★Carried & Installed

JBL Synthesis · Kansas City.

IntegrateIT carries and installs JBL Synthesis across the Kansas City metro — the SCL loudspeakers, the SSW subwoofers and the processors, receivers and amplifiers that drive them, built into a room designed around them. One precision first, because the trade is sloppy about this word: JBL Synthesis is a line we carry and install under distribution, not one we hold our own dealer agreement on, so we do not call ourselves an authorized JBL Synthesis dealer. What we are is the people who frame the room, place the speakers, treat the first reflections and do the calibration — which is where the result actually comes from. Phone: (913) 804-7575 or office@integrateit.tech.

The line comes out of cinema, and that is not marketing history — it is the reason the speakers are shaped the way they are. JBL publishes the lineage plainly: Lucasfilm selected JBL in 1983 to develop the first commercial THX-licensed cinema speaker system, and the Synthesis range exists to bring that horn-loaded, high-headroom character into a room the size of a basement rather than an auditorium. Compression drivers on shaped horns, crossovers built for them, and enclosures meant to be buried in a wall or hidden behind a screen.

What we carry and install from JBL Synthesis

Four families, and a room usually draws from three of them. Which models appear on your proposal comes off the room, the seating distance and the screen — never off the catalogue:

SCL Series — built-in LCR for behind the screen. The SCL-1 is the range flagship, a two-way dual twelve-inch custom LCR; the SCL-10 and SCL-10XL are the built-in models designed to sit behind an acoustically transparent screen or inside millwork. This is the front of the room in a dedicated theater — the screen channels you never see.
SCL Series — in-wall. SCL-2 and SCL-2XL, SCL-3, SCL-4 and SCL-4XL, SCL-6 and SCL-6XL, SCL-7 and SCL-7XL: five-and-a-quarter-inch two-ways up to quadruple eight-inch two-and-a-half-ways, so a media room can carry a real front stage inside the wall plane rather than in front of it.
SCL Series — in-ceiling, for the height layer. The SCL-5 and SCL-8 are published for use as a height channel or as in-ceiling LCR and surrounds, and that is exactly where they go in an Atmos layout. The overhead layer is a framing decision made while the ceiling is open, not a shopping decision made later.
SCL Series — surface mount. SCL-9 and SCL-9XL are symmetrical on-wall models that work horizontally or vertically as LCR or as surrounds — the answer when there is a concrete or masonry wall and nothing can be recessed into it.
SSW subwoofers. SSW-1 and SSW-2 are passive in-room and built-in models; SSW-3 and SSW-4 are passive in-wall, which is how a room gets low end without a box on the floor; SSW-5 is the powered twelve-inch. The passive models want an external amplifier, which is what the SDA-1700 is for.
SDP immersive processors. SDP-58 and SDP-60 at sixteen channels, SDP-70 at twenty-four, SDP-75 configurable to thirty-two, SDP-80 at thirty-six. Atmos, DTS:X, IMAX Enhanced and AURO-3D decoding lives here rather than in the speakers. The channel count is the first number we settle, because it decides the speaker layout and the cable.
SDR receivers. The SDR-38, a sixteen-channel Class G receiver, and the SDR-40, which pairs sixteen-channel processing with nine channels of Class G amplification — the one-box path for a media room that does not need separates.
SDA and SMA power amplifiers. SDA-2200, SDA-4600, SDA-7120 and SDA-8300, plus the SMA-4750 and SMA-8300 — two to eight channels, bridgeable, Class D or Class G depending on the model — and the SDA-1700 dedicated subwoofer amplifier. Amplifier count and rack heat are planned with the rack, not discovered in it.
Room correction, built into the electronics. Dirac Live, with bass control on several models, is in the SDP-70, SDP-60, SDP-58, SDR-40 and SDR-38. The SDP-80 and SDP-75 carry the Trinnov Optimizer engine instead. Either way, correction is the last step and it sits on top of treatment, never in place of it.

We specify and install to order — we do not hold shelf stock. And one thing worth knowing before you shop: JBL publishes that its dealers are not permitted to sell Harman Luxury Audio products online, and that a unit bought online does not carry a valid warranty.

How we design the line in

Channel count first, then framing. The processor decides how many speakers the room has, and the height layer is a framing question. Both get answered while the ceiling is open and the walls are studs, because every one of these models is built in.
Behind the screen is a build, not a bracket. An acoustically transparent screen with LCR behind it means the baffle wall, the screen frame and the seating distance are one drawing. Get it wrong and you are either looking at speaker grilles or listening to a soundstage that sits below the picture.
Treatment before correction. First reflection points, broadband absorption and corner traps go in before anything is measured. A horn controls directivity well, which reduces how much the room gets to smear — it does not repeal the room.
The rack is planned for heat. Multichannel amplifiers in a closed cabinet is the most common reason a reference system starts shutting down in year two. Conditioned space, airflow, and a wired path to every seat and screen.
Calibration is a visit, not a checkbox. Levels and distances, then the room measurement and the correction engine the processor carries, then listening and adjusting. It happens after paint, treatment and seating, because each of those changes what the microphone hears. What we set gets documented in your portal.
One press in front of all of it. We are a Control4 Platinum Dealer with a Control4 Certified Showroom and a Crestron Elite Partner with programming done in house, so the processor goes into the right mode as part of a scene rather than by way of a second remote.

