JBL is one of the speaker brands that is surrounded by a special ‘shimmer’. They were early on state-of-the-art for both cinema and home audio, but over a long period at the end of the last century, Harman, who owns the company, reduced the brand to become one of the crowd. A pity, because they made a lot of speakers that, in my opinion, lacked the particular charisma, that infectious sound philosophy which were characteristic for JBL.
JBL Studio 270
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Sound Quality - 82%82%
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Features - 70%70%
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Build Quality/Finish - 88%88%
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Price/Performance - 85%85%
SUMMARY
JBL’s Studio 270 is an excellent choice for those who want a playful and engaging speaker.
Engaging sound.
Affordable.
Lack some detail and resolution.
However, Harman decided to bring what made JBL back to life. And I’ll admit right away that I feel really good about the “reinvented” JBL speakers. I have a already been surprised by the new generation of JBL speakers and had a real nice time in their company. Moreover, they have generally been very sensibly priced and I have therefore been very generous with my rating!
Studio 270
The 270 is the smallest of the floorstanding speakers in the new Studio 2 low-cost series from the large American company. Studio is not a new series name from JBL, it is the first digit after that lets you know what Studio series it is. Unlike the Studio 1 series, which had a pretty distinctive front design, Studio 2 is much more hands-on with its rounded corners, “glossy” top and magnetic front frames. I´m normally not a fan of vinyl finish, but this is actually really nice – even in black …
There are ten models in the new series, which are also sonically tuned to be able to build a useful home theater system of the different models.
Studio 270 is a three-way bass reflex speaker about 3,3 feet high. The tweeter is the firm’s special CMMD waveguide with a geometry derived from the M2 series. The bass and midrange drivers are made of so-called PolyPlas, which is another of JBL’s specialties. The cabinet is internally braced, JBL says, and putting my hand on the cabinet when the music is playing reveals that some work has been done to get the cabinet to play along as little as possible – at least within reason.
It comes with spikes, but the speaker has a pair of rubber feet fitted that most consumers will probably use. Not all manufacturers will have so much sense of reality and how it looks like out there in the homes of the consumers, that they from the outset take into account how things are actually used.
The bass reflex port is placed in the back and the terminals sits just below it. It is a standard bi-wiring terminal with the usual copper sheets that connects the two pairs when running with single-wire. I think it’s completely unnecessary with a bi-wiring terminal here, and the copper sheets can easily be exchanged to high quality cable instead.
Fun And Entertaining
For its price, this is a really good speaker. It is no wonder that JBL is one of the great, they have the ability to fix the right products aimed at the right category buyers. And when they´ve gone back to using the firm’s classic sound signature, that is power, drive and fun, it is now almost always really nice to test a JBL.
But one should know what one is buying. With the JBL Studio 270 you get a speaker who paints with a fairly broad brush, is tuned to not revel in details, do not pick out the ultimate refinements of the music and don´t achieve the largest ‘listening window’. In return you can play whatever music you like, and use almost any amplifier that can offer a little power, and do it with joy and energy. It is made for you to just relax and enjoy music. It is a practical and useful speaker for the audience a speaker in this price range is aimed at. It does not pretend to be high-end, it does the job the target audience want it to do. And that makes it good, really good actually.
But the playing style can also mean that the speaker puts a little mark or signature on what you hear. That is just how it is, and that is something that is very common in this lower price segment. It can be negative, as always eating the same food would be, but in this case, you still get enough variety in what you hear for it to be a speaker many people want to live with. The sound tuning hasn´t just been thrown together in an afternoon, but have carefully been selected by the criteria of how this speaker should play and work the best.
Conclusion
JBL Studio 270 is a workhorse, a speaker that does a really good job for the customer category it caters to – those who want a playful and engaging speaker that can do everything and do not have requirements for high-end detail. For those who play music just to be entertained, in other words. Excellent, JBL!
GET IT ON eBay!
- FEATURES
- SPecIFICATIONS
- IN ThE bOX
4" and 6.5" PolyPlas™ drivers deliver unrivaled purity, power, and realism.
1" CMMD® Lite high-frequency driver and High Definition Imaging (HDI) waveguide bring cinema-grade imaging and natural balance to your listening experience.
Visually striking 21st century design features that can’t fail to seduce.
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