He went on to describe the process
behind his creation: “Most people who
own and appreciate fine sound repro-
duction 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 basic
principles-available to all for achieving
precision reproduction. It is only a mat-
ter of incorporating these methods into a
system design, and then taking every bit
of trouble necessary to build a system
precisely to the design.”
"It isn't easy, but that's the way it is
done."
TheRanger-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. Essentially two inde-
pendent full-range speaker systems
installed in a handsome curved cabinet
nearly 9 feet long, the Paragon's enclo-
sure was treated as an extension of its
transducers. In essence, the system had
its own "built-in acoustics." In many
respects the Paragon anticipated loud-
speaker developments that would occur
years-and even decades-later.
For nearly 30 years, the Paragon re-
mained the most acoustically viable
sound 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 over-
all sense of musicality while upgrading
its character by incorporating three
decades' worth of continuous develop-
ment in every facet of its design. Its
name reflected the pinnacle of achieve-
ment it represented: Project Everest.
For the first time, the rest of the sound
reproduction chain-and not the loud-
speaker or its transducers-would impose
limits on overall system performance.
Like the Paragon andHartsfield,
Project Everest was built around com-
pression driver technology and
addressed a more refined stereo image
than was previously considered techni-
cally feasible.
Since Project Everest was introduced,
sound recording and playback technolo-
gy has undergone a revolution of its
own. With the advent of CD, extremely
demanding recorded signals had
become the rule rather than the excep-
tion-the average source material used by
the typical audio enthusiast had become
superior to the best demonstration mate-
rial of even just a few years ago. In
overall dynamics and transient response,
transducers are once again a potential
weak link in the high-end audio repro-
duction chain.
It was in this environment that JBLset
out to create its fourth and fifth Project
loudspeakers, K2 S9500 and K2 S5500.
As with Hartsfield, the puritan simplici-
ty of a two-way system was considered
the most promising design track.
Advances in transducer design and low
frequency alignment would make the
construction of a two-way system of
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