The Harman Luxury Audio Group has added a new family member to JBL's Classic Series, in the shape of a retro-stylish all-in-one music system named the L42ms that puts out 200 watts and features adjustable bass response.
Modern integrated music systems essentially cram everything you need to listen to tunes out of the box, into a single unit. In the case of the L42ms, that starts with a 200-W Class D amplifier that drives two 75-watt 4-inch woofers and two 25-watt 0.25-inch aluminum dome tweeters plus waveguides for wide dispersion, all behind a curved Quadrex foam grille.
Harman routes the sound through an "advanced DSP engine" and 24-bit/96-kHz digital-to-analog conversion for the promise of top-notch listening. The system also comes with selectable bass contouring on the rear panel, which allows users to tweak the bass response depending on the room, while a SoundField Expansion control is reported to widen the soundstage.
To get the party going, users can stream over Bluetooth directly from a source device such as a smartphone, or via Wi-Fi with support for Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect as well as Airplay2 and Chromecast. The setup is also compatible with the Roon music management platform, and there's Ethernet LAN for wired network connection.
Audio from an external device can be fed in using RCA inputs or 3.5-mm aux line in, and there's HDMI with audio return so the attractive all-in-one can serve as a soundbar for a compatible TV. If there's not enough bass cooked in, a subwoofer can be cabled up as well.
Interestingly, the unit will also play nice with Samsung's Smart Things home automation ecosystem. There's a touch-enabled panel up top for on-device control, and the unit ships with a Bluetooth remote.
The L42ms integrated music system is expected to go on sale during Q1 this year for US$1,099, and is available in black or natural furniture-grade walnut veneer.
Product page: JBL L42ms
