4333 vs L300 Summit

[Butch Adams]

Can anyone tell me if there is a significant difference in sound between a 4333 studio monitor and the L300?

[Tim Rinkerman]

4333's are rectangular boxes that were easily worked into a studio's design... L300's are the same components on a front panel slanted to JBL's feeling of how they would work the best in a home setting. There is no difference in the way they sound. It's the way you point them. Tilt an L300 foreward and it sounds like a 4333. Tilt a 4333 back and it sounds like an L300.

[Audiobeer]

Tims pretty much dead on with his answer. If both are at the same price you go for the L-300s as the resale will be better. Other than what has been noted earlier they are the same. The drivers are the same other than being a pro version.

[Rolf]

But you can bi-amp the 4333, not so with the L300. (unless one make a new xover)

[Audiobeer]

But you can bi-amp the 4333, not so with the L300. (unless one make a new xover)

Rolf your right! Didn't think of that one. It wasn't more than 2 years ago you could score a nice pair of 4333A's for $1500 and L-300s for $1800.

[BMWCCA]

It wasn't more than 2 years ago you could score a nice pair of 4333A's for $1500 and L-300s for $1800.

Yes it was!

I was mulling pulling the trigger on some L300s about two-years ago and had watched the price climb over the preceding few years to where roughly $3000 bought a nice pair of L300s and a bit less would score some excellent-condition 4333s. So instead I took the same money and poured it into my 4345 clones.

I vividly remember $1200 L300s, and knowing how fast they climbed gave me the incentive to get off the pot. Of course that may have been the top of the market, too. Now with JBL the off-shore company that it is, I keep waiting for those vintage prices to plummet, though I'm not holding my breath.

[jbl_daddy]

Do we feel that the brand is so tarnished it will bring down the prices of the vintage gear? In this case the L300's. Did Altec vintage gear plumet, Acurus, etc?

[4313B]

Do we feel that the brand is so tarnished it will bring down the prices of the vintage gear?

I'm not real sure that Harman could ever do anything to eff up the value of JBL legacy systems that remain in good condition.

I do believe that they have fatally wounded the brand going forward.

And I wouldn't be surprised if all those Made in the U.S.A. Everest II's just had their value set in stone.

[Rolf]

Rolf your right! Didn't think of that one. It wasn't more than 2 years ago you could score a nice pair of 4333A's for $1500 and L-300s for $1800.

I know the L300 have a higher price than the 4333 in the market, but I have always preferred the "Studio Look". Don't know why. As with my 4343's, there is no home version of this. It was supposed to be with the L400 that never came.

[Butch Adams]

Thanks that's what I thought; I'll stick with my 4333's. On another note one of the 33's is sounding like is has a cold. It's starting to sound dull compared to the other cabinet. I have swapped components and the problem looks like it is in the network. Has anyone else experienced this and if so what is needed to return it to its original sound?

[Rolf]

Thanks that's what I thought; I'll stick with my 4333's. On another note one of the 33's is sounding like is has a cold. It's starting to sound dull compared to the other cabinet. I have swapped components and the problem looks like it is in the network. Has anyone else experienced this and if so what is needed to return it to its original sound?

Yes, that happened to me some years ago when I had the 4333's. It turned out to be some components in the network that had bad soldering. I got it fixed. Don't know what they did, if they just soldered it, or if they replaced some components.

You should really change these old networks with new CC coupled ones. It's like getting a new pair of speakers, still with the JBL sound we love.

[Butch Adams]

Where do you buy them? Is there a Lansing Herutage member making them or is it a DIY project?

[Fred Sanford]

Thanks that's what I thought; I'll stick with my 4333's. On another note one of the 33's is sounding like is has a cold. It's starting to sound dull compared to the other cabinet. I have swapped components and the problem looks like it is in the network. Has anyone else experienced this and if so what is needed to return it to its original sound?

I had this when running the internal crossover, it would occasionally wake up when pushed harder. Once I went to an active external crossover, the problem went away. I've just re-arranged my room & wiring a little, and went back to running passive for a while, and the problem's back. Not 100% sure, but I think it's the multi-pole switch that changes from internal to external crossover- I had cleaned it maybe 5 years ago, but I think there's still an issue with it. I will be replacing the input terminals & hope to either clean up or bypass the switch at that point.

je