlds POD emerges scene many times and it has never sounded/felt better in my room. In running though my bass demo disk all of the demo scenes had the impact I was used to bass wise, but there was a smoothness to the LFE that I hadn’t heard before. There is no overhang or ringing to the bass. That not to say there is any lack of power or dynamics, it just feels more accurate and authentic. These are things that may not be noticeable to you until you hear a properly integrated system. It comes down to a quality over quantity equation and I am extremely happy with that trade off.

Now, I am first and foremost an HT person but with the above described attributes, it should be no surprise that with music (2 or M/C) the 215RT’s raise the bar even higher. The huge soundstage, clarity and detail take music listening up another level. From acoustic to electronic, to rock, to classical to dubstep it all just sounds right. By right I mean just like it is on the source, but with jump out of your chair dynamics. I have had many goose bump moments and my interest in music has been re-invigorated with these speakers.

Perhaps the most noticeable difference is with 2 channel. Before, two channel seemed to be lacking vs multichannel. The soundstage was much smaller and the sound less enveloping. Now, the soundstage is huge and I don’t even notice the lack of the other 5 channels. The sound is so big that it pins me to my chair. I don’t want it to stop and I always end up playing more songs than I intended.

To sum it up, the 215RT’s are the best speakers I have ever heard or owned. There may be comparable or even better speakers out there but I can’t imagine a situation where I would ever go back to speakers and separate subs. I am completely sold on this full range approach to audio and even though it took some time and effort to setup, the end result makes that effort worthwhile. Maybe I was lucky with my room and acoustic treatments but I think the reason is the speakers. They are all that I hoped for and more.
Some Photos of the 215RT's



 
#21 ·
Me too only they are behind the AT screen and I don't get to look at them anymore. :(

BTW, I purchased and watched Lone Survivor last night. That was a memorable experience on a lot of levels...

That film validates every thing I have done in the HT. If you haven't seen it I strongly suggest at least a rental.
 
#24 ·
Well after reading all of praises including Rob's review. I just pulled the trigger on a trio of 12's! They'll be replacing my Def Tech BP7000's and C/L/R 3000 that have served me very well. I hoping the JTR's will be an improvement. Jeff is building them now and I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival. :D
 
#25 ·
Hi Dave,

You're in for a treat and the dynamics of the JTR's will blow you away. The Def Tech's are nice speakers but you will be entering a new realm of HT audio performance. So did you order Triple 12's or Noesis 212's? Either way you are good with the Noesis being subjectively better for music. For HT, I'd say it is a wash. What are you using for power?

Looking forward to your impressions. :cool:
 
#37 ·
I wanted to attend RMAF and I kicked myself for not going as I had the chance to go and blew it. Maybe next year. I really wish they would have a major audio show on the east coast. Makes no sense to me that the majority of the population lives in the North East and mid atlantic states with NY city being one of the biggest cities in the world and never a major audio show?? Hopefully that will change someday.
 
#39 ·
Welcome to Home Theater Shack. No doubt you will enjoy your JTR's immensely.:D

Edit: Been thinking a lot about compression tweeters recently, have heard some really good ones, including in JTR designs. Compression tweeters are often not thought of as "high end" sounding, but I heard some excellent specimens at RMAF in October - they are getting better and better.
 
#40 ·
Finally got around to setting up 212HT's in my game room behind an AT screen. I should have done this long ago!

Now i need to sell my LCR 228's. I called Jeff today and almost bought 3 of the 215RM's that are on 20% discount. I actually called to buy them but then changed my mind while on the call. If my 228's were already sold I would have done it, but I didn't want to float that much money waiting to sell my 228's and 212's.

Here is a picture - can't post right now in the AVS forum :(

 
#41 ·
Big difference isn't it. :T:T
 
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