Where it sits beside the lines we also carry

JBL Synthesis is the horn-loaded, cinema-derived seat: scale and headroom, built into the structure. Wisdom Audio is the planar line-source seat, with far less ceiling and floor interaction, which suits a room whose geometry is the problem. Sonance Invisible Series disappears into the drywall for a room that will not tolerate a grille, and Triad handles the architectural work through the rest of the house. On the electronics side, a room that wants the largest channel counts and a separate correction engine is usually a Trinnov conversation, and the lossless source that feeds any of them is a Kaleidescape server. We carry all of it, so the recommendation is a room decision rather than a catalogue one.

Common questions

Who installs JBL Synthesis in Kansas City?

IntegrateIT (Overland Park, KS) carries and installs JBL Synthesis across the Kansas City metro — specified into the room, built in behind the screen or into the walls, amplified, and calibrated after the room is finished. To be precise about the relationship, because it matters: JBL Synthesis is a line we carry and install under distribution, not one we hold our own dealer agreement on, so we do not call ourselves an authorized JBL Synthesis dealer. The brands we do hold dealer agreements on are listed on our site and include Control4, Crestron, Lutron HomeWorks and Wisdom Audio. Phone: (913) 804-7575 or office@integrateit.tech.

What is actually in the JBL Synthesis range?

Four families. The SCL Series is the loudspeaker line — sixteen models from the SCL-1, the range flagship, down through in-wall, in-ceiling and surface-mount models. SSW is the subwoofer line: SSW-1 through SSW-4 are passive and take an external amplifier, and the SSW-5 is powered. The electronics split into the SDP immersive processors, from the sixteen-channel SDP-58 up to the thirty-six-channel SDP-80; the SDR receivers, the SDR-38 and SDR-40; and the SDA and SMA power amplifiers, from a two-channel up to eight channels bridgeable, plus the SDA-1700 subwoofer amplifier. Which of those a room needs is a question about the room, not about the catalogue.

Is JBL Synthesis the same as the JBL speakers I can buy online?

No, and the manufacturer is unusually direct about it. JBL Synthesis is Harman’s luxury custom-install line, sold through selected integrators, and the purchase policy states plainly that dealers are not permitted to sell Harman Luxury Audio products online and that the warranty is not valid on a product bought that way. In practice that means a Synthesis system is specified, built in and calibrated rather than shipped in a box — which is also the reason the line shows up in rooms where the speakers are behind the screen or inside the wall and nobody ever sees them.

Do you calibrate JBL Synthesis, and what about ARCOS?

We calibrate, and we will be exact about which calibration. The SDP-70, SDP-60 and SDP-58 processors and the SDR-40 and SDR-38 receivers carry Dirac Live room correction, with bass control on several of them, and that is the engine we run — it is built into the box and needs no manufacturer credential. The SDP-80 and SDP-75 carry the Trinnov Optimizer engine instead. ARCOS is a different thing: JBL publishes that it is available only to trained and authorized JBL Synthesis dealers, or through JBL factory personnel and Master ARCOS Calibrators, and we are neither, so we will not describe our work as ARCOS or as JBL-certified calibration. What we do is the part that decides the result anyway — layout, treatment, levels, distances, the measurement sweep, then listening and adjusting, then writing down what was set.

Why horns? Is it going to sound harsh?

The horn is there for dynamic range and for control of where the sound goes, which is why the format came out of cinema in the first place. A compression driver on a horn moves a room to reference level without strain, and a shaped horn mouth keeps energy off the side walls and ceiling rather than spraying it there for the room to smear. JBL’s own description of the technology names Bi-Radial horns for constant directivity and its High-Definition Imaging horn geometry inside the SCL models. Whether it sounds harsh is a room question rather than a speaker question: an untreated rectangle with hard walls will make any speaker sound hard, and the same speakers in a treated room with first reflections handled sound effortless. That is the argument for treating the room before arguing about the brand.

How does it compare to the other reference lines you carry?

They solve different problems and we specify all of them. JBL Synthesis is the horn-loaded, cinema-derived choice — dynamic scale and a room that can go loud without effort, built in behind the screen. Wisdom Audio, which we are an authorized dealer for, is the planar line-source choice, with much less ceiling and floor interaction, which suits rooms where geometry is the constraint. Sonance Invisible Series disappears into the drywall entirely for a room whose design brief forbids a grille. Triad covers the architectural in-wall and in-ceiling work in the rest of the house. The right answer comes off the room, the seating distance and what the room is allowed to look like — and we will say so on the walk rather than steering you to one line.

The speaker is the fourth decision. Let’s start with the room.

Walk your plans with us (913) 804-7575

Or read about how we build a reference theater · the Atmos layout these speakers render · acoustic treatment, planned at rough-in · the calibration that finishes the room

Written by Daniel Alon, founder of IntegrateIT LLC, with twenty years in IT and AV integration — Control4 Platinum Dealer, Crestron Elite Partner, Lutron Certified Installer, CEDIA member. Overland Park, KS.