Just fired up my 4343s!

[pangea]

I've built the 4343 and the 4345 and heard the 4344 (Jarrods) but never side by side.

The 4343 is a classic and has an unmistakable stamp on the classic JBL sound..nothing wrong with that.

The 4344 used improved/later developed drivers and an offset baffle driver configuration and refined crossover network. All that adds up to improved imaging, smoother character and more power handling under certain conditions.

The 4345 was an eighteen inch woofer version of the 4344 using the 2245H woofer (which was the ultimate at the time). This provided slightly improved sensitivity and greater low frequency output, perhaps the only flaw in the 4343/4344 in my practical experience in the professional arena. To the ear the 4345 voicing is otherwise identifcal to the 4344 but can convey a greater sense of authority at low frequencies, its also twice as big.

The brochures spell all this out well enough.

Regards your own system try and find a member locally who has the 4343 and get an opinion. The 2215 as I vaguely recall may not have the deep extended bass of the medium efficiency 2231A/2235H/2245 woofers. I can't comment on the driver horn combo or the 075.

No doubt it works , if your ears like the presentation then your on target.

Sit back, play the music and enjoy. The real key to these 4 way brutes is setting them up properly, adjusting the pads correctly and using complementy equipment.

Ian

Thank you Ian for your input, I don't know of anyone in my naborhood who's got one of these babies. I have listened once to a pair of 4350's, but that was almost 30 years ago and they sounded awesome, but so does my Hybrids IMO.
It would be nice though, if I could make a new and fresh comparison.

Yes, I do enjoy my speakers VERY MUCH.
I'm not kidding, I spend at least 4 or 5 hours a day (sometimes much more) listening to them. I simply can't seem to get enough of them and yes it's detrimental to my cleaning and housekeeping efforts.

BR
Roland

[Ian Mackenzie]

Your not the only one..

Ian

[markymark]

Wow! way to go! I just finished biamping my 4343's as well. I've owned them for 20 years and always thought they were the finest using the internal crossovers! The difference is unbeleivable, especially when I crank em up! I have a new toy! I also am using a 5235 crossover. I just posted in the Tech forum asking about where to buy the components for blank cards. I own a pair and would love to turn them into 52-5140 cards. The cards in the crossover now are 500 hz. They're OK but I know these would be even better. I know at one time you were also using some Crown crossovers? Any recommendations? Are you satisified with the 5235?

[boputnam]

Hey, markymark...

I too used JBL's legacy external active crossover - on my 4345's. I thought it was tops. Then, I tried the Ashly XR1001 - and liked it more.

I'm not suggesting the 5235 is not good, only there are some features on the Ashly's that are fantastic. As well, it will enable you to stay balanced (which the 5235 will not... ). Search for "Ashly XR1001" here and you'll find some opinions.

[boputnam]

[Tom Loizeaux]

Wow! way to go! I just finished biamping my 4343's as well. I've owned them for 20 years and always thought they were the finest using the internal crossovers! The difference is unbeleivable, especially when I crank em up! I have a new toy! I also am using a 5235 crossover. I just posted in the Tech forum asking about where to buy the components for blank cards. I own a pair and would love to turn them into 52-5140 cards. The cards in the crossover now are 500 hz. They're OK but I know these would be even better. I know at one time you were also using some Crown crossovers? Any recommendations? Are you satisified with the 5235?

When I first got the 4343s working I used a Rane AC22. Then I got a JBL 5235, and a pair of 250Hz cards. I modified the cards slightly to make them the "special" cards that JBL designed for the 4343s. I was also using a JBL/Urei 6260 and 6230 power amps, so the 5235 made it a complete JBL system. It sounded great! I wound up using just the 30Hz slow roll-off internal DIP switches to protect my system.
When I got my Crown PS-400 and PS-200 amps, I moved the JBL rack to my 4333s (and changed the cards to 800Hz) and put the Rane in with the Crown amps. This has been the amp set-up I've been using with the 4343s. It also sounds great! I like the Crowns slightly over the JBL/Ureis.
I'm about to install my Crown FFX-2 crossover, modified to match the JBL cards for the 4343, but it uses 18dB/ocatve slopes.
I think the 5235 is a decent active crossover, but I haven't really done testing to confirm how it performs compared to other designs.
Though I do try to remove as much distortion, noise, and non-lineraities as I can, to me it's about working to get the music as life-like as possible.

Tom