4411 and WAF

[madmatt]

Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster, just wanted to share this with you and maybe get some help ...

I borrowed a pair of 4411s in pretty good shape, and I'm trying to convince the wife that they aren't much different than the Control 5 they are going to replace in terms of space occupied and room appearance.
Alas, it looks like I'm doing a poor job at it.

Before the 4411s the setup has been two Control5 front, two Control28 as surrounds, a genelec sub for home theater use, and only control 5s for two channel listening.
I would like to discard the control 5s and use the 4411s as front and two channel speakers

She agrees that the sound is much much better, but she complains that they are 'ugly' and that (argh) the veneer does not match the other items in the living room and that they are just 'too big'.

I think I could get past the too big thing after a while, I don't think I can make it pass the 'wrong colour' part.

Since I'm not planning to resell them and since the cabinets are in need of a good cleaning and a minimum of restoration, do you think it would be possible to try and make the veneer a little darker (a lot darker in reality, all the other stuff we have is pretty much dark brown) ?

Cheers

Mattia

[ratitifb]

what about changing your wife

[madmatt]

that is not an option at the moment, I am still aiming at keeping both the 4411s and the wife (and the order I wrote isn't necessarily the order of precedence, but one wonders ...)

[hjames]

what about changing your wife

Thats cheating!

Try changing your wife and you are liable to lose everything!

[Ian Mackenzie]

What do you need a Cow for when you can go buy a bottle of Milk?
http://www.insidesocal.com/greenspirited/cow2.jpg

[BMWCCA]

4411 should have a nice walnut veneer that will respond well to normal maintenance. A good couple of coats of quality oil over a couple of days will help the wood and probably also make it a bit darker. Many here use Watco Danish oil or Howard's Feed 'n Wax, either of which can be commonly found at hardware stores here but I'm not sure about Italy. JBL's historical recommendation is a mixture of three-parts boiled linseed oil to one part turpentine if you can't find a pre-packaged consumer product with the same qualities. It can't hurt to give it a try. The 4411 is a rather plain design since it's a studio monitor but the consumer version L112 is not much better except it normally has a dark brown grille instead of the 4411's usual dark blue. If the wood color is the only problem, that shouldn't be a deal-breaker.

A lot of Lansing Heritage members have worked up to much larger speakers by starting small and pushing the WAF envelope. I started with a rather large C37 so my wife was relatively pleased when I brought the L112s home twenty-five years ago. You can't really do much better in a 12" JBL bookshelf than a nice 4411/L112. I hope you can convince your wife to learn to love them for what they are.

[Doc Mark]

Hey, Madmatt,

Welcome to LH! I have a nice pair of 4411's that I scored for a great price, and I think they are a very nice speaker. Mine have to "compete" with our JBL L300's, and interestingly both Sweet Bride and I like the sound of the L300's better. However, we still enjoy the 4411's, too.

Watco Danish Oil comes in three depths of color, if I recall correctly, "clear, medium, and dark". If you wish to make your 4411's darker, then pick up some of the Watco Danish Oil "Dark" finish, and give that a go. I'm fairly certain that this treatment will darken the finish on your JBL's. Good luck with educating your wife to the joys of a nice pair of JBL's! You might play lots of her most favorite music, and let the speakers "speak" for themselves!! Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

Here's a shot of our JBL setup. After seeing these photos, you wife might not think your 4411's are so large, after all!!

[madmatt]

@BMWCCA,@Doc: Thanks for the tips, that was what I was thinking about doing.

@Doc: As BMWCCA guessed, I live in Italy, so will have to find a similar product as the Watco Danish Oil, I don't think I ever saw Watco as abrand in an utility store around here, and I was worried about experimenting with similar products ...


Here are some photos of the setup (the 4411s are where I used to keep the Control5s, there are some Control1 over the control5 that I placed when I was trying to improve the sound of the front speakers without changing them ... not even worth mentioning ...):
Space is tight, I know, but that's what I gave if I want to listen to the music and also stay at home at the same time.
I know that the ideal position would probably be with the 4411s a couple of foots wider ...



.. and the back of the room:



. a close up of the left speaker:





.. and a shot of the rest of the room to give you an idea of the color I would have ideally to match to:



.. will try and see whether I can find somewere aomethin analogous to the Watco oil ... I guess I should go looking for products that are used when restoring wood panels and such ... I am a little bit afraid of experimenting and getting it wroung though

Thanks again for the tips, will let you know how the situation progress

As for the L300s .. I wish I had them, but them wouldn't know where to stuff them so ... let's say that at the moment I'll try for the 4411s

Mattia

[brutal]

I'm not sure I get it. Black Control's were OK, but Walnut 4411's are not?

The 4411 Walnut is darker than your AV table, similar to the China hutch, and will be closer after a good oiling. That table and sideboard are really dark. Is the wife hung up on matching to the table because that's unlikely.

I can't say for certain how it will affect the sound, other than likely raising the bass +3db like L112's are guaranteed to do when space bound, but since they're monitors which are generally designed to accommodate soffit mounting, and you have them so close to the back wall anyway, they may get better WAF enclosed in another, taller, AV hutch. Something that would fit just under your screen?

[madmatt]

I'm not sure I get it. Black Control's were OK, but Walnut 4411's are not?

The 4411 Walnut is darker than your AV table, similar to the China hutch, and will be closer after a good oiling. That table and sideboard are really dark. Is the wife hung up on matching to the table because that's unlikely.

The AV table is Ikea and will have to go, replaced by a lower one of the same colour (dark brown) of the table and the sideboard.
If I can manage to get them as dark as the China, then all would be good and well. As far as I can understand a woman reasoning, black controls are better because a) they are waaay smaller and b) they don't use all the space on the AV table and c) they aren't a different brown but a completely different colour

I can't say for certain how it will affect the sound, other than likely raising the bass +3db like L112's are guaranteed to do when space bound, but since they're monitors which are generally designed to accommodate soffit mounting, and you have them so close to the back wall anyway, they may get better WAF enclosed in another, taller, AV hutch. Something that would fit just under your screen?

We will see with the new AV table, and if I can manage to find a product that can darken them somewhat

Regards

Mattia

[Allanvh5150]

[quote=brutal;244302]I'm not sure I get it. Black Control's were OK, but Walnut 4411's are not?

[quote]

Since when is WAF supposed to make sense?

Allan.