[greglett]

Hi Folks,
Anyone had an opportunity to listen to the jbl 580 or 590?
I owned a pair of the 530's and they were pretty good.
I'm in search of floor standing speakers now and I am looking at the jbl, Martin logan 20i
or paradigm.
I've been away from the audio world for awhile so I'm looking to rebuild as system for mainly 2 channel and HT secondary. Budget for main speakers between 1 and 2k.


Thanks for any input.

 

[shene]

I have never heard either of these but the 8 inch JBL drivers should blow away the (midrange) guys at 5 1/4 inch. You are unlikely to get a lot of bass if you are after that. I have 9 JBLs in my living roomand all but two surround speakersll are home assembled using JBL drivers and home built cabinets. JBL typically favors vocal and if you liked the 530's sound character you would likely really enjoy a good JBL. When I started into decent sound I heard a pair of L-100s, then a pair of L-200s using a 15 inch bass driver and a compression driver / horn and the sound blew me away. It took a couple of years to get more money available but ran into a dealer that told me JBL was selling the drivers and crossovers for their studio monitors and I could save by buying them. I got 4 speakers and two crossovers for $1200. I never looked back. I now have two JBL 4343 monitors as well as two L-300 monitors in my living room. The drivers are mostly from the 1970s and 11980's and are fantastic. Not swure what damage Harmon carden has done to the JBL sound character but if you liked the 530's you should not go wrong with the 590's
Unfortunately today JBL will not sell you a driver unless you are replacing one in one of their speakers you bought as a cabineted speaker. You have to find them on ebay. . Most sales are of drivers not whole speakers since it saves in shipping (cabinets are big and heavy). would get them wherever you can do a return if you do not like them.