• 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 HDI-3800 Floorstanding Speaker Review

OP
hardisj

hardisj

Major Contributor
Reviewer
Joined
Jul 18, 2019
Messages
2,907
Likes
13,915
Location
North Alabama
Well, now that everyone has decided where they stand regarding the LF... is there anything else here that you guys feel is worth talking about?

Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't more interest. Everyone wants to see floorstanders tested but we are circling the drain on the LF. LOL
But, it seems to be the case that when a concern is raised we as a forum tend to latch on to it and circle the subject and overall interest fizzles. I always hate seeing that "echo chamber" attitude in these threads because I feel good discussion is foregone after people grow tired of going over the same subject and lose interest. Not complaining. Just speaking the truth. And it's no different when it happens in one of my own reviews.

So, for the sake of trying to get this thread on track and provide some meaningful discussion about the overall performance - and try to put the "science" back in to the discussion of how we use the data to correlate with what we hear - I'll re-iterate something I discussed in the video: the soundstage height being split between the midrange and the tweeter. Now, I hadn't seen this data at all until after I had listened. But when I played the Joe Walsh track I immediately noticed the height of the soundstage shifted down in the vertical plane. First time I'd noticed such an abrupt transition (I most often notice it to a lesser degree). The vertical contour plot shows what is going on quite well (below). This is the first time I can think of seeing such a clear trend in the SPL radiation shifting from below (or above) the main listening axis. In this case, the SPL is focused at about -80° at 100Hz and trends upward in angle until it reaches and maintains output level at about 30° from 500Hz - 1.5kHz. From there, the main lobe shifts up to about +10° at 2kHz briefly and then settles back down on the 0° (listening) axis.

1616716065973.png





I took a look at Amir's measurement of the HDI-3600 (note: this also shows a steep LF rolloff, fwiw) and lo-and-behold, the result shows the same trend. I know I looked at the results before but I can tell you that seeing this data never entered my brain. And I definitely wouldn't have remembered something from nearly a year ago (I can barely remember what I did yesterday half the time :D). I am curious if Amir heard this split-stage issue when listening since he didn't call it out directly as part of his subjective evaluation but did note this in his graphic (below). Or, for that matter, if any of you other folks who have listened to these speakers have heard this issue. As I said in the review, it was only noticeable on panned music but given Amir listens in mono I honestly don't know how that would translate.


1616716300371.png




It is also worth noting that the vertical integration of the HDI-3600 is somehow worse; judging by the deep hole in response at the crossover both below and above the measured axis. Assuming apples to apples measurement methods, of course, but judging by the two sets of data I think we both chose the same measurement axis. It's possible the distance shown in his graphic is a factor in this (his is 1.24 meters where mine is taken at 2 meters).
 
Last edited:

Helicopter

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 13, 2020
Messages
2,693
Likes
3,945
Location
Michigan
I like floorstanders. I doubt I'll ever listen to bookshelves in anything but surrounds or a tertiary system. I am pretty happy with my Focal Aria 948s for now though.

I agree the discussion of what is happening near 25Hz is esoteric and inconsequencial, but I also agree the Klippel rep probably has an error in his interpretation.

The practical conclusion to move on to another speaker works for me, but meanwhile, I suggest some refinement and open minded analysis of the process for the sake of esoterics and clarity.

If only Focal were to offer Kantas...
 

pozz

Слава Україні
Forum Donor
Editor
Joined
May 21, 2019
Messages
4,036
Likes
6,827
Well, now that everyone has decided where they stand regarding the LF... is there anything else here that you guys feel is worth talking about?

Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't more interest. Everyone wants to see floorstanders tested but we are circling the drain on the LF. LOL
But, it seems to be the case that when a concern is raised we as a forum tend to latch on to it and circle the subject and overall interest fizzles. I always hate seeing that "echo chamber" attitude in these threads because I feel good discussion is foregone after people grow tired of going over the same subject and lose interest. Not complaining. Just speaking the truth. And it's no different when it happens in one of my own reviews.

So, for the sake of trying to get this thread on track and provide some meaningful discussion about the overall performance - and try to put the "science" back in to the discussion of how we use the data to correlate with what we hear - I'll re-iterate something I discussed in the video: the soundstage height being split between the midrange and the tweeter. Now, I hadn't seen this data at all until after I had listened. But when I played the Joe Walsh track I immediately noticed the height of the soundstage shifted down in the vertical plane. First time I'd noticed such an abrupt transition (I most often notice it to a lesser degree). The vertical contour plot shows what is going on quite well (below). This is the first time I can think of seeing such a clear trend in the SPL radiation shifting from below (or above) the main listening axis. In this case, the SPL is focused at about -80° at 100Hz and trends upward in angle until it reaches and maintains output level at about 30° from 500Hz - 1.5kHz. From there, the main lobe shifts up to about +10° at 2kHz briefly and then settles back down on the 0° (listening) axis.

