JBL 4312M II 3-way Studio Monitor Review

[Toni Mas]

I am really surprised that so many people are surprised about the "performance" of this model. After all a leading brand like JBL is also bound to be a popular brand and cannot be an elitist brand for the Happy few only, absurdly losing business opportunities for the sake of excellence that only a minority Will apreciate.

Discerning audiophiles of the new century please look elsewhere... As your dads did in the 70s...

 

[thewas]

Could the Samsung/Korean ownership be the reason for this screw up?

Definitely not as they were long released before the take over and are now discontinued (information that would be also helpful in the review article).

I still want to get the L100 Classics MKIIs but maybe I should wait for some measurements first. I contacted JBL recently for the L100 Spinorama and was told the data is for internal use only. Could they also be screwed up like these?

By far not as bad, although I had the feeling the MKI was tuned a bit more neutrally (both have been measured by some German magazines but as those articles are not for free download I cannot upload them here.

This MK1 measurement is freely available though:

Source: https://www.hifitest.de/test/lautsprecher-stereo/jbl-l100-classic-17278

 

[Toni Mas]

This MK1 measurement is freely available though:

Source: https://www.hifitest.de/test/lautsprecher-stereo/jbl-l100-classic-17278

Lol, for 5.000 € you get what you pay for...

 

[fredoamigo]

On-axis is good, but off-axis ??I'm very dubious .

 

[DanielT]

I am really surprised that so many people are surprised about the "performance" of this model. After all a leading brand like JBL is also bound to be a popular brand and cannot be an elitist brand for the Happy few only, absurdly losing business opportunities for the sake of excellence that only a minority Will apreciate.

Discerning audiophiles of the new century please look elsewhere... As your dads did in the 70s...

In itself, nothing wrong with the fact that JBL manufactures speakers within a wide range. Anyone who has the slightest interest in HiFi knows that a cheap JBL Bluetooth speaker does not produce great sound. BUT JBL has to make money too and if there is demand then way not.

What I, and others in the thread, object to is the confusion around the terms. A Studio Monitor is associated with a certain performance and that is not found in JBL 4312M II. THAT is false marketing, I think. It doesn't get any better when JBL themselves market it as a high-performance Studio Monitor:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://jp.jbl.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-masterCatalog_Harman/default/dwcc0225d9/pdfs/JBL_4312MII_Loudspeaker_SpecSheet_EN.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjon6zO7tSDAxWDFBAIHYiVAmsQFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw090bYyQv0CqF4kB-Juo5Zz

Attached images, JBL Bluetooth speaker.

Edit:
See #105.There , on the contrary, a good three-way speaker from JBL.

 

[Toni Mas]

Imho, the key success factor of JBL home audio speakers has never been technical perfection leading to neutral sound signature (a quality that the vast majority of customers dont care about), but rather a kind of cult for a particular colored sound signature that the followers of the brands apreciate. Not good at all for classical music, but pretty enjoyable in the 70s for Giorgio Moroder's greatest hits!

Bottom line, as a brand It is like Coca Cola: mass market affair. Dont ask for more!

 

[fredoamigo]

Imho, the key success factor of JBL home audio speakers has never been technical perfection leading to neutral sound signature (a quality that the vast majority of customers dont care about), but rather a kind of cult for a particular colored sound signature that the followers of the brands apreciate. Not good at all for classical music, but pretty enjoyable in the 70s for Giorgio Moroder's greatest hits!

Bottom line, as a brand It is like Coca Cola: mass market affair. Dont ask for more!

No, you have to stop the JBL bashing my friend ..How many brands published their measurements in the 80s? you can count them on the fingers of one hand and JBL is one of them.
The problem with this brand is that sometimes, for economic and marketing imperatives, it doesn't distinguish between mass-consumption products and other, much more elitist products like the JBL Synthesis or JBL Pro branch.

 

[Toni Mas]

The problem with this brand is that sometimes, for economic and marketing imperatives, it doesn't distinguish between mass-consumption products and other, much more elitist products like the JBL Synthesis or JBL Pro branch.

Regarding marketing, though I would sometimes pour some Coca Cola into my whisky, I would never buy a whisky branded Coca Cola...

 

[Sokel]

No, you have to stop the JBL bashing my friend ..How many brands published their measurements in the 80s? you can count them on the fingers of one hand and JBL is one of them.
The problem with this brand is that sometimes, for economic and marketing imperatives, it doesn't distinguish between mass-consumption products and other, much more elitist products like the JBL Synthesis or JBL Pro branch.

Yep.
I have listen to Everests with classical more than once and the only thing I wished for was a bigger room than the one they were into.
Big,accurate sound like the big boys in the market.

The fail of the reviewed is so big just because JBL HAS good speakers and has a proven record during time.
Ok,except this broken one.

 

[fredoamigo]

Regarding marketing, though I would sometimes pour some Coca Cola into my whisky, I would never buy a whisky branded Coca Cola...

