Jbl 4349

[davidpou]

did i miss the post on them ?

[grumpy]

Appears to be a more home-friendly and JBL-geek-aesthetic "bookshelf" lil-bro M2 with passive crossover.
Not sure who would review or what they would compare them to...

[Mr. Widget]

did i miss the post on them ? I think there was a brief mention about them on a thread relating to new JBL introductions in Japan. Otherwise I don’t believe anyone has brought them up. To me they look like a product that was designed to look like a professional monitor, but is aimed at the home market.

I have lost interest in JBL’s consumer offerings in recent years so I haven’t paid any attention to what has been released. That doesn’t mean that these suck, they may be fine speakers, but just because they are made by JBL is no guarantee of quality either. Also in recent years JBL here in the US has not been a great company if you have warranty issues.


Widget

[davidpou]

that s what i thought: lost of interest....

there was a time youguys would have dissected it at six hands...sad...this is the end of an era...
they are coming to europe apparently so why not to the states ?

I was trying to understand the need after the 4367 and the 4429 for this 4349.... even the number is not obvious to me ... why back and forth with the 43 and 44 ? marketing ?
they are more baby 4367 for being two way, and having the D2415K.... and this woofer JW300PG-8 .... going down to 32Hz ? not bad.

i know i am not even teasing you

[Mr. Widget]

that s what i thought: lost of interest...Back when GT was still at Harman designing really amazing speakers like the Array Series, the S-9900s, the Everests etc., there were really good reasons to get excited by new speaker introductions. Today, yeah, maybe... or maybe not.


Widget

[macaroonie]

https://www.hembioconsult.se/hogtalare/jbl-synthesis-4349

[Odd]

https://www.hembioconsult.se/hogtalare/jbl-synthesis-4349

Shown price is in Swedish kroner.

[DK11706]

I was trying to understand the need after the 4367 and the 4429 for this 4349.... even the number is not obvious to me ... why back and forth with the 43 and 44 ? marketing ?
they are more baby 4367 for being two way, and having the D2415K.... and this woofer JW300PG-8 .... going down to 32Hz ? not bad.



I also have a hard time figuring out the model name, 4432 would have been a more appropriate name, I guess:blink:.

I had both the 4429 and 4367, loved the 4429 and never became good friends with the 4367, way to detailed for me. Anyway I was looking for a pair of second hand 4429 as I really regret selling them, but since availability in Denmark is low for the model, I went to audition the 4349 expecting them to be everything I hate about Samsung products, bright and annoying like hell. But boy was I wrong, the 4349 is not tuned for the Japanese market, it has a nice sweet rounded top, and some hard hitting woofer output.

They had only played for a few hours in the store, and I only had them under my control for 40 minutes, but I really loved them so much that I did place an order for delivery next week :D.

Compared to the 4429, the top end was more coherent, and the low end was much deeper and warmer with plenty of details. I'm sure that the 4349 will become a all time favorites in many homes, JBL really did an excellent job both with both the design and the sound.

I hate to say it, but I guess I love Samsung products now:eek:

[Mr. Widget]

They had only played for a few hours in the store, and I only had them under my control for 40 minutes, but I really loved them so much that I did place an order for delivery next week :D.
Cool, please post an update once you get them home. I'd love to hear your listening impressions as they break in and also would love to see photos.

The on-line images are not very good.


Widget

[macaroonie]

I quite like the format of that speaker , it's been five years comin , a smaller M2 except it isnt.
I do wonder if they had ( in pro ) gone mini M2 with the 2415 and the 12" version of the 2216 ( 2262 ? ) AND the full DSP Crown system , would that not have been a winner.
However , this is kinda a 4425 brought up to date but it's pretty good looking .
I reckon it will sell well and sound good.
Well done Samsung.

[Titanium Dome]

Lots of chatter here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/new-jbl-4349-speakers.14980/

I know, I know.

