My JBL 4355 Homecinema Soundbar build

[music2u]

Hello all!

Although I read in this forum for some time now, this is my first post. By way of introduction, I am Stefan, I live in a small city very close to Frankfurt/Germany. So, apologies for the one or the other typo or grammar mistake. I turned 50 this year and my interest in HiFi and DIY started in the eighties with a pair of Infinity Kappa 8. Lately I tried electrostats and open baffle subwoofers.

However, I have always been interested in a very lively sound experience. I have to thank Holger Barske ("hb") for the inspiration. His 4355 build is documented elsewhere in this forum. His build encouraged me to try it by myself.

On one hand, my room was not wide enough for a proper placement of a pair of 4355. On the other hand, my interest is not only music but also homecinema. Why not combining the two?

• The woofers of the 4355 are actively crossed over anyhow.
• The mid-high section may be better arranged in a vertical row.
• The four 2235 can better be replaced by two 2245
• All Drivers could be arranged in one cabinet (inspired by the Paragon)

I started with a brief coloured image to get an idea how things could tie together:



I learned and profited a lot from this forum and without the documents and hints and tips herein, this would not have been possible. Therefore, the intention of this thread is, to share some of my experiences and pictures with you to say "thank you guys". From my own experience, I always enjoyed a lot to view storys and pictures of someones built.

So, I hope you enjoy it.
Stefan

[music2u]

It is hard to get all the chassis here in Europe in good condition at a reasonable price. Finally, it took about a year to collect everything. The receipt of every part was celebrated like eastern and x-mas on one day......

I expected the project to fail, if I can not get the 2441/2440 and the 2245 drivers in advance. I found 2440 with Radian dia's at an acceptable price in Germany. They were the first to come:



Next thing was to get the 2245. I found them also in Germany, nearly mint and freshly refoamed. The seller did not want to send them. I planned to go to a bike rallye nearby so I decided to go there by car and pick them up (that cost a number of beers at the rallye, not to show up on my bike...):



The 2202 where not easy to find and they were all in bad conditions. I got them from Germany and the UK:



They have all been reconed by a small local company (at a reasonable price) who claim, that JBL Germany sends the one or the other vintage chassis to them for repair.

The 2405 were not hard to find:



It turned out, that the h93/2311 are really hard to find. I got them from the US as well as the clamps. But it is impossible to find the lenses. So I ordered them at Kendrick and I think the price is also about fair. The email contact, delivery and everything was excellent:

[music2u]

As my room is exactly twice as long as wide, I have some problems with room modes. So, I did not know, whether this will work in my room. And this is my first experience with JBL. As prices for good wood have gone up over the past years, I decided to start with an easy test enclosure made of particle board.

The volume was calculated based on the documentation of the subwoofer for the 2245 (2 times the 20Hz Version with 12 sqrft). The size is 2m x 0.5m x 1.1m.

First thing was to cut the holes into the baffle wall:



To keep the test enclosure simple, I decided to use the mid woofer housing also as bracing for the enclosure:



First look at the raw enclosure:



This cannot be overseen in the living room. I decided to add some paint to see if I like a "blue wall" of 2 x 1 m in my living room:



The damping was done with hemp mats:

[music2u]

I decided to try the charge coupled crossovers. As a tribute to originality I buildt the original version with a lot of inductors.... Actually I am in some doubt whether that was a wise decision. However, as I would always doubt, whether the 9V battery is still in good condition I decided to go for the diode method. Again, I can not thank enough the members of this forum with their documentation and insights. There is so much to learn and to gain here. Good work!

A lot of parts had to be ordered for three crossovers:



The inductor values are not common in Germany. So I had to unwind them individually:



Then everything was placed properly for another test-"enclosure":



And this is a completed crossover:



Finally, I "produced" the gaskets by myself out of foam rubber plates:

[music2u]

Everything was put together and there was a long way to go with measurements etc.

However, while I write theses posts I listen to Gregory Porter (on Vinyl) and it all paid off. I love the sound, although I have a number of questions and ideas for improvements ;-)







Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed it...

Stefan

[Challenger604]

Holy Moly!!

[Ed Zeppeli]

This is insane. I love it.

Maybe it will inspire Samsung's next soundbar.

[hjames]

OMG - Fantastico!

Considering it's nothing that can be easily moved,
did you build a base with wheels for it?

[Vahe Sahakian]

Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed it...

When I was building my DIY 4350's I considered pair of 18's instead of 15's but the 8 cu ft. enclosure for each 18 gave me a pause.
Is this just one speaker or a stereo pair?

Vahe

[srm51555]

Awesome!!! Welcome to the forum.

[Woody Banks]

Vundabar!

[Mr. Widget]

I want to say that is "out of the box" thinking, but that is one hell of a box!

It it looks wonderfully crafted with great care and passion. Congratulations!


Widget

[dezmond]

Looks awesome, nice work. Are you going to build another for stereo ? I can only imagine how sweet it must sound.

[pos]

Nicely done and impressive!
Is this really only a test enclosure? It looks better than my "final" builds

What active crossover are you using?
How do you distribute the three channels among the two woofers?

[Ed Kreamer]

Wow!! What a neat idea! Do you have some plots?