• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

JBL 4349 Review (Studio Monitor Speaker)

DualTriode

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Oct 24, 2019
Messages
893
Likes
593
amirm thanks for the review.

I am seeing Sin and Arcsin trigonometry stuff going on between the woofer and waveguide, they are so many inches apart apart. There has to be some kind of huge crossover null going on there.

Seems like the crossover frequency could be lower. A D2 Compression Driver and M2 Horn could help that.

Meanwhile, two doors down they are laughing and having a party. Sure reminds me of the JBL/2425/Dolly Parton horns and JBL2206's I had in my living room before I ever had a idea about crossover directivity nulls.

I will help you carry a M2 up the stairs for testing.

Thanks DT

 

Sancus

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
2,923
Likes
7,616
Location
Canada
the results at 96dB are starting to get out of hand for the speaker in this review, and in the more sensitive treble regions.

Distortion results are mostly relevant for 20-1000hz. I kinda doubt this speaker can even play loud enough to get the tweeter to 96dB, at least without subs. Keep in mind that for music, 96dB at 4khz implies a minimum of about 126db at 100hz, and often more like 136dB. A flat FR sweep doesn't reflect this reality.
 

dfuller

Major Contributor
Joined
Apr 26, 2020
Messages
3,337
Likes
5,051
Distortion is great, except when it isn't, and that crossover screwup is pretty much an unforgivable sin for a company that at this point really should (and does) know better.

For $7500 a pair, I expect much better. That kind of money gets me a pair of KH310s and two Rhythmik F12s, and leaves a spare thousand for a miniDSP.
 

jhaider

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
2,822
Likes
4,514
Pics of the drivers.
JBL-4349-compression-tweeter.jpg

JBL-4349-bass-unit.jpg

Interesting. This speaker uses the smaller diameter ring radiators - I believe the tweeter basically uses two of the diaphragms used in 2409H as found in 7-Series and Synthesis SCL-3/SCL-4 - but top octave dispersion is much lower. Is the exit here 1” instead of the (from memory) .63” or .75” on 2409H?

@amirm one way of interpreting your listening notes is as an ad for M2 - there you get the wild dynamic capability and efficiency but, based on measurements, with more Revel-like refinement and closer (but not equal) bass extension. Or, would you speculate that it’s the FR giving the effect as much as the sensitivity?
 
Last edited:

GWolfman

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 3, 2020
Messages
624
Likes
1,041
@amirm You have $7,500 (discount unknown) just to listen to speakers? Or do you already have a use/home for these?
 

Easternlethal

Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 13, 2021
Messages
62
Likes
98
Go ahead and hate on me due to objective measurements above. I am ready to take it! :)

I can certainly see some flak coming for liking and recommending a speaker that doesn't measure well, Mr Harman dealer

@amirm can you please elaborate a bit more about why you liked it (especially since you smoothed out the tonality with eq?) I think that might help those of us better assess how to approach speakers that don't measure well
 

Absolute

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 5, 2017
Messages
1,084
Likes
2,125
@amirm one way of interpreting your listening notes is as an ad for M2 - there you get the wild dynamic capability and efficiency but, based on measurements, with more Revel-like refinement and closer (but not equal) bass extension. Or, would you speculate that it’s the FR giving the effect as much as the sensitivity?
Frequency response is the main factor in my experience (with the M2), but there's a certain possibility that reduced time-domain troubles can also be a factor. Thinking about room, stored energy in the driver and step response combined.

In the M2 the tweeter arrives your ears way before the woofer does, possibly helping to give a sense of that initial "bite" while the frequency response explains the shocking dynamics. In my clones I find that changing the timing between the drivers (as well as polarity) and calming the tweeter response down a bit really softens the sound a lot. I'd love to see step response of this 4349 just to see if there's a logic to my thoughts.
 

kdp

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2020
Messages
14
Likes
21
Location
India
This thing is as good as many excellent headphones at 86 dBSPL as far as distortion!

index.php


Strange though to see the tweeter complain at higher amplitudes.

Waterfall shows some resonances due to the port:

Is this higher distortion an artifact of compression drivers in general? The "Voice Coil" reviews of almost all compression drivers seem to indicate high 2nd order distortion is typical. Higher-order distortion is typically much lower and also, while 1-2% 2nd order distortion seems the norm at the measurement spl, it does not seem to increase with higher SPL in the same progression as most dome tweeters would.

I had felt it may be an artifact of the measurement technique used by Voice Coil. But with this review, I am wondering if it's a design choice?
Maybe the ear finds HF 2nd order overtones pleasing? Scanspeak is a very highly rated driver manufacturer and some of their top tweeters measured similarly, higher 2nd order (around -45dB) and then really low higher-order distortion (around -60dB or better). Seems to be mirrored by these measurements.
 
