90 Degrees of Pure Ingenuity
September 4, 2008 — For Immediate Release
WOODBURY, NY — JBL, Inc., is featuring its JBL Control NOW indoor and JBL Control NOW AW outdoor high-performance loudspeakers in an exhibit at CEDIA Expo 2008 that showcases their unprecedented variety of installation possibilities. Both models feature a unique quarter-round shape that provides maximum placement flexibility, and incorporate innovative driver technologies to deliver clear, powerful and evenly distributed sound in any listening environment.
Winner of an Electronic House 2008 Product of the Year award, the all-new, uniquely versatile design of the JBL Control NOW loudspeakers enables them to be placed virtually anywhere — including in areas where other speakers cannot be installed. The drivers are mounted behind a curved quarter-round front section, and the rear of the enclosure has three angled sections that enable the speakers to be corner-mounted between a ceiling and wall or between two walls. They can also be placed either horizontally or vertically on a shelf. The JBL Control NOW loudspeaker has a black finish, and the JBL Control NOW AW speaker has a white finish.
Multiple JBL Control NOW speakers can be joined to create half-round, three-quarter-round or round configurations, and they can be hung from a ceiling using an optional pole-mount bracket and standard ceiling-fan hardware. In addition, the speakers can be mounted, using the included adapters, with third-party stands.
When used in two-, three- or four-speaker arrays, the JBL Control NOW and JBL Control NOW AW speakers can be configured for either single-channel or single-point stereo use for maximum flexibility in a wide variety of home, multiroom, architectural and background-music applications, including in media rooms or kitchens and on decks or patios — or wherever natural, accurate sound with a wide coverage area is desired.
Exclusive JBL Technologies for Exceptional Sound, Anywhere
JBL Control NOW and JBL Control NOW AW loudspeakers are designed from the ground up to deliver outstanding sound in the most challenging installation applications.
Corner-mounting, and some multiunit speaker configurations, can have an adverse effect on frequency response across the listening area. To ensure accurate audio performance in even less-than-optimal acoustic situations, the loudspeakers feature a tweeter mounted in a patented JBL Bi-Radial horn, and have a newly developed profile that has been optimized to minimize diffraction effects from room surfaces, to deliver exceptionally smooth, wide frequency response. The speakers have constant-directivity dispersion when wall-mounted, and omnidirectional characteristics when corner-mounted or grouped in a four-speaker circular array.
The tweeter incorporates a 3/4-inch titanium-laminate diaphragm, and a ferrofluid-cooled voice coil driven by a high-Gauss neodymium-boron-iron magnet; both provide high-power-handling capability, and outstanding resolution and transient response.
The tweeter is complemented by two 4-inch woofers that incorporate dual neodymium-boron-iron magnets, which completely surround the voice coil. The design of the woofer’s motor structure and suspension was optimized using Finite Element Analysis (FEA), a computer-analysis technique that is used to model complex systems (such as loudspeaker drivers) by breaking their intricate multipart elements down into smaller pieces, predicting the behavior of these elements, and then combining the behavior of all the elements to arrive at an accurate analysis of the entire system. The use of FEA enabled JBL engineers to design a unique woofer that delivers increased output capability with minimal distortion, even at high volume levels, and that provides additional sonic benefits.
To further refine their performance, the JBL Control NOW and JBL Control NOW AW speakers feature enclosures and baffles made from a thermoplastic-composite material that contains both glass and mineral fill, which provides high rigidity and damping. The enclosure’s mechanical design utilizes thick walls, cast-aluminum internal bracing and other refinements to minimize internal resonances and acoustical loss.
The JBL Control NOW loudspeaker is currently available at a suggested retail price of $249 each. The JBL Control NOW AW is available at a suggested retail price of $279 each.
About JBL, Inc.
JBL is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG, Audioaccess, Becker, BSS, Crown, dbx, DigiTech, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel, QNX, Soundcraft and Studer. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”
# # #
JBL, Bi-Radial, AKG, Audioaccess, Becker, BSS, Crown, dbx, DigiTech, Harman Kardon, Infinity, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel, QNX, Soundcraft and Studer are trademarks of Harman International Industries, Incorporated, registered in the United States and/or other countries. JBL Control NOW is a trademark of Harman International Industries, Incorporated.
© 2008 Harman International Industries, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
