Good Morning, Friends,
Well, I finally got around to hooking up our 4411's, after Edgewound did his magic in refoaming them. I will probably need to let them run for a bit, to "break them in" with the new foam, but thought I'd share my impressions of the way they sound, especially when compared to our L300's.
First of all, I believe that the 4411's sound very good, indeed! Compared to the L300's, the basic sound is similar, but more "dry", whilst still retaining the clarity, and effortless sound quality that I love about JBL speakers.
The bass response is not as good as our 2235H-loaded L300's, as might be expected, but it's still quite good. I think that, especially with a subwoofer doing the VLF stuff, this speaker will really shine!
Midrange reproduction is outstanding, and very natural. This is somewhat surprising to me, as I had an original pair of Alnico 2105's that never really sounded that good to my ears, back when I used them. Now, admitedly, way back then, I was sorely lacking in information about really good crossover designs, and really didn't get a chance to play with those same drivers after I began learning more about that, as I traded them away to a JBL fan and reconing Guru (Sam Saye), down in San Diego. Maybe those 2105's would have sounded better to me, had I known how to "help" them with a proper crossover. In any case, the more modern versions of that speaker, in the 4411's, sound very good to my ears, and I'm very happy with them!
It's with the HF driver in the 4411's, that I take the most issue, when comparing them to the L300's, however! I believe the HF driver is the 044 in the 4411's, and it's actually fairly nice. However, I do find that, even when attenutated, it's a tiny bit "tinny" to my ears, especially on female voices. On the other hand, the 2405H's that reside in our L300's sound sweet, clear, and very natural to me, without even the slightest hint of harshness in their response. Female voices, violins, and other HF stuff, sounds completely natural and real. The 044's are just a tad more "forward" sounding to my ears, which really surprised me, to tell you the truth! I'm sure that, if I played with them a bit, I could dial in a smoother sound from them. But, in truth, the 4411's will not replace our L300's, as we love those speakers far too much!!
I've given thought to making the 4411's our rear speakers, in an HT experiment, which might be fun. I would need to come up with some sort of center channel speaker, which could be one of the 4333's, I guess.
In any case, my thoughts on the 4411's are that these speakers are very nice, indeed, but a tad more "dry", or analytical, than the L300's, but not near as much as I'd expected them to be. In truth, had we heard them before obtaining our L300's, I believe that they would have been completely satisfactory to both Sweet Bride and me, especially if we teamed them up with a pair of 2235H's as subwoofers!! But, once we finally scored our L300's, I'm afraid we're more than a little spoiled by their outstanding sound, so they will remain our main speaker system, with the 4411's being used as rears, or in another system someplace in our home!! I'm very glad to have scored the 4411's, though, and like their sound much better than the L100's, or other 4311 series of speakers. The 128H woofer is simply excellent, as are the other components in the 4411's! Take care, and God Bless!
Every Good Wish,
Doc