Missing the Old Days
Rebuilding old JBLs is one of the ways to go. Head on over to youtube and check out Kenrick Sound over in Japan. All they do is refurbish JBLs or upgrade crossovers on current inventory and they command a premium price around the world. If your computer audio is decent, the sound will win you over. If your audio skills are above average, you can remake a great speaker. All the best, Nonoise |
Erik, With a low of 3.5 Ohms with a phase angle of 15 or so degrees is not out of normal for a nominal 4 Ohm speaker system - you must look at both impedance and phase angle. Through the whole Bass and lower midrange, where most of the current is delivered anyway, the speaker is almost resistive. Most amplifiers of modern design will drive this easily. Good Listening Peter |
@pbnaudio - I was a little hyperbolic there! Yes, it is resistive, so it's not quite as bad as an exotic ESL or pure ribbon speaker, but even with the low impedance out of the bass area, a better than average amplifier should be used. OTOH, I assume it's very high efficiency, so the overall power used should be low. Also, kind of cries out for bi-amping, which then lets me use my favorite comination, bi-amping with EQ on the bass. :) Best, E |
I think after thinking about this, that the M2!5 has what might be called a "discerning" speaker. Meaning, it’s more likely to show differences in an amplifier’s current capability than less challenging speakers. Still, for the output I think that’s not a terrible price to pay overall. Based on Paul's other designs, and what I see here, he's arrived at the impedance authentically, and didn't deliberately try to make it this way just for the sake of showing up lesser amplifiers. Going back to my pro-theater roots, I’d be quite tempted to bi-amp these. Maybe with a Parasound A21 on the top, A23 on the bottom. Like I said, I really really like the design. These are minor nits. |
