Frankenstein Speaker Project: JBL 4367 LF with DMS-1 HF

[dubkarma]

Early days yet, with much crossover/EQ work to be done once I start up the REW and begin measuring, but using the old JBL M553 active analogue crossover, they're already quite listenable.

. . .So for a few years ago I have had lying around from eBay purchases a pair of JBL 2450SL compression drivers and 2332 horns as well as a pair of D2430K for which I later purchased a pair of those plastic "STX825" horns. Question was what to do with them.

Long story short, acquired a new pair of 2216Nd-1 drive units and got a local cabinetmaker/speaker designer to copy the volume and tuning of the 4367 cabinet (180 litres, 30 Hz tuning—hope that's right!). Because I wanted to keep HF section in a separate module to facilitate trying different horns and drivers, I had the LF cabinet made slightly wider and deeper, but not as tall as, the 4367 cabinet. Plus, good idea or not, I used birch plywood, with double thickness front and rear baffles, rather than the MDF used in the factory cabinet. Internal bracing was copied from the 4367 cabinet, but I added some vertical bracing as well.

The HF driver and horn were placed in a simple plywood "sleeve" with room enough in the back should I eventually opt for a passive crossover. Will later try the D2430K/STX825 horn in the same way. And possibly, eventually, one or both drivers with the M2 horns.

I doubt whether the simple 24 dB L-R slopes and CD horn EQ offered by the M553 crossover will prove to be optimal, but it's a place to start. So far, the major problem is that the result is enjoyable enough for listening that it's leached away some of my motivation to "get measuring!"

The photos may suggest that I do my listening while attached to the ceiling. In fact, the uploaded photos appeared upside down, and I haven't figured out how to rotate them. . .

[Odd]

As this

[ivica]

Early days yet, with much crossover/EQ work to be done once I start up the REW and begin measuring, but using the old JBL M553 active analogue crossover, they're already quite listenable.

. . .So for a few years ago I have had lying around from eBay purchases a pair of JBL 2450SL compression drivers and 2332 horns as well as a pair of D2430K for which I later purchased a pair of those plastic "STX825" horns. Question was what to do with them.

Long story short, acquired a new pair of 2216Nd-1 drive units and got a local cabinetmaker/speaker designer to copy the volume and tuning of the 4367 cabinet (180 litres, 30 Hz tuning—hope that's right!). Because I wanted to keep HF section in a separate module to facilitate trying different horns and drivers, I had the LF cabinet made slightly wider and deeper, but not as tall as, the 4367 cabinet. Plus, good idea or not, I used birch plywood, with double thickness front and rear baffles, rather than the MDF used in the factory cabinet. Internal bracing was copied from the 4367 cabinet, but I added some vertical bracing as well.

The HF driver and horn were placed in a simple plywood "sleeve" with room enough in the back should I eventually opt for a passive crossover. Will later try the D2430K/STX825 horn in the same way. And possibly, eventually, one or both drivers with the M2 horns.

I doubt whether the simple 24 dB L-R slopes and CD horn EQ offered by the M553 crossover will prove to be optimal, but it's a place to start. So far, the major problem is that the result is enjoyable enough for listening that it's leached away some of my motivation to "get measuring!"

The photos may suggest that I do my listening while attached to the ceiling. In fact, the uploaded photos appeared upside down, and I haven't figured out how to rotate them. . .

Hi dubkarma,

So, You would need a pair of bass drivers (2269 or 2242 or 2245 ) and a pair of UHF drivers (2405).
I would not expect deep and solid bass from 2216nd, but it would bevery good mid-bass.
I wonder how D2 (D2430K) with STX825 would make good off-axis dispersion over 10kHz, as STX825 has no diffraction throat, and its 1.5inch throat would tend to beam over 10kHz. It would be nice to inform us about project progress in the future.

regards
ivica
_

[herve M]

I do not recognize the 2216nd , the membrane is different or it is a problem of image resolution?

[mortron]

I'm pretty green, but had a brief moment to give these a listen the other weekend. As I understand, some more work has been done since then.

Being new to this level of speaker, but having still heard some nice JBL systems, I can say that these have lots of potential. The little bit I heard had me thinking that once that woofer is tamed it will be quite capable. For the financial outlay, lots of bang for the buck IMO. Then again, I'm new... Big cabs and woofers always have me smitten lol

As for adding bass etc, I'm sure OP has some options should he decide to go that route

[Ian Mackenzie]

I think it’s s great project and a good place to start.

My advice is start simple and don’t aim for perfection at the start.

With some listening assess how they sound in the environment and trust your ears.

It’s horses for courses and desires of more or deeper bass are about expectations and what you intend using them for?

Some of the more modern plate amps have dsp crossovers and EQ to make it easier to experiment.

The woofers have sufficient displacement headroom with low distortion that they can be given modest boost around 30 hertz if required.

Of course if you want Jurassic Park loud and low bass a dedicated sub is the way to go but for stereo listen unlikely.

[mortron]

It's funny as when I went over I had no idea he was playing with these. The 2216 and its variants are on my radar for sure. I can't recall which HF units he was running at the time, but the 2450SL is another driver I've been looking at. Parts sure aren't cheap tho. Especially in Canada.

Hopefully dub will chime in with a bit more as I know he's been toying with this setup. And I've got questions for him lol