New JBL Planar Speakers for the Car

[Brian Walsh]

If this is what i am thinking of, then actually, JBL first debut this speaker tech in the Toyota FJ Cruiser in 2007!! The producer of the speaker is NXT. In the FJ, the headliner actually serves as a diaphragm for the two transducers. Here is an old article on NXT speakers: http://www.epinions.com/content_1580834948

OH yeah, your car is awesome! Hopefully, you won't get too many speeding tickets!! Time to buy a V1! :rocker:

I heard NXT speakers many years ago at a press presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show. Simply put, they completely sucked. And they most certainly are not ESLs. I have serious doubts about ESL performance and reliability in automobiles due to widely varying environmental conditions.

 

[Bernard]

I always thought that "JBL" stood for "Joe's Bose Loudspeakers". Guess I was wrong

 

[Gordon Gray]

Thanks for the info Hocky. No need to reply to my query JM.

Very impressive. Would love to hear the system.

GG

 

[JMAUSGP]

Okay here is the scoop. JBL Professional by Harman has been designing sound systems for Ferrari since 2008. This is the 3rd generation system and it does use carbon fiber woofers and electrodynamic planar loundspeakers. It has 4 planar speakers, 2 carbon fiber subwoofers and a mix of metal matrix tweeters and aluminum woofers for mid range.

All in all it has 11 speakers, in what many would consider a small 2 person cabin and they used a studio quality 5.1 channel surround sound amplifier. And it is designed exclusively for the 458 Italia.

Now the thing about the 458 Italia is that with the proper buttons pushed you can either experience a full on race car with an open unmuffled exhaust or you can sit in a tomb like quiet where the engine and exhaust is subsoquently muffled.

In the muffled state you can listen to music and the source can be almost anything. They built in a 5.1 channel universal disc player, so my choice is DVD Audio or DVD Video in 5.1 surround sound. The sound is very clean and crisp and for a car audio system it is not bad. Now you have to realize that I regularly listen to a 5.1 CLX-based system so it is not that good, but for car audio it is not bad. Afterall it is the carbon fiber, leather and 458 sheet metal that make it so unique. And I suspect just sitting in the 458 puts your senses on overload

Anyway, I just thought that some of you would enjoy the tongue in cheek comments about the JBL Planar speakers and the 458.

Please don't read too much in to this, JBL Professional is not a threat to exceed Martin Logan in the speaker department any time soon, although Rich might..........okay I won't go there.

 

[JMAUSGP]

If this is what i am thinking of, then actually, JBL first debut this speaker tech in the Toyota FJ Cruiser in 2007!! The producer of the speaker is NXT. In the FJ, the headliner actually serves as a diaphragm for the two transducers. Here is an old article on NXT speakers: http://www.epinions.com/content_1580834948

OH yeah, your car is awesome! Hopefully, you won't get too many speeding tickets!! Time to buy a V1! :rocker:

I actually own 7 V1s, it is the first thing I put in my cars and I even use them on my bikes. I would rather drive naked than without my V1

 

[Brian Walsh]

I always thought that "JBL" stood for "Joe's Bose Loudspeakers". Guess I was wrong

In a phone conversation a while back John Curl jokingly said it stands for Junk But Loud. :ROFL:
That would apply to some of their horns. I can't take "P.A. system sound" for long. Fortunately not all horns have that problem.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Brian,

Have you heard the system installed in JM's vehicle?

GG

 

[David Matz]

Brian,

Have you heard the system installed in JM's vehicle?

GG

Gordon, the speakers probably sound "fine" if the car is standing still, despite internal surface reflections. Then imagine that engine ROAR to take off. Then imagine the additional road noise as it is moving, combined with the engine noise - and most of the nuance and details of the music lost. Not much of an "audiophile experience", unless you are driven in a Rolls Ghost, and even then probably not much.

But the mellifluous sound of that engine is the best thing there is.

JM, please drop me a PM if you are cruising up to Chicago.:rocker:

 

[User211]

210mph and "Jesus Built My Hotrod" on 11.:rocker::devil::bowdown:

 

[Gordon Gray]

David,

I've never been in that type vehicle but I can imagine the engine noise drowning out the audio system. That's why I asked the question.

Gordon

 

[JMAUSGP]

David,

I've never been in that type vehicle but I can imagine the engine noise drowning out the audio system. That's why I asked the question.

Gordon

Guys, that is what I tried to explain earlier. This car is like no other F-car before. It has controls that allow you too select the behavior of the car. And I am not exaggerating when I say you can make it as quiet as a church. No road noise, no wind noise, no engine noise, tire noise, it is literally quieter than my LS460L.

I took a friend for a ride last weekend and we switched from race to city mode and the car got so quiet he thought the engine stopped. In fact when we got back from our drive we had to stop at the gate and I rolled down the window but did not roll it back up. We continued on and at 40 miles an hour he remarked that he could not get over how quiet it was and when I told him that the window was still down he said, "No effen way" and looked over me to see that it was.

In this state of civility the JBL Professional system sounds pretty darn good. Again, not CLX surround sound good, but it may be the best OEM system that I have heard. And for Ferrari that is saying something because until 1998 they did not OEM any stereo systems for their cars. You had to go aftermarket, because Enzo always said, "The engine was the music in a Ferrari." And he was dead serious, now he is just dead

Conversely you can select Race and all hell brakes, I mean breaks loose and you can't hear yourself think, let alone listen to music. Brakes are carbon ceramic btw and are amazing, but that is another thread as they say.