Last edited:

ROOSKIE

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 27, 2020
Messages
1,915
Likes
3,394
Location
Minneapolis
@amirm You have $7,500 (discount unknown) just to listen to speakers? Or do you already have a use/home for these?
Amir is a crazy man.
My best guess is he bought Amazon, Tesla and BTC all @ $1 and never looked back. Not to mention tricking Microsoft into paying him for some odd jobs he did.
 

uwotm8

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2020
Messages
401
Likes
457
I am going to put the JBL 4349 on my recommended list. Go ahead and hate on me due to objective measurements above
:cool:
Measurements are actually fine, not perfect but who cares? These are the right kind of JBL. And the sound of such type of speaker is hard or even impossible to beat - in some aspects - evet with superbly perfect (objectively) modern speakers.
Thanks for the review.
 

Absolute

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 5, 2017
Messages
1,084
Likes
2,125
Is this higher distortion an artifact of compression drivers in general? The "Voice Coil" reviews of almost all compression drivers seems to indicate high 2nd order distortion is typical. Higher-order distortion is typically much lower and also, while 1-2% seems the norm at the measurement spl, it does not seem to increase with higher SPL in the same progression as most dome tweeters would.

I had felt it may be an artifact of the measurement technique used by Voice Coil. But with this review, I am wondering if it's a design choice?
Maybe the ear finds HF 2nd order overtones pleasing? Scanspeak is a very highly rated driver company and some of their top tweeters measured similarly, higher 2nd order (around -45dB) and then really low higher-order distortiions (around -60dB or better). Seems to be mirrored by these measurements.
It's a compression driver thing. Usually high 2. harmonic distortion (benign).

Here's the big brother from the M2, the D2340k measured at 1 meter at 100 dB;

D2 - distortion at 100 dB @1m (2).jpg
 

JeffGB

Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2019
Messages
229
Likes
328
Wow, thanks for the review Amir! My budget doesn't really reach these heights, so I just ordered a set of JBL a130's :). I'm pretty sure they should be almost the same, haha.

I'm actually kind of interested in the fact that Amir found a 12" woofer good enough in the mid-band to make him happy. I've toyed with making a speaker using a pro woofer/midrange and a powerful tweeter and this gives me more information as to whether that could EVER be a decent sounding system. Thanks again!
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,386
Location
Seattle Area
@amirm You have $7,500 (discount unknown) just to listen to speakers? Or do you already have a use/home for these?
I have zero use for them. Membership wanted it tested so I paid for it. If anyone wants them, make me an offer.
 

ousi

Active Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2020
Messages
120
Likes
78
Location
California
@amirm - after reading this, you got me curious about how the Klipsch horn-loaded legacy line measures. Especially the almighty Klipschorn.
 

kdp

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2020
Messages
14
Likes
21
Location
India
It's a compression driver thing. Usually high 2. harmonic distortion (benign).

Here's the big brother from the M2, the D2340k measured at 1 meter at 100 dB;

View attachment 125343
Thanks for sharing that graph. it looks very similar to its younger brother (the expanded scale is flattening things out visually here vs. aamir's graph)

To me, at least it looks to be more a compression driver thing than the horn as dome tweeters in waveguides don't have unusual HD artifacts vs a baffle. (AFAIK). if that's correct, then it's a design /optimisation choice, probably because, as you also said 2nd order HD is benign, (or even desirable as the continued popularity of tube amplifiers indicate)
 

stevenswall

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Dec 10, 2019
Messages
1,366
Likes
1,075
Location
Orem, UT
First thoughts: if this uses JBL compression drivers at all similar to the M2... Damn. This is more expensive than the 708p, and measures terribly. Time to categorically dismiss JBL as a brand like Klipsch until they innovate? The good engineers must have transferred to Revel.

I hear things about these waveguides being excellent all the time, and can't help but notice the ragged frequency response and poor vertical dispersion.

Really want JBL to do a coaxial, active monitor like Kali... And to stop making bass light woofers like this. Low distortion is great, but most speakers already go plenty loud.
 

napilopez

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 17, 2018
Messages
2,109
Likes
8,420
Location
NYC
I like it. I think I read these measurements differently than some of you.

The way I see it, the speaker is excellent except for one significant flaw in the FR in the directivity. The flaw is a dip, as opposed to a peak, and is relatively narrow, so I suspect it's not as audible as it may look. But 200-1000Hz and 2kHz to 10kHz is unusallly smooth for a passive speaker.

Completely anecdotally, I very rarely find issues between 1-2kHz -- where so many speakers have issues, to be all that detrimental. This is especially true if the problem is a dip. I have no smart reason for this, but it's something I keep on noticing. I notice anomalies in almost every other frequency range so much more... 2-10kHz is particularly crucial for me.

In terms of the preference score, it suffers primarily from the nearly constant directivity-ish design as indicated by the SM_PIR. Honestly, I suspect I'm more likely to be bothered by the fact that the speaker's trendline seems to be a bit bright. So I'd definitely use that HF shelf.

Is it worth $7,000 n measurements alone? Probably not, and I wouldn't recommend it based on that alone given some of the other options. But if you listen to it and like it and appreciate the design, I don't see this as a dealbreaker frequency response.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom