New Owner 4331A Speakers

[cjmustang69]

I have been wanting to purchase a vintage pair of large JBL Monitor Speakers for some time and these became available last weekend on local Craigslist. I cleaned them up today and they turned out ok. I plan to hook them up and do a little listening before opening them up to confirm which drivers are there for certain.

[grumpy]

Clever mod to reversibly add 4333A-like arrangement of drivers (2405, L-pad in block off plate, and presumable some
additional internal crossover bits). Looks like a nice clean pair... congrats. (I assume the camera clock is off a bit :) )

[Robh3606]

Welcome to the Forum

Hey guess what those are updated 4331's They are really 4333's or the Pro version of L300 Summits

Nice score:thmbsup:


http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/specs/pro-speakers/1977-4331-4333.htm


Rob:)

[cjmustang69]

Yes the camera clock is off a few years :) When I went to look at these - I expected to see the 4331A speakers. I was surprised to see the tweeter and L Pad added to them. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if the woofers are correct for the 4331A speakers by looking at them. I plan to pull them out sometime in near future and confirm what they are. I also would like to find the dispersion lenses which are missing. I'm anxious to get them into my Bonus Room and hear them perform. I currently have a pair of 4311B speakers in my Bedroom system which I enjoy. I plan to try these with a Tube System I have and hope they match well with it.

[badfish]

I also have 4333A and 4331As that have been brought up to 4333A spec. They are indeed my pride and joy!!You are gonna love them! Congrats!

[richluvsound]

Welcome and congratulations,

Google Kenrick sound for lenses .... perfect copies at a very reasonable price

Tubes will suit them very well indeed in my experience .

Rich

[cjmustang69]

Thanks for the welcome and Kendrick recommendation for lenses - I have seen their product on Ebay and was curious if anyone had experience purchasing from them. I may go that route as I would like to have a pair which is cosmetically nice. I've attached a photo of my speakers - which made it as far as my master bedroom this morning. I intended to get them into my Bonus Room - but they were a little more than I and my wife could handle getting upstairs. I'll need to get a friend from work help me move them upstairs in the next few weeks. Now - I have them connected to Pioneer Elite system so I can at least listen to them in the meantime.

[cjmustang69]

I've moved these speakers to Bonus Room and originally hooked up to Adcom system (GFA5802 amp and GFP750 preamp) and thought they sounded great and was pleased with their performance, until I get my tube amp back from Cary and have a chance to try them with tubes. I then hooked the JBLs up to a Sony TAN8550 amp and Audio Reasearch tube preamp. I'm blown away by the improvement in sound. I'm not certain at this point if it is due to the tube preamp or the Sony amp, or the combination - but the bass is tighter and mids/highs are even more musical than with the Adcoms. Now I'm really anxious to get the tube amp back and hooked up with the JBLs. One question I hope I can get some advice for is "what is best option to open speakers up and verify drivers/x-overs which are present? There are 2 panels on back, which appear to be removable and the "whole" back panel. Which panel/set of screws is best to remove and see what is inside?

[cjmustang69]

I finally was able to hook my 4331A speakers to my Cary amp last week. I also changed out the 6922 tubes to a pair of Genalex Gold Lion 6922 tubes. I'm very happy with the performance and how they sound together. Unfortunately, after a few days of listening to them, I noticed the woofer surrounds were cracking. I located a shop nearby which is listed as a JBL Service Center and took my woofers to them yesterday. I hope to have them back next Wednesday. That will give me a few days to enjoy them before going back to work after the holidays.

[hjames]

I finally was able to hook my 4331A speakers to my Cary amp last week. I also changed out the 6922 tubes to a pair of Genalex Gold Lion 6922 tubes. I'm very happy with the performance and how they sound together. Unfortunately, after a few days of listening to them, I noticed the woofer surrounds were cracking. I located a shop nearby which is listed as a JBL Service Center and took my woofers to them yesterday. I hope to have them back next Wednesday. That will give me a few days to enjoy them before going back to work after the holidays.

If they replace just the surrounds instead of doing a full recone,
be sure they glue the surrounds to the BACK of the woofer cones ...

[JeffW]

If they replace just the surrounds instead of doing a full recone,
be sure they glue the surrounds to the BACK of the woofer cones ...

