The JBL K29800; incredible reviews; anyone heard?

today many jbl classics including the 4312 mkll and hartsfield are being exported exclusively to japan on a daily basis.

I totally agree about the high price. Apparently once you could get them for $12,500 a pair rather than apiece. I think the materials and the tweeter are substantially above and beyond what Altec did. I am curious more than interested, especially at this price.

I've listened to them on a number of occasions (I live in Japan and every high-end store seems to have a pair at some time or another). The K2 9800s are nice - they are much more musical and 'complete' than the standard JBL monitors and home audio speakers (the S2000, etc) and are definitely a step above the K2 5800s. That said, I could definitely find better ways to spend that kind of money (or even quite a bit less) on speakers. I find them a bit colored in the range of cello music and orchestral music can be a bit muddled. They do female vocals really well.

FWIW, they usually go for abt $13-16k used in Japan.

T_bone, thanks for the comments. Do you think Goto and Ales systems better the JBLs enough to justify the price difference? Do you ever see these systems used in Japan?

I've listened to them on a number of occasions (I live in Japan and every high-end store seems to have a pair at some time or another). The K2 9800s are nice - they are much more musical and 'complete' than the standard JBL monitors and home audio speakers (the S2000, etc) and are definitely a step above the K2 5800s. That said, I could definitely find better ways to spend that kind of money (or even quite a bit less) on speakers. I find them a bit colored in the range of cello music and despite their sensitivity, orchestral music can be a bit muddled without a decent amount of really good-quality power (especially in the mid-range). They do female vocals really well.

FWIW, they usually go for abt $13-16k used in Japan.