JBL Project EVEREST DD66000 User manual

Project Everest DD66000
Product Commentaries
and User Guide
Thank you for purchasing the Project Everest DD66000 loudspeaker system.
Before using the system, please take the time to read through this user guide
to understand this product well and also to use it properly.

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Project Everest DD66000
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Table of Contents
Preface…5
Chapter 1
Legacy…7
Chapter 2
Project Everest DD66000…11
Chapter 3
Unpacking…19
Chapter 4
Selecting Cable…21
Chapter 5
Amplifier Recommendations…23
Chapter 6
Placement and Setup Considerations…25
Chapter 7
Switch Operations…27
Chapter 8
Connections…33
Chapter 9
Care and Maintenance…37
Chapter 10
Troubleshooting and Service Guide…39
Project Everest DD66000 Specifications…41

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Project Everest DD66000
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PREFACE
Thank you for selecting the Project Everest DD66000 loudspeaker system. It
represents the culmination of our research and developmental efforts in sound
reproduction over the last half century. We have labored to create a loudspeaker
system with no acoustical or electrical limitations whatsoever. While the Project
Everest DD66000 is itself a new development, the goal that it achieves goes back
to the earliest days of the original James B. Lansing Sound Company.
However, it is the level of your listening pleasure that ultimately determines
how successful we are in this endeavor. To ensure a perfect listening
experience, we ask you to carefully follow the setup and operation procedures
outlined in this Project Everest DD66000 User Guide.
This manual serves several purposes. It contains all necessary background
information and detailed instructions for setting up your Project Everest
DD66000 loudspeaker system, including unpacking the loudspeaker, selecting
the correct location, speaker wire, wiring method and amplification, and
connecting it to its associated electronics. This information will be found in
Chapters 3 through 7. In addition, we have included a detailed description of
your Project Everest DD66000 loudspeakers (Chapter 2) so that you may
become thoroughly acquainted with the unique design and technical features.
Despite the formidable nature of the Project Everest DD66000, the setup
procedure for this loudspeaker system is relatively simple. Again, we strongly
urge you to read this manual thoroughly before you begin, and then consult it
frequently throughout the process. Certain considerations must be made in
placing the speakers; their physical characteristics make it imperative that you
become familiar with the entire setup process in advance.
Also, we believe that the historical and technical information included will add
immeasurably to your complete enjoyment of your system. As a loudspeaker,
Project Everest DD66000 is unparalleled in the field of sound reproduction.
The story and principles behind it are an interesting, informative and fitting
start to a lifetime of musical enjoyment.

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Project Everest DD66000
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CHAPTER 1
Legacy – the Historical Development of the JBL Project Loudspeakers
Of those who have sought perfection in sound reproduction, only a few have
actually come close. For one thing, it is a costly process. It is rare indeed when
an individual or group is able to triumph over the constraints of economic and
technological realities even once.
At JBL, this has happened eight times. In each case, our engineers were told to
build the speaker system they had always wanted to build. Whatever resources
were required would be made available. Thus began an ongoing search for new
frontiers in sound reproduction, beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing to
the present day.
The products that have resulted from this venture are now known as the JBL
Project loudspeakers. Each represents the absolute peak of every technological,
material and engineering innovation available at the time, combined into a
single system. They are Hartsfield, Paragon, Everest DD55000, K2 S9500/7500,
K2 S5500, K2 S9800 and K2 S5800. The newest is Project Everest DD66000.
Although differing in performance details and physical attributes, all of the
Project loudspeakers have shared a common objective – to elevate sound
reproduction to levels defined only by the limitations of existing materials and
technology. The fact that all Project loudspeakers have many common features,
despite a spread of nearly sixty years, is a testimony to the excellence of the
technology and manufacturing techniques upon which JBL was built.
Defining the Project Concept
The Hartsfield began a tradition at JBL that continues today. First, engineer a
product as close to perfection as possible. When it reaches that level, make it better.
In 1954, the Hartsfield was significant in that it represented not new technology,
but rather a new level of technical manufacturing, in the spirit of the approach
pioneered by James B. Lansing some twenty years before. Like its Project
series successors, it was a high-efficiency system incorporating compression
driver technology and combining the qualities of high-output, low-distortion,

