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View Full Version : Jack's Excellent Adventure or How Far Would You Go to get JBL's



Jaxon
12-03-2007, 12:18 AM
I just got home from a 25 hour round trip drive to pick up the 4333A's I bought from Speakerdave. Essentially, I drove from Portland Oregon (USA) to the San Francisco area, did the deal, loaded up the speakers and drove back. I split the drive over three days stopping to visit my daughter at Southern Oregon University on the way down and the way back. It was nice to meet another member of the forum in person. David is a helluva nice guy and it was a pleasure talking to him.
Anyway, I want to publically thank David :applaud:for selling me speakers and helping me fulfill a quest I started about five years ago to get a pair of these speakers.

How many others here have gone to this extent or more to get "the perfect" speakers?

Here's my JBL collection:
4333A's driven by a Hafler DH-110 preamp, Hafler DH-220 power amp, Denon DCM-370 CD player.

JBL 5.1 surround speakers (model forgotten) driven by a TEAC AG-V8700 AV receiver.

C-56 Dorians just sitting pretty.

Sony 57" big-ass TV.



Jack

Titanium Dome
12-03-2007, 12:40 AM
That's commitment.

Most I've ever done is LA to San Jose, about 12 total hours, not including the overnight which was at my GF's parents. I met member DavidF in the darkened lot of a closed CompUSA to make the exchange.

speakerdave
12-03-2007, 12:49 AM
Well, Jack, I'm glad to see you made it home in good order. I'm very happy to see the 4333a's in their new place and to know they've gone to someone who appreciates them and will take good care of them. They are one of the most enjoyable speakers I've ever listened to. I believe you'll get years of satisfying listening from them.

I also like seeing photos of the Dorian's you were telling me about. I'm sure you'll find some collector interest in those when you decide to let them go.

Just so the other forum members know, Jack says he's been "lurking" here for quite awhile and a few weeks ago decided to jump in and take a chance that someone might have a pair of his dream speakers available, and viola--it happened.

Welcome to the forum, Jack. Keep us posted on developments.

David

Rolf
12-03-2007, 01:06 AM
In 2005 my wife and I had a boat trip from Norway to Denmark, true Denmark, down to Guido in Wurtzburg, and back when we picked up the 4343's. A trip of 2500 km + the boat trip! :)

The result made it worth it. :D

Fred Sanford
12-03-2007, 06:18 AM
Good work, excellent results. Enjoy them. Hopefully there wasn't a nice view out that window, anyway. ;)

je

P.S. please tell me that the candlestick phone and the lamp are two seperate things, and not one combined appliance.

Jaxon
12-03-2007, 02:00 PM
My Dad worked for the phone company and collected old telephones. Unfortunately, he did turn this one into a lamp about 25 years ago when these old phones weren't worth anything. When you hang up the phone, the lamp goes off. It's kinda cool.

The window behind the TV is a sliding door that leads to a sun room. There's another entrance to the sun room I use. Having that sliding door there does make it very easy to get to the back of the TV and equipment.


Good work, excellent results. Enjoy them. Hopefully there wasn't a nice view out that window, anyway. ;)

je

P.S. please tell me that the candlestick phone and the lamp are two seperate things, and not one combined appliance.

Jaxon
12-03-2007, 02:10 PM
In 2005 my wife and I had a boat trip from Norway to Denmark, true Denmark, down to Guido in Wurtzburg, and back when we picked up the 4343's. A trip of 2500 km + the boat trip! :)

The result made it worth it. :D

Wow! That's got me beat. That must have been a really nice trip.

Fred Sanford
12-03-2007, 02:26 PM
My Dad worked for the phone company and collected old telephones. Unfortunately, he did turn this one into a lamp about 25 years ago when these old phones weren't worth anything. When you hang up the phone, the lamp goes off. It's kinda cool.

The window behind the TV is a sliding door that leads to a sun room. There's another entrance to the sun room I use. Having that sliding door there does make it very easy to get to the back of the TV and equipment.

That's actually great, giving you easy access. How long did you debate using that side of the room before you committed?

I've given away all my candlesticks as wedding presents, always thought I could pick more up since nobody wanted them...waited too long, now they're stupid expensive.

je

Jaxon
12-03-2007, 02:34 PM
Well, Jack, I'm glad to see you made it home in good order. I'm very happy to see the 4333a's in their new place and to know they've gone to someone who appreciates them and will take good care of them. They are one of the most enjoyable speakers I've ever listened to. I believe you'll get years of satisfying listening from them.

I also like seeing photos of the Dorian's you were telling me about. I'm sure you'll find some collector interest in those when you decide to let them go.

Just so the other forum members know, Jack says he's been "lurking" here for quite awhile and a few weeks ago decided to jump in and take a chance that someone might have a pair of his dream speakers available, and viola--it happened.

Welcome to the forum, Jack. Keep us posted on developments.

David

Thanks again David for helping me out. I'm still tweaking the placement of the speakers. At first I had them on the floor and I was getting HUGE bass response from them. They were coupled to my floor and the bass was almost excessive. Too bad I didn't have any Rap CD's. :) I was toying with the idea of tilting them back to match the baffle in the L300's. (the L300's baffle isn't perpendicular to the floor, it tilts back) but decided to raise them up like other's on here have suggested.

