Review: JM Lab Spectral 913.1 columns

JM Lab Spectral: Introduction

As a result of the admiration of Wojtek’s colleague over the polykevlar ones, I came across Spectrale as a result of the admiration of Antea and Vega. These structures are already very rare and often expensive or heavily wiped. So I was looking for a slightly smaller 913.1, which fit my modest (but also quite typical) size perfectly.

Let me put it straight: I have never been a big fan of mini utopia …

Not that I underestimate their advantages, but this sound is not entirely my cup of tea. At least in any of the sets I tried. The diameter was too light, I mastered the top quite quickly, but the low bass was not there – it results from their design.

However, after buying smaller spectras – 908 I was pleasantly surprised by the diameter. Openness, liveliness, tangibility, but also color, resolution. They lacked a bit of scale, momentum, but also the pickups were small and of lower class than in 913.1

JM Lab Spectral: Renovation

So when the reviewed Spectral 913.1 appeared, I did not hesitate for a long time, even though the condition was poor – the foams in the tweeters were rotten (typical) and the sides were battered and scratched. Fortunately, the polykevlar pickups were in almost perfect condition, and the switches were original.

So my next adventure with renovation began – the tweeters went to the site, and I took care of disassembling the bacon.

As always in this type of situations, it appeared in my head several times ‘ZLet it go, it’s a waste of time, listen and only when it’s worth it, have fun‘or’Pay it, let someone do it for you“I quickly silenced it and got to work.

I didn’t have to wait long – it turned out that my intuition did not disappoint me once again. Each of the sides was supposed to be on 4 screws, and they were on 8 or 12. To get there, I had to remove the damping from the glass wool, put my hand through, for example, a medium-sized chamber and almost break my forearm to get rid of screws.

The disassembly of the 4 sides took me 4-5h, the result was scratched whole hands, a lot of obscene words flew into the air …

I was angry with myself for the next 2 days that I did it at all, because I knew that it was not even half the way. 🙂

The sides went to the veneer – I chose a natural walnut as more universal and suitable for today’s interiors. The assembly was much easier, although of course the whole thing stretched over time much longer than I would have liked.

I am writing this a bit as a warning – if you like to bury, you have what, where and place for it – great, the end result always gives a lot of satisfaction – even if you use the support of other specialists.

However, if it is to be the first job of this type – it is often worth saving your nerves, time and buying something a bit more expensive, but after renovation, or just looking patiently in better condition.

JM Lab Spectral 913.1: Sound

But let’s get to the point. Spectrale in a new veneer, with tweeters plugged into my track, turned out to be something worth waiting for.

In my opinion, they sound much more interesting and completely than the Mini Utopia – they are not so fast and transparent, but they have a number of other advantages.

First of all, the diameter of them is more pleasant, natural. They play less competitive, not so easy. They tolerate a wider repertoire. They are a bit like the 908 sound, but each band is better.

Thanks to two 8-inch converters for the loudspeaker, we get a much better playing momentum.

The large transducers also make the band full at a low volume. Not only the top is audible, but the midrange also looks great, with color, emotions and life all the time.

The bass is marked accordingly. Not as good as with Electry 920.1, but I think better than with the vast majority of speakers I had.

Quite a long time, there were Kef Reference 205 with a very similar size and I often had the opportunity to compare the sound of these constructions

Kefy was definitely more objective, neutrality, but so pastel, a bit polite. 205 also presented better bass quality – it was better controlled, more colorful and faster.

Spectral means definitely more life, a bolder color, more emotions. Slightly weaker bass, but also a better excavation.

Another thing is that KEF sounded great with Audio Note OTO, but it was disastrous, for example, with Audion monoblates (too neutral and too skinny). Spectral works well with virtually any electronics I have attached to them.

They are driven well enough by the Audion 300B and thanks to my class I was able to get from sets based on Spectrale better sound than the 205.

JM Lab Spectral 913.1: Listings

JM Lab Spectral 913.1: my opinion

These are loudspeakers that I can really recommend to virtually everyone.

Objectively, they are much better than the Snell E3, although Snelle loves a bit more …

These are very universal loudspeakers – they are actually nowhere outstanding, but it is also difficult to clearly indicate their weakness. Although a moment … in fact, they are extremely universal loudspeakers, but at the same time with a perfect diameter and perfectly cooperating with the lamp. It wasn’t until a few weeks after I published this post that I realized it.

In terms of versatility, the ability to convey emotions, play live, speed, timbre, and to play with a lamp … I don’t know any other such speakers. JM Lab Antea would probably be the answer – but it’s a very rare specimen and in 20 sq m you have to flex a lot to play.

Spectrale found their way perfectly in my 20 sq m, but I am convinced that they will play without any problems, both in a slightly smaller and much larger size.

Electronics and setting will be of key importance here.