JBL 4430 vs JBL L300 summit

[Ed Zeppeli]

Philip Newell discusses this in more detail in his excellent book, "Loudspeakers for Music Recording and Reproduction".

Someone here recommended this book a while back and I have only recently started reading it. It discusses cables, speaker design, and many other topics frequently ranted on and not well understood in many on-line conversations.


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Thanks for the tip. It'd better be good for $102 @ Amazon.ca

Cheers,

Warren

[SEAWOLF97]

Thanks for the tip. It'd better be good for $102 @ Amazon.ca

Cheers,

Warren

Just located at my local library, and have a hold on it.

[BMWCCA]

Should be available to read on-line for those of you with college or university affiliation. That no longer includes me!

[honkytonkwillie]

Philip Newell discusses this in more detail in his excellent book, "Loudspeakers for Music Recording and Reproduction".
.

I just passed on this book in favor of another on my Amazon order last Friday. I'll move it up a few spaces on my list.

[ngccglp]

The only room I have heard both is my 17'x26' basement music/rec room, sitting on carpet/underlay/concrete, driven by McIntosh C41/MC352. Speakers sit on the floor without any risers beyond their factory base.
4430 - I don't know if something is wrong with my 4430's, but I can't describe their sound as positively as others in this 2010 thread.Their sound is full & rich but hampered by poor definition due to lack of high end. The bass is solid & full not tubby to me, maybe a bit of 60-70Hz bump but not irritating. Very difficult clarity on some female voice, strings, guitar, horn but OK on bass/baritone instruments & great dynamics & presence - a bit like the L100's without the sizzle / headaches and with much better bass. Clarity probs are probably due to lack of top end. Imaging seems Ok but nothing special compared with modern hifi speakers.
L300 - my L300's have a bit flatter bass, may go a bit deeper than the 4430's or it may just be the lack of that 60-70Hz bump. Clarity and high end is an order of magnitude better than 4430's, imaging probably a bit more solid. I would recommend my L300's over my 4430's by a country mile. I mostly listen to my 4345's but do listen to the L300's occasionally; I do not have the 4430's in rotation any more.
I have confirmed the 4430 horns are ok by swapping in other 2425's with no change and xovers look ok, no obvious heat issues and they have been in a low stress home environment to date, but I have not replaced any caps or anything. Both 4430 and L300 have JBL-reconed 2235H's. I have owned the L300's since 2005 and 4430's since 2006.
PS - I thought that speakers need to be securely connected to their support, including using spiked feet or similar; putting on phone books or wheeled bases would be contrary to that principle. As would hanging by a chain I guess, so who knows.

Sorry for chiming in so late. I have both 4333A and 4430. The above review is very similar to my experience. if I have to keep one, it will be the 4333A.

[corvettedcg]

Thanks for the tip. It'd better be good for $102 @ Amazon.ca

Cheers,

Warren

It's $63.44 at Barnes & Noble. Wish I knew about this book last month when I had a 40% OFF coupon!

[grumpy]

They typically don't allow coupons on technical books. Tried it on a similar ref book a few months ago.

[Ian Mackenzie]

What l find interesting is that subjectively some owners prefer the L300 over the 4430 while the JBL white paper stomps all over the 3 way 433x (L300) genre systems and for valid reasons.

Like Rob l think the biradial monitors have been designed for particular mounting (upside down from the studio ceiling) and with compempoary studio acoustic treatment. This is a far cry from domestic wall boundary locations a bare flat walls.

I have used the biradial horn before but l must say l did not like the 2235 woofer.

Is a slug compared to the midrange from the 2234 woofers used in the 4435 (a far superior loudspeaker)

[corvettedcg]

It's $63.44 at Barnes & Noble. Wish I knew about this book last month when I had a 40% OFF coupon!

Found it on Alibris.com for $50 new (hardcover). Ordered it, USPS lost it. Alibis mailed out another. USPS.com is showing "no tracking information found". Not having much luck!

[SEAWOLF97]

Found it on Alibris.com for $50 new (hardcover). Ordered it, USPS lost it. Alibis mailed out another. USPS.com is showing "no tracking information found". Not having much luck!

I just returned my copy to the library . Learned a lot tho it's really heavy on math. Was able to get good comprehension on about 1/3 of it.

Would like to own a copy to re-read and see if I can up the percentage.

