The studio 520c review has a rather unique design and it certainly stands out in a crowd. JBL has brought their experience from the professional speaker market to this series of floorstanders with a horn based design. Dual 8’’ low-frequency transducers are placed under a single 1’’ high-frequency compression driver that is located in a bi-radial high frequency horn. This gives the speakers a sound that is very neutral and easy going considering their size. They also deliver a pretty powerful low end that is great to play around with.
The cabinets are constructed from rigid and heavily braced MDF (medium-density fibreboard) materials that reduce resonances. The symmetrical non-parallel surfaces further help to reduce sonic interference. The woofers feature ribbed PolyPlas woofers that improve strength and lower distortion for rich bass. The high-frequency drivers are surrounded by a glass-filled Bi-Radial horn that provides crisp, focused dimensionally accurate sound.
For a true theatre-quality surround-sound experience the center channel is critical, and the Studio 520C delivers. Engineered and voice-matched to the other Studio 500 series speakers, the 520C’s 25 mm HF compression driver and a Bi-Radial horn with dual 100 mm cast-frame Symmetrical Field Geometry (SFG) woofers make movie dialog and effects crystal clear and natural and replicate the experience of a live performance.
When testing the studio 520c we played a variety of music from rock to pop and they handled all with ease and gave us great sounds that we could easily listen to for long periods of time. The bass was particularly impressive as they managed to dive quite deep and kept the pace with most of the bass demanding tracks we had. They also have a wide soundstage and can be easily used in small to medium rooms as they don’t take up much space and can be placed close to the wall.
