JBL HDI-1600 Speaker Review

[Sal1950]

A match from heaven: the JBL HDI1600’s with an Electrokompaniet PD-2D. It’s Danish. More lively than the outstanding but ultra-flat Hypex 250. You lose some high-endish finesse but it’s the best sound I ever heard in my room.

Glad you like them. I found them to be the best sounding stand mounts I ever heard.

 

[DRNO]

Offcourse a bit room depending but have Anyone tried both the 1600 and 3600 and can make an statement?

I have the 1600 and the 4500 and thinking about to "upgrade" to 3600

 

[Sal1950]

Offcourse a bit room depending but have Anyone tried both the 1600 and 3600 and can make an statement?

I have the 1600 and the 4500 and thinking about to "upgrade" to 3600

Yes, I had the 1600's for around 45 days and returned them for the 3600s. Nothing really wrong with the 1600's but I had been running stand mounts for years before that and was looking for a upgrade in bass handling and dynamics. The 3600's were a significant improvement in those departments as they should be with the increase in driver count and measured FR plus efficiency. I have 4 3600's and a 4500 center plus dual HSU subs now and have way more than I need in power and impact for either music or movies.
Of course you have to factor in the BIG increase in cost, there's always more available, just depends on your wallet.

 

[nick-v]

They're phenomenal! I use my HDI-1600's as surrounds, with HDI-4500 (I sure wish they made an HDI-4600 with a larger waveguide) and HDI-3800's up front.

My 1600's replaced a pair of KEF Q100's that were on surround duty and it's astonishing the difference even just for surround duty. I didn't quite expect the quality increase to be so obvious just for the surround speakers.

 

[Sal1950]

I didn't quite expect the quality increase to be so obvious just for the surround speakers.

IME, inner detail and imaging provided by all the HDI series is phenomenal. JBL named them right, High Definition Imaging series is an appropriate handle for all of the series. I'll probably take these to my grave.

 

[DRNO]

Thanks for inputs. yes the 1600 are great! Will test the 3600 today so I will find out

 

[DRNO]

Have done testing and still have the 1600 !!

 

[boselover61]

Have done testing and still have the 1600 !!

Cant beat the 1600 with subwoofers

 

[outfaced]

Videos on Youtube not the best to judge sound but one interesting here ...

for me the JBL shows more live and spark than the R3, even the R3 measures better here

 

[MickeyBoy]

Wouldn't the JBL 4309 be a better buy? It has 2 dB higher sensitivity at a slightly higher retail, $2,000?

 

[Dougey_Jones]

Anybody wanna buy my barely used HDI-1600's in original boxes/packing? I've decided to go another direction. Speakers are mint. I think they realistically have less than 24hrs of play time and are already safely back in their original packaging.

 

[MickeyBoy]

I'm game Contact me [email protected]

 

[Dougey_Jones]

I'm game Contact me [email protected]

Says that email address is invalid.

 

[MickeyBoy]

Sorry - I omitted the space between at and [email protected]

 

[Sal1950]

Best not to give out mails on forums, use a private conversation.
YMMV

 

[Streamc]

Videos on Youtube not the best to judge sound but one interesting here ...

for me the JBL shows more live and spark than the R3, even the R3 measures better here

boosted bass on JBL in some area. But I can`t judge.

 

[testp]

Videos on Youtube not the best to judge sound but one interesting here ...

for me the JBL shows more live and spark than the R3, even the R3 measures better here

what the heck are they talking about? nicht sprechen deutche, could someone translate a little...

 

[BingaMoon]

Was anyone able to listen to these and compare them to the Revel M16's?

 

[Ron Texas]

I'm surprised the discussion of this highly recommended speaker is truncated as compared to many others. These are still available for $1800/pair while the R3 has seen a price increase to $2200/pair.

 

[GXAlan]

@Ron Texas Talking to a local dealer, Revel has the majority of audiophile mindshare despite JBL also leveraging a lot of core Harman research. You would actually imagine JBL to offer better sound for a given price point since the finishing and cabinetry is a step down from Revel. Since JBLs are also found in $50 Bluetooth speakers and headphones (even though said budget headphones are good), it’s harder for the hifi stores to showcase JBL speakers (esp 2005 to 2020 when in person audition of speakers was possible).

Everyone seems to be “surprised” that JBLs sound as good as they do when there is no reason to be surprised…