I ran and bought some step stools you see in the picture as a temporary speaker stand until I can fabricate something else and it cleaned up the bass nicely and improved the sound stage. I ended up staying up until 2 AM listening to music I've heard a thousand times (Dire Straits, Genesys, Peter Gabriel, etc. etc.) and heard a lot of stuff in those recordings I didn't even know was there. That is the coolest thing. I still need to tweak the left to right placement of the speakers because the sound stage is off center. I might have to move everything to the right and reposition the equipment rack somewhere else.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to have these and while here at work, all I can think of is getting outta here and going home for another listening session. I think Monday Night Football will have to be picture only tonight.

Hofmannhp
12-03-2007, 03:10 PM
..... A trip of 2500 km + the boat trip! :)
...The result made it worth it. :D

Hi All,

I can't compete with Rolfs distance, but in 1999 I booked a one way flight from Frankfurt to Munich, took a rent car there and loaded it with a pair of 4435, a pair of 4425 and some Control 1s. It was a car full of JBLs.
Back at home after 430 km in the early afternoon, there was a good reason to lift the 4333A into my office room under the roof top and place the 4435 where they are still standing giving me some good sound in my living room.

HP

Jaxon
12-03-2007, 04:24 PM
That's actually great, giving you easy access. How long did you debate using that side of the room before you committed?
je

Actually, the placement of the TV and stuff was a no brainer. The opposite side of that room has 4 floor to ceiling south facing windows and the glare would have been too much to deal with. It's a decent sized room. It's about 15 feet wide and about 24 feet long. Originally it was a living/dining room and I moved the dining room to the other side of the kitchen to a smaller room so I could use the whole room for "stuff". I don't have a separate family room. Don't need one. I'm divorced and an empty nester (daughter in college). I don't have to deal with, as speakerdave says, the WAF (wife approval factor). What you don't see in that photo are three guitar tube amps and four guitars plus wires and cables laying around. I cleaned it up for the picture. I even ran the vacumm cleaner. :p

Fred Sanford
12-03-2007, 07:23 PM
We want guitar pictures, too :applaud:

je

P.S. I travelled 800 miles/16hrs. round trip twice for two of these guitars, the fourth and fifth from the left.

Jaxon
12-03-2007, 10:32 PM
Right to left: '96 Gibson SG, '93 Gibson Les Paul Classic, '05 Wade (custom hand made), '85 MIJ Fender Strat, '07 Flying V (best for Air Guitar :D)

Fred Sanford
12-04-2007, 07:05 AM
Right to left: '96 Gibson SG, '93 Gibson Les Paul Classic, '05 Wade (custom hand made), '85 MIJ Fender Strat, '07 Flying V (best for Air Guitar :D)

Very nice, lots of tonal options there. I miss my SGs, but I still have a nice SG case, so that means I NEED another SG some day, right?

Thanks for the pic...enjoy the 4333As, there's a pair in my Living Room, too.

je

Rolf
12-04-2007, 09:37 AM
Wow! That's got me beat. That must have been a really nice trip.

Yes it was. Four nights on hotel/family + boat. (Two)

Jaxon
12-04-2007, 10:35 AM
Very nice, lots of tonal options there. I miss my SGs, but I still have a nice SG case, so that means I NEED another SG some day, right?

Thanks for the pic...enjoy the 4333As, there's a pair in my Living Room, too.

je

You have a lot of tonal options, too. There's a lot of nice guitars hanging on your wall. There's a few there I'm drooling over, especially the two you drove a long distance to get.

My two favorite guitars are the Les Paul Goldtop and that custom built guitar. It's called Wade because that's the guy's name who built it. The body is a Strat style but it's heavy like a Les Paul. The body is a sandwich of walnut with maple on the front and back. He added two hot humbuckers and that guitar really rocks but if you roll back on the volume knob, it cleans up nicely. It's a very versitile guitar.

Fred Sanford
12-04-2007, 11:02 AM
My pic was from about 1997, the family's changed a bit since then. The white LP was a '56 Les Paul Special, re-fin'd, which Les had ENGRAVED his name into the back of...unbelievable. He nearly blinded himself with the flying paint chips.

There's about 12 'keepers', and a bunch of 'clingons'. Currently there's (roughly in "favorite" order):

1974 Gibson Les Paul Special 55
1985 Spector NS2
1998 Guild D4 HR MAH
1975 Gibson Les Paul Special 55
1981 Vantage Avenger AV-320
1982 Vantage VS-695-12
198? Ibanez Strat
1982 Vantage Entertainer VSH-445
1968 Teisco Del Rey KET 230
1995 Ibanez Talman TC630GAA
1991 Hohner TWP600B
1981 Vantage Avenger AV-320
1975 Gibson L6-S Deluxe
199? Warmoth/JacksonTelecaster
1995 Vantage VST 33 CE TBK
1986 Aria Cat Bass
2000 Danelectro Baritone
...and some black Les Paul Custom copies that never go away...

No recent group pictures of them, sorry. I started a thread in off-topic about our instruments, but nobody's responded. Maybe if you kick in there we can get some people to tell some stories:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=17907

je

JBL 4645
12-04-2007, 05:34 PM
Oh yes very nice I like them good catch mate. You spread no expense in travailing to pick these up and drive them back intact. :applaud:

Richluvsound, had a few JBL spare parts that would fit a JBL control 5 thou they where made for the JBL CM-62 bass mid driver a few HF tweeters passive crossovers and few additional speaker parts that I’ve put to use when I was up at London, on Thursday 26th July 2007.

Distance was approximately around 120 miles there and back in one day.