[Mr. Widget]

Lots of chatter here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/new-jbl-4349-speakers.14980/

I know, I know.This is the 12" two-way that has me excited. Not aesthetically, but it has a proper 4" compression driver and a tough as blazes 12" woofer. It has respectable bass performance solo, but is designed to be augmented.

https://meyersound.com/download/acheron-designer-datasheet/?wpdmdl=2440&masterkey=58b9e6f0d9b9a

PS: 100% made in California if that matters.


Widget

[1audiohack]

I would love to hear these.

Made in CA? Hell yeah!

Barry.

[Ian Mackenzie]

I wonder who Harman has hired to get this system to market?

[Titanium Dome]

This is the 12" two-way that has me excited. Not aesthetically, but it has a proper 4" compression driver and a tough as blazes 12" woofer. It has respectable bass performance solo, but is designed to be augmented.

https://meyersound.com/download/acheron-designer-datasheet/?wpdmdl=2440&masterkey=58b9e6f0d9b9a

PS: 100% made in California if that matters.


Widget


It's always a plus for us Californians when something is made here. I've looked for a price at four retailers who say they carry them but cannot find an MSRP for the Acheron Designer. Any idea?

[Mr. Widget]

I've looked for a price at four retailers who say they carry them but cannot find an MSRP for the Acheron Designer. Any idea?
They are almost $20K for a pair. But that does include the amps, active crossover, and DSP.


Widget

[dn92]

This is the 12" two-way that has me excited. Not aesthetically, but it has a proper 4" compression driver and a tough as blazes 12" woofer. It has respectable bass performance solo, but is designed to be augmented.

https://meyersound.com/download/acheron-designer-datasheet/?wpdmdl=2440&masterkey=58b9e6f0d9b9a

PS: 100% made in California if that matters.


Widget

Even the cone is made from californian trees, a real 100%, not a 100% assembled in..

[Mr. Widget]

Even the cone is made from californian trees, a real 100%, not an 100% assembled in..It gives them that smoky sound. :D

Last year I took a factory tour and watched them make the cones... pretty cool to see a paper cone being pulled out of a vat of slurry.


Widget

[Titanium Dome]

It gives them that smoky sound. :D

Last year I took a factory tour and watched them make the cones... pretty cool to see a paper cone being pulled out of a vat of slurry.


Widget

Picture? Video?

(Not meant to encourage industrial espionage.)

[Mr. Widget]

Picture? Video?

(Not meant to encourage industrial espionage.)Absolutely Verboten!

I think there are very few loudspeaker companies who make their cones, spiders, and surrounds in-house.


Widget

[DK11706]

The 4349 arrived as planned last Friday, they have been playing ever since for at least 8 hours a day. How the sound signature has changed during the burn-in is insane, they went from a very sloppy bass and compressed top, to a very punchy and dynamic bass with a very wide and open top without any trace of sibilance. Right now they are screaming at me, begging me to go even louder although I'm already half deaf from listening to Neil Young's "Like A Hurricane" at insane volume:D.

The finish compared to the JBL 4429 and especially the 4367, is immaculate, all lines match up perfectly and the black paint/oil treatment (don't know the English word for that) is also perfect including the sharp edges.

My initially thoughts about the 4349 was that horn/woofer ratio was wrong and that it looked funny, but that is not the case in real life, I have attached a few pictures for you to judge. The one with the flat screen TV is to give you an idea of the size, the TV is 65" and the speakers are 2,5 meters apart.

8758887589


It's a whole new world for me, I can't think of anything bad about these speakers at the moment :bouncy:, normally I have at least 2 or 3 things I don't like and fool around with placement for weeks. The 4349 I placed for "best look in the room", and have absolutely no plans about moving them.

I know WE don't believe in "new classics", that the vintage JBL is better than all the new stuff, and JBL is not the same without GT, but I'm telling you, the 4349 will prove us all wrong....a star is born;)

[Robh3606]

They look great! See you got the stands to! Glad you are happy with them. So how do they image with the new waveguide?? I really enjoy my M2 waveguides if they are anything like them must be impressive!

