JBL 4367 review by Erin

[changer]

M2 will sound brighter than most of the audience wants, due too its constant directivity. Also, don’t forget that M2 also shows considerable narrowing in the top octaves due to big diaphragm diameter/exit. Also looked it up: the narrowing is actually not happening on the vertical axis with the M2, so this is why sound power stays high all the way up, although horizontal pattern narrows.

Linearity of 4367 is better I suppose, and the crossover dip is not due to being a passive crossover, the same occurs with equal order digital slopes. I vaguely remember M2 uses asymmetric crossover, maybe this is why the dip is less prominent, or it is hidden in linear distortion spikes.

 

[abdo123]

It goes without saying that if you are using an active crossover you will be using EQ to fix any frequency response anomalies.

That's quite the controversial opinion, lets just say that. Personally I wouldn't want to google someone's review, import the measurements into REW and try to fabricate some sort of solution to the mess they created. Specially with how expensive these things are.

the crossover of the M2 has like an insane amount of PEQ filters engaged. You should expect Genelec performance with this amount of money but instead you have a mess.

Honestly i think the M2 was better modeled than it was measured. Which is tragic.

 

[tuga]

The M2 has more cancelations and dips While the 4367 has a high frequency boost that is offset by the listening window. I would Hardly say the M2 has better measurements all around. SPECIALLY for an active design.

To my eyes the M2 has the mid-mids, upper-mids and treble shelved up by at least 2dB.
The 4637 has a much more balanced response.

 

[mightycicadalord]

Found a photo of Harman employee figuring out how to price their modern classic speaker line up.

 

[changer]

To my eyes the M2 has the mid-mids, upper-mids and treble shelved up by at least 2dB.
The 4637 has a much more balanced response.

This graph only shows the listening axis.

 

[DSJR]

The UK price at twelve grand is very reasonable really. My beloved and heavily built ATC 100ASL (OK, with built in amps) are over £18400 and £14500 in inferior passive form (that damned dome needs the active slopes and the active crossover phase tweaking). I then nearly collapsed in shock when I saw the current hugely increased price of the Harbeth 40.3-XD at £17k which seems around a third more than their not so different ancestors were ten years or so back from memory - it's a very effective trad speaker nonetheless, but still.

 

[mightycicadalord]

For 12 grand I'd just book the bands I wanted to listen to lol.

 

[Slayer]

It looks like a big 'nasty sounding' PA speaker but looks can be VERY deceiving...

So true, and many of us older folks, still like the vintage style look.

 

[changer]

Pricing in this industry is ridiculous and also very sad, because the audience could be much wider, more diverse and much more interesting. This is also why I value amir’s budget speaker tests, while, at the same time, would rather invest a lot of time building my own high end speaker than getting a small box that has a good spin, but woofers that cannot work it. Other consumer goods will give you some of the best products of the world, professional products, for a third of the price tag in audio.

That said: I would like to get behind the rationale of the narrowing pattern in the higher frequencies. After I had looked up the M2, I noted it was not a feat of the compression driver, as the vertical axis has a much wider top end. I wonder if they introduced this to be able to tune the speaker to taste by direction.

 

[tuga]

This graph only shows the listening axis.

I don't see much change at 10º, 20º or even 30º...

 

[fineMen]

Written review https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/jbl_4367/

Nice little guys!

A bit more narrow dispersion than the M2 in the upper treble.
On axis the suck-out at the x/o frequency is less pronounced, but sound power is worse.
Steeper roll-off towards the sub-bass.
Distortion is a bit lower, but anyway nothing to worry about.

I wonder why even with the relatively low x/o frequency the suck-out is there. The drivers should be placed with less spacing to each other.
The fancy horn of the M2 doesn't seem to be necessary. Looking spectacular, though.

As somebody else already suggested, a three-way woud have been better.

I've got two 12" drivers in a slightly smaller box. One of the 12" for bass (JBL2206), the other 12" is a dedicated midrange (JBL2020), plus horn crossed over at 1kHz. Same problem, as to say, with the upper treble dispersion. It can be helped by having mono tweeter adding to the sound filed as one does with sub-woofers. Just for the 'air'. Can be switched on/of at will. No suck-out in the x/o region to speak of. Even less harmonic distortion, virtually no intermodulation. DIY with left-overs from the past for 500$ each.

That is why I cannot praise (sub!) shoe-box sized speakers so much.

Nice to hear (sic!) that the JBLs reveal the intentions of the sound engineer in the studio. That stereo is a made-up thing, and for sure doesn't come naturally. If a speaker presents the stereo in this way, it is worth it.

.

 

[changer]

I don't see much change at 10º, 20º or even 30º...

It’s the combination of horizontal and vertical axes that play together for a balanced listening window in the case of the M2. JBL with the M2 obviously assigned different dispersion angles for vertical and horizontal axes. This is not what they did with the 4367, which I think should be accounted for.

 

[iMickey503]

Pricing in this industry is ridiculous and also very sad, because the audience could be much wider, more diverse and much more interesting.

May I suggest:

A 3D printer would make a DIY version easy to implement from the Horns to the cabinet itself. JBL also has all the drivers for sale if you want to make a one for one version of your own.

At the end of the day, it's just a two-way speaker with extreme attention to detail in construction and good quality parts. what you're really paying for is all the research and development. Companies have extreme overhead. You have to pad that cost somewhere.

JBL makes it easy to get replacement drivers, and you can order them direct for this speaker.