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exceptional stereo imaging and fatigue-free listening. Most important, it was
the first loudspeaker system available to consumers to do all this.
Project Everest DD66000, the most advanced and sophisticated loudspeaker in
the world today, is the latest expression in technology that is deeply rooted in
more than 60 years of tradition. JBL’s president in 1954, William Thomas,
described the Hartsfield as the “speaker system we have always wanted to build
[with] the finest components ever made available to serious listeners.”
He went on to describe the process behind the creation of the Hartsfield:
“Most people who own and appreciate fine sound reproduction equipment
look forward to the day when they will be able to assemble a system without
limitation in just exactly the way they think it should be done. Periodically a
manufacturer gets this same feeling.... The science of acoustics has provided us
with the basic principles available to all for achieving precision reproduction. It
is only a matter of incorporating these methods into a system design, and then
taking every bit of trouble necessary to build a system precisely to the design.”
He added, “It isn’t easy, but that’s the way it is done.”
The Ranger-Paragon, JBL’s second Project system, was the first serious
attempt at a reflecting speaker system, and broke ground in the new concept of
stereo imaging. Basically two independent full-range speaker systems installed
in a handsome, curved cabinet nearly 9 feet (2.7 meters) long, the Paragon’s
enclosure was treated as an extension of its transducers. In essence, the system
had its own “built-in acoustics.” In many respects, the Paragon anticipated
loudspeaker developments that would occur years and even decades later. This
“built-in acoustics” concept is present in the latest Project Everest DD66000.
For nearly 30 years, the Paragon remained the most acoustically perfect speaker
system for the home. Today, along with the Hartsfield, it is still the most
sought-after speaker in the world.
In 1986, JBL introduced a new Project system that retained the Paragon’s
overall sense of musicality while upgrading its character by incorporating three
decades’ worth of continuous development in every facet of its design. Its name –
Project Everest – reflected the pinnacle of achievement it represented. This was
the original Project Everest DD55000.

Project Everest DD66000
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For the first time, the rest of the sound reproduction chain – and not the
loudspeaker or its transducers – would impose limits on overall system
performance. Like the Paragon and Hartsfield, Project Everest was built
around compression driver technology and addressed a more refined stereo
image than was previously considered technically feasible.
Since the original Project Everest was introduced, sound recording and
playback technology has undergone a revolution of its own. With the advent of
the CD, extremely demanding recorded signals became the rule rather than the
exception – the typical source material used by the average audio enthusiast
became superior to the best demonstration material of even just a few years
prior. In overall dynamics and transient response, transducers became once
again a potentially weak link in the high-end audio reproduction chain.
It was in this environment that JBL set out to create its fourth and fifth Project
loudspeakers, K2 S9500 and K2 S5500. As with Hartsfield, the simplicity of a
two-way system was considered the most promising design track. Advances in
transducer design and low-frequency alignment would make possible the
construction of a two-way system of unprecedented physical and acoustical
scale. Our engineers took the core components – the low- and high-frequency
drivers – and optimized them by redesigning their magnetic structures,
diaphragms and framework for greater linearity, dynamic capability and
transient response.
In the years following the introduction of the K2 S9500 and K2 S5500, sound
reproduction technology underwent another series of revolutionary changes,
with the introduction of DVD-Video, Dolby®Digital, DTS,
®DVD-Audio and
Super Audio CD (SACD™). Frequency responses to 50kHz, as well as three-
digit dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratios, have now become commonplace.
In order to faithfully reproduce such robust sonic properties, the loudspeaker
needed to undergo drastic improvements to its transducer, network and
enclosure technologies.
The K2 S9800 employed a three-way design, incorporating an ultrahigh-
frequency (UHF) compression driver and horn to reproduce high frequencies
up to 50kHz. With the UHF driver handling the higher frequencies, the high-
frequency (HF) transducer could then be upgraded to a new design using a 3-inch
(75mm) diaphragm for better reproduction of lower frequencies and to blend
better with the woofer than the older generations’ 2-inch (50mm) diaphragm

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did. Both compression drivers utilized newly developed beryllium diaphragms
to provide the lowest distortion and flattest frequency response possible.
In order to re-create the extremely high dynamic range provided by today’s
audio sources, a brand-new low-frequency transducer was developed from the
ground up, utilizing an alnico magnet, a 4-inch (100mm) edge-wound voice
coil, and a 15-inch (380mm) cone. Extensive computer-aided engineering
and design effort was necessary to develop the optimized port tuning
employed in Project K2 S9800, and has resulted in a significant advance
in the concept of state-of-the-art acoustic reproduction. As a result of the
K2®efforts, a loudspeaker system with higher sensitivity and a wider
dynamic range became a reality without power compression or distortion,
even at extremely high drive levels.
The development of the Project Everest DD66000 loudspeaker system was
undertaken as a celebration of JBL’s 60th anniversary and as a realization of
the potential engendered by the breakthroughs discussed above. The stately
character of the Hartsfield, exceptional woodcraftsmanship of the Paragon,
the “built-in acoustics” which treat the enclosure as an extension of the
transducers, and the state-of-the-art transducer technologies that were built up
from two generations of the Project K2 developments were all poured into this
new challenge to extend the acoustic and electrical possibilities in the latest
model of the Project Everest.
Despite its 21st century power and sophistication, Project Everest DD66000
is a synthesis of tradition and technology. It reflects the design, material,
engineering and manufacturing expertise developed and refined through nearly
six decades of experience that are the exclusive legacy of one loudspeaker
builder – JBL.

Project Everest DD66000
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CHAPTER 2
The Project Everest DD66000 Loudspeaker – a Triumph in Acoustics and
Technology
The following sections describe the primary features and components of the
Project Everest DD66000 loudspeaker system.
The basic system configuration is what JBL historically has referred to as an
augmented two-way. In the 1950s and 1960s, JBL primarily built two-way
systems with a 12- or 15-inch (305mm or 380mm) woofer crossed over to a
large-format compression driver/horn combination. Some of the systems would
be “augmented” by a UHF device, usually the 075 ring radiator which would
operate above 8kHz. These systems would have only a single crossover point in
the middle of the audio range, to minimize any sonic degradation caused by the
dividing network. The DD66000 has a single midrange crossover at 700Hz,
blending one 1501AL woofer to the 476Be compression driver and horn
combination. The 045Be-1 UHF driver is brought in at 20kHz to cover an
octave and a half of ultrasonic frequencies. A second 1501AL operates in the
bass frequency range from below 30Hz to around 150Hz, where it is rolled off
at a gradual 6dB/octave. The first-order slope ensures proper amplitude and
phase summing between the two woofers over their total operating range. Both
woofers operate below 150Hz, but only one of them extends up to the 700Hz
crossover point. This is done to achieve proper directivity control throughout
the entire woofer operating range, while delivering powerful and extended
low-frequency performance. Above 700Hz, the HF compression driver and
horn combination operates unassisted, all the way to 20kHz (Fig. 1).
Figure 1 – On-axis response of the DD66000 system and of each of the
transducers through its crossover network (2.83V @ 1m)