Rob:)

[rusty jefferson]

...I know WE don't believe in "new classics", that the vintage JBL is better than all the new stuff, and JBL is not the same without GT, but I'm telling you, the 4349 will prove us all wrong....a star is born;)
Time marches on. I don't think the vintage speakers are better than the newer models. The M2, Array, Synthesis, Everest speakers outperform the vintage stuff by pretty much any measurable and most subjective methods.

I imagine the trickle down from the M2 to these speakers offers excellent results. Way better than a pair of 4311s!:) Congratulations on the purchase.

[Mr. Widget]

Very cool! Nice looking speakers and a nice looking set up. Congratulations!
Thanks for sharing, please give us an update after a few weeks of listening.


Widget

[DK11706]

They look great! See you got the stands to! Glad you are happy with them. So how do they image with the new waveguide?? I really enjoy my M2 waveguides if they are anything like them must be impressive!

Rob:)


They image pretty well and have a great sense of depth as well. I heard the M2 once and on a scale of 1-10, I would rate the M2 a 10, and the 4349 a 7 or 8. The soundstage is also good, not as good as my former Dynaudio Contour 60 which made the speakers disappear into the wall, but it way better than what I expected from a studio monitors. If my old Dynaudio was a pure 10, then the 4349 would be a 6 or 7.

"Jack of all trades, master of none" seem like a appropriate description :)

[Thomax]

Hi, for those interested, I found the measurements :

87659

[pos]

Thanks for posting this!
With such an high crossover frequency for a 12" woofer that was to be expected.

[davidpou]

Thanks for posting this!
With such an high crossover frequency for a 12" woofer that was to be expected.

sure 300 Hz higher than the 4425 ! it makes a lot 's of difference :rotfl:
sill the cross over point looks bad, indeed

[davidpou]

Back when GT was still at Harman designing really amazing speakers like the Array Series, the S-9900s, the Everests etc., there were really good reasons to get excited by new speaker introductions. Today, yeah, maybe... or maybe not.


Widget

so that s a may be yes ? :)

[Mr. Widget]

so that s a may be yes ? :)Do you mean loss of interest?

For me personally, I guess so... not completely, but as JBL has evolved from a company that supported almost every product they ever produced to one that barely supports current products and really sucks about supporting their legacy products, I have lost most of my interest in the brand. I still have a soft spot for the vintage systems and respect the designs of GT.


Widget

[davidpou]

Do you mean loss of interest?

For me personally, I guess so... not completely, but as JBL has evolved from a company that supported almost every product they ever produced to one that barely supports current products and really sucks about supporting their legacy products, I have lost most of my interest in the brand. I still have a soft spot for the vintage systems and respect the designs of GT.


Widget

I feel you, but as big as was GT, there cannot be only one man in the history of a brand, can it ? i do not know the filiation of engineers as much as you do, but there was a before GT, and of course, there will be an after... and these guys might love the brand just as much as you did... and there would be doomed for not being GT ?

[davidpou]

My initially thoughts about the 4349 was that horn/woofer ratio was wrong and that it looked funny, but that is not the case in real life, I have attached a few pictures for you to judge. The one with the flat screen TV is to give you an idea of the size, the TV is 65" and the speakers are 2,5 meters apart
I know WE don't believe in "new classics", that the vintage JBL is better than all the new stuff, and JBL is not the same without GT, but I'm telling you, the 4349 will prove us all wrong....a star is born;)

Thanks for the post ! they haven't reached France as yet !
Do you measure for placement or is it just the length of your cables that decides ? :)
cause from measurements , like the other JBL, a good 80 cm off from the wall couldn't harm....

