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JBL MS-62c First impressions. These surprised the hell out of me!

235K views 837 replies 154 participants last post by  Anamolydetected 
#1 ·
Ok, I do not normally post reviews on DIYMA but I am pretty excited about these components and figured I would share my experience with them. First, some of my previous commercial component sets I have used in my Infiniti qx4 include: Alpine SPX-17pro's , MB Quart PSD 216's, Rainbow Profi Vanadium CS365, Kef Kar series uni-q 6.5's. I have also ran a 3 way active set up using the peerless sls 6.5, Fountek FR88EX, and the seas 27TAFNC/G. I have been into car/home audio for many years and am also an avid drummer. Ok, so I am not coming from Sony Xplode gear or the legendary Roadmaster ;) . Lets get on to my set up. My source is a Pioneer DEH-80prs. The amp I am running is an ARC XXK-4150. two channels running to the fronts and two channels bridged to my single phoenix gold rsd 10, a nice subwoofer for the dollar.


On with it. I have been content with my Kef's for a while but, The ferrofluid in one of my tweeters dried up, a common problem with older Kef tweeters. This left me looking for a new set to keep me happy during rush hour. I did not want to spend very much as I was just looking for something to get me by until I figure out something serious. Anyways, It was between these and some rainbow slc265.ng's. They share the same basket. I thought that was strange. I have had a few rainbow set ups and have only been impressed with the profi line so I kind of just said what the hell and ordered the jbls for $187.00 via Ebay.


So they get here a few days ago and to my surprise they seemed very well built. The woofers build quality seemed much higher than the other commercial sets I've ran, other than the SPX17-pro's which are about the same. The tweeters are titanium inverted domes, similar to focal, but not in sound. Good build quality all around. Of course, the crossovers are not as impressive as the type x's but they are solid.

I managed to get them installed the same night and have been listening to them for the last two days.



So far, I would have to say that these are the highest value purchase I have made in car audio. Being a drummer, cymbal accuracy is very important to me. I had always heard that MB Quart Titanium tweeters were the best at this aspect. Hah. In my install the MB's were good on certain songs but fell apart while trying to reproduce anything complex. Miles Davis, decent. Nirvana, Ouch! I do not know who made the tweeter in this set but without a doubt, these JBL tweeters have more air and leading edge detail than any other compact tweeter I have ever used. I do not know how they sound so good. No Focal/MB Quart harshness what so ever! They remind me of the
cal26 titans but without the grain and fatigue at louder listening levels.


The mids perform very well. They have the midrange accuracy of the SPX-17pro's and the mid bass of the rainbows. One thing that I enjoyed about the MB Quarts was that even though their excursion capabilities were far less than the others, they managed to have a snap and awesome upper midbass-lower midrange. Toms always sounded full with the MB Quarts. The Alpines were the weakest in that area. Rainbow's and JBL's are right in the middle. I think the JBL's can go a little bit lower but I don't plan on high passing below 63hz/12db.



Overall I am astonished so far. It is a nice relief to not have to spend $500-700 on a two way "commercial' set up to reach acceptable fidelity. If anyone else has used these I would love to hear what you think of them.

Well that's it for now. It's late..... Wheel Auto part Automotive wheel system Rim


Audio equipment Electronic instrument Computer speaker Loudspeaker Technology


Loudspeaker Audio equipment Subwoofer Car subwoofer Sound box


Auto part Rim Tire Automotive wheel system Wheel
 
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#527 ·
Worst case scenario, you try the configuration and don't like it. You can always switch it up.
 
#529 ·
I just got mine from Trumpet and cannot wait to finish getting them installed. He was great to deal with and very helpful with install ideas. I am definitely interested in hearing how the MS-8 works as I'm thinking about doing the same. All the excitement over these speakers is going to hard to live up to but, coming from stock mach 460, these should make the long drives much more enjoyable! LOL at the last comment! :laugh:
 
#530 ·
I have one mid that went out... sounded like the coil was damaged (scrubbing sound). Removed the drivers to inspect and found out is a bad lead or connection to the post. I can move the cone through it's full excursion and still is very smooth. Was never abused so I'm not sure what happened. Using a ball point pen to move the lead while hooked up on my home amp to check for the break and it seems near the binding post. Seems secure so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.... bought from a cheaper alternative so I highly doubt they're covered. Even if so I'm quite sure they will say they're abused (overexcursion) which I know they're not! I contacted Harman about a replacement and this was their reply:

"Thank you for your inquiry.

We do not have the woofers in stock as a seprate part for the MS62C.

Thanks & regards,"

Hmmm... back in the closet they go until a solution, but I'm not sure I'm going to attempt a repair for now.. maybe later before totally nixing them for parts.

Lesson learned... if it's a bit costly, buy authorized! :(
 
#531 ·
Yeah I actually picked up the last one sonic electronics had in stock so or seven months ago for 159.99! And they are authorized, one of my mids just stopped playing, couldn't find any obvious reason and tested it and all the other suspect components. Finally decided to send it back for warranty repair. Sonic gave me the option to send it to them or JBl, sent it to them and have another one in the mail on it's way to me, so pretty good to buy from them.
 
#532 ·
Sent them an email showing the date of purchase, paypal transaction ID #, plus shipping address. Keep my fingers crossed, but not going to expect anything. If they won't warranty it, then I guess I'm SOL. Still confused how the mid went out. Had them crossed at 100hz @ -24db on a medium powered amp. Solder joint seems good.... just died a rather quick death. :confused:
 
#533 ·
Looking at the recent price jump on JBL products at Sonic, it seems they are having to comply with the JBL re-seller rules now to remain an authorized dealer, but JBL has warrantied products bought from Sonic for at least the past 3 years. Just call JBL if it comes up and they will give you an RMA #.
 
