JBL E60 quick review
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 1 Registered: Jul-06 | For reference: My setup is simple, a Pioneer VSX-1015TX and 2 Athena AS-B2.2 bookshelfs (however I had F1.2 for a short while which wasn't mine). Was in a local big box store and noticed a pair of JBL E60 open boxed, got them for $200cdn, drove them home. Because these were open boxed demo models I'm pretty sure they were broken in, so I started listening right away. Basically the JBL E60 had potential to be great budget speakers, perhaps rivaling the Athena AS-F1.2 (at an even lower price point then Athenas) but it is not to be. While it feels like JBL has great smooth and powerful bass and are perhaps more detailed then Athenas at the high end they totaly lack any sort of midrange. It's so muted with the E60, it simply isn't there and that takes away the joy of listening to anything that has any midrange. Now lets give credit where credit is due. Pioneers' "Auto MCACC" really does work very well. I was doing all testing in DIRECT/STEREO mode. Now i wanted to see what all the gizmology in my VSX-1015TX is really capable off. I pulled out the calibration mic that came with the unit, plugged it in and fired off the 'Auto MCACC'. After the clicking and various noises it was finished. I turned on the normal Stereo with MCACC (not direct mode which disables any dsp processing) mode and behold these speakers now have a new life. The midrange is back! These speakers sound far better. Now they are in the running. It was getting late and I was tired and work on monday forced me to stop further testing. Unable to do any real listeing during the week I turned to research. There are very few JBL E60 reviews and even fewer positive reviews. I wanted to get some sort of amplitude frequency graph to see if what I've heard is reflected on the graph. Well I found one one: http://www.stereo.ru/images/profile/17005/gr_big0.gif full test (in russian): http://www.stereo.ru/profile_test.php?tree_id=59&product_id=17005 Knowing these speakers have identical midrange and tweeters to the entire northridge floor stander line, I decided to compare them to their better model, the E90 and again stereo.ru tested the speaker and provided the graph test of the E90: http://www.stereo.ru/images/profile/15867/gr_big0.jpg full test (in russian): http://www.stereo.ru/profile_test.php?tree_id=59&product_id=15867 Knowing these speakers feature the same tweeter and midrange driver it is very surprising just how much worse the JBL E60 performance is. It appears JBL cripped the E60 intentionally. Most likely cheaped out on the cross over or designed it this way on purpose not to compete with their more expensive offerings. Fortunatly the competion is there to clean their clock. At this time I feel that the JBL E60 aren't what they could have been and should have been. I will most likely return them to the store later on. However: I will do more listeing on the with MCACC enabled JBL E60 on the weekend and if anyone is interested can post further impressions. |
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Gold Member Username: Project6Post Number: 8581 Registered: Dec-03 | I'm sure there will be members who will benefit from your review. A modest budget is something most of us had to go through. |
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Bronze Member Username: SerniterPiscataway, New Jersey USA Post Number: 36 Registered: Mar-06 | Thanks sigsegv, for the review. I used to read a lot about budget speakers till I got a pair of Wharfedales. How do the E60s compare to the Athenas? At one point I was contemplating the E60s, that is, till I found this forum. I've listened to both Athena and JBL speakers at BestBuy, which is not the same as listening at home. I'd really like to hear about the Athena bookshelf and floor standing speakers. Especially the bookshelf speakers to use as satellites for a home theater. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 4316 Registered: Mar-05 | sig, your findings are not all that surprising, I have read of others also finding a huge drop in quality when going from the e90s and e100s down to the 60s. It's kind of interesting in that with a lot of other speaker companies, the smaller models outshine the biggest ones as often as not. (Paradigm Monitor 5 vs. Monitor 9 or 11 for example.) |
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Bronze Member Username: RaymerPost Number: 23 Registered: Feb-06 | Yea, I had the e-60's for a short while and I wasn't too fond of them. The Athena f2.2's were much better but they still were not my cup of tea {a bit too harsh/bright with my h/k 330} so now my search begins, again. I did like the Athena b1 bookshelves though, but I had to sell them with the f2.2's. |
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 2 Registered: Jul-06 | Been playing more with the E60, and yes, after lots of listening and playing with EQ I got them to sound quite good (at least for my taste). The mids are there, the detail is there, everything is there and of course to top it off there is their nice smooth bass (that didn't need any EQing). Basically I let the VSX-1015TX MCACC do it's thing and then manually fine tuned it until it sounded good to my ear. Basically they are useless unless you have an 'advanced' receiver that can do per speaker EQ which will allow you to compensate for their ineptness with DSP power. So now I'm wondering if I should keep them. They were quite cheap by local standards ($200cdn for both)... And I find their sound to my taste after all this work. I might get to audition my friends Paradigm Monitor 3s (latest version, I think) against these on the weekend to see what my EQing has brought me. So, this game is still ongoing. |
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 3 Registered: Jul-06 | After full two weeks of listing to the JBL E60 and playing with EQ to get them to sound as good as Athena AS-B2.2 I can say I failed! At the end of the day when I plugged connected the Athena AS-B2.2 they blew away the JBL E60 by their musicality. Even with EQ boosted midrange the JBL E60 had an artificial and lacking quality that was hard to live with. Their bass is overpowering, it's fun, but it is disbalanced with the music because it overpowers it significantly. Anyway, even though the deal was good I have returned these speakers back to the store. And moved on. I was able to pick up a pair of Paradigm Monitor 5 v4 for a good price and now will begin to see how these suit me. |
