The Horn Tweeter - Too Much High Frequency Response.

Ever since I saw the JBL 580's I wanted a pair of those so, when the 590's came out it was a logical choice. I was excited to get the 590's and get them hooked up. First the fit and finish is good. The cabinets are a little thin and hollow when doing the "knuckle wrap test". The drivers look like they are made well and it's evident they put a lot of attention into the horn loaded tweeter. I do honestly feel JBL is over charging for these though. As others have mentioned, it's definitely a wall sound with decent imaging unless there is a lot going on musically in the recorded material. When that happens, the sounds emanating from the speakers gets buried and muddled with no detail. However, if the music is less complicated, the imaging is much better, the voicing is accurate and pretty well detailed. The worst part of this speaker is exactly what it is lauded for - the horn tweeter. It is far too bright and can be shrill at times - this is great for certain types of music such as acoustic guitar, stings or piano. Other instruments far over power the listening environment - snare drum or really anything in the upper registers. While this "in your face" presence can bring the source material to life, it can also be it's biggest downfall with ear fatigue. I have to play these speakers very low and it helps to roll off the highs by two db with the eq settings in the preamp. If you are a young mid 20's something you are going to like these. If you are however looking for something more neutral or slightly darker sounding look elsewhere. I traded off my very neutral Cerwin Vega XLS-215's for these and the CV's were a much better speaker in my opinion. The highs were very well balanced with the rest of the speaker compliment.Read full review

Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New