View attachment 120363




I took a look at Amir's measurement of the HDI-3600 (note: this also shows a steep LF rolloff, fwiw) and lo-and-behold, the result shows the same trend. I know I looked at the results before but I can tell you that seeing this data never entered my brain. And I definitely wouldn't have remembered something from nearly a year ago (I can barely remember what I did yesterday half the time :D). I am curious if Amir heard this split-stage issue when listening since he didn't call it out directly as part of his subjective evaluation but did note this in his graphic (below). Or, for that matter, if any of you other folks who have listened to these speakers have heard this issue. As I said in the review, it was only noticeable on panned music but given Amir listens in mono I honestly don't know how that would translate.


View attachment 120364



It is also worth noting that the vertical integration of the HDI-3600 is somehow worse; judging by the deep hole in response at the crossover both below and above the measured axis. Assuming apples to apples measurement methods, of course, but judging by the two sets of data I think we both chose the same measurement axis. It's possible the distance shown in his graphic is a factor in this (his is 1.24 meters where mine is taken at 2 meters).
That takes me back to my dad's floorstanding Yamahas. I would listen to them late at night, very nearfield, when he was sleeping. And I really liked the abruptness. Most of what I listen to is electronic music, and that shift gave a vertical aspect to the soundstage that felt nice. Means I probably lucked out with the music I chose, which I remember was sparse and had very distinct elements.

My own speakers since then have been all small stuff and subs so I've forgotten all about that kind of artefact until now.
 

restorer-john

Grand Contributor
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
12,722
Likes
38,899
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
@hardisj great review! :)

A few questions:
Where are these JBL speakers (cabinets/drivers) manufactured?
Did they come with spikes for stable carpet mounting?
What is the compression driver flare made of? Plastic or cast alloy?
Did you pull out a driver and look at the internal construction/crossovers, damping, bracing board quality etc? Pics?
 

jhaider

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
2,874
Likes
4,674
*shrugs* I've come to believe bass measurements just depend on what the bass fairy feels like granting you with on a given day.

That’s one reason I’ve never done them. IMO the useful bass measurement in a review is an in room measurement of the extension in the reviewer’s room. That doesn’t mean much either, but does give a notion of the speaker’s bass reach in the real world.
 
Last edited:

Beave

Major Contributor
Joined
May 10, 2020
Messages
1,393
Likes
3,015
@hardisj great review! :)

A few questions:
Where are these JBL speakers (cabinets/drivers) manufactured?
Did they come with spikes for stable carpet mounting?
What is the compression driver flare made of? Plastic or cast alloy?
Did you pull out a driver and look at the internal construction/crossovers, damping, bracing board quality etc? Pics?

This review shows internals for the bookshelf version HDI-1600:

https://hi-fi.com.pl/testy/kolumny/5171-atomowe-serce-jbl-hdi-1600.html
 
OP
hardisj

hardisj

Major Contributor
Reviewer
Joined
Jul 18, 2019
Messages
2,907
Likes
13,915
Location
North Alabama
@hardisj great review! :)

A few questions:
Where are these JBL speakers (cabinets/drivers) manufactured?
Did they come with spikes for stable carpet mounting?
What is the compression driver flare made of? Plastic or cast alloy?
Did you pull out a driver and look at the internal construction/crossovers, damping, bracing board quality etc? Pics?

Thanks.

1) No idea.
2) I believe they are supposed to, but my review samples did not. The boxes have "Engineering Sample" scrawled on them so I imagine the standard stuff that comes with them may not have been sent. Unless I just missed it in the packaging. What I got have rubber donut feet on them.
3) Plastic as far as I can tell.
4) I have not. I might, still. If I do, I'll probably also put one of the woofers on the klippel stand and measure its linear xmax.
 

Beave

Major Contributor
Joined
May 10, 2020
Messages
1,393
Likes
3,015
Well, now that everyone has decided where they stand regarding the LF... is there anything else here that you guys feel is worth talking about?

Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't more interest. Everyone wants to see floorstanders tested but we are circling the drain on the LF. LOL
But, it seems to be the case that when a concern is raised we as a forum tend to latch on to it and circle the subject and overall interest fizzles. I always hate seeing that "echo chamber" attitude in these threads because I feel good discussion is foregone after people grow tired of going over the same subject and lose interest. Not complaining. Just speaking the truth. And it's no different when it happens in one of my own reviews.

So, for the sake of trying to get this thread on track and provide some meaningful discussion about the overall performance - and try to put the "science" back in to the discussion of how we use the data to correlate with what we hear - I'll re-iterate something I discussed in the video: the soundstage height being split between the midrange and the tweeter.

I heard something like what you describe with another 2 1/2 way speaker, the Monitor Audio RX6. I thought I might be imaging things, but I was pretty sure I heard it when compared with a couple of 2 way small bookshelf speakers that did NOT seem to have the same issue. I was listening at about 8-10 feet away and still felt like there were two sources of sound.
 

Beave

Major Contributor
Joined
May 10, 2020
Messages
1,393
Likes
3,015
I'm pretty sure the HDI series (drivers and cabinets and all) are made in China. Sticker on the back says "Made in China" on pictures I've seen.
 

MZKM

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Dec 1, 2018
Messages
4,250
Likes
11,556
Location
Land O’ Lakes, FL
The vertical contour plot shows what is going on quite well (below). This is the first time I can think of seeing such a clear trend in the SPL radiation shifting from below (or above) the main listening axis.
Now imagine if it were a regular 2-way design.

I guess even if going 2.5-way, the center of an 8” woofer to a the center of the waveguided tweeter are just too far apart, of course the crossover frequency matters.

JTR has horn speakers with large woofers, but their more expensive models use a coaxial compression driver, which allows a much lower crossover frequency and more stable vertical height. Matt Poes measured their RT212 which uses 2 12“ woofers, in a MTM configuration which helps even moreso, the crossover is a real low 500Hz:
https://www.avnirvana.com/threads/jtr-noesis-212rt-review-and-measurements.6779/
full-png.30942

Very narrow directivity though from 400Hz-10kHz.

The more expensive RT215 is also a MTM, but the cheaper RT210 is just a regular dual woofer below the waveguide, so I wonder how that fares in this regard. The RT215 is a beast though, they claim CEA-2010 levels at 20Hz of >110dB for 2m RMS.
 

Chrispy

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 7, 2020
Messages
7,938
Likes
6,097
Location
PNW
Did you ever measure the S590s....wonder how they compare to these....
 

Beershaun

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 3, 2019
Messages
1,877
Likes
1,922
Thank you for measuring a floorstanding speaker so we can consider it against a bookshelf. How do you think this compares to the equivalent bookshelf speakers? What does the data tell you about the benefits of a floor stander? Should we all just buy bookshelf speakers and subwoofers?
 

Helicopter

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 13, 2020
Messages
2,693
Likes
3,945
Location
Michigan
Thank you for measuring a floorstanding speaker so we can consider it against a bookshelf. How do you think this compares to the equivalent bookshelf speakers? What does the data tell you about the benefits of a floor stander? Should we all just buy bookshelf speakers and subwoofers?
In short, not necissarily. I have never heard better midbass than my Focal Aria 948s. I am sure a good number of speakers and subs match them, but it is still a special and relatively rare breed. Get great floorstanders and you can get low distortion and good range without tweaking. I am sure you can get good results with a sub combo too.

Also, depends a bit on your room. If your room is 200 m^3 big floorstanders will shine, but for 20m^3 bookshelves + subs might be optimal.
 

Beershaun

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 3, 2019
Messages
1,877
Likes
1,922
In short, not necissarily. I have never heard better midbass than my Focal Aria 948s. I am sure a good number of speakers and subs match them, but it is still a special and relatively rare breed. Get great floorstanders and you can get low distortion and good range without tweaking. I am sure you can get good results with a sub combo too.

Also, depends a bit on your room. If your room is 200 m^3 big floorstanders will shine, but for 20m^3 bookshelves + subs might be optimal.
I'd like to ask for data to quantify your conjecture. Right now I can't tell from the distortion plot if this floor standing loudspeaker is any better than it's bookshelf brethern at the same SPL.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-hdi-1600-speaker-review.12477/

I think that would be a great revelation to expose the differences! It would help me understand whether spending my money on a floor standing loudspeaker is worth it or just get the bookshelf version. for example: If I can play devil's advocate for a second: the HDI 1600 is 87db sensitivity 40hz-30Khz -6db. The 3800 goes down a whole 3hz to 37hz and has a 92db sensitivity. So is it worth it to have this giant monolith in my living room? the specs on the website don't paint much of a picture for me. Should I spend the money and plant a pair of these big ol' bad boy speakers in my living room?
 
