Stereophile reviews the JBL 4367, finally

[HammerSandwich]

Since most of the spectrum is coming from the compression driver (the crossover frequency is 700Hz)...

Let's count 5 octaves, starting from 20Hz:
> 20 - 40 - 80 - 160 - 320 - 640
And 5 more octaves:
> 640 - 1280 - 2560 - 5120 - 10240 - 20480

700Hz is slightly to the treble side of dead-center.

 

[HammerSandwich]

"...before hunkering down to listen to Dark Side of the Moon."

Next paragraph:

When the first notes blasted out of those plywood boxes...

The first notes of Dark Side "blasted"? Blasted??!?!!? That guy's never listened to the album.

 

[blueone]

Let's count 5 octaves, starting from 20Hz:
> 20 - 40 - 80 - 160 - 320 - 640
And 5 more octaves:
> 640 - 1280 - 2560 - 5120 - 10240 - 20480

700Hz is slightly to the treble side of dead-center.

Good point, but the break-in comment in the review is still stupid.

 

[Vacceo]

Next paragraph:

The first notes of Dark Side "blasted"? Blasted??!?!!? That guy's never listened to the album.

Not even the initial words of Speak to Me 'blast'.

 

[watchnerd]

From the review:

“One day in the mid-1990s, my friend J and I sat sprawled on the carpeted floor of a hi-fi shop in lower Manhattan, playing records. J, who was employed there as a salesperson, had dimmed the lights and locked the door of the listening room behind us to make sure we wouldn't be disturbed by actual customers. Earlier, he had lugged in a pair of homemade speakers that an elderly woman brought to the store, hoping to sell some of her late husband's gear. The cabinets were made of thin, unfinished plywood and resembled floor fans. Mounted at the center of each box was a late-1960s 10" Tannoy dual-concentric driver. We knew these must sound as chintzy as they looked and set them down carelessly on the carpet a few feet in front of us before hunkering down to listen to Dark Side of the Moon.”

'Once upon a time' in the mid-1990s would be a more appropriate beginning to this fiction.
I suspect the author embellished an actual incident from his past, other than a retelling of the tender moment when “J, (no names please) had dimmed the lights and locked the door of the listening room behind us to make sure we wouldn't be disturbed by actual customers.”

Elderly woman, late husband, homemade, unfinished plywood as a trade-in? And Dark Side of the Moon for good measure because PF pushes more buttons than The Beastie Boys which is what they would have been listening to in the mid-1990s if the story were true.

Stereophile tries too hard.

If you ever get into the sub culture of Tannoy concentric driver lovers, you might find it more believable.

 

[anmpr1]

I'm wondering why do you need to read a review for a product you already own?

Well, how are you going to know whether you should like it if you don't read what an on-line influencer thinks about it?

“One day in the mid-1990s, my friend J and I...

Stereophile tries too hard.

This sort of thing has been going on forever, really too long, and underscores an embarrassing depth of narcissistic self-absorption typical within the hi-fi 'press'. The idea that readers hang on an influencer's personal life history, instead of wanting to find read something intelligent and meaningful about the gear under review. I call it the 'gonzo' style of hi-fi reviewing, except 1) most hi-fi writers are only marginal journalists, and 2) they are certainly not reviewers. They are more like Internet Influencers. In fact, that is exactly what they are. Only not as nice to look at, since they are never trendy young women.

Gonzo-style became popular with Hunter Thompson... the writer injecting himself as the main part of his story. Now, Thompson was able to do it, and he was successful, because he was funny, mostly relevant, always hard hitting, and had a way with words. Let's face it, most hi-fi writers are not that interesting, personally, nor are they particularly good writers. Who wants to read about some hi-fi jockey's reminiscence, three decades past? [I guess you could say that Fremer is kind of interesting, in a bizarre and goofy way, when he writes about doing idiotic things-- like rewiring his house so mom can better enjoy the stereo. That's pretty funny, albeit in an unintentional way.]

