When you must have control (JBL CONTROL 1)

Member Name: blueboxoffroad

Product:	JBL CONTROL 1
Date:	28/10/09 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, solid and sound good

Disadvantages: Not as pretty as some...

I'm not going to give you chapter and verse on the specific details of the frequency range of these speakers or their power handling. JBL's website gives all the technical spec you could wish for.(www.JBL.com)

These small speakers are a great solution if you want decent output levels from a small enclosure. They are available in either black, silver or white and are a great cost-effective speaker solution.

I have found them to be useful in three applications (coming as I do from an Audio-Visual background)

1) As part of a discrete speech amplification system. If a user requires a subtle set of PA speakers (in a small meeting room for example) these are just the ticket. There are adaptors that allow them to be fitted directly to microphone stands, which are a lot neater and have a smaller footprint than true speaker stands. With a power output of up to 150W, they are a surprisingly loud little box, with surprisingly good bass response for such small drivers.

2) Permanent installation for meeting rooms. Again, as the units are fairly small, deliver good levels and come with their own wall mounts, they make a neat installation speaker. The only problem I have encountered is that if the speakers are installed in the landscape rather than portrait orientation they can slowly come undone through the vibration generated by use. This is not a problem in some locations, but architects and interior designers really do want them to look the way they were described! A spot of clear nail varnish on the threads may well act as loctite and solve this potential problem.

3) Domestic surround speakers. Whilst not specifically designed for this job they are a great, small, good sounding unit, smaller in size than many; better audio quality than the cheap imitations (and look out for those - for once the badge DOES mean something!) available, and better than many of the so-called bookshelf speakers, surround speakers and the like costing up to three times as much. Ideal too for a bedroom system.

Whilst you won't get rib shaking party power out of these, they will give a good solid sound, being pretty neutral in tone. The top end and mid-range are both reproduced well, and whilst the bass is limited by the small driver size, it never ceases to amaze me just how far down the range these will go. I feel the 150W rating is a bit optimistic, but they DO go loud. I have driven them with a range of different amps, both domestic (Marantz, Denon, JVC and Arcam) and Pro PA amps - (QSC, Samson and Toa) and they deliver a clean sound, particularly for speech. They are not the most beautiful speakers around but I judge my components on the basis of what they do more than how they look.

These speakers will last a lifetime and are, incidentally, magnetically shielded to prevent them affecting TV/Plasma screen images, where the image is stabilised by the use of magnets. You can, therefore site them directly on top of minitors without fear of the image distorting due to the magnetic field around the speakers. This is why I have seen many video editors using these as monitors for their editing work - fed by a PC or laptop they are a fine alternative to most of the small PC speakers one sees in the likes of Comet and Currys (no offence!)

At under £70 I really rate these on value-for-money - they are hard to beat at that price point (did I really use that phrase - the marketeers have a lot to answer for!)

Summary: Great value speakers for many applications.

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