[Mr. Widget]

I don’t mean to sound like I am worshiping at the temple of GT. There have been many excellent engineers at JBL, starting with Mr. Lansing himself. In my opinion most of the best engineering that has gone on at JBL has been in the design of their raw drivers. Most of the systems that were designed prior to GT joining the team were not commensurate with the quality level of the parts used.

As GT matured as a speaker designer he came up with a number of seriously great speakers. Some of his designs were hampered by marketing requirements, budget, or other factors, but so many of his designs were serious home runs.

Today I think the best work going on at JBL is on the Pro side. Many of the current generation of JBL Pro speakers are really outstanding. And, I am sure many of their better consumer products are good too. My biggest beef is with the company’s current values. Up until the early 2000s you could get replacement parts for virtually any JBL product made going back to the 50s. Today if you own a 10 year old JBL or Revel, good luck getting a blown driver repaired.


Widget

[DK11706]

Thanks for the post ! they haven't reached France as yet !
Do you measure for placement or is it just the length of your cables that decides ? :)
cause from measurements , like the other JBL, a good 80 cm off from the wall couldn't harm....


The cables are long enough to go all the way to the end of the room. I have adjusted them after the burn-in time, a bit further into the room and closer together with minimum toe-in. I would like to get closer to the 80 cm boundary but I'm already pushing my wife's interior design to the limits with my setup, so for now that's a no-go:D

I'm still very excited about this speaker, they are not the most detailed I've heard but it makes them sound okay with newer pop/rock compressed recordings, which suits me fine. On the more positive side, I love their ability to present/separate the material playing, it's outstanding, you can actually hear if the musicians are in sync and how they attack their instruments. Take for example Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, the first thing that comes to mind is how well they handle their instruments, how well they compliment each other and how they sound like a unity, then if I play something else like a Swedish band called Sabaton, which sound great in my car, they a picked apart by the JBL making them sound like something from amateurs night at the local bar, that is very impressive for a speaker at this price.

Link to a review
https://www.hifitest.de/test/lautsprecher_stereo/jbl-4349_20054

[jusbe]

The 4349 arrived as planned last Friday, they have been playing ever since for at least 8 hours a day. How the sound signature has changed during the burn-in is insane, they went from a very sloppy bass and compressed top, to a very punchy and dynamic bass with a very wide and open top without any trace of sibilance. Right now they are screaming at me, begging me to go even louder although I'm already half deaf from listening to Neil Young's "Like A Hurricane" at insane volume:D.

The finish compared to the JBL 4429 and especially the 4367, is immaculate, all lines match up perfectly and the black paint/oil treatment (don't know the English word for that) is also perfect including the sharp edges.

My initially thoughts about the 4349 was that horn/woofer ratio was wrong and that it looked funny, but that is not the case in real life, I have attached a few pictures for you to judge. The one with the flat screen TV is to give you an idea of the size, the TV is 65" and the speakers are 2,5 meters apart.

8758887589


It's a whole new world for me, I can't think of anything bad about these speakers at the moment :bouncy:, normally I have at least 2 or 3 things I don't like and fool around with placement for weeks. The 4349 I placed for "best look in the room", and have absolutely no plans about moving them.

I know WE don't believe in "new classics", that the vintage JBL is better than all the new stuff, and JBL is not the same without GT, but I'm telling you, the 4349 will prove us all wrong....a star is born;)

Was already keen to try these speakers even before your experience! Think they might do just the trick on the end of a bridged integrated amp we just bought. Usually head for the walnut finish but the black finish looks unexpectedly handsome in your room. Is the baffle also black or is it blue?

[pos]

The 4349 was tested on ASR: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-4349-review-studio-monitor-speaker.22686/

Clearly bad design choices at play...

Is posted a rant there (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-4349-review-studio-monitor-speaker.22686/page-10#post-755136), but I will repost it here in an effort to ease my nerves:

I am pretty upset reading this review. What was JBL thinking when designing this speaker?
A 1.5kHz crossover (or is it 1.7kHz like initially published?) is way too high for this woofer, and the result was to be expected.