Drivers:

A thread some of you may be interested in:

JBL 4367: Inside Photos/Video

www.audiosciencereview.com

Jbl 4367 ? ..... - Page 5

Anyone know anything about these new speakers? They should be shipping very soon.

www.audioheritage.org

Also, M2, its "Bigger" brother.

Not my style, but very affordable with payments. With Prostitution now considered a Very respectable profession, you may be able to pay these off early.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

Friend of mine is a proud owner of those 4367, the sound is spectacular!

 

[hvbias]

That's quite the controversial opinion, lets just say that. Personally I wouldn't want to google someone's review, import the measurements into REW and try to fabricate some sort of solution to the mess they created. Specially with how expensive these things are.

the crossover of the M2 has like an insane amount of PEQ filters engaged. You should expect Genelec performance with this amount of money but instead you have a mess.

Honestly i think the M2 was better modeled than it was measured. Which is tragic.

Yeah... I didn't want to say it but when I saw M2 measurements I thought $20k+ for that was nuts. More so after hearing the not so inconsequential number of complaints from people regarding the fan noise from the Crown amps.

I am unsatisfied with the hiss levels on my LSR306 MK2 and these cost less than the shipping for these burly speakers!

 

[fluid]

If this is the passive version of the JBL M2 and the JBL costs about $6000 per speaker wouldn't it better just to buy the JBL M2 and use your own active crossover? The M2 has better measurements all around IMO and doesn't have the weird directivity dip from the passive crossover.

The M2 and 4367 are quite different due to the waveguide. In the M2 it is quite short and fairly symmetrical this gives a better match to the vertical directivity of the woofer at the crossover point and allows a smoother overall match. In the 4367 the vertical dimension of the waveguide is smaller which causes it to lose directivity control at a higher frequency than the horizontal. This is called pattern flip or waistbanding and causes a pinch in the directivity. The Horizontal DI is very smooth and well integrated but when the vertical is added it causes the hump and dip. The woofer is gaining directivity as frequency rises and the waveguide is losing directivity but only in the vertical direction. This is very hard to match without a crossover with wide overlap. The 4367 has more of a biradial shape where the shape of the vertical expansion loads the CD better which is why the crossover can both be lower and have less distortion than the M2 when using the same driver.

The crossover is tilting the vertical lobe down where the woofer takes over so it is not a true Linkwitz Riley.

I wonder why even with the relatively low x/o frequency the suck-out is there. The drivers should be placed with less spacing to each other.

See above for some of the reason, moving them together might make things worse depending on the spacing. I guesstimate that the CTC spacing is around 500 to 520mm which is just over 1 wavelength at 700Hz. 0.7 wavelength spacing is the worst position to keep early reflection and power response smooth and the spacing needs to be less than 1/2 wavelength for things to improve much from 1 wavelength and that is not possible with a 15" driver and waveguide.

 

[Tom C]

May I suggest:

A 3D printer would make a DIY version easy to implement from the Horns to the cabinet itself. JBL also has all the drivers for sale if you want to make a one for one version of your own.

At the end of the day, it's just a two-way speaker with extreme attention to detail in construction and good quality parts. what you're really paying for is all the research and development. Companies have extreme overhead. You have to pad that cost somewhere.

JBL makes it easy to get replacement drivers, and you can order them direct for this speaker.

Drivers:

View attachment 198378

A thread some of you may be interested in:

JBL 4367: Inside Photos/Video

www.audiosciencereview.com

Jbl 4367 ? ..... - Page 5

Anyone know anything about these new speakers? They should be shipping very soon.

www.audioheritage.org

Also, M2, its "Bigger" brother.
View attachment 198379

Not my style, but very affordable with payments. With Prostitution now considered a Very respectable profession, you may be able to pay these off early.

I’m pretty sure I’m not talented enough to do this.

 

[tuga]

It’s the combination of horizontal and vertical axes that play together for a balanced listening window in the case of the M2. JBL with the M2 obviously assigned different dispersion angles for vertical and horizontal axes. This is not what they did with the 4367, which I think should be accounted for.

The M2's vertical response also shows a shelved-up compression driver: https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/jbl_m2/

The M2 is a pro speaker, and because pro rooms are usually heavily treated I would expect the 0º - 15º direct sound to be a lot more dominant. But even in a domestic environment it will still sound wrong.

 

[Spkrdctr]

If they were priced at $750 for the pair, they would be awesome speakers! But alas, since they are so expensive I will have to stick to big Cerwin Vega speakers. I would like Erin or Amir to do a big 12 inch woofer classic Cerwin Vega just to see how bad they really do. Would be interesting.......

 

[DSJR]

We had some CW's to try once (not sure they're made now but the three ways were pretty conventional apart from the red main driver surrounds. For their then low price, the sound wasn't bad at all and the black boxes stout enough. They just needed refining a bit to lose the 'looseness' of tone and this would probably have gone against the target audience who wanted lots of 'everything.'

You guys think the 4367 is (too) expensive? In the domestic arena I don't think it is really, especially with shipping costs of a pair of large boxes from factory to distributor(s) and there to dealer - logistics have gone through the roof internationally I gather. I'd honestly say the price is still reasonable but each to your own. A mid size Genelec may well go down as low with DSP and so on, but I bet in comparison the bass at medium levels may start to 'thump' a bit perhaps (so you add subs, I know) where a pair of 4367's would be getting into their stride without the need to add extra thumpers (sorry, subs). Maybe the much cheaper L100 Classic would be worth a try and I don't think they 'squawk' or 'scream' any more as their ancestors did.

Apologies, I've never had a huge living space with room for multiple speaker boxes spread around... I still feel the smaller version of these would be good if heard at or slightly below the tweeter axis...