#534 ·
I'm waiting for the warranty exchange process to get me a full set back from my JBL distributor. I had a customer have a mid go bad, making a scratchy sound, and the way I handled it was to pull a new mid from a set in stock and put his bad mid in the package, then I sent the whole set back. I'm out a set and my source doesn't have any in stock. I haven't dealt with JBL directly for warranty purposes.
 
#535 ·
Good news! JBL gave me an RA# for my set like Savinglots stated. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one. Still, if anyone tries to go cheap, don't chance it. After inspection of the mid, there was no damage to the mid that I've seen that I could have done. Short in the tinsel lead.... never seen that one before so hopefully it will get a full warranty replacement.
 
#536 ·
I Have had the same happen to both of my mids. the Leads get loose and I knew that if JBL puts new leads on and terminals, it will happen again. I went and did a solder job with having a set of wires soldered to the the terminals them selves and bypass the screw down. everything is soldered as one piece. Never had a problem since.

This all happened roughly about a week of having them. I have them active with 120-140 watts to them per speaker.
 
#537 · (Edited)
I installed mine in the front of my Tundra powered by an Alpine PDX-V9 (also have rear fills and two subs in the back). About a month after install, my system would cut out. I brought it to my audio shop and they said that the driver's side mid is shot (open voice coil) and the amp won't come out of Protect. I'm not sure if the speaker blew the amp, or the amp blew the speaker. I've got a new amp on the way, but haven't had a chance to contact the speaker shop yet (SavingLots). Badboy, sounds like that's where you got yours too? SavingLots pointed you straight to JBL to deal with the warranty? Did they try to handle it themselves at all? Any indication whether you'd expect a replacement or a repair? Did you get any timeframe? Thanks.
 
#541 ·
Sorry for the delayed response. Apparently that's how some retailers handle it which is perfectly legit as long as they are authorized. I contacted JBL and got a RA#. I've sent it off some time ago, but they say it takes at least 4 days before they look at it or whatever. I've heard before that JBL is a little slow. That's cool as long as I get a return. From what I understand they don't repair that particular set. They send out a new one and perhaps the repaird set is sold later as refurbished. Honestly it would seem to me that a repair would be better as they are fixing a common manufacture issue that would occur on a new set thus making the refurb more reliable. Just my 2 cents.

As of now I'm not sure I will put them back in. Nice set, but the tinsel lead issue seems like a common problem. That set isn't some $75 comp set either so that's a bit disappointing. Probably going back to raw after this deal.
 
#538 ·
going to be picking some of these up soon. will be running them passive, trying to keep things simple. should i bridge my amp to run 215w a side through them or stay at 75w? I guess i can try it both ways but Id like some headroom on them, but not sure if thats overkill
 
#542 ·
What's the OHM load on the mid and tweeters without using the crossover? Just picked up another car and they run tweeters in the deck from the factory so I did the same with this set and I get protection mode on my alpine deck.

I have yet to install the amp again to take full advantage of power and run active. just want to confirm my suspicion that i'm running a too low of a ohm load directly to the deck...
 
#544 ·
Unless the factory gear can't handle a 3-4 ohm load I'm not sure why it would cut out. The mid's Re is 2.952 which shouldn't matter on a 4 ohm stable amp.


As far as the mid's tinsel lead issues, the break seems to be right near the spring terminal solder joint that's been covered with liquid electrical tape or what ever that goop is. Using a ball point pen to slightly move the lead while powering it by my home audio receiver is how I came to that conclusion. At first I was worried about it being near the coil, but that wasn't the case. I thought about reheating the joint on the terminal, but I wanted to take my chances on a warranty first just in case that turned out not to be the issue. Can't remember when I sent it off, but I think it's been about 3 weeks now :worried:. Between the 3sixty.3 and a new set of Seas cd18re-mds that I want to put down in the doors, the JBL probably will wind up in the closet. Going back to a 4-way system soon.
 
#545 ·
As far as the mid's tinsel lead issues, the break seems to be right near the spring terminal solder joint that's been covered with liquid electrical tape or what ever that goop is. Using a ball point pen to slightly move the lead while powering it by my home audio receiver is how I came to that conclusion. At first I was worried about it being near the coil, but that wasn't the case. I thought about reheating the joint on the terminal, but I wanted to take my chances on a warranty first just in case that turned out not to be the issue. Can't remember when I sent it off, but I think it's been about 3 weeks now :worried:. Between the 3sixty.3 and a new set of Seas cd18re-mds that I want to put down in the doors, the JBL probably will wind up in the closet. Going back to a 4-way system soon.
Bayboy, I'm not sure mine blew as a result of the tinsel leads breaking. They may be broken and I just can't tell, but they appear pretty solid to me. The speaker has a distinct electrical burn smell, so not sure if that disqualifies the tinsel leads as being the culprit or not.

You sent yours off to JBL and it's been 3 weeks now? That seems like a long time just to get a replacement (which is what SavingLots.com said they would do).
 
#547 ·
What DIY drivers do these compare to? Just out of curiosity. What DIYs would stack up or best the MS-62C set for $200? I'm talking a pair midbasses and a pair of tweeters
 
#548 ·
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