Shade Ruff
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Shade
JBL VIRTUALLY REPLACES `L` SERIES WITH TITANIUM SPEAKERS
By Rich Warren
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
JBL sets sail with unsinkable titanium buoying the new Ti speaker series. JBL has released four new ''Ti'' loudspeakers that virtually replace its entire ''L'' series line. The woofers remain familiar, but the midrange, tweeters, crossover network, and even the finish of the enclosures are all new.
Perhaps, not too coincidentally, this product reorganization parallels a complete corporate reorganization that leaves JBL a quite different company from the speaker pioneer most people remember. The consumer division of the company, marketing these new speakers, is under totally new management.
The JBL 120Ti represents the middle of the new Ti line, and replaces the company`s most popular L112. The 120Ti is a three-way system, roughly the same volume (though slightly shallower) and weight as the L112, finished in real teak veneer rather than the traditional JBL walnut. The 120Ti may be classified as a large bookshelf speaker, but the 56-pound mass is best supported on floor stands. The 112 and 120 share the same $1,100 a pair suggested list price.
The titanium label for the new line comes from a new high-tech tweeter with a dome fabricated from titanium (of which Ti is the chemical symbol). The advantages of this light metal for tweeters are extreme stiffness accompanied by very low mass. The speaker should respond to the slightest musical nuance uniformly without flexing. While titanium is not a new element in the laboratory of speaker design, proper fabrication always proved elusive.
Now JBL has perfected a way to form a very thin layer of Ti without breakage. Close inspection of the speaker reveals an extensive ribbing pattern resembling a mystical religious symbol. This high-tech approach to tweeters results in high power handling capability, making it almost impossible to destroy the tweeter from too much clean power, yet at the same time using power very efficiently to produce ample volume without large amounts of power. The new midrange speaker represents JBL`s first foray into polypropylene. Now the company claims to have found a technique of doping the clear plastic material with additives that change the color to gray and provide more desirable acoustical properties, such as rigidity.
The crossover, or dividing network, as JBL calls it, separates the different frequencies of sound sending each to the appropriate driver. The new crossovers more precisely send the sound where it should go more efficiently, without unwanted side effects.
The 12 inch woofer of the 120Ti is a modestly improved version of its outstanding 128H woofer. It delivers substantial bass in the 120Ti`s size enclosure.
The 120Ti radically departs from traditional JBL sound. The midrange is somewhat withdrawn and muted, and voices tend to sound a bit distant, and at times even a bit hollow. The speakers reproduce a wide frequency range, but not an entirely even one. As mentioned, there`s plenty of bass, but some of it is boomy mid-bass and not deep natural bass. This effect may result from placement and room acoustics. Stereo imaging, the re-creation of ''natural vocal and instrumental placement and the illusion of depth,'' seems sorely lacking.
Shade
JBL VIRTUALLY REPLACES `L` SERIES WITH TITANIUM SPEAKERS
By Rich Warren
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
JBL sets sail with unsinkable titanium buoying the new Ti speaker series. JBL has released four new ''Ti'' loudspeakers that virtually replace its entire ''L'' series line. The woofers remain familiar, but the midrange, tweeters, crossover network, and even the finish of the enclosures are all new.
Perhaps, not too coincidentally, this product reorganization parallels a complete corporate reorganization that leaves JBL a quite different company from the speaker pioneer most people remember. The consumer division of the company, marketing these new speakers, is under totally new management.
The JBL 120Ti represents the middle of the new Ti line, and replaces the company`s most popular L112. The 120Ti is a three-way system, roughly the same volume (though slightly shallower) and weight as the L112, finished in real teak veneer rather than the traditional JBL walnut. The 120Ti may be classified as a large bookshelf speaker, but the 56-pound mass is best supported on floor stands. The 112 and 120 share the same $1,100 a pair suggested list price.
The titanium label for the new line comes from a new high-tech tweeter with a dome fabricated from titanium (of which Ti is the chemical symbol). The advantages of this light metal for tweeters are extreme stiffness accompanied by very low mass. The speaker should respond to the slightest musical nuance uniformly without flexing. While titanium is not a new element in the laboratory of speaker design, proper fabrication always proved elusive.
Now JBL has perfected a way to form a very thin layer of Ti without breakage. Close inspection of the speaker reveals an extensive ribbing pattern resembling a mystical religious symbol. This high-tech approach to tweeters results in high power handling capability, making it almost impossible to destroy the tweeter from too much clean power, yet at the same time using power very efficiently to produce ample volume without large amounts of power. The new midrange speaker represents JBL`s first foray into polypropylene. Now the company claims to have found a technique of doping the clear plastic material with additives that change the color to gray and provide more desirable acoustical properties, such as rigidity.
The crossover, or dividing network, as JBL calls it, separates the different frequencies of sound sending each to the appropriate driver. The new crossovers more precisely send the sound where it should go more efficiently, without unwanted side effects.
The 12 inch woofer of the 120Ti is a modestly improved version of its outstanding 128H woofer. It delivers substantial bass in the 120Ti`s size enclosure.
The 120Ti radically departs from traditional JBL sound. The midrange is somewhat withdrawn and muted, and voices tend to sound a bit distant, and at times even a bit hollow. The speakers reproduce a wide frequency range, but not an entirely even one. As mentioned, there`s plenty of bass, but some of it is boomy mid-bass and not deep natural bass. This effect may result from placement and room acoustics. Stereo imaging, the re-creation of ''natural vocal and instrumental placement and the illusion of depth,'' seems sorely lacking.
