JBL 4349 Review (Studio Monitor Speaker)

[Vintage57]

Hmmm... not sure about this. It does not measure well - regardless of purpose, it is not good execution. The 4367 does not seem to suffer from the same issue: https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews...g/jbl-4367-studio-monitor-loudspeaker-review/

The scale is the thing. Present the graph with the Y-axis in a 50dB window, say a scale from 40 to 90 dB instead of compressed sccale of 160 dB. from -40 to +120 dB.
Then we would be comparing like fruit.

 

[Xyrium]

Perhaps just broke, but guilty as charged!

Indeed, we're all too busy buying everything else that he's recommended and loving it.

 

[Dave Tremblay]

May I ask why not just go 3 way to releive the breakup of the woofer and not strain the tweeter ?

In my case, it ended up as a 3-way, but with a 12" midrange. The reason I went with a larger driver for the midrange was an attempt to match the radiation pattern of the horn. A larger driver starts to beam a little, which yields a better polar match to a larger horn tweeter. A larger, high efficiency driver, also tends to play midrange with lower distortion, and basically limitless dynamics.

 

[hardisj]

It's a function of directivity behaviour. Constant directivity designs have a disadvantage when it comes down the score aspect in which the estimated response plays a substiantial role.

Of course. And the PIR accounts for this, AFAIK. Wide dispersion speakers like the ones I mentioned above had elevated HF in the PIR and likely only brought down to some degree by the narrow vertical of the ribbon-type tweeters they used. In both cases, the resulting sound was a bit "bright" for lack of better word. And the in-room measurements matched pretty darn well to the PIR.

 

[SDX-LV]

Looking at the bass roll-off, this must be the world's biggest "small satellite speaker". Looks like just follows the 80Hz THX certification level (for use with a mandatory subwoofer). 5" Genelecs and other serious studio monitors are tru giant killers compared to these.
No wonder it will have efficiency if it uses a subwoofer size driver to play from 80Hz and up.

I would choose Revel any day of my life. Or many non Harman alternatives... because the measurements are not clean enough even on axis for a modern speaker.

 

[levimax]

In my case, it ended up as a 3-way, but with a 12" midrange. The reason I went with a larger driver for the midrange was an attempt to match the radiation pattern of the horn. A larger driver starts to beam a little, which yields a better polar match to a larger horn tweeter. A larger, high efficiency driver, also tends to play midrange with lower distortion, and basically limitless dynamics.

Do you have a picture? Would love to see it .... sorry if off topic

 

[hardisj]

Shouldn't the slope depend on the listening distance? And be less steep for monitors/mid-field speakers?

Should it? Probably.

Is it? Certainly. I have shown this in my last three tests of monitor-type speakers where I measured the in-room response both nearfield and farfield and overlaid it on the PIR (Focal Twin6Be, Kali IN-5, Neumi BS5P). The difference mainly lies above 8kHz, however. And in the two cases the measurements have varied from about 1.5m to 3m.

 

[hardisj]

Erin will you measure JBL 305pmkii

It's already been measured. Data is ready. Just gotta find time to write the review. The Klipsch The Fives is up first.

 

[beagleman]

Looking at the bass roll-off, this must be the world's biggest "small satellite speaker". Looks like it even misses the 80Hz mark for THX certification (for use with a mandatory subwoofer). 5" Genelecs and other serious studio monitors are tru giant killers compared to these.
No wonder it will have efficiency if it uses a subwoofer size driver to play from 100Hz and up.

I would choose Revel any day of my life. Or many non Harman alternatives...

Just looked...JBL specs say -6db at 38 Hz...........

 

[hardisj]

Aside from everyone's opinions on the measurements, I just wanna thank @amirm for measuring this speaker. Good to see the SPIN data when it isn't smoothed to 1/3-octave (or whatever it is that HARMAN has published).

 

[Sonny1]

Damn! Cool looking speakers, high quality drivers, JBL, $7500(!), excellent R&D and this is the best they could do? I’m disappointed because I was expecting much better performance. Especially at this price level.

So many better options for $7500. Disappointing and surprised they didn’t get a worse rating. If they were $1000, I would understand but it would not be difficult to do better for much less money. Not what I was expecting.

 

[Frank Dernie]

They are not common but at least a few are available. One example would be the Power Sound Audio MT-110 ($775) using 10" pro woofer and 1" titanium compression driver in a cast aluminum exponential horn, all sourced from B&C, along with in-house crossover in a sealed bookshelf enclosure. Sensitivity rated at 95 dB with -3 dB @ 70 Hz so subwoofer support required. Unfortunately no independent measurements available but pretty universal praise from owners.

https://www.powersoundaudio.com/collections/speakers/products/mt-110

It would be interesting to see if it goes loud with low distortion and have an acceptable frequency response.
Not sure why you think 70Hz is OK without sub though!

 

[hardisj]

Back to crossover issue, here is our near-field measurement:

Looks to me like the woofer response is drooping too much before the tweeter gives it a hand and hence the dip there. Not sure if the tweeter could handle the load there. There are also a couple of port resonances that interfere with the response.

Bolded.

$7k... and still friggin' port resonances.

*facepalm*

 

[TimVG]

Looking at the bass roll-off, this must be the world's biggest "small satellite speaker". Looks like it even misses the 80Hz mark for THX certification (for use with a mandatory subwoofer). 5" Genelecs and other serious studio monitors are tru giant killers compared to these.
No wonder it will have efficiency if it uses a subwoofer size driver to play from 100Hz and up.

I would choose Revel any day of my life. Or many non Harman alternatives...

Tuning seems to be around 40Hz and from what I'm reading the woofer can take some power, a simple shelf down low should fix the problem.

 

[SDX-LV]

Tuning seems to be around 40Hz and from what I'm reading the woofer can take some power, a simple shelf down low should fix the problem.

View attachment 125489

Ok, it is true that they produce bass, just far away from flat as would be expected at this price and size. And I would always use a serious speaker system with subwoofers, no matter the extension. Still I would not want speakers this big in my room knowing that they require serious EQ and subwoofer support to play as good as they look.

The only JBLs I would consider are M2? The 7-series has so many issues with noisy amplifiers and quality control that I would not bother. Meanwhile JBL Synthesis regularly misses the performance bar set by Revel, KEF, Genelec, Neumann and a few others.

 

[More Dynamics Please]

It would be interesting to see if it goes loud with low distortion and have an acceptable frequency response.
Not sure why you think 70Hz is OK without sub though!

I actually said "-3 dB @ 70 Hz so subwoofer support required," not no subwoofer support required. Sacrificing bass extension and recommending only for use with sub(s) is the trade-off for increased efficiency and dynamics at a reasonable price point.

Many are curious about how PSA's speakers would measure. If @amirm or @hardisj wanted to test one PSA has a 60 day trial period so they could buy one, return it to PSA after testing for a refund and only have to pay for return shipping.

 

[JDS]

You can still buy the L100. They are quite a different animal though. They look very nice though, with the colored foam.

I was around the first time orange foam was cool. I wouldn't have guessed there would be a second time.

In my mind, the foam smells like bong water.

 

[hardisj]

Many are curious about how PSA's speakers would measure. If @amirm or @hardisj wanted to test one PSA has a 60 day trial period so they could buy one, return it to PSA after testing for a refund and only have to pay for return shipping.

Or, one of those interested parties could take care of paying for it and put mine or Amir's address down as the recipient.

Personally speaking, I don't feel right ordering something knowing full-well I'm going to return it. So, I won't be doing that. But if someone else doesn't mind, I'm sure @amirm or myself would be happy to give you our shipping address.

 

[DualTriode]

In my case, it ended up as a 3-way, but with a 12" midrange. The reason I went with a larger driver for the midrange was an attempt to match the radiation pattern of the horn. A larger driver starts to beam a little, which yields a better polar match to a larger horn tweeter. A larger, high efficiency driver, also tends to play midrange with lower distortion, and basically limitless dynamics.

Hello,

I am in complete agreement.

I have done the math and the measurements.

In my current configuration I have a 10 inch JBL2123H for a midrange crossed over to the M2 dual diaphragm Compression Driver and M2 waveguide. At 1600Hz the dispersion angle matches for the tweeter and midrange match right at ~120 degrees.

The current woofer is a custom recone:

JBL 2226 frame

JBL 2235 cone

JBL 2245H Voice coil (if memory serves me)

This woofer is in a ~2 cubic foot enclosure (no port disturbance)

For prototyping each driver is in a separate enclosure to facilitate swapping out individual pieces.

This is tri-amped with used Crown amplifiers recycled from a movie theater somewhere.

Rane AC23S active crossover

With a 31 band 1/3 octave equalizer, if you start with reasonably flat FR drivers the overall in room frequency response is fairly smooth with that target 1dB per octave slope.

I do this stuff for fun and to learn stuff. In terms of money for test equipment and parts I would be better off purchasing a pair of M2’s.

amirm thanks for testing real world size speakers, they are much more fun than the stand mount things that you can tuck under your arm and walk up stairs with.

Thanks DT

 

[sunandmoon]

The scale is the thing. Present the graph with the Y-axis in a 50dB window, say a scale from 40 to 90 dB instead of compressed sccale of 160 dB. from -40 to +120 dB.
Then we would be comparing like fruit.

Yes