Just got a pair of 4343, but what is up with these?

[DingDing]

Hello, some months ago I got my first pair of speakers in about ten years, ago, they were a pair of JBL 4430's. The sound in these are absolutely fantastic, so my curiosity for more vintage JBL's skyrocketed. Earlier today I picked up a pair of JBL 4343's. The original owner had unfortunately deceased, so his brother facilitated the sale. They are pretty beat up and need some restoration as the veneer is coming off due to poor workmanship. According to the brother these were originally grey, but were made to look like the veneered model.

It looks like someone did a paint job on them, making them black, and this might be the reason why the veneer is coming off. From reading the manual of the 4343's I saw that they could be used with active or passive crossover, but there were no switch to choose this on the terminals, so when I came home I pulled out the 15" to see what was up. This is what I found.







I take it these are not original, so basically I'm wondering if I've been "had" or if these are considered an upgrade to the originals. Furthermore, I also got an UREI model 5235 with 4343 cards in it. Please keep in mind that I'm a total noob at this.

[hjames]

Those look to be custom built "Charge Coupled" crossovers. One of the JBL senior engineers, Greg Timber, had said the switches (used to add the woofer to the passive crossover, or allow use of an active biamp system) had a tendency to fail and recommended removing the switches ... which is what sounds like someone did with yours.

The UREI Crossover was built to allow you to split the signal from a preamp into Low band, and High band, which provides a greatly improved sound when used with a pair of quality amps. It does get kind of geeky at this point, but from your description, it sounds like you got some nice gear.

Excuse me for asking, but are those Rolf's speakers?
He was a member here who broke his neck and passed away back in May ... from what his brother Runar said ...

Hello, some months ago I got my first pair of speakers in about ten years, ago, they were a pair of JBL 4430's. The sound in these are absolutely fantastic, so my curiosity for more vintage JBL's skyrocketed. Earlier today I picked up a pair of JBL 4343's. The original owner had unfortunately deceased, so his brother facilitated the sale. They are pretty beat up and need some restoration as the veneer is coming off due to poor workmanship. According to the brother these were originally grey, but were made to look like the veneered model.

It looks like someone did a paint job on them, making them black, and this might be the reason why the veneer is coming off. From reading the manual of the 4343's I saw that they could be used with active or passive crossover, but there were no switch to choose this on the terminals, so when I came home I pulled out the 15" to see what was up. This is what I found.







I take it these are not original, so basically I'm wondering if I've been "had" or if these are considered an upgrade to the originals. Furthermore, I also got an UREI model 5235 with 4343 cards in it. Please keep in mind that I'm a total noob at this.

[DingDing]

Those look to be custom built "Charge Coupled" crossovers. One of the JBL senior engineers, Greg Timber, had said the switches (used to add the woofer to the passive crossover, or allow use of an active biamp system) had a tendency to fail and recommended removing the switches ... which is what sounds like someone did with yours.

The UREI Crossover was built to allow you to split the signal from a preamp into Low band, and High band, which provides a greatly improved sound when used with a pair of quality amps. It does get kind of geeky at this point, but from your description, it sounds like you got some nice gear.

Excuse me for asking, but are those Rolf's speakers?
He was a member here who broke his neck and passed away back in May ... from what his brother Runar said ...

Thank you so much for clearing this up for me. I bought them knowing that they couldn't do passive crossover, but thought it was weird that the old manual said they could. Just have to recapitulate that I'm new to this. I didn't mean I've been "had" like in scammed, but that I had been unlucky to have something which is sub par to the originals. Looks like these were built in 2009 from the serial numbers, so they're not that old.

Yes, I can't wait to get them up and running with active crossover.

Yes, sadly you are correct, these are Rolf's speakers , I never knew Rolf, but met his brother Runar today as I bought them from Rolf's daughter. A great and kind group of people, it seemed. Runar gave me a lot of good tips, as I'm new to this. Very friendly indeed.

[grumpy]

Suggest you PM member "Guido" regarding the crossovers.

[more10]

Guido works for Behringer Electric. I believe the filter is an upgrade :-).

[more10]

You have Mundorf caps in there.

[baldrick]

This are the pair of 4343 that Rolf used to own The crossover are made by Guido!

[DingDing]

Suggest you PM member "Guido" regarding the crossovers.

Thank you for the tip, will do! Hopefully it's possible to run them with passive crossover too, just in case the active crossover unit fails. I have not heard them yet, terminating some cables with banana plugs to get them up and running now. Carrying these things in last night sure took a toll on my back.

Guido works for Behringer Electric. I believe the filter is an upgrade :-).

Great to know!

You have Mundorf caps in there.

I take it that's a good thing.

This are the pair of 4343 that Rolf used to own The crossover are made by Guido!

Yes, his brother actually told me he went to Germany to get these after his speakers got stolen. Runar also said I should go here to get advice on these, as you guys knew your stuff.

[Mr. Widget]

I take it that's a good thing.

Runar also said I should go here to get advice on these, as you guys knew your stuff.

Mundorfs are certainly much more costly than the originals... and very likely better.

There are people here who really do know their stuff... and then there are the rest of us.

Congratulations on your speakers. You may need to play around with positioning and set up, but they should make you pretty happy when you get them dialed in.


Widget

[DingDing]

Have to share this, haha. Hooked them up a 20 minutes ago and been listening to really loud levels!! Wooohooo! These hit hard and are extremely engaging; threw my hands in the air, had the grin of the century and screamed in pure euphoria here just now

Next up I have to match the gain of the high and low on 5235, as I use Emotiva XPR-1 monoblocks on the 15" and a XPA-2 on the rest, but these two amps have different gain. Also I have to play a little bit around with the pads using REW! This weekend is set!

[nealvb]

Hi, I am a new owner of a pair of 4343 and new to the forum. I just put new surrounds on the 2121 10" mids. I would like to swap one of the super tweeters from the right side to the left but was unable to remove the baffle after removing the 10 screws that seem to hold it in place. I am afraid I will damage the cabinet so am looking for some guidance from more experienced JBL owners. I am new to forums and don't fully understand how it all works so if any one wants to contact me directly with instructions on removing the blue baffle my personal email is [email protected].
I would like to replace the binding posts too with high quality 5 way binding posts, do I get to those by removing the 15" woofer?

To those of you who have upgraded or replaced the crossover network, what were the sonic improvements you heard?

Thanks to any and all who reply.

Neal

[martin2395]

Welcome to Lansing Heritage Neal.

The baffle is only held in place with those 10 bolts but if it's never been removed it may be stuck as there is some kind of sealing tape between the front baffle and the cabinet.
When you remove the 2121's you can put your hand there and pull the baffle, it should finaly come off.
You might want to ask someone for help as the front baffle is quite heavy and you don't want to drop it.
My own 4343's have the much bigger 2441 driver and when you remove the bolts the baffle just jumps out due to massive weight of the "2, it almost crushed my fingers twice.

[nealvb]

Welcome to Lansing Heritage Neal. The baffle is only held in place with those 10 bolts but if it's never been removed it may be stuck as there is some kind of sealing tape between the front baffle and the cabinet. When you remove the 2121's you can put your hand there and pull the baffle, it should finaly come off.You might want to ask someone for help as the front baffle is quite heavy and you don't want to drop it. My own 4343's have the much bigger 2441 driver and when you remove the bolts the baffle just jumps out due to massive weight of the "2, it almost crushed my fingers twice.

Hi Martin,Thank you for your kind advise. The 2441 driver looks very impressive was it a drop in replacement?Neal