The 1200Fe (or whatever variation this speaker is using) is a great woofer, one of the best for this size, but it was never intended to play this high, and that is clearly visible in the tolerance boundaries for the frequency test procedure found in its EDS:
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=33374&stc=1&d=1216860198
A +/- 3dB unit-to-unit variation is allowed above 1356Hz, which is pretty normal given the random breakups that can occur with such a cone, but this is clearly no place for a crossover. This means that anomalies found with the unit tested here might not be there with another unit, or might be worse. Anything can happen exactly where everything should be under tight control.

And even if that tolerance issue was solved (might be the purpose of this particular variation, but that would imply pushing breakups modes further up: good luck doing that with a paper cone of this size), there is no way it would play nice with a compression driver up there.
I used to have a pair of 4425, employing an - arguably not as good - 12" woofer crossing to a compression driver at 1.2kHz, and the transition was very audible. They solved the problem with the 4429 going as low as 800 or 900Hz with the 1200Fe, pairing it with a small metal dome compression driver and a wide directivity horn to match directivity.
Now we are back to a 1.5kHz crossover, Eon territories with premium drivers...

I get it that the D2415K cannot play low, but then they should have used another compression driver for the task and crossover no higher than 1kHz (and preferably lower).
The 175Nd in the 4429 had no issue there, as did the poor 2416H in the 4425 at 1200Hz, and those were clearly not premium drivers at the time.
The new dual ring radiators are pretty good when it comes to high SPL (as seen in the Vertec and other JBL PA speakers) and HF, but it is notorious that they are struggling at low frequencies (eg the D2430K, which shows increased distortion under 2kHz compared to a classic 4" diaphragm compression driver), so this is no wonder that half the radiating area for the D2415K compared to the D2430K would require such a high crossover frequency. JBL does not do dome compression drivers anymore, and even had to use Radian drivers in the new Everest, but these ring radiators are also probably much cheaper to produce compared to metal dome drivers, so they should have just used the D2430K in the 4349, and call it a day.

This is shameful, how can they market this in the synthesis lineup with such compromises in the design??
I do have a pair of 1200Fe and D2430K here, but I would clearly never intend to make them play together.

These speakers probably sound good overall, they better do with the drivers at hand, but the result should be textbook perfect. Anything less than that is an insult to all the efforts and years of evolution that went into the components and technologies used here.

If only Greg Timbers was still in command there, I bet this would have turned out quite differently...

Well... sorry for the rant
I'd like to say that I feel better now, but frankly I don't...

[Ian Mackenzie]

Lots of thoughts going on here.

My take is JBL did some research and built a business case for a sibling to fit in with their other offerings.

If it sells that’s all that matters. If your in a shop you will likely compare this model to others and make a decision based on your budget. The smaller and lower cost models are always going to have compromises but it’s not that relevant to the kind of customer they are targeting this model at.

A larger horn would bring down the crossover point but the increased box width would compromise the aesthetic. So would a smaller woofer and it might not sell at all in spite of better objective performance.

There are thousands of narrow tower loudspeakers on the market that might be technically more appropriate. If you want that go and buy it. Jbl incidentally market some new tower based consumer models for that kind of market.

Companies like Spendor manufacture smallish bookshelf loudspeakers which are not doubt better performing on paper. But they are inefficient and sound like a tiny loudspeaker.

One final point. The loudspeaker industry will well aware of differing listening preferences in various parts of the world. This is related to language and as a consequence how sounds are interpreted.
So there are going to be differing opinions on forums like this. My advice is let your ears be the judge and not the measurements. Measurements don’t convey the dynamic character or the subtle tonal character of a loudspeaker system or how well it will work in a particular room.

[BMWCCA]

To me they look like a product that was designed to look like a professional monitor, but is aimed at the home market.
I would hope they might rate more than that if only because the cost seems to be nearly $10,000 USD. :eek: