JBL Studio One speakers test

JBL introduced the Studio One line of speakers in 2010. First came the two floor standing models Studio 190 and 180, the Studio 130 shelf speakers and the Studio 120c center speaker, and recently the series has been expanded with two active subwoofers Studio 150P and 140P. The lineup features a new grille design that’s both bold and original, dubbed Weave Design – that’s woven or patterned. The Studio One’s grilles on the front panels are really unique, you should see them once instead of describing them a hundred times – it’s better to look at the photos. At the same time, the loudspeakers’ catchy Life-Style appearance hides the time-tested, classic technologies of JBL and other famous brands under the wings of Harman International.

Acoustic Systems

The Studio One speakers’ tweeter domes are made with CMMD Lite composite, a material commonly used in speakers from Infinity, another American brand that belongs to the Harman group. CMMD Lite stands for Ceramic Metal Matrix Diaphragm, a cone made by chemically treating the aluminum to create a thin layer of ceramic. The resulting membranes aren’t expensive to produce, but they do have a range of qualities: weight, stiffness, and damping properties better than pure metals like aluminum and titanium, or traditional polymeric materials like polypropylene. The new JBL line uses a magnetically shielded CMMD Lite loudspeaker with a standard diameter of 25 mm, inserted into a Bi-Radial horn, which controls the directivity of HF radiation in the horizontal and vertical plane, while making it more homogeneous, which is important for a wide area of high-quality stereo effect.

In principle, CMMD Lite can be used to match the membranes of any speaker from woofers to tweeters, as found on select Infinity speaker series. But JBL has its own developments that are loved by numerous fans of the legendary brand. So the Studio One speakers’ midrange/midrange drivers use proprietary PolyPlas composite cones – created by applying a special polymer to the surface of a paper cone. It kills two birds with one stone: it preserves the neutral sound characteristic of paper diaphragms and also enhances their rigidity, which means the diaphragm better resists unwanted resonances. The Studio One features twin 100mm and 165mm drivers and is magnetically shielded, so it can be placed near televisions and other sensitive equipment.

The Studio One range uses compact, space-saving cabinets that look good and don’t take up too much space – the floorstanding cabinets are just 200mm wide. But narrow doesn’t mean rugged. The cabinets are made of 19mm-thick MDF board, provided with cable ties in critical places, the floor-standing speakers are equipped with solid bulkheads, the MF drivers work in compartments formed in this way. On the outside, Studio One cabinets are finished in silver-toned black or cherry vinyl.

Let’s take a quick look at the specifications of the Studio One Series speakers. Flagship Studio 190 has a floor standing height of 1.12 m, except the squeaker they are equipped with 100-mm tweeter and two 165-mm bass drivers, the latter are installed in the cabinet section with a phase-inverter port on the rear panel. Two pairs of gold-plated terminals for speaker connection. The Studio 190 crossover is built on 3.5-band circuit using first-order filters at 800 Hz and 3.2 kHz partition frequencies. Working range of the speakers is 40-22kHz -3dB .

The second floor-standing models of the Studio 180 series is a little lower – 1.02 m, they have a similar design to the flagships, but are equipped with a single bass driver. Nevertheless the speakers do not lose in the working range of the 190c, which is the same 40-22kHz -3dB .

The Studio 130 bookshelf models were built in a bass port cabinet with a rear port and a pair of jacks on the patch panel. The speakers are equipped with a squeaker and a 100mm midwoofer, separated by a 2nd order crossover at 3kHz. The speaker systems working range was 60-22k Hz -3dB .

The Studio 120c center speaker is equipped with a squeaker and two 100-mm bass/midrange drivers. The cabinet features two rear reflex ports and a terminal plate with a pair of connectors. The center uses a 2.5-band crossover with 900 Hz and 1.8k Hz section frequencies and 2nd and 4th order filters, respectively. The range of the loudspeaker is 60-22k Hz.

Subwoofers of the series are not inferior to their “colleagues” in the originality of the exterior. They are made in the form of a tetrahedral pyramid, but instead of a pointed top is a dome with intricate relief. Woofers are built into the bottom of the devices, with the “older” sub Studio 150P equipped with a 250-millimeter driver and a 300-watt amplifier, while the smaller brother Studio 140P does with a 200-millimeter woofer and a 150-watt amplifier.

56 450 Dollars.