Does JBL get a bad rap?

About 15 years ago I worked at a national retailer where they had a large JBL equipped "media room" built to view and listen to ads. To me the whole affair was ear bleeding and shrill but I'll admit that the electronics could have been totally or partially to blame.

Some of us, including myself, have somewhat lukewarm perceptions of JBL from times past. Many of my friends and relatives owned JBL's over the years and I never considered them to be outstanding. Most of those systems were not outstanding and the speakers were probably perceived the same way. Maybe this is where the "bad rap" comes from?

I will admit that I have not heard any of their recent offerings. If I did, I just might change my opinion of them.

Changing these attitudes and perceptions may be one of JBL's major marketing challenges.

Hi Rja, The cost no object line as I call it from JBL is at some of the best brick and mortar shops across the country, of course, I rather you go and listen to the top flagship Everest DD-67000 speakers first to get your interest kicking, then work your way down the model line to the more affordable models with in the same model line, as you can read from Dave_72's post above, Dave list the entire line of the speciality JBL speakers, a couple of models are new as of last year, cheers.

Sometimes it does. I would not discount the line as a good option for many though.

"Most of those systems were not outstanding and the speakers were probably perceived the same way. Maybe this is where the "bad rap" comes from? "

I suspect that in many cases bad results with JBL speakers are not necessarily the speaker's fault, more what was done with them.

I was never a huge JBL fan back in the 70's when we carried them at the Tech Hifi I worked at for a time back in college, but I would like a chance to try them again with what is now available more readily and what I know now that I did not back then.

You bet they get a bad rap, and some of their speakers are truly amongst the best speakers out there, and are extremely refined in sound.

However, in the USA horns became taboo, and JBL makes a lot of horns. Even when they get a great review, folks ignore it. Also, JBL does not play the "I'm a rocket scientist from NASA, Bell Labs researcher, NSA Scientist" and other false claims that so many "high end" companies' founders claim. They don't play the "super exotica" claim.

Read this review: http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/jbl_synthesis_1400_array_bg_loudspeaker/ along with John Atkinson's measurements and consider the magnitude of the accomplishment of the designer of this speaker. How many times does a Quad love say that another speaker equals or beats the Quad at what the Quad does well?

Many will dismiss this post, as they will dismiss the review I cited, and follow the trail of high end audio dogma. So be it. But don't condemn that which you have not heard just because you heard a model of a line 25 years ago and found it not to your taste.