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The transducers, horns and crossover networks are housed in a visually
stunning enclosure that is reminiscent of both the Hartsfield and Paragon
systems. The specially curved baffle provides the sidewalls for the main
horn. The top and bottom horn flares are accomplished by the attachment of
precision-molded SonoGlass®horn “lips” to the upper enclosure surface. The
UHF driver is mounted to a SonoGlass horn which is itself mounted to the back
of the die-cast aluminum housing.
The entire enclosure is constructed with 1-inch (25mm) MDF. The complex
bracing is used to precisely hold the curved panels in exactly the correct shape,
allowing exceptional fit and consistency.
The woofer baffle module is a six-sided shell, constituting an extremely rigid
and secure structure. A leather-covered outer baffle is then applied, giving
the total combined woofer baffle a thickness of 1-3/4 inch (45mm). The outer
baffle is removable to enable repair or replacement of the leather surface,
should that ever be necessary.
The system is ported on the rear with a tuning frequency of 34Hz. Two large
4-inch (100mm)-diameter flared ports are combined with the input connections
on a massive three-piece die-cast aluminum structure. The entire enclosure rests
on four stainless-steel foot assemblies. Stainless-steel coasters are included
to protect wood and tile floors from damage from the spike feet. The grille
assembly is constructed of MDF and uses a thick, perforated metal sheet, to
provide the curved shape. The grille is securely attached to the enclosure with
metal pins and rubber cups.

Project Everest DD66000
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The 1501AL and 476Be are both designed to be absolute-minimum-distortion
drive units. Although they are capable of tremendous acoustic output, they are
designed to be completely linear in every way, up to a reasonable drive level.
This enables the system to sound the same, regardless of playback level.
TRANSDUCERS
The 1501AL Low-Frequency Driver
The 1501AL low-frequency driver is very similar to the 1500AL used in the
K2 S9800 system. It incorporates a new high-impedance voice coil to allow a
pair of woofers to be used while still maintaining an 8-ohm system impedance.
The voice-coil length has been increased to 1-3/16 inch (30.5mm) – from 13/16
inch (20.3mm) – and its milling width has been reduced slightly. This was done
to allow greater clearance from the outer diameter of the coil to the laminated
top plate and to provide a larger area of coil surface for heat dissipation. These
coil improvements allow the 1501AL to handle up to 25 percent more power
than the 1500AL.

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Figure 2 – 1501AL section view
The 1501AL low-frequency driver is a 15-inch (380mm)-diameter device with
a 4-inch (100mm) voice coil completely immersed in a radial field generated by
an alnico 5DG magnet. Alnico was chosen because of its stable operating point.
This material is insensitive to temperature changes and back EMF from the
coil. JBL has overcome the tendency of alnico to demagnetize with high drive
by utilizing a massive shorting ring at the base of the motor assembly. The top
plate is constructed of alternating copper-steel laminations. The presence of the
copper rings linearizes the magnetic properties of the gap to all but eliminate
eddy current distortion.
The outer suspension is made of EPDM foamed rubber, which has the longevity
and frequency response characteristics of traditional rubber surrounds, but with
a low density very close to that of foam surrounds. Low-loss EPDM material
was chosen so that the transient detail of musical signals could be preserved.
Dual inverted Nomex®spiders are employed for the cancellation of even-order
distortion components. All suspension elements are tailored for maximum
mechanical displacement linearity.
The cone consists of a special layered paper-pulp matrix with proprietary
Aquaplas damping, which offers more pistonic behavior throughout the
woofer’s operating bandwidth, and controlled cone breakup beyond it.

Project Everest DD66000
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A thick-wall, cast-aluminum frame is used to rigidly support the motor
structure. This fully vented frame and motor design also serves to minimize the
back pressure under the dome and spider, helping to reduce harmonic distortion
to even lower levels. JBL’s Vented Gap Cooling™(VGC) is incorporated within
the motor structure, and lowers the operating temperature of the coil during
moments of high power operation.
All together, these design factors provide reduced harmonic distortions at very low
and high acoustic output, improved power handling, reduced power compression,
and more consistent spectral balance, with varying input drive level.
476Be High-Frequency Compression Driver and Bi-Radial®Horn
The 476Be high-frequency compression driver makes use of a 4-inch (100mm)-
diameter, pure-beryllium diaphragm with a 4-inch (100mm) aluminum edge-
wound coil, operating into JBL’s existing rapid-flare-type, coherent-wave
phasing plug. The use of an efficient neodymium rare-earth motor structure
with a new copper-sleeved polepiece maintains maximum gap flux and reduced
coil inductance at a minimal size and weight. The combination of these features
has resulted in a driver that can deliver superior sound quality, regardless of
acoustic power output, with very little distortion and power compression.
Figure 3 – 476Be section view

