Jazz Speaker J8902 3-piece speaker system
Introduction
The last time we looked at products of Jazz speaker was when we reviewed their De-005 and DE-006 Dolby Digital decoders around a year back. Until jazz speakers contacted us and offered us these decoders for review I had never come across them in my life. However after testing those units out I have grown a great degree of respect for Jazz speaker products. I’m sure some of you reading this haven’t heard much about Jazz speakers either, so let me enlighten you as to who these people are. Jazz speakers is a subsidiary of its parent company Jazz Hipster corporation, which is one of the largest speaker manufactures in Taiwan. Unfortunately Jazz speakers don’t have any distribution channel in the US, however they’re currently expanding their operations in Australia and anyone interested can purchase their products here.
This was the first time we had the opportunity to test out one of their speaker systems. Before we go any further let me inform everyone that we’ll be taking a look at one of Jazz Speaker’s 5.1 surround sound speaker systems, so stay tuned for that as well. Today we’ll be looking at one of their 3-piece speaker systems, the J8902. The speakers are designed very much in line with the iMac style, and if you currently own a iMac these speakers will bring out a really cool hip-hop look to your desktop. It sure has changed the look of my desktop for sure, even though I don’t own a iMac myself.
Before I go onto more detail it’s best to take a look at the specs of this 3-piece system
Power
20 Watts RMS Total Power
Subwoofer — 12 Watts
Speakers — 4 Watts Each
Drivers
Subwoofer — 4″ Woofer
Speakers — 2.5″ Full Range
Frequency Response
50Hz to 20,000Hz
Impedance
4 Ohms
Controls
Power, Volume, Bass
Input
-3.5mm Stereo Input
Outputs
-Left/Right Speaker Outputs
-Subwoofer Output
Magnetically Shielded
Yes
Dimensions
Subwoofer — 250x250x270mm
Speakers — 103x103x80mm
Control Box — 98x168x197mm
Now any audio fan would know that for a sub to produce decent bass response, it should have at least a 6″ sub installed. However if you read our review on the TDK Tremor S-150 speaker system, you would remember that it’s sub had only two 3″ drivers. Therefore what we can understand is that if the drivers are of strong enough to handle high current flows it’ll have good bass response. I’m sure this is what TDK has implemented in their system, and it’s very likely that Jazz speakers are adopting a similar strategy on the J8902 system as well. Well find out soon enough to give an opinion on this 🙂
The package contains two satellites, one sub, a control box, user manual, a power adapter and all required cables to hook up the speaker system onto your PC. One this speaker system will guarantee is that it’ll turn heads from all over the planet, even if it isn’t the most powerful speaker system out there. I had loads of my friends (some I even don’t know : ) coming over just to see this mysterious creature sitting on my desktop.
Setting up the J8902 is pretty easy and straightforward. The satellites and the sub connect directly to the control unit. The cables are color coded so you won’t have problems figuring out which goes where. Next you need to attach the line out from the PC to the line in of the control box, and once you hook up the power adapter you’re set to go. The speakers are magnetically shielded so you can place them close to your monitor if you wish. I have placed them next to a monitor and it doesn’t seem to receive any interference at all.
The two satellites are enclosed in a transparent plastic globe which has been flattened out at the bottom. A white mesh cover in front of the satellites hide them from our view and give a really neat look. The 2.5″ satellites produce a total of 4Watts R.M.S each.
Now if you look at the box you’d see that the box displays this system as if it is rated at 1000Watts PMPO. If you read our TDK S-150 review you’d know that PMPO ratings are only marketing tricks. The true power of this system is 20Watts R.M.S in total, thus the PMPO rating does at all give a true rating of the power of the system. So when ever you decide on buying a speaker system, never go by the PMPO rating.
Since the insides of the satellite can be seen directly you can see that the built quality of these drivers are really good and they show great promise. If you wish you could remove the front covers, if you think it gives a cooler look, however this exposes the drivers directly to various hazards, so make sure they are in a safe place if you plan on doing this. The beauty of these satellites is that they are so small that if they weren’t on, one would mistake them for paper weights. This makes them very easy to camouflage in a small desktop area.
The real highlight of this speaker system is its sub. This is no doubt the strangest looking sub all of us here have seen. It looks partly like an Easter egg and partly like a lunar landing module. The sub truly attracts lots of curious eyes in its direction. As mentioned before the sub uses a 4″ driver and it’s rated at 12Watts R.M.S. The sub has been very well designed and it rests on four silver colored stands which add to it’s sleek look.
The control unit is where all speakers connect to. The functionality of the control unit has been kept pretty simple, with volume control, power on button and a bass control. The control unit is colored metallic silver which suites the whole system well.
