Early 90s, weekend, family meal in the heart of Aluche. When I was around 10 years old I went up to the 11th floor of one of the towers on Illescas Street.
Impatience got the best of me and I pressed the elevator button wrong, delaying my arrival at what, for me, was the best possible park: my uncle’s house.
At that time he would have been around 30 years old and had an immense collection of vinyl with his modular music system and a top-level stereo speaker system with three channels and different frequency filters.
Among the modules there were some Hi-Fi from the 70s, a 50 W stereo amplifier, another from the 80s, some more modern and each with its buttons and functions: a world for me to discover.
I still remember the feeling of what seemed like magic to me when I saw that record player that put the arm in a robotic and automatic way and the needle on the vinyl itself. The smell of those cardboard boxes, taking out the vinyl, all the art with letters and photography that accompanied that project. It was a ritual that has been lost today with such immediacy.
No, the Internet had nothing to do with what it is now, it was being born, and it is something that I had already experienced at my uncle’s house: visiting BBS or Terra chat with those rhythmic noises of the modem when connecting. All of this danced to the sound of the vibrations of a needle and two pickups inside the turntable of the music system in the middle of Aluche.
While the older ones had their dinner, they let me and my brother “play” with the modular mini-system, press buttons, discover what EQ ishow he made it sound different depending on which slider he moved up or down.
All that and much more is what brought to mind the moment I took the JBL Authentics 300 with 100 W of power, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a design that takes me directly to that time.
Vintage design or a speaker that looks like a speaker
After years and years of product testing including Bluetooth speakers or smart speakers I have a clear feeling that many of the manufacturers or design lines have clearly opted for futuristic lines with LED lights on most occasions.
You’ll forgive me if I doubt how a color-changing LED improves the sound quality or perception of a product, but it is, at the very least, a reasonable doubt. Most manufacturers have gone too far and this is where JBL returns to the classic.
In particular this Authentics 300 has a leather-lined design which transported me to the first time I saw a guitar amplifier, the typical Marshall head with that covered wood finish.
This model has a metal handle perfect for carrying it, made of metal, which has also been lined with the same material. It is a success due to the weight of the equipment, almost 5 kilos, but it is a shame that we cannot remove it if our intention is to leave it as a smart speaker in the living room, for example. What we can do is rotate it.
JBL has used a foam to cover the front grill area with a pattern reminiscent of one of the most legendary designs of the 70s, with this Quadrex honeycomb shape that marked the high-end Hi-Fi of the time with the JBL L100.
It is true that aesthetically it has a vintage touch, but don’t be fooled: both its configuration and the technology it houses make it one of the most advanced speakers of 2023 From the market.
The upper buttons for control are wide wheels with which we can increase or decrease the volume and adjust the treble and bass to our liking.
I would have liked them to have some physical or haptic feedback, similar to that sensation of the old knobs that already have some friction and even steps to not take me out of that daydream and back to the past. The three controls are endless wheels without any stop or friction steps.
In return, these controls have a circular white led light very elegant and subtle that shows the volume level, since that control has no physical limits and can rotate indefinitely.
The sound, for the size of the speaker, was unthinkable in the 90s. How can such a rich, stereo sound come out of a speaker of these dimensions, with such punchy bass?
State-of-the-art sound technology tuned for music lovers
This speaker is designed to be able to be transported and operate without a battery for a short time and the sound power it is capable of offer is 100W RMS distributed among his 5.25 inch woofer and its two 25mm tweeters with which it is possible to reproduce that stereo spatiality.
In that small size, around the size of a pack of 6 milk bricks, 342 x 195.6 x 180.3 mm, a great level of bass is generated in addition to those actively provided by that woofer, which is provided by the passive radiator from the bottom. In fact, by weight, it is practically 5 kg.
In fact, I am sure that this speaker is capable of reproducing music with greater fidelity and frequency development than that now vintage stereo, which had a similar power of 50 W x 2.
