As the inventor of ARCOSS’ Sound Field Management and author of piles of White Papers about subwoofers and their interaction with the room, you can trust the designers of JBL with a subwoofer. With the thick 160 kilo heavy SCL-1 as ruler of the JBL Synthesis low foundation, the models follow a faithful JBL philosophy: Two in-house developed drivers in a massive cabinet construction. Big Boys subs for the ultimate cinema experience. Now, of course, that awesome layer isn’t possible or necessary in every situation. Yet a rich bass reproduction forms the basis of a warm and full sound. Even with an audio set with a much more compact shape and price range. That is why JBL is now introducing a subwoofer that taps from a much more modest bass barrel, but can still be impressive and can also be controlled wirelessly: The JBL SUB80P.
Bass-fetish
If you know Reference Sounds a bit then you know that we secretly have a bit of a bass fetish. Deep, full and well-defined bass reproduction gives music and film so much more substance. So much more drama, spatial foundation and emotion. For us, it is the basis of a compelling, believable sound. Every subwoofer juggles with electrical and acoustic parameters to achieve this as well as possible. For deep bass reproduction, the air moved by the woofer dictates. That’s why we like that bass speaker a bit bigger. But the laws of physics are difficult to fool, so large bass speakers require a large cabinet. However, if we adjust the requirements for the dynamic output a bit to living room and neighbor-friendly situations, we can also achieve great performances with a small subwoofer. The JBL SUB80P was developed with that in mind. Perfect as support for smaller speakers in a room that is not too large or as an extra kick for built-in speakers.
JBL SUB80P
The SUB80P delivers its drum roll via an 8” (20cm) bass speaker placed on the underside of the high-gloss black cabinet. Integrated legs bring the sub to the desired height from the floor so that it perfectly connects acoustically to its surroundings. To keep it as compact as possible, the sub is closed. This makes it easy to install at any location. The 200 Watt amplifier can be found at the back and, in addition to a volume setting, has switches for BassBoost (on/off), Phase (0/180gr) and Input Mode (Normal/LFE).
In addition to the physical RCA (cinch) inputs with which the SUB80P can be wired to the output of a (pre) amplifier, the small SUB80P offers another interesting asset: wireless connection. Connect the transmitter with a few short cables to the output of the (pre) amplifier, choose the desired transmission frequency, select the same frequency on the sub itself, et voila! The SUB80P will now pick up the signal wirelessly and then only needs a plug from the wall socket to give you a friendly growl. A fantastic JBL sub to provide your movies and music with a good piece of low without having to immediately roll out the china cabinet.
The JBL SUB80P comes complete with wireless transmitter and is available from stock with a suggested retail price of €649.-
