JBL HDI-1600 Speaker Review

[Ngower]

I was thinking about the L82's ..what size is the room?

About 12x12. It sounded okay but on certain tracks the bass was just too much. I'm in an untreated room with no DSP so that could mitigate things. I can do better than the HDI-1600, for sure, but I've tried a lot of speakers in my space and these balance a lot of what I like. I plan to eventually move them to my home theater setup and upgrade to towers when I move, but for apartment living the 1600s are solid bets.

 

[Deleted member 68495]

About 12x12. It sounded okay but on certain tracks the bass was just too much. I'm in an untreated room with no DSP so that could mitigate things. I can do better than the HDI-1600, for sure, but I've tried a lot of speakers in my space and these balance a lot of what I like. I plan to eventually move them to my home theater setup and upgrade to towers when I move, but for apartment living the 1600s are solid bets.

This information is actually useful to me, since my living room has similar dimensions. Thanks!

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

The crossover it's a 12dB slope?

 

[Ngower]

The crossover it's a 12dB slope?

I can’t answer that but there’s lots of talk about the crossover earlier in the thread that probably answers this

 

[Deleted member 68267]

How does this speaker compare to the KEF R3 meta? Does it have a similarly wide soundstage? Is the vertical dispersion so good?

 

[Ngower]

How does this speaker compare to the KEF R3 meta? Does it have a similarly wide soundstage? Is the vertical dispersion so good?

I only heard the non-meta bit I’d say the KEF is better.

 

[Deleted member 68267]

Thanks!

 

[makalister]

Hi,
I'm thinking on changing my speakers and very interested on hdi 1600. My idea is to have 4 hdi speakers for front and surround. Unfortunatelly don't have enough space on center chanel for another hdi 1600. After watching the hdi 4500 it seems that is not so good on off axis. Which other center will you suggest for the hdi 1600?

 

[firestart3r]

Hi guys!

What size stand should I get for these? I'm looking at the Kanto ones I can fill with dry sand. They are made in either 22 or 26 inch high.

Amir mentions it's better to use a lower stand but when I look at spinorama website, they mention that vertical directivity is (-50.0°, 40.0°) between 1kHz and 10kHz.

Also, the official JBL HDI-FS stand is 25 3/4 inch.

What do you guys think?

Thanks a lot

 

[Theriverlethe]

Hi guys!

What size stand should I get for these? I'm looking at the Kanto ones I can fill with dry sand. They are made in either 22 or 26 inch high.

Amir mentions it's better to use a lower stand but when I look at spinorama website, they mention that vertical directivity is (-50.0°, 40.0°) between 1kHz and 10kHz.

Also, the official JBL HDI-FS stand is 25 3/4 inch.

What do you guys think?

Thanks a lot

Generally, go with the stand that puts tweeters closest to ear height in your most frequently used listening position.

 

[catbb67]

Can anyone who owns the HDI-1600 and one of the 305P/306P/308P tell me if the HDI sounds like the 30XP? If so, I'd buy the HDI to scale up the sound to far field. Was just listening to my 305P near field last night instead of my main system with Whatfedale Diamond 12.2 . The 305P sounded better to me.

 

[tw 2022]

Can anyone who owns the HDI-1600 and one of the 305P/306P/308P tell me if the HDI sounds like the 30XP? If so, I'd buy the HDI to scale up the sound to far field. Was just listening to my 305P near field last night instead of my main system with Whatfedale Diamond 12.2 . The 305P sounded better to me.

the 305 p is a good system in the near field...

 

[Dougey_Jones]

The HDI series is nothing like those cheap powered monitors..

 

[firestart3r]

Can anyone who owns the HDI-1600 and one of the 305P/306P/308P tell me if the HDI sounds like the 30XP? If so, I'd buy the HDI to scale up the sound to far field. Was just listening to my 305P near field last night instead of my main system with Whatfedale Diamond 12.2 . The 305P sounded better to me.

you're lucky both have been measured.

Easily compare loudspeakers measurements

www.spinorama.org

look at the "on axis" and "estimated in room response" to see differences in frequency response.

subjectively, I love my HDI-1600. they can play loud, cleanly and are not fatiguing (compared to BW and Klipsch bookshelf speakers I tried)

hope this helps

 

[catbb67]

Thanks! I was going to flip between the graphs from the two reviews to compare manually. This overlaying is very cool. Bookmarking this ! Looks like the HDI has slightly les treble between 2 to 3 KHz. And the difference widens after 9 KHz. Not sure how audible the difference is up there to my older ears. Also, compared the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 (assuming it is very similar to 12.2) to the HDI and they don't differ much either on the graphs. Don't know how that translate to hearing differences unfortunately.

 

[Penelinfi]

Can anyone who owns the HDI-1600 and one of the 305P/306P/308P tell me if the HDI sounds like the 30XP? If so, I'd buy the HDI to scale up the sound to far field. Was just listening to my 305P near field last night instead of my main system with Whatfedale Diamond 12.2 . The 305P sounded better to me.

Just note that speakers also will sound different in near field due to lesser reflections etc, if comparing near field vs far field

 

[Pmsalsa]

Fwiiw. The Grey looks strange in person in my view and very taste dependent but the Walnut looks much nicer in person vs the photos.
I have the 530 and the 4309 which is sorta similar to the hdi. I would say the upgrade is noticeable but the 530s are good enough that you are going to have to let go of any idea of a 'big' upgrade. You already have very nice sound. I think the 530 competes well with the best $600-1200 monitors. Modest improvements are still good ones though and alot of it is personal taste once the baseline is quality.
It just costs much more to eek out a bit more as price goes up to try and achieve added gains. Plus the costs of the finish does go way up when using nice veneer or high quality gloss coatings.

Hi!! What is your opinion between the 4309 and the hdi 1600. I’m searching and they are in my list. I have a room of 4x4 metres and I like to listen jazz/soul/r&b/rock/funk/blues/disco/house

Thank you very much for recomendations!

 

[Guddu]

I just got a pair of JBL HDI-1600, in the likes of Elac DBR62 and Ascend Sierra-LX, and are super smooth and easy listening like speakers kind of disappear.
No EQ or any correction in place but still just wow.
A bit surprised that these are not talked about more, surely deserve more attention. Perhaps because of their introduced price and slightly non-traditional look for a living room speaker!

 

[Power Pop 23]

I just got a pair of JBL HDI-1600, in the likes of Elac DBR62 and Ascend Sierra-LX, and are super smooth and easy listening like speakers kind of disappear.
No EQ or any correction in place but still just wow.
A bit surprised that these are not talked about more, surely deserve more attention. Perhaps because of their introduced price and slightly non-traditional look for a living room speaker!

I agree with Amir's comment at the very beginning of this review.....

There is some style to the HDI-1600 but overuse of plastic degrades the image of having bought anything expensive:

I would have been interested in talking more about JBL's HDI series of loudspeakers if the powers that be at Harman had approved the use of genuine wood veneers to wrap the enclosure instead of vinyl - for the list price charged.

 

[nick-v]

I agree with Amir's comment at the very beginning of this review.....

There is some style to the HDI-1600 but overuse of plastic degrades the image of having bought anything expensive:

I would have been interested in talking more about JBL's HDI series of loudspeakers if the powers that be at Harman had approved the use of genuine wood veneers to wrap the enclosure instead of vinyl - for the list price charged.

They do use real wood veneers. The plastic that he's referring to are the woofer trim rings and the waveguides.