Just got both speakers in stock plus S3900. Neither the 4367 or S4700 is broken-in yet but I could not wait to do the A-B comparison. Both retail at $15,000 pair.
The room is new and medium sized at about 15 foot by 20 foot with suspended 9.5 foot ceiling and the speakers are setup on the short wall about 46" out from the rear wall and 36" from the side walls. I listened about 6 feet off the back wall using a MAC C52 preamp and MC-601 mono block amps. The speaker tape marks may change as I spend more time with the new room and speakers, but I believe I am in the neighborhood of where they will ultimately end up.
The 4367's external cabinet volume is about a foot great at 8 cubic foot versus 7 cubic foot on the S4700. At 135 lbs, the 4367 is 15 lbs heavier but I don't know for sure if this is just because the cabinet is bigger or because it has a thicker baffle or more bracing. The two way 4367 uses a single D2 compression driver/horn from 700hz on up, where the three way S4700 uses a two way horn loaded top end with the 175nd HF and 138nd UHF compression drivers. Midrange crossover frequency is 700hz on the 4367 and 800hz on the S4700 with the UHF coming in at 12khz. The woofer in both speakers is the same (2216nd). Both are rated at 300 watts RMS.
The 4367 is front ported where the S4700 is ported out the back, sometimes a disadvantage if they must be placed close to the rear wall. The 4367 is shorter but wider. The proportions of the S4700 are more pleasing and of course it was designed to look more at home in a living room. The 4367 needs a short 6-7 inch high riser or stand to sound proper. This is a unneeded extra cost and an annoyance that JBL should have designed around. The S4700 does not require a stand or riser as it is a true floor standing speaker.
When I asked my regional JBL sales manager if the S4700 was going to be discontinued he said definitely not. Their different looks means they will probably serve two different customers.
Both rated at 94db and 6 ohms. Treble is rated -6db down at 40khz on both speakers, bass response is rated -6db at 30hz for the 4367 and -6db at 38hz for the S4700. Perhaps the extra cubic foot in volume allows the 4367 to be tuned slightly lower.
I started listening to the S4700 first, which impressed me more than I remember from my last time with them a couple of years ago. The 4367 was listened to with a makeshift 5 inch mdf riser bring the middle of the compression driver to about 37 inches off the floor.
-Sensitivity subjectively seems about the same. No surprise here.
-I could not hear a meaningful difference in bass extension between them at this point in the listening tests with so little playing time on them. Neither speaker seemed to make 40hz flat.
-The 4367 has a more open transparent and natural midrange and treble, as well as a larger soundstage.
-The 4367 has better driver integration sounding more coherent, more like a one way speaker. It gets reasonably close to the way the M2 sounds through out the broadband midrange.
-Bass snap and character is very similar, a strong point for both speakers.
-The 4367 is slightly more reserved and relaxed sounding overall.
More to come....................