But if there is no more Coca Cola you will buy Pepsi Cola. ..In fact here , JBL may be saying ..."we have a mass consumer product with this desktop speaker, so we have to disguise it as a professional product and if it sounds like Avantone speakers. it's better for the mass market"https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...tone-cla-10-yamaha-ns-10m-clone-review.46954/

 

[DanielT]

Speaking of brands and selling more of what is considered good HiFi, you can do it like this:

Panasonic - Technics
Sharp- Optonica

"Sharp's 1975 introduction of Optonica filled the same role that Technics did for Panasonic's high-end audio display."

Optonica - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Okay, then you have to build up those brands, Technics and Optonica, but there is still a way to go.

 

[ocinn]

In my pro live sound line of work, I get into arguments quite often regarding how far we’ve come in the fundamentals of speaker design, and that there should be no shame in abandoning “state of the art” (in the 80s/90s) systems for modern gear.

In both home/studio and live settings people have a nostalgia for classic designs of the past. This is precisely why JBL and ATC can re-hash designs from 40 years ago with barely any changes and sell thousands of units.

Updated drivers, DSP, etc…. Are irrelevant when the physical design of a loudspeaker comes from a time where directivity and other crucial metrics were not common knowledge. This is shown clearly with reviews like this.

Thanks amir!

 

[RobL]

Speaking of brands and selling more of what is considered good HiFi, you can do it like this:

Panasonic - Technics
Sharp- Optonica

"Sharp's 1975 introduction of Optonica filled the same role that Technics did for Panasonic's high-end audio display."

Optonica - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Okay, then you have to build up those brands, Technics and Optonica, but there is still a way to go.

I had a pair of Optonica CP-5000 speakers a long time ago, lol. They were quite pleasant to listen to.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

By now, we should know that JBL is ... just JBL and they lay those duds regularly ...meanwhile they have in their stable jewels they won't market.; or they make it so difficult to obtain, that it is at times a mystery how they (Harman) survive. JBL/Harman are the epitome of mysterious and likely ineffective marketing. This is one of those duds from the same company that drops on you the marvelous LSR-308 (I am biased), the LSR-305, the 708, the Revel loudspeakers and countless gems in their stable and you cannot buy , even if you have the money and the desire... Try to go their website and see how to acquire an Everest.. Please! Try!! Even finding it, on a website is an adventure: Is it under JBL Pro? Luxury? Where in that website would you find a product that clearly exists ? Did they come up with a new version of the 708 and 705? Where to buy a cinema line? Where to buy the Synthesis?
and ... of course this bad speaker...

Damn JBL/Harman! eh!!You Samsung? What are you doing about this? It is yours now

Peace.

 

[DanielT]

Hi

By now, we should know that JBL is ... just JBL and they lay those duds regularly ...meanwhile they have in their stable jewels they won't market.; or they make it so difficult to obtain, that it is at times a mystery how they (Harman) survive. JBL/Harman are the epitome of mysterious and likely ineffective marketing. This is one of those duds from the same company that drops on you the marvelous LSR-308 (I am biased), the LSR-305, the 708, the Revel loudspeakers and countless gems in their stable and you cannot buy , even if you have the money and the desire... Try to go their website and see how to acquire an Everest.. Please! Try!! Even finding it, on a website is an adventure: Is it under JBL Pro? Luxury? Where in that website would you find a product that clearly exists ? Did they come up with a new version of the 708 and 705? Where to buy a cinema line? Where to buy the Synthesis?
and ... of course this bad speaker...

Damn JBL/Harman! eh!!You Samsung? What are you doing about this? It is yours now

Peace.

Kind of like "serious" actors who take roles in these awful generic superhero movies just to get $ in their wallets so they then can do what they consider to be important, serious, artistically worthy roles in movies that hardly anyone sees.

 

[dasdoing]

So what about the knobs?

this https://jp.jbl.com/on/demandware.st...pdfs/JBL_4312MII_Loudspeaker_SpecSheet_EN.pdf

says they are attenuators, meaning that their "flat" position would be with them all to the right?

 

[beagleman]

I almost wonder if we are dealing with more than a poorly designed speaker.....

The distortion at 1khz and 3khz, is Way beyond what is acceptable at 86db almost to the point of it being suspect of possible driver issues?

 

[Sokel]

I almost wonder if we are dealing with more than a poorly designed speaker.....

The distortion at 1khz and 3khz, is Way beyond what is acceptable at 86db almost to the point of it being suspect of possible driver issues?

L-pads issues can be at play as well,those stuff are notoriously easy to develop problems just like scratchy pots but even worst as the voltages are way higher sometimes.
Good news is that a good cleaning can get them back to life sometimes.

 

[beagleman]

So what about the knobs?

this https://jp.jbl.com/on/demandware.st...pdfs/JBL_4312MII_Loudspeaker_SpecSheet_EN.pdf

says they are attenuators, meaning that their "flat" position would be with them all to the right?

The owners manual says mid position is neutral.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

OK. So who are you two jokesters, because this speaker is not great?