Hey guys, well I haven't had much luck selling my 4435's, but I did manage to audition both the LSR6332's and LSR4328p's today. I had to go to Sydney for a few days and had some time to kill, so I contacted Paul Tayar from Jands (the Australian importers of JBL pro). Paul with the help of his team were good enough to set up their demo room with both systems.
Their demo room is pretty cool, there is plenty of treatment by way of curtains that surround the whole room. They use this room to demonsrate commercial theatre systems. The room appeared to be about 8 mtrs x 8 mtrs and the ceiling height was about 2.8mtrs.
When I first spoke to Paul he sugested I listen to the LSR4328p's as well as the LSR6332's. None of the guys there had done a true A/B comparison of these systems, so I was very exited to say the least at his offer. It is easy to see why the crew at Jands are the leaders in the pro seen in Australia, they are so helpful and professional in their approach to client satisfaction.
The systems; the cd player was was a pro Marantz and digitally connected to a pc then routed to the 4328p's, and for the 6332's the amp they used although not probably suited was a Crown it6000.
I can see why the 4328P's get such good reviews from the recording industry, from the minute we started listening to the music I was amazed at how well balanced the sound was out of these things. They were really tuneful, controlled and filled the room with a very warm and inviting sound with plenty of bass extension.
The imagary was very precise and there was a supprisingly large sound stage. These little suckers can play pretty loud too, I think we probably took them to 100db or more and they did it so easilly, I'm not sure if it was to do with the room but there was no hint of compression at all at high levels. The build quality looked much better than monitors of old from JBL and I liked the use of the carry handles. Unfortunately we didn't use the room correction mode with the 4328p's as 1 they sounded great without doing it and 2 I was really there to listen to the 6332's.
I know the it6000 was not a very good choice of amp to drive the 6332's, it was all they had there at the moment to use in a demonstration. It took a little while to warm to the 6332's, they appeared very flat and lacked the exstended bass that I enjoy with my 4435's, and we all agreed the amp wasn't a good match. However after listening to a couple of previously played tracks with the 4328p's, it became very apparent why the 6332's are twice the price point of the 4328p's. We turned up the wick on the amp and boy did they come alive. Paul figured in the end we were using about 600 to 700 watts rms per channel into the 6332's.
The sound stage was so expansive and detailed, there were notes I'm sure I've never heard when playing the same material on my 4435's. , the bottom end while not as deep as my 4435's was probably more detailed and perhaps can I say more accurate.When we pushed the speakers they became very dynamic and the shyness in the bass seemed to disappear.
The mid bass and mid range were very detailed and the highs were very refined, and I'd doubt very much if you would get fatigued listening to them for extended periods. The sound is not as foward as say a L300 or 4435 for that matter, but if you sat in the right spot, you were emersed in the material something I don't really find with the 4435's.
The sound is very much out of the boxes and if you closed your eyes it was very easy to define the sound stage and each instrument had its own place. The detail of all the instruments in each passage were so full and defined, everyone in the room commented on these points. I was listening to each of the instruments and was thinking I normaly don't do that, Its like I always think of the overall sound and not the individual instruments creating the mix. (does this make sense??) Remembering this was all through a touring amp with the fan noise of a car!! (no the amp didn't run hot he he).
Like the 4328p's the 6332's showed no hint of compression, and I'm sure they could have delt with all the power the it6000 had to offer. The build quality like the 4328p's was great and they are very light for their size. I can't emagine what the 6332's would sound like with better electronics and dare I say a matching sub! Yes I am hooked, and yes I will be owning a pair.
In a small room I believe the 4328p's would be very hard to beat, they are powered and have plenty of gadgets to tinker with, and we are all big on that. The 6332's yes may seem a little flat to some, but put them to work with plenty of power using the very best electronics, and a good sub will put you straight into audio navana I'm sure.