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A high-purity copper sleeve is used for the polepiece. This greatly improves the
electrical conductivity of the copper sleeve for lower coil inductance and thus
greater high-frequency output at 15kHz and above. The copper-sleeved pole
quickly wicks away heat generated by the coil, thereby contributing to a
reduction in dynamic power compression. To compensate for the higher
resistance caused by the use of a copper-sleeved polepiece, a large magnet area
has been used, in conjunction with special high-grade and high-temperature-
grade neodymium.
The phasing plug is of JBL’s traditional rapid-flare, coherent-wave four-slot
design. This coherent-wave design shapes the wave output, producing a truly
coincident wave front as the sound enters the Bi-Radial horn. The diaphragm
is formed of pure beryllium foil that is manufactured with a proprietary high-
temperature and pressure-forming process. This process enables the integrated
JBL diamond-pattern surround to be formed as one piece with the dome.
Compared to other methods, forming the diaphragms out of sheets of
beryllium foil yields greater reliability and resistance to failures due to fatigue.
If breakage ever does occur, the diaphragm does not shatter into pieces or
harmful dust. Beryllium has a stiffness-to-density ratio of about five times that
of aluminum, magnesium, titanium and iron. This maintains pistonic behavior
up to 20,000Hz, eliminating diaphragm modal breakup and keeping the upper
frequency response very smooth, with minimal distortion spikes. Compared
to the 475Nd compression driver used in JBL’s original K2 S9500 system,
this is about a 45 percent reduction in moving mass. With such a low mass,
the moving assembly is able to respond even quicker to musical transients,
to further enhance detail and microdynamic nuances.
JBL’s proprietary diamond-pattern surround is utilized to maintain proper
control and tuning of the second diaphragm resonance (the surround resonance
mode). The proper control and placement of this surround resonance is critical
for good high-frequency shape, extension and level.
These features, when taken as a whole, create a new large-format compression
driver with the greatest high-frequency extension, lowest distortion, smoothest
response and greatest sonic detail.

Project Everest DD66000
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045Be-1 Ultrahigh-Frequency Compression Driver and Bi-Radial Horn
Like the original 045Be, the 045Be-1 uses a 1-inch (25mm) beryllium
diaphragm and 2-inch (50mm) neodymium magnetic structure. The pure-
beryllium diaphragm is less than 0.04mm thick and has a mass of only 0.1
gram. The single-layer aluminum-ribbon voice coil is wound without a former
and is attached directly to the diaphragm. The driver employs the smallest
annular-slit phasing plug that JBL has ever designed. The 045Be-1 has been
designed to improve manufacturing yield and consistency. Small changes have
been made to the top plate and some significant improvements were made to
the surround shape and clamping methodology. As a result, the driver has
picked up nearly 5dB of increased output above 30kHz. A section view of the
045Be-1 driver is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4 – 045Be-1 section view
The extremely low mass of the moving system, high magnetic flux density and
high rigidity of beryllium produce response that is very smooth from below
8kHz to beyond 50kHz.
The response curve has a slight downhill tilt, due to the constant-directivity
nature of the horn used in this system. The Bi-Radial horn is properly scaled to
maintain a coverage angle of 60 degrees in the horizontal plane and 30 degrees
in the vertical plane over the frequency interval from 10kHz to 50kHz.

