Another 4343 restauration thread

[Chevelle]

Hello everybody,

after listening over one year to my diy 4333 I decided to build a pair of 4343. I read a long time at audioheritage and audiokarma so I thought of building the cabinets by myself as I did with my 4333. Fortunately I found a pair of empty cabinets in Berlin from fangio. So I drove with my Volkswagen 150mls to Berlin to pick them up. I met Florian at his home and we quick made the deal. Back home me and my wife had to carry the heavy cabinets into first floor to my listening room. The next day I started to prepare the outside by filling and sanding.

Hjalmar

[srm51555]

I always enjoy a resturation thread, especially on the big jbls. Can't wait to see the results.

[1audiohack]

Me too!

Barry.

[Chevelle]

Today I got me 1/2 liter of RAL 7038 and a roll to paint the cabinets. I left the baffles as they were, only a little bit of touch-up paint here and there, I like a little bit of patina. The speakers are all on stand-by. I will take my 2235, 2420 and 2405 out of the 4333 clones and will use my 2123 first generation midrange.

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?38112-Identify-JBL-10-quot-midrange-driver

Crossover will be custom made for bi-amping only. But more later......

Hjalmar

[Challenger604]

Some are soooo lucky sometime it's not even funny!!!
Pfff!!...

Have fun!
C

[Ed Zeppeli]

Looking good! Are you happy with the colour?


Warren

[Chevelle]

Looking good! Are you happy with the colour?


Warren

Warren,

the original paint was very dark because of ageing. I do not exactly know how the original new colour looks like but RAL 7038 seems to come close to it. On the first picture with the backsides it really looks like in reality.

Hjalmar

[bldozier]

Nice.

[Chevelle]

Next step is to mount wheels for easy moving. I also did this on my 4333 because there is always a reason to change position.
As I do not have the original crossovers and I want to build my own network for bi-amping only I searched for a terminal that fits exactly over the opening on the rear. These Dynavox terminals have the correct size but because they are not flat on the front I could not mount them from behind. They look real good with a "JBL Professional" sticker on it......
The brigde on the terminals are for changing cap values in the low-mid path as I will use my 2123.

Hjalmar

[Chevelle]

Today I assembled the l-pads. As the 16ohm version has a shorter shaft than the 8ohm version I had to mount them in different positions. I found 20mm long knobs that will reach through the baffle a little bit so you can grab and turn them.

[Chevelle]

As I wanted to build my own crossovers for bi-amping only I placed the crossover on the rear of the lowmid box. So the length of the cables to the speakers and l-pads are very short and everything is mounted on the upper baffle. I used Mundorf caps and air coils as I am short on budget.....

[Chevelle]

Last night I finished my project. After the first "break in" I put out my RTA. The microphone 1 meter distance, center of upper baffle, resolution 0.5dB. Looks good for the first time.
Thank you Fangio for selling me the empty cabinets and make my dream come true ! What a difference to my 4333 !!!!!

Hjalmar

[Ed Zeppeli]

Looking great! Congrats.


Warren

[JeffW]

Nice job putting those cabinets back to work, they look great!

[Chevelle]

There are many threads about rising response of the 2123 against 2121. As I tried both in my 4343 I would say that I like the 2123 more because of its fast and direct mids. It was not a problem to tame the 1kHz rise. When listening to Steve Millers Greatest Hits the snare and Fender Stratocaster jump right into your ears. Also acoustic guitars on Travelling Wiburys album are clearer and also smooth in the upper frequency range. The voice of Duffy's Rockferry CD is extrem present in the foreground. These speakers are best for my kind of music !

[Fangio]

Welcome to the club. I think you did an excellent job in reviving the cabinets and building the networks.

Taming the 2123 isn't an easy task. The curve looks great. I already know where you come from and how relatively easy it was (for you) to do it otherwise I would ask. 2121 and 3143 are unobtanium nowadays so public finetuning could get quite interesting.

[high sky]

What a great story. The look really great. Must sound very dynamic.

Jesper
Denmark

[David24x7]

Those speakers are beautiful and I bet they sound even better. You did a great job with the cabinets as well. Thanks for the tip on this speaker terminals.

[ARMED]

did you make your grill already? im trying to get some ideas on how to make mine...care to share?