Historically, reviewers were men who actually investigated electrical and acoustic properties of a device. That is, they actually tested the thing. Go through archived pages of Audio, Stereo Review, and High Fidelity. Compare. Today, all you read about is how a particular piece of gear makes the writer 'feel'. It's a feminized style of reviewing, without real women doing the writing.

Gordon Holt was probably the first to move away from an objective angle, but it took Harry Pearson and his circus to forever seal the deal.

Second generation Peter Aczel attempted to bring it all back home, and was generally successful, but not long lasting (Aczel also possessed some literary talent; coming from Madison Ave where you had to be literate in order to get and keep a job. That fact helped make his copy interesting).

Today, Amir at ASR, and John Atkinson, are pretty much it--at least from a traditional 'reviewing' standpoint, and as far as any consistent output. There are a few others, but none as productive. Of course there are big differences: Atkinson gets to measure the high priced spread. He can do that because manufactures understand that the influencers will be doing most of the talking, and will consequently cover for anything questionable that he shows in his graphs and charts. For his part, Amir has to rely on whatever people send him, so you don't expect to read about the same kind of gear; usually it's just the 'low-hanging' fruit.

Editorially, you sometimes have to 'read between the lines' when it comes to Atkinson's analysis/conclusions, but never with Amir.

 

[anmpr1]

... it is odd that a driver would have such an audible and long break-in period. And no mention of this anomalous break-in effect from Erin in his review. I'm smelling bullshit.

Whenever you insert a new loudspeaker into your system, especially one with a different design, FR and radiation pattern than you are familiar with, it takes a while for ones 'ears' to adapt. Eventually you get used to it, and more or less begin recognizing the 'new' sound for what it is, instead of what you expected from memory--in other words, what you were used to hearing from your old loudspeakers.

This guy merely attributed an internal psychological process to a chimerical physical process--what he called component 'break in'.

I do think, however, that it is helpful to listen to a loudspeaker for a week or two, in your own home, with your own music, before deciding to purchase. At the same time I certainly wouldn't pay any attention to someone who writes:

...when I connected the Ayre amplifier and Frank Ocean began to sing, I might have teared up. Compared to the Pass and Levinson, the Ayre subtly shifted my attention from the sound of Ocean's voice to the meaning of his words...

Sometimes Stereophile takes it to the limit, and then pushes outward. I didn't think anyone could plum the uncharted depths of emotionally driven blather like Vic Serinus, but I was wrong. I wonder if Halberstadt has a wife named Kathleen, who can hear this stuff from the kitchen, while she is making sandwiches?

 

[TitaniumTroy]

Regarding previous post's as to why I need to see a review in Stereophile, for a speaker I already own. Good point, I just like seeing how it stacks up against more expensive loudspeakers in measurement's and the reviewer's opinion. I definitely liked Erin's review better, being more focused and he wasn't still in love with his Altec's.

I can't comment on their being a break-in period, and if there was one would't it be with the woofer? Loosing up the folded speaker surround, anyway mine were in store demo's. From Audio Solutions http://theaudiosolutions.com out of Indianapolis, they told me value, was the JBL 4367's best attribute.

My 2 cent's regarding the speaker's sound is the highs can be bright if toed in too much like I had mine, an audio guru friend said they were designed to have a wider dispersion and toe them out more just like it says in the manual, duh, yes I'm an idiot. I have probably about 3 degrees of toe in, with no loss in phantom center channel image high frequencies are tamed. Yes the high and ultra high frequency controls have always been turned down. Same friend thought JBL was correct to call it a wave guide, as the length is not long enough to be a proper horn.

I'm still love with these speakers and like Erin said in his video, I have heard a lot of speakers over the years. Previous speakers were Magnepan 3.6's, after awhile I became aware of their limitations within my room. And initially became interested in the 4367's due to Dallas's posts about them. I love their soundstage/imaging, dynamics & lack of compression also the bass coming out of that 15" woofer. Not boomy, no upper male chestiness like my first speakers JBL L96's I got on sale at the BX in Avaino Italy.

 

[Robin L]

“Compared to the Pass and Levinson, the Ayre subtly shifted my attention from the sound of Ocean's voice to the meaning of his words.”

And his deaf grandmother heard it from the other room.