JBL PRX718s Active 700 Watt Subwoofer Review
February 3, 2010 | 1 Comments | Active Speakers, Latest News, Speakers
I just moved up to the JBL PRX718s sub-woofer system.
SPECIFICATIONS AT A GLANCE
Built-In Crown 700 watt (RMS) amplifier
With its Duraflex finish and foam-backed grill, its beautiful and portable at only 74 pounds.
The PRX718s employs a JBL 2268FF 18″ Differential Drive woofer, the same used in more expensive JBL passive systems.
Frequency Range (-10 db) is 33 hz to 160 hz.
Frequency Response (-3 db) is 37 hz to 130 hz.
Crossover frequency is 120 hz.
Holy crap on a stick, Batman!
Stop the presses, I’m really impressed by this product. The last time I was this jazzed by a sub-woofer of any type was the Velodyne UL-18 (another sub-woofer from 25 years ago).
In the past 20 years we’ve owned this home– I could not even get a typical 18″ pro audio sub up the two flights of narrow (30″ wide) stairs leading from my basement to the upstairs home theater setup, but we really wanted to see “This Is It” (MJ’s swan song) with a super subwoofer!
The JBL PRX 718s cabinet is only 21″ wide, and is super easy to pick up and carry with its two ergonomic handles. Once I positioned the sub behind the couch, I then proceeded to bring the PRX 512m stage monitors upstairs, using them for the mains. This turned out to be a great match, they fit perfectly on our existing speaker stands.
Note also that the Eon 518s sub is TOO WIDE and not possible to carry like the 718s, which is 10 pounds heavier.
I wanted to run an A-B comparison upstairs, but from the moment I hooked up the new box, it was readily apparent that there would be no need to compare the two (more on that later).
Our surround sound amplifier is a Yamaha DSP (Dolby 2.0) putting 50 wpc into the rear channels. Its old but it still works great.
The system included a Blu-Ray player, which we also used to play CDs. I used some XLR to RCA adapter plugs that were laying around. Talk about over-kill, it was like putting a jet engine on a wright brothers plane.
From the instant we hooked this system up, we knew its days as home theater use were numbered, but with a couple of weeks between events, we could spend the extra time breaking these boxes in! On a concrete floor it was easier to set the gain, but in our very wood coated room (both ceiling and floors), the system had to be dialed down. Our original front end (for the last 25 years) was two Vandersteen 2ci speakers (10″ 3-way), powered by a 200 watt amplifier. We now were running 1,700 watts with an incredible
amount of dynamic range with an increase of an entire octave of bass!
Wow, it was great to see what MJ’s concert would have been like, and we got to experience it as close as possible to the original sound.
The 718s was reproducing every note of the bass lines, the kick drums, there is an immediacy of attack not apparent with other 18″ powered subs. Usually, you get a sort of delay, perhaps some kind of rumbling from transients, not with this box! Its painfully accurate, not thumping to excess like other 18′s. Hearing that lower end extension down to 33 hz, makes for part of the difference, but its also the upper bass (near the crossover point) that shines as well.
However, the PRX718s has an internal crossover network (120 hz) that does a fantastic job of making the seamless transition for the main speakers. That same crossover unit has a selectable switch that allows you to run the outputs to a second PRX718s cabinet.
Note also that the 512m stage monitors have their best response between 100 hz and 20k, so its giving them a chance to shine without having to bother with low frequencies.
The new sub experienced no delay or off-axis weirdness, like I notice with the Eon Sub at times. Less need to use the polarity switch, but its there if you need one I guess.
After a couple days of rigorous testing in our home theater upstairs, and watching various Blu-Ray and DVD movies, playing CDs of our favorite artists, the conclusion: When it comes time to replace our Home Theater audio system, this is going to be the subwoofer/satellite system that replaces it, but in the interest of marital harmony– the new PRX Series speakers had to say good-bye and the Vandersteen speakers returned to their stands.
The PRX718s now resides in my basement testing grounds– where its spending about 5-6 hours of daily break-in use…..Here’s the results so far:
With the PRX-512m speakers as the mains, its incredible how much bass energy can be transmitted with just one sub-woofer. I cannot image what it would sound like with TWO sub-woofers. Maybe if there were 300 persons in the room, and you wanted to balance the bass on both sides of the dance floor in a night club. But for my purposes as a mobile wedding DJ, doing a typical wedding reception for up to 250 persons, I should be OK with just ONE of these (although I will always want another one).
Even on a concrete floor, the new sub has a very steady response from every angle. Even though the most energy comes out of the front of the box, the off-axis response is very clear and distinct. I’m up on the 3rd floor of my home typing this review, and I can hear every bass note of every song being played. This cabinet has a tendency to be heard thru walls, which may be a problem at multi-use facilities with paper thin walls.
OK, let’s recap the TOP TEN REASONS TO BUY JBL PRX718s SUB-WOOFER:
1) Extremely portable (for an 18″ sub-woofer) and can go up a flight of stairs if necessary!
2) Contains a built-in Crown amplifier with 700 watts RMS and 1400 watts of peak power output.
3) Looks absolutely gorgeous with the lighted JBL/Crown logo on its front grille.
4) Matches perfectly with the JBL PRX512m Stage Monitor as a sub-woofer & satellite system.
5) Can be used for the ultimate Home Audio subwoofer, provided you kill your wife first (I’m just kidding about that one).
6) Is extremely affordable, considering its one of the breakthrough pro audio products of the last 25 years.
7) Should fetch a ridiculously high resale value, based on my past experience with JBL products.
I’m buying a SECOND one of these, as soon as I complete the latter part of #5 (I’m really just kidding guys!)
9) Reproduces audio frequencies at subsonic levels which were previously not possible for a box of this size.
10) They are for sale at AUDIOLINES
TO CONCLUDE THIS RABID RECOMMENDATION:
If you’re a DJ who wants to have a 700 watt 18″ sub-woofer that meets audiophile specifications (33 hz to 140 hz +/- 3 db, .01 THD) and not break your back loading it into the minivan, THIS is the sub-woofer for you!
Popularity: 39% [?]
