JBL although most people have probably not heard of them they are one of the top speaker manufacturers in the world. They are mainly involved in manufacturing speakers for concert venues and cinemas, next time you visit your local multiplex and the lights are on have a look at the speakers and most likely they are JBL.
The control 1 is from the professional series of speaker and I believe is still available today. They are marketed as compact monitors and are quite heavily used in small environments such as bars and small theatres etc, as for their size they produce an excellent sound.
I have had my 4 speakers for around 4 years and use them with my Sony Dolby Digitalamplifier to provide the sound to my DVD’s. When I purchased the speakers they cost around £70 from Richer Sounds, they are, from looking on the web are still available at a similar cost, although not at Richer Sounds. The reason I chose these speakers was for the JBL reputation and the size of them.
Despite being quite small the speakers do sound excellent and are perfectly suited to the home cinema function. They contain two drivers a 3/4" tweeter, a 5" woofer and a high-performance dividing network providing wide-range frequency response, in 235 x 159 x 143 mm package which is quite compact. The speakers are shielded so can be placed near your TV without distorting the picture, this is not an issue if you have an LCD or Plasma. They come in either black or white and have a removable front grill, mine are on brackets with out the grill as they look quite good without it. Connecting the speakers is easy as they have screw terminals at the back these can also be used with banana plugs to make a neater connection.
If you are a true audiophile then these are not the speakers you need for listening to music as the base response is not as good as a larger speaker would be, but the addition of a subwoofer can improve this and means that for movies they are ideal. If you are looking or speakers that can be discreetly hidden and pack a punch then I can recommend these.
For those who want to know below are the detailed specifications.
Frequency Range: 70 Hz - 20 kHz (-10dB). Power Capacity: 150 Watts (test signal of IEC filtered random noise with a peak-to-average ratio of 6dB, 2 hrs duration). Sensitivity: 87dB 1W, 1m. Nominal Impedance: 4 Ohms. Crossover Frequency: 6 kHz. Components: 135mm (5 1/4 in) low frequency loudspeaker 19mm (3/4 in) polycarbonate dome tweeter. Enclosure Material: Structural Foam. Finish: Black. Input: Wire crimp connectors. Termination: Spring Terminal (adapted to accept dual banana plugs).
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) Good quality sound, well built, remote control, charges ipod, cheap (-) no direct link ipod to computer, cannot control speakers on unit itself (need remote)
very helpful by (80%):
helpful by (20%):
