To clone or not to clone? 4344 vs. 4345 vs. XPL-200 Advice will be appreciated.

[Guido]

That's not right

Why don't you ask your forum friends?

A fresh recone 2245 (2240 core) isn't much more expensive than a fresh recone 2235 (2225 core) when bought in Germany. The C8R2235 price went through the roof last year.
As soon as you start bargaining and sending baskets or cone kits from USA to Europe you start to loose money. Shipping, damage, custom, V.A.T. etc. etc. But try it if you need some exitement.
You don't get cone kits in the states anyway

Contact me if you need help.

As much as I would like a 2245 in the cabs it will be pretty impossible/costly to get it to Europe regardless weather the chassis was sourced locally and recones came in from the US or completely from the US.
Thanks, Maciek.

[Amnes]

Uncle Paul:

Why would I want to take the effort of scaling down the cabs when there is great 4344 cabinet documentation? I'm quite familiar with the thread you linked but there is no final precise x-over information as 4313b sold on the speakers befor completing the 2123 tailored x-overs. And I would not be happy to invest a lot of $$ and end up with somthing that is big heavy expensive but just doesn't get the job done as good as it is capable of. Or am I missing somthing?

Guido you seem to say nothing but the truth.

[HCSGuy]

OK, let's look at your options. As you already have 250Ti Jubilee's, you've kind of conquered the 80's/90's direct radiator type JBL Speaker - as we have discussed, XPL's won't take you anywhere you haven't already been. Here are some other branches of the JBL tree you may consider
1. TheTiK series - Ti2k - Ti10k - direct radiator speakers like your jubilees, but with much more modern drivers - the tweeter especially is superior to what you have. Look for a pair of Ti2K's to play with, you may be impressed, $ outlay is not too horrible, though along with that the resale desirability isn't huge, so make sure you don't overpay. Also, parts are still available for repairs
2. A modern speaker - find some place to listen to Array's, or haunt the used market for them. They're different enough to be interesting, and good enough to be appealing.
3. The vintage horn thing - 43xx/44xx monitor - use a pre-engineered crossover (from here or copy a stock one to start). Start really simple and modify from there, maybe build something you can get parts for easily, then modify from there - build a 4343 or 4344 sized cabinet for 2235's with a removable front baffle, get something working that is an established design, then modify from there. 43xx/44xx monitors are a hobby, not an end result; you will always be tweaking them as there are so many changes you can make.

Anyway, here are 3 ways to spend your money, all of which I think would be fun. Good luck.

[MikeBrewster77]

OK, let's look at your options...

Well, if we're talking options now, I've got to make a plug for the Performance Series. For about $500 more (maybe less if you're patient) than you're going to pay for the XPL's you can get two brand new PT800's. Assuming you have a sub laying around somewhere, cross them high, and be done with the whole thing. You get new speakers with amazing drivers at only a couple hundred more than what you'd spend on used gear.

Just another thought to confuse you more...

[macaroonie]

Keep your eyes open in Denmark and Norway , those boys are mad for the big blues. Good drive units come up quite often too.
Good luck with your project and make sure you have a read at what my mate Rich has done in the past with restoration and also build from scratch. He is a very talented boy.

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...8086-JBL-4333a

This is the kind of thing those pesky Danes have on their secret auction sites ....

http://www.dba.dk/jbl-4435-legendari...l/id-71028801/

also a nice wee bargain pair of compact blues

http://www.dba.dk/jbl-4313-b-control...r/id-70677090/

[Amnes]

Small brand new JBL's do not interest me. The arrays are not somthing one could even get to see here so listening or buying is not an option. Newer from mine Ti's look like umm... well they don't appeal my eye.

43XX's seem to be a long project. I've never attempted such a big diy topic yet and it seems that it will be a long road. But forums like this always get me astonished with the sheer amount of free and good advice when one is too dumb to do somthing on his own.

I'm really torn now. how bout some milk eh?

[richluvsound]

Hey mac,

hope your well mate .


looks like we have some fresh European blood

Rich

Ps .... these are mine .... they were . Cheeky Sod !

[Uncle Paul]

Uncle Paul:

Why would I want to take the effort of scaling down the cabs when there is great 4344 cabinet documentation? I'm quite familiar with the thread you linked but there is no final precise x-over information as 4313b sold on the speakers befor completing the 2123 tailored x-overs. And I would not be happy to invest a lot of $$ and end up with somthing that is big heavy expensive but just doesn't get the job done as good as it is capable of. Or am I missing somthing?

Guido you seem to say nothing but the truth.

I meant scaling down from 4345 cabs as in 4341B's thread to a 4344 size cabinet - please note I said to scale down to 4344/2235 dimensions. The 4355 network is here. I agree with others that the 2245 is preferred as long as you can deal with the much larger cabs.

[4313B]

Or am I missing somthing?

I ended up using my 4355 equivalent network... I spent many years with the 43xx's and came to the conclusion that my particular build wouldn't suffer from excessive padding. I wanted the ten-inch three-way to be as sensitive as possible. It ended up quite dynamic. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

I stand by my original suggestion to pick up the XPL's. You seem real hesitant to take on a 43xx project. Worst case you could put the XPL top end with a 4344 bottom end at some point and have a pretty nice system.

[Titanium Dome]

Hey mac,

hope your well mate .


looks like we have some fresh European blood

Rich

Ps .... these are mine .... they were . Cheeky Sod !

Hey, Rich, thanks for posting those photos again. I knew I'd seen someone putting some big boys up on blocks. I'm thinking my S/2600s might benefit from a lift, so I got a length of 4x6 to chop up and give me two height options: 3.5" or 5.5" up.

Since you did it, I know it's not crazy, eh? Well, not too crazy anyway. I'm gonna back 'em up with a pair of S3S subs for extra big boy sound.

Amnes

Get the XPL200 pair. Build a xover, actively bi-amp them, add a couple of 14" or 15" subs for that ass-grabbing quality on the bottom. The Ti mid and high drivers are more than capable of filling any room in your house to levels that will leave you legally deaf.

[Amnes]

when a pair of woofs costs as much as a set of working XPL's.

I am the kind of guy that when starts a project finishes it. But I have learnt that as cool as diy and projects are it does always end up a longer road then expected. I just keep making the mistake of taking on too many time and money consuming projects at a time. Don't we all have a bunch od diy projects/spare parts/no longer used gear lying around? Albeit it being a great way to learn and achieve a goal of some sort it appears I'm not ready yet to roll out the saws and routers. I will give the idea two weeks of time to settle down in my head and see where I end up then.

[macaroonie]

Hey mac,

hope your well mate .


looks like we have some fresh European blood

Rich

Ps .... these are mine .... they were . Cheeky Sod !

How would I know that ????

[richluvsound]

How would I know that ????

your not the cheeky sod .... I meant the guy that took my photo from the ebay auction

[HCSGuy]

Brilliant Idea! - a 4430 or 4435. I can't believe I forgot those, as my 4430's are probably my most often listened to speaker. They're thoroughly engineered, give you the horn slam, and 4430's are available easily and affordable (at least over here). 4435's are rare - I'd love to have a pair, but am not sure I could fit them. This series is not a hobby, as there's not much you can do except re-cap the crossovers and bi-amp them with an active crossover. However, when the 1 3/4" TruExtent diaphragms come out, we should have some great crossover revisions to do that will really improve the speaker.

Look for a pair of 4430's - you can't go wrong, and they are easily resold.

[4313B]

However, when the 1 3/4" TruExtent diaphragms come out, we should have some great crossover revisions to do that will really improve the speaker.

I would think so.