JBL 4560 vs 4530, sound & thoughts

[retro soulman]

finally after years of searching i found an original pair of 4560a (the last of the 4560 series). i try the cabinets with 2220, k140, k130 ,2225. For now i keep the k140 cause they got the best lows & mids for jazz music. My previous system was a pair of 4530 copies with exactly the same drivers except the horns (2390 vs 2355). Well i can say that the 4530 are better cabinets in almost every spec. Better lows, more direct sound, no boomy box sound, and much more cleaner with the 2309 horn (i almost hate lenses). but i love the look of 4560 that why i have kept them for now. Soon a pair of original 4520 will come home, so until then i will enjoy the 4560 sound with all the good and bad things of it.

[RMC]

Hi Retro Soulman,

Nice finds. I'll be back later with some comments, not time now. Regards,

Richard

[RMC]

Hi RetroSoulman,

Very nice setup, however those speakers are not really made for this type of environment. Using the 4560 with 2220 outside would be more appropriate environment.

These 4560 enclosures were designed for long throw and maximum efficiency situations. That is rarely the case for home audio. If one sits on the couch next to the left 4560 seen on the pic, I guess that person will get its money's worth in the left ear...

If you read the 2003 horn guru Bruce Edgar's interview in "Positive Feedback" you will see him mentioning:

"The problem with horns is that you still need a large room for them to work properly. Some customers have asked about putting horns in a very small room, like 10 x15 feet or even smaller, and I have to tell them I can't recommend horns for a room that small. You need a larger room, and the bigger the room the better because horns just sound better in the far field, unlike direct radiator speakers." (About 2/3 of the way down this very long and informative interview).

The attached "JBL low-frequency enclosures" shows the response type of the 4560 cabinet which may explain the sound you refer to: not linear at all even with the E 145 example shown.

The K-140 driver has more cone travel capability than the 4560 box can take and the danger of cone striking the horn's throat exits if you push too hard on LF (see document above from JBL). The 4560 was mostly made for use with the 2220. Other drivers can be used but with some nuance.

If you have two sets of K-140, then using these in your upcoming 4520 cabs should gratify you even more than the 4530. Two sets of 2225 would also be appropriate bass wise, but won't give you the mid you like from the K-140. Still pretty large enclosures for home use. Regards,

Richard

JBL low_frequency_enclosures2[1].pdf

[Cyclotronguy]

My wife had 4560a's in her home office for years and loved them, not a large room.. about 2-1/2m from the listening location. Yes they absolutely dominated the room. They were run with a Nelson Pass build Zen-Amp, very low wattage and equally low damping factor. The low damping factor amp seemed to be key to getting believable bass.

It helped to place the tweeter below the mid horn and add a "kick" below the main cabinet and open that "kick" such that the cabinet had a larger internal volume than they did in standard touring / install form

Cheers
Cyclotronguy