JBL MX100 Music System

JBL has successfully associated everything ‘khool’ about audio with itself by now, with their acutely tailored brand image, of being the thumpers of choice. Be it for souped up cars or for terrace parties, JBL has a knack with the youth. Today we have a spanking new product released by JBL in India, a music system that can play iPod, CD, Radio and also auxiliary sources of digital music (read: other MP3 players). It’s called the JBL MX100.

Design and features
This product seems to have a good amount of man hours put into its design, with a curvaceous, elliptical footprint, and a sloping top panel, sloping downwards towards the front viewer. This top panel has a single JBL logo on the left, with a small compact disc logo on the right. Underneath this surface is an alphanumeric LED screen that is visible in the center, bearing a rectangular shape. The entire chassis is divided into two parts, the front contains a continuous speaker grille, while the back is a glossy black, fingerprints et al. The top surface is yet another finish, a transparent black plastic layer that exposes the LED display in the center.

The back panel houses a set of i/o, namely a RCA L+R aux in, another EP 3.5 mm aux in, a subwoofer out, a composite video out and an S-Video out. The EP actually doubles as a Digital audio input too according to the label. Then we have the right side panel: a groove cut into the globular architecture, that houses various control buttons, and also a headphone out and a third aux in.

 The power output of the system is 30 watts per channel, into 6 ohm transducers. The frequency response is 65 Hz – 20 kHz. SNR is 75 dB. As for the drivers, we have 2 tweeter and two LF woofers, with the former being 2 x 19 mm titanium laminate dome tweeters, and the latter being 2 x 125mm felt paper woofers. The player comes with a detachable iPod dock, that connects to a slot on the left side. The CDs are to be slot loaded, with the input centrally located on the façade, towards the bottom edge. It also plays FM radio, with 6 storable presets.

The build quality of the unit is quite impressive with a neat finish all around, no loose tacky corners. Also weight-wise the MX100 comes in the heavy weight status, definitely not so portable. Besides it cannot run on batteries, thus portability is ruled out. This one looks more like a permanent room system.