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Internal Crossover Network
The circuit topology, combined with the acoustic behavior of the 1501AL and
476Be, provides a 24dB-per-octave transition at 700Hz. This is the primary
crossover point of the system. Additionally, the 045Be-1 is turned on above
20kHz to provide extended response to beyond 50kHz. A second 1501AL
woofer is used from below 30Hz to around 150Hz, at which point it is gently
rolled off at 6dB per octave. The design intent is to use both woofers in the bass
frequencies and slowly transition to a single woofer in the midrange. This
technique allows a primary crossover point between just two drivers and
permits proper control of the directivity pattern of the system, while providing
tremendous power and air movement capabilities at the lower frequencies. As a
result, the speed and power of the DD66000 system are unmatched, from the
lowest to the highest frequencies.
All of the electrical components are of the highest quality and exhibit the
lowest internal loss. The inductors used are “air core” so as not to introduce
nonlinear hysteresis effects. Capacitors are constructed using polypropylene
foil, which is known for having minimal distortion caused by dielectric
absorption nonlinearities. The mid-, high- and ultrahigh-frequency networks
employ battery bias to operate the capacitors effectively in a Class A mode.
Every attempt is made to present as smooth a system impedance as possible
to the driving amplifier. This design element is often overlooked in many
loudspeaker systems, yet amplifiers work their best when they are given a
smooth, level load impedance in which to deliver current

(Fig. 5).
Figure 5 – DD66000 system impedance
The aggregate of these attributes allows the DD66000 system to translate the
electrical signal from source material into an accurate and unencumbered three-
dimensional sound field. The system can do this at any desired listening level,
from whisper-quiet to big-band loud, while at the same time maintaining
unchanged acoustic characteristics.

Project Everest DD66000
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CHAPTER 3
Unpacking the Project Everest DD66000 System
All components of the Project Everest system have been very carefully packed
for maximum protection against damage. As with any superior audio product, it is
advisable to keep the original packing materials, in case it is necessary to transport
the Project Everest system. Because of the bulk and weight of this loudspeaker, at
least two people are required to unpack it in the following manner.
Stainless-steel round feet are installed on the bottom of the speaker cabinet.
In order to avoid damage to the floor, we strongly advise unpacking on a well-
protected surface, such as a thick carpet or cardboard. (Your loudspeaker system
is packed with a protective wrapping, but this is omitted in drawings below.)
I. Cut the straps securing the carton with scissors or a knife. (Please be
careful so that the cut straps don’t spring up and hit your face or hand.)
II. Slowly lift the top cover up and remove it. If there is not enough room
above the box to pull off the top cover, cut the side and top of it with a
knife (drawing II-2) and pull it horizontally (drawing II-3).
I II

II-2

II-3
III. Remove the cardboard and packing materials. Please do not forget to take
the accessories out from the upper endpads.
IV. Remove the upper endpads.
V. Slide the loudspeaker system down from the bottom board, together with
the bottom cardboard.
III

IV

V

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VI.
Cut tapes at the corners of the bottom cardboard (drawing VI), slide the
loudspeaker system out toward you, together with bottom endpads
(drawing VI-2).
VII.
Lift the system slightly on the right and left, in turn, to remove the bottom
endpads.
VIII.
Remove the protective wrapping.
VI VI-2 VII VIII
Products are shipped with round-tipped spikes on the bottom of the cabinet. If
you would like to use pinpoint spikes, remove round-tipped spikes and replace
them with pinpoint spikes. In case they are hard to loosen, please use an 11/16-
inch (18mm) wrench.
Four metal coasters are also provided. These are to be placed between the foot
and the floor, should further protection of the floor coverings be required.
Grille Removal
The Everest DD66000 is shipped with its grille on the system. You can remove
the grille with the following procedures.
Step 1: Hold the lower parts of the grille with both hands and pull it up.
Step 2: Pull the grille toward you in order to take the grille out of the pins from
the cabinet.
Step 3: Pull the grille down and remove it from the enclosure.
Repeat the above procedures in reverse order in order to place the grille back
on the enclosure.