Last edited:

Helicopter

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 13, 2020
Messages
2,693
Likes
3,945
Location
Michigan
I'd like to ask for data to quantify your conjecture. Right now I can't tell from the distortion plot if this floor standing loudspeaker is any better than it's bookshelf brethern at the same SPL.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-hdi-1600-speaker-review.12477/

I think that would be a great revelation to expose the differences! It would help me understand whether spending my money on a floor standing loudspeaker is worth it or just get the bookshelf version. for example: If I can play devil's advocate for a second: the HDI 1600 is 87db sensitivity 40hz-30Khz -6db. The 3800 goes down a whole 3hz to 37hz and has a 92db sensitivity. So is it worth it to have this giant monolith in my living room? the specs on the website don't paint much of a picture for me. Should I spend the money and plant a pair of these big ol' bad boy speakers in my living room?
I don't have data directly on Focal Aria, but since your curiousity is about general differences in bookshelf and floor standing, I would encourage you to look at Amir's Revel Performa Be measurements.

My subjective impression after spending over $3550 should be interpreted with whatever bias fits.

What conjecture?

Seems like I qualified my impressions fairly above, unless you mean the final paragraph on room size, which spanning an order of magnitude seems conservative as well.
 
Last edited:

Beershaun

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 3, 2019
Messages
1,877
Likes
1,922
I don't have data directly on Focal Aria, but since your curiousity is about general differences in bookshelf and floor standing, I would encourage you to look at Amir's Revel Performa Be measurements.

My subjective impression after spending over $3550 should be interpreted with whatever bias fits.

What conjecture?

Seems like I qualified my impressions fairly above.

sorry, don't mean to discount your experiences. I mean, I see this particular review as an opportunity to compare a floor standing loudspeaker to it's bookshelf counterpart through measured data and explore how they differ. That's a comparison and trade off we all go through when making purchasing decisions. Quantifying it would be meaningful IMHO.
 

Helicopter

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 13, 2020
Messages
2,693
Likes
3,945
Location
Michigan
sorry, don't mean to discount your experiences. I mean, I see this particular review as an opportunity to compare a floor standing loudspeaker to it's bookshelf counterpart through measured data and explore how they differ. That's a comparison and trade off we all go through when making purchasing decisions. Quantifying it would be meaningful IMHO.
I would love to see Klippel data on the 948, but I only have it for the 906, and must infer quality about 948 from that, data on unrelated speakers, and my own impression of the 948. 948 is the best I have heard, and though I am sure they are excellent, I have no doubt there are better speakers out there, like equivalent Revel Be, Focal Kanta, Revel Salon, and others.
 

Mnyb

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Messages
2,771
Likes
3,851
Location
Sweden, Västerås
Between the HD3600 and HD3800 what would one chose in a normal sized room, smaller then Erin’s ? Used with a subwoofer ofcourse.

Is any of them better in any way beside the greater spl capacity :)

And thanks for the review !

Btw all of you go watch the video too and give thumbs up , it’s good for Erin’s stats
 

Vovgan

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
189
Likes
347
Location
Moscow, Russia
you just have to learn about and figure out how to deal with (not testing such speakers, optimizing even more, etc.)

I sincerely hope that the way forward will not be “not testing such speakers”

٩( 'ω' )و
 

Mnyb

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Messages
2,771
Likes
3,851
Location
Sweden, Västerås
I'm to very interested in floor standers :) simply because they makes most sense to me in a home setting .
Please test more floorstanders .

A smaller speaker sits on a stand in the same place , it actually uses up the same room space so then it can have some more drivers and you don't have to buy the stand.

However due to actually having many drivers some floorstanders does not lend themselves to be sitting to close to them because driver integration.

Living in Europe in a somewhat smaller house makes me interested in the usefull listening distances and room volumes for each speakers tested .
( to be totally egocentric 2.8 meters would be a good distance to test from ;) )

Neither Erin or Amir makes much about this , how close can you sit before it falls apart and how far can you listen and still get good sound .
Only pro speakers like Neuman or Genelec and similar spec a listening distance . Ime tonal balance shifts some with distance to.
 
Top Bottom