[Dave M]

One thing I would like to note is, the true "professional" JBL Studio monitors, such as 4430/35 and URE 813C are designed for better phase and directivity, because those parameters are very important in the studio environment, so they have to offer somewhat compromised frequency response. With consumer speakers such as L300 or 434x, those parameters are compromised, because average consumers don't concern the phase shift and the other side effects, but they do offer extended frequency response.

[audiomagnate]

One thing I would like to note is, the true "professional" JBL Studio monitors, such as 4430/35 and URE 813C are designed for better phase and directivity, because those parameters are very important in the studio environment, so they have to offer somewhat compromised frequency response. With consumer speakers such as L300 or 434x, those parameters are compromised, because average consumers don't concern the phase shift and the other side effects, but they do offer extended frequency response.

Then why was the 4333, and most of 43xx line for that matter, so popular in studios?

[Dave M]

Then why was the 4333, and most of 43xx line for that matter, so popular in studios?

Were they? As far as I know, 4333 or 3 way JBL were much less popular than Altec, UREI or 4320 for studio main. I personally have never seen any of those 3 way JBL used as studio main...

[Ian Mackenzie]

Don might best respond to this point.

The early 4320 was used a lot as was the 4310.

I think JBL were good at marketing the belief of industry leader but of course don't believe everything you read.

If you have a look over in the Library you can glean how things went.

[gibber]

Originally Posted by remusr The only room I have heard both is my 17'x26' basement music/rec room, sitting on carpet/underlay/concrete, driven by McIntosh C41/MC352. Speakers sit on the floor without any risers beyond their factory base.
4430 - I don't know if something is wrong with my 4430's, but I can't describe their sound as positively as others in this 2010 thread.Their sound is full & rich but hampered by poor definition due to lack of high end. The bass is solid & full not tubby to me, maybe a bit of 60-70Hz bump but not irritating. Very difficult clarity on some female voice, strings, guitar, horn but OK on bass/baritone instruments & great dynamics & presence - a bit like the L100's without the sizzle / headaches and with much better bass. Clarity probs are probably due to lack of top end. Imaging seems Ok but nothing special compared with modern hifi speakers.
L300 - my L300's have a bit flatter bass, may go a bit deeper than the 4430's or it may just be the lack of that 60-70Hz bump. Clarity and high end is an order of magnitude better than 4430's, imaging probably a bit more solid. I would recommend my L300's over my 4430's by a country mile. I mostly listen to my 4345's but do listen to the L300's occasionally; I do not have the 4430's in rotation any more.
I have confirmed the 4430 horns are ok by swapping in other 2425's with no change and xovers look ok, no obvious heat issues and they have been in a low stress home environment to date, but I have not replaced any caps or anything. Both 4430 and L300 have JBL-reconed 2235H's. I have owned the L300's since 2005 and 4430's since 2006.
PS - I thought that speakers need to be securely connected to their support, including using spiked feet or similar; putting on phone books or wheeled bases would be contrary to that principle. As would hanging by a chain I guess, so who knows.



Sorry for chiming in so late. I have both 4333A and 4430. The above review is very similar to my experience. if I have to keep one, it will be the 4333A.

I have had both, not at the same time, but in the same room. First, the 4333(no "A") for about a year, and then the 4430 for ca. 2 1/2 years.

My feeling was that the 4430 is the much better speaker in the midrange, even if the mids out of the 2235H are "slow/tame" (perhaps due to the mass ring that the 2234H units in 4435s don't have). But 4430 mids are a lot more neutral than the 2231 plus long mid horn/lens in 4333s are.
A thing about getting good sound in the treble also from the 443x-series monitors is to have either the early version with 2421 drivers, or have 2421 frams fitted to the 2425/26 unit. Swapping 2425/26 for 2421s is possible with a bit of woodworking - the driver is supported inside the cab by a holder that is slightly different for the ferrites.

Alu frams in 4430 don't not give you quite the resolution of a 2405 slot tweeter, but you're not far away and don't suffer the jump in coverage angle and hence jump of into-the-room-output that the 4333 has where the slot sets in. In a heavily damped studio, this jump in energy may be taken care of by damped studio walls. In your home, you will hear it bounced at you from the side walls. Perhaps the reason for the inferior imaging several of us noticed in 4333 ?