If there is something that really convinces me about this speaker, it is not its tweeter or bass adjustment with physical control that allows you to quickly access the adjustment of those lower or treble frequencies, or its 45Hz – 20,000Hz playback rangebut the entire integration as a smart speaker.
In fact, it’s the first one I’ve seen. a double simultaneous integrationwhich works at the same time both Alexa as Google Assistant once configured.
This makes the Authentics 300 a perfect device to integrate into your smart home as another device, available to play content such as Spotify or as a player of the audio that we send from your iPhone or iOS device with AirPlay or any device such as Chromecast.
Full connectivity for a Smart Home or local playback
As for connectivity, you are covered because it will work over WiFi without problems, well you have one WiFi 5GHz latest generation or WiFi in 2.4 GHz network. And for more focus and to leave it fixed, you can connect it with a cable to the Internet via Ethernet.
The use is very simple, you share content from Chromecast, tidal, Spotify either Airplay and they directly start ringing. In fact, it can be configured as another speaker for both a Google Home environment and for Alexa, and can be configured within a pack of speakers that play music in a room.
Oh, I almost forgot, you can also connect a device through its analog audio input, via mini jack.
You can also use it as a standalone speaker from a local Bluetooth connection, thanks to its BT 5.3 compatibility. In addition, its connection is very simple since it has a button that is accessible at all times to pair a new device.
Something that I found very interesting is that every time you turn on the speaker does a self-calibration depending on the environment it is in, so if you move it, which I have done, it is advisable to turn it off and on again to adjust the sound in its new location.
What is my feeling when listening to music with this device? Well, honestly, I didn’t expect this kind of quality and I thought it would be more of a pretty device without a heart. The reality is that for its size it creates a very notable and differentiated stereo field with very warm bass and midrange.
I miss the codec support that enables Hi-Res playback via Bluetooth. It sticks with the most basic codec, SBCin 44.1 KHz / 16-bit stereo configuration.
It is true that in most cases you will end up playing music via streaming, which improves the quality of the source as there is no loss in that compression from the device that emits the sound via Bluetooth and the speaker.
The application JBL One It is responsible for configuring and controlling the advanced functions of the speaker. With it, different presets can be adjusted as EQ, although only with three frequencies, mid-bass and treble.
We also have what is mentioned as Moment and it is nothing more than playing music by default, imagine that you can program a playlist for your shower, for your morning yoga, etc. You launch the moment and you can listen to the music and have it stop at a certain time.
What I like (and what I don’t) about the JBL Authentics 300
If there is one thing that is clear to me about this speaker, it is that it is not a device to bring and carry every day. It is a heavy speaker and with its price, 429.99 euros, it is something to think about.
The sound quality is very good, the option to equalize the sound is a plus, although it only has three bands, so you can’t be too fine when leaving it to your liking.
The sound power It is impressive for its size, and the autonomy, with a moderate volume it can reach up to 8 hours.
The feel of the controls is something that could be improved since they are endlessly rotating controls, and without any tactile feedback. The white LED light circle marks the level you adjust, but doesn’t give you any feedback.
The main use is clearly as speaker with streaming music support with casual use as a bluetooth speaker.
JBL Authentics 300
See analysis
Aesthetically, it is a model to show and not a speaker that you have hidden in the living room to have background music. Surely it is the most attractive model of this year within the market of speakers that look like speakers and not LED spaceships.
My uncle ended up digitizing his vinyl over the years, and also retiring his music system. He now has his entire library in Apple’s cloud that he can listen to from his iPhone or on the TV’s sound system.
Once this speaker has been tested, the JBL Authentics 300 is, without a doubt, one of the recommendations that I have made for Black Friday and Christmas so that you can enjoy your music without taking up much space in the living room, without having to have the TV on and with a sound quality worthy of music lovers.
Also, if my uncle wants to go one step further, JBL has also introduced its older brother (Authentics 500) with more power and Dolby Atmos support.
