Jbl 4425 vs L80 t3

[Dachox]

I recently bought a pair of JBL 4425 to replace my L80t3. Since I have both until I sold the t3's, I have them connected to my main amp, which is a Yamaha CR2020. I do a lot of comparisons with different types of music, and I have to tell you that now I can't decide which one to keep.
The 4425 seems to perform better in the mid frequencies, voices and undistorted guitars. The L80t3 win in the high ends and I think the overall sound its more suitable for rock than the 4425. The bass is very alike in both speakers, even though its a 12" vs 10" speaker.
My question is, I bought the 4425 as an improvement to the t3, was I wrong? Its the t3 as good as the 4425, or maybe I am accustomed to the t3 sound?
Hope to hear some opinions!

[jblnut]

One man's "different" is another man's "better". The 4425 doesn't have a tweeter per se, as the horn has to handle everything from the mids on up. No surprise that it seems lacking on the high end compared to the L80T3. With the 4425 you get dynamics and that "live" sound. The L80 gives you more of a "studio" presentation. Which is better for you, only you can decide....


jblnut

[BMWCCA]

I've tried hard to like my L80Ts. Both pair are now converted with T3 crossovers, extended ports, and extra fill in the tops. They are still my least favorite JBLs to spend time with, and that included the Pro-III Plus and the LSR305s. I'd be shocked if I didn't prefer the 4425s but then I'd have to buy a pair to find out. And, of course, then I'd never sell them anyway!

[SEAWOLF97]

I've tried hard to like my L80Ts. Both pair are now converted with T3 crossovers, extended ports, and extra fill in the tops. They are still my least favorite JBLs to spend time with, and that included the Pro-III Plus and the LSR305s.

Well, then you've probably never had L60T's or Radiance's or Bolivar's ? Time to get those 250ti's up & going ?

[HCSGuy]

I will give my two cents, but you are welcome to disagree. I have owned XPL160's and L80t3's and have not liked the bass in either one of them - they don't go very low and have poor bass definition. I have also owned XPL200's and L100t3's and have been quite happy with how they both sound - L100t3's were my first JBL's, which I had to give up to pay rent, and spent quite a while finding a replacement clean pair. I bring these up because they have the same woofer as thh 4425 but in a larger enclosure. I have not heard 4425's, but I do own 4430's, so I can compare horn vs direct radiator. If you don't like the forward presentation of the 4425's, I would consider getting rid of both your pairs of speakers and stepping up to a pair of L100t3's, a pair of L100t's that you can rework the network to t3, or save up to a pair of 250ti's and be done for a long while, or save up to one of the newer Array horns - Array 800's and a sub sound awfully good and have a small form factor.

[Dachox]

I will give my two cents, but you are welcome to disagree. I have owned XPL160's and L80t3's and have not liked the bass in either one of them - they don't go very low and have poor bass definition. I have also owned XPL200's and L100t3's and have been quite happy with how they both sound - L100t3's were my first JBL's, which I had to give up to pay rent, and spent quite a while finding a replacement clean pair. I bring these up because they have the same woofer as thh 4425 but in a larger enclosure. I have not heard 4425's, but I do own 4430's, so I can compare horn vs direct radiator. If you don't like the forward presentation of the 4425's, I would consider getting rid of both your pairs of speakers and stepping up to a pair of L100t3's, a pair of L100t's that you can rework the network to t3, or save up to a pair of 250ti's and be done for a long while, or save up to one of the newer Array horns - Array 800's and a sub sound awfully good and have a small form factor.

Thanks for your advice, I live in Argentina and it's very difficult to find used JBL's so when you find something good, you better grab it! I recently miss a XPL 160, and right now the only speaker For sale in this range it's a L7, I don't like the looks and people tell me that they're hard to place to get a good sound.

[BMWCCA]

. . . right now the only speaker For sale in this range it's a L7, I don't like the looks and people tell me that they're hard to place to get a good sound.

Don't pay any attention to those comments. The L7 can overpower nearly any poor-placement issues. The only thing you'll have to worry about is giving them enough power and not making your neighbors mad!

The way the L7 performs, if it was prettier none of us would be able to afford them! Still one of the best deals out there.

[SEAWOLF97]

Don't pay any attention to those comments. The L7 can overpower nearly any poor-placement issues. The only thing you'll have to worry about is giving them enough power and not making your neighbors mad!

The way the L7 performs, if it was prettier none of us would be able to afford them! Still one of the best deals out there.

This time Phil is right. I placed mine in crappy positions and they still sounded great. I didn't like the looks either, but estimated the sound at about 80% of the 250ti's quality.

They ARE heavy, hard to move , need lots of power , fugly, but sound nice. I did see a pair online that had been bleached and then stained mahogany and looked OK.

[BMWCCA]

I didn't like the looks either, but estimated the sound at about 80% of the 250ti's quality.

Dang! If I'd known that going in I'd have never paid eight-times what the L7s cost me for my mint-in-box 250Tis.

[SEAWOLF97]

Dang! If I'd known that going in I'd have never paid eight-times what the L7s cost me for my mint-in-box 250Tis.

I paid 20x. $2,000 vs. $100

but then traded the L7's for a laptop that had been $3,500 just 6 months earlier.

Now my a/d/s 's , Walsh F2's, 120ti's and ESS AMT's get more playing time. Just a matter of convenience and location. Certainly won't lose anything on the 250Ti's should I ever decide to discard them.

Funny how dollar mechanix works in used audio. I somewhat liked my L-166's more than the 4412's , but sold the monitors for 100x the price I paid for the Horizons.

[Ian Mackenzie]

The 4425 is more suited to near field monitoring.

The 100 x 100 horn will sound open but could sound diffuse in a typical domestic environment.

The highs are not as precise as the driver is in mass rolloff up there but under the right circumstances the 4425 would image well.

You might want to play around with the enclosures location before making a decision.

[Ian Mackenzie]

I have a pair of the 2214 woofers on ice and l mihht see if l can find some 093 mid drivers and the Ti tweeter and gice it a try.

[BMWCCA]

I paid 20x. $2,000 vs. $100

but then traded the L7's for a laptop that had been $3,500 just 6 months earlier.

Now my a/d/s 's , Walsh F2's, 120ti's and ESS AMT's get more playing time. Just a matter of convenience and location. Certainly won't lose anything on the 250Ti's should I ever decide to discard them.

Funny how dollar mechanix works in used audio. I somewhat liked my L-166's more than the 4412's , but sold the monitors for 100x the price I paid for the Horizons.

Now we're just bragging!
I paid $200 for each of my two-pair of L7s but I think $1500 for the in-box 250Tis. I think one pair of L80T was $50 and I bought Rick Cobb surrounds and paid $12 for two T3 crossovers. The other pair came with one new 127 woofer replaced by JBL and the other was re-coned by JBL. I think I paid $100 for that pair. Using that metric, I have about as much in 12 pairs of JBLs as I have in my 4345s but to replace the 4345 with one of those Ebay deals on DD67000 would cost me ten-times as much as that, or roughly 20-times if I paid retail!

Enough hi-jacking for now!

[johnlcnm]

For what it's worth, I did measure my 4425's after replacing the HF diaphragms with the Radians. I thought the old titaniums were a little rough around 2kHz. Did not have measurement equipment to confirm it at the time.