And if the do a recone, be sure they use the JBL kit. There was a guy on here a while back who took some drivers to a "JBL repair shop" to have his beloved drivers reconed and they slapped some generic parts in there and told him to shove off when he complained.

[cjmustang69]

Yes, only the surrounds need to be replaced as the cones are in great condition. I spoke with the tech who will be doing the work when I dropped the speakers off at their shop. Based on what I had read on this forum, I knew a few of the questions to ask him regarding replacement of the surrounds(such as gluing to BACK of the woofer cones). He seemed to know the correct answers - so I'm hopeful they will be done properly. Thank you for the head's up :)

[cjmustang69]

Picked my woofers up this afternoon after they had the surrounds replaced. I plan to hook them up tomorrow morning and see how they sound.

[gdwrench]

Looks like they did a fairly nice job for you cj ;)....How's everything sounding ??

[cjmustang69]

I had opportunity to listen to these for approximately 4 hours yesterday and they sounded great. I'm pleased with how they turned out. Now I'm waiting for my lenses to arrive and they will be complete.

[cjmustang69]

My Kenrick lenses arrived today. As others have commented about Kenrick lenses - they look great. I snapped a photo of a speaker with lens installed. I've listened to these speakers for the past month with both Tube and Solid State systems. I'm really happy with how they perform. They seem to sound better and better the more I listen to them. Not sure if it is me becoming accustomed to their sound or if they had been sitting unused for several years prior to me purchasing them and they just needed to be used and "loosen" up. Either way - I'm extremely pleased with them.

[Earl K]

Very Cool !

They Look Great !

:)

[Mr. Widget]

My Kenrick lenses arrived today.Great!


They seem to sound better and better the more I listen to them. Not sure if it is me becoming accustomed to their sound...That is exactly what it is... in most cases, even from the "professional" reviewers, the "breaking in" of speakers, caps, etc. is all about getting accustomed to the new sound, but who cares!


I've listened to these speakers for the past month with both Tube and Solid State systems. I'm really happy with how they perform.- I'm extremely pleased with them.They are great speakers... Welcome to the club!


Widget

[Audiobeer]

Outstanding! Theres not many speakers that come close to that sound. Once you give a listen your hooked. :D

[Hey19]

Outstanding! Theres not many speakers that come close to that sound. Once you give a listen your hooked. :D

were they 2231A's? All others originals? Very nice pair. Try them with the grilles off. They all sound better that way in my most humble opinion.:)

[cjmustang69]

Yes - the woofers are 2231A. The high frequency driver is a 2405, which was added to the original 4331A speaker.

[cjmustang69]

I snapped this photo when I had woofer surrounds replaced earlier this year. Again - showing how much I have to learn regarding these speakers - can you tell if this is part of orignal speaker x-over or if it was added during mod from 4331A to 4333A design? I'm curious as to how properly the modification was done.

[cjmustang69]

I thought I would update latest change to my JBLs. I have been wanting to get them off the floor and see what impact it would have on their performance. I had a pair of speakers stands made for them - and the stands arrived today. I just got the speakers onto stands and haven't listened to them to determine impact on sound. I attached a photo of speaker on stand. The stands are 10" high and built with angle to tilt back. Hope to do some extensive listening to them this weekend.

[Dave_72]

Those look great! I bet they sound even better. Congrats!

[Mr. Widget]

Yeah... very nice!


Widget

[cjmustang69]

Thank you for comments regarding speaker stands. I've listened to my speakers (on stands) this evening for about 2 hours. I have them hooked up to my Adcom GFA 5802 amp and Audio Research tube preamp. My first impression is the stands have improved the performance of the JBLs quite significantly. The quality of bass is much tighter and the overall sound is cleaner - in addition to improved imaging. I've always enjoyed these speakers, but feel the addition of the stands have taken them to another level for me.

[gferrell]

Those are really sweet, I must have missed them on CL, were they here in NC? I am sure I would have noticed them since I don't believe many JBL collectables are in this state. . I am about an hour and a half east of you and I would love to hear what they sound like some time when I am up that way. I have never heard anything from the JBL pro line except my lowly 4412A's which I listen to regularly.

[cjmustang69]

I bought these in November of last year from a Craigslist listing in Greensboro. I would be happy to have you stop by and hear them perform. Just send me a PM a week or so in advance of you coming this way and we can plan for it.