JBL Studio 2 Loudspeaker Lineup Preview

Harman Audio always shows up to conventions with a big booth and tons of products, which should be no surprise because a number of large brands fall under the Harman umbrella. One of those is JBL, and they were showing off the new Studio 2 series of loudspeakers at CEDIA 2013. The Studio 2 series acts as a replacement for the current Studio 1 series, and I cannot say how glad I am to hear that the Studio 1 series is going the way of the dodo. It’s not that the current Studio 1 lineup consists of poor performers, it’s just that their visual appeal is far, far from anything I would ever own. Not only does the Studio 2 series have a more traditional aesthetic appeal, it also comes with a number of performance enhancements.

Although there are 10 different speakers in the lineup, some general are themes found in every one of them. The finishes are customizable as long as all you want is a black ash vinyl wrap. The top of each speaker (and bottom of the 210 surround) is gloss black instead of black ash, and the grilles are finished off with a nice aluminum band across the top with JBL’s logo discretely etched in. The corners are rounded off, instead of at sharp 90 angles like most speakers. The overall look is traditional with a little touch of modern style, a nice balance for a lineup costing between $249 and $599 per speaker.

Studio 220 Bookshelf Speaker

Another theme across each speaker is a new high frequency driver and waveguide. At first glance the Studio 2 series appears to use horn loaded tweeters, like the JBL Synthesis speakers, but they actually use a 1” ceramic coated aluminum tweeter with a new waveguide. One of the main benefits of the new waveguide is more uniform off-axis performance.

Here’s a quick rundown of each speaker in the Studio 2 lineup:

Studio 290 ($1199/pr): 3-way dual 8” floorstanding speaker

Studio 280 ($999/pr): 3-way dual 6.5” floorstanding speaker

Studio 270 ($799/pr): 3-way single 6.5” floorstanding speaker

Editorial Note: As you step up from the 270 to the 280 and 290, the benefit is added bass response. The midrange and high-frequency drivers remain the same.

Studio 230 ($399/pr): 2-way 6.5” bookshelf speaker

Studio 220 ($299/pr): 2-way 4” bookshelf speaker

Studio 235C ($379/ea): 2.5 way dual 6.5” center channel speaker

Studio 225C ($249/ea): 1.5 way dual 4” center channel speaker

Studio 210 ($349/pr): 2-way 4” surround loudspeaker. The 210 is a monopole speaker so a pair would work well as mains, but it adds some extra dispersion thanks to dual rear firing ports facing opposite directions.

Studio SUB 260P ($599/ea): 300-watt 12” powered subwoofer

Studio SUB 250P ($499/ea): 200-watt 10” powered subwoofer. Both the 260P and 250P utilize a single front-firing driver and rear firing port.

According to JBL the entire lineup is voiced the same, so feel free to mix and match. However, we were told to try to use the Studio 235C with the floorstanding speakers, largely to keep up with the output capabilities of a large floorstanding speaker. The above list is obviously devoid of important details for each speaker, like size, weight, and frequency response, but those details haven't been released yet.

220 (Left) and 230 (Right; finish not available in US,but it should be)

Conclusion

We are pretty excited to see the Studio 2 series hit the market and to get them in for review. Far too many manufacturers (or their marketing departments) turn their noses up at traditional speaker designs, but not JBL. There wasn’t a listening demo setup at CEDIA, but the speakers were on display to look at. They look nice and look like they will sound nice too. Count us in.

For more information visit JBL

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.