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Gold Member Username: GavincummNew York USA Post Number: 1236 Registered: Feb-05 | Paradigm Monitor 5's are outstanding speakers for the price, a flight from NY to FL better than those JBL (junk but loud) speakers. |
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Gold Member Username: GavincummNew York USA Post Number: 1239 Registered: Feb-05 | Paradigm Monitor 5's are outstanding speakers for the price, a flight from NY to FL better than those JBL (junk but loud) speakers. |
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Gold Member Username: GavincummNew York USA Post Number: 1240 Registered: Feb-05 | oops...sorry :-) |
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 4 Registered: Jul-06 | Quick update on Paradigm Monitor 5 for anyone who is interested (powered by Pioneer VSX-1015TX, previous points of reference: Athena AS-B2.2, JBL E60, Paradigm Monitor 3). Overall they are good speakers, my favorite part with them is mid-high performance. I find it very well balanced. It's quite smooth and detailed. Perhaps a little laid back comparing to the Athena AS-B2.2 which sounded far more agressive but somewhat less detailed. One thing where the Athena's easily outclass the Monitors is their bass. Somehow the Monitor 5's do not sound as punchy and well defined in the low frequncies as the Athena's or their own little brother the Monitor 3. Possibly because they haven't had enough break in it. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 4372 Registered: Mar-05 | sig, so which speaker are you going to keep? Pretty surprising results for the $250 Athena vs. the M5 costing about double. |
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 5 Registered: Jul-06 | keep? I am keeping the Monitor 5, Bass I belive i can fix at a later point by adding a woofer. Athena AS-B2.2 is a very excellent speaker however I wouldn't hesitate to suggest it to anyone who is on a budget. Back to Monitor 5: Their smoothness and detail shows they are a more refined speaker then the Athena overall (they better be at 2x the price, I payed $220cdn for athena). So, again, overall the Monitor 5 is superior, but honestly if I didn't get such a good deal on a Monitor 5 V.4 with MagnaShield at $380cdn I wouldn't have tried to replace the athena with anything. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 4374 Registered: Mar-05 | those are fantastic prices for both speakers! Weird, I thought that even Canadian-made speakers cost more in Canada than in the US. |
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 6 Registered: Jul-06 | They normally are, sometimes you can stuble on an awesome sale and haggle somemore, that is what happened here. |
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 7 Registered: Jul-06 | More updates... (if anyone still cares that is. Also perhaps this thread should be retitled  since its topic totaly changed) Main point: Paradigm Monitor 5 V.4 blow away all the other speakers I've tested (well close to Monitor 3). Before I complained about missing bass? Well, I've replaced my shitty cables I was using with less shitty generic OFC 18AWG cable and the bass appeared. Pretty darn good bass, It goes low and is very controlled. I was pointed to to Canare StarQuad 4S11 cable, when I find a place to get it cheap I will buy it. I wont bore anyone trying to describe the listing expirience in detail (which I am not even qualified to do so anyway). However to say, these speakers are certianly very good. The highs are great, detailed balanced and not fatiguing (more on this in a moment). The bass is *great* now, very strong and clear. In the name of science I biamped them and it seemed to give a tiny bit of clarity and detail to the upper range and bit stronger lows (Pio VSX-1015TX is the amp), I'm not entirely sure if that is the case, but it seems so from prolonged listening. I also had a chance to test these against the rather tiny Energy C-1 bookshelves. The energys are a great speaker, they're also easily above JBLs (obviously) and somewhat better then Athenas in highs and mids (athena blows them away on bass). The C-1 is very detailed and percise but I found the tweeter is a tad to bright and sibilant at times, i didn't listen to it long enough but I have a feeling it will become fatiguing after a long session, while with the monitor 5 I was able to put in a good 6 hours of listening without any strain. They're pretty mellow. M5 vs C-1 I felt monitor 5 had all the detail but wasn't quite as aggresive as the C-1, however, Pioneers MCACC prefered to make the Paradigm a bit more agressive but boosting the highs bringing it's sound very close to the C-1 (i normally listen in DIRECT mode). When MCACC was applied to C-1 the Pio boosted their lows to make them sound fuller and felt like it rolled off their highs just a tad. I wish(ed) to audition Axiom M3 (or even M22) and the ever legendary Ascend CBM370 but it doesn't look like I will get this opportunity because no one around here owns them. Anyway, so that is where I am at this time in my quest for perfect sound |
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Gold Member Username: Project6Post Number: 9328 Registered: Dec-03 | What other amp were you using to bi-amp your speakers? |
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 8 Registered: Jul-06 | I am not sure I understand your question, the amp in question has always remained the same Pioneer VSX-1015TX |
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Gold Member Username: Project6Post Number: 9329 Registered: Dec-03 | "In the name of science I biamped them and it seemed to give a tiny bit of clarity and detail to the upper range and bit stronger lows" -------------------------------------- You used the term bi-amp...which made me think you are using 2 amps to drive the speakers. |
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New member Username: Sigsegv0x0bPost Number: 10 Registered: Jul-06 | Oh, I used the VSX-1015 to biamp them, before I wasn't biamping them. The receiver has 2 options for the last 2 channels: using them as surrounds in 7.1 setup, using them as zone-b or for biamping. |
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