New VS Old JBL Speakers. Which one wins? 

PS: theres a big chunk of damping material below each speaker. it is not sitting directly on a brick. (not an idiot) Also Tracks used in this video: Give It Up - Roy Young Battle Drums - Kyle Preston Una y Dos - Idan Balas Howling at the Moon - D Fine Us

Nice format and content. I like hearing sound demos when they are qualified by a description of what we’re listening to.

Great review. The sound clips were a very nice touch. The way you recorded gave me a taste of what the speakers are capable of.

Like the new format. Also like how you are referencing a bunch of different speakers when you describe the sound so people can have some reference.

Great vid 👍. Enjoyed the format and demos. Keep them coming. I would love to demo the 4429 and the s3900 some day.

Great review. Pretty much confirmed what I thought about these speakers except the dialing up of the high end.

Long waited review! I’m using JBL 4429 since 6 month I loved it from day 1.

Well done, Jay!

I’m convinced the 590 580 jbl speakers look like they could play villains on Dr Who

I like your new format. I think you have hit upon how to correctly use sound demos in your reviews. Using them to illustrate points about the speakers is a very helpful technique. I liked the energy and overall sound of these speakers, but am unable to use speakers that have to be cranked due to my living conditions. They do sound like fun, though, and I can well imagine blasting some good ol' rock&roll on them!

I subscribed today just because I very much enjoy sound demos...thanks for doing that when you can....

Happy 2020! I think people will at least enjoy the idea of hearing the reviewed gear. Even if the sound will be altered by the countless variables, there is going to be clear audible differences to give people an idea of what to expect. Keep it up!

Great review!! I own a pair of the bigger brother JBL 4367 speakers and I can echo all your comments. JBL makes some killer speakers that can spank a lot of the so called audiophile speakers out there.

Thanks for great videos. I love the JBL 530s, very unique though of course without any large woofer. I am curious if you are familiar with them or other 5 series? Cheers, Mario, Dragon Quartz Audio

Adding the demo will really go along way to illustrate your points. What some reviewers don't seem to understand is no sound review will ever be perfect and the sound demo isn't for the reviewer buy for the listener, to add context to talking points because sound is one of the hardest things on the planet to describe. When words like roundness to the sound or fat sound, it literally means nothing to a new person. The demos while not accurate because we are listening to your room and acoustics may allow a new user or purchaser to seek out a dealer for a listen. These demos help to start the discussion along with your narration and I hope that you are successful because I don't think Thomas does the demos too much anymore. May your New Year be great and you grow your channel to enormous levels. You have a great style and I wish you much success.

You're comparing all the speakers I'm considering. This is like a dream video... Thank you! Great video. Love how you comment and give samples. You CAN tell about a speaker or system through video despite what people say. Especially comparatively. Sub'd.

Nice demos man! I'll subscribe for that.

I like demos on RU-vid, because you can at least get the basic gist of how it sounds. Yes, the Pendragons are $1800 USD, but the DI’s are $3,000, not $4,000. This new way of doing thing is great, Jay! Bravo, my friend!

Even though we cannot hear what you are - we get plenty enough to tell the differences between the sound of different speakers. Keep the demos going!!

I understand now, I listened to them at moderate-mid volume one month ago and I felt nothing, very disappointing, thank you for your explanation.

LOVE THIS!!!...Old vs NEW....BIG SPEAKERS....SOUND DEMO...YES!!!! So glad Thomas had you on his show, really dig your show Man !! You're one of my new favs along with Thomas, Z, Steve G, & OCD HiFi Guy, John Darko...You right up there Man !!! HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

I like the punch at the end. And great first track.

Great review. IM listening on Dali Zensor 7 with Denon AVR and you really can hear the JBL vintage sound. it's an interesting sound for sure and I can see how people get addicted to the sound but it's just to plain sounding for me. seems to be all.mids but not much in the higher frequencies. But wow thanks heaps for sharing. OH by the way have you heard the DALI Zensor 7's cos man i FREEKIN LOVE these things. Big room and big accurate well rounded sound.

Thanks for the sound demo and your thoughts of these JBL’s. If possible could you list the songs you played and maybe in future videos?. Again thanks and looking forward to your upcoming videos. Edit: I just saw you listed them on the pinned comments, Thanks 👍

The design of these speakers reminds me very much of a shrunken tad2402 or tad2251. Your description of the sound describes how I perceived the 2402 clones I heard a couple of months ago.

The tweeter in the 300 was referred to as a "cats eye" tweeter

The first time I heard a speaker with a horn was 45 years ago. It was in a sound room and they were Klipsch. I remember hating them. What stood out to me was all loud midrange. Not the sound I'm looking for. Tonight when I listened to the JBL'S with the horn. It gave me almost that same heavy in the midrange sound because of the horn. I just don't like it at all. Secondly I much rather have a speaker that has plenty of bass and high end. Reason being I can always turn it down with my preamp or my equalizer. Times when I here a speaker that's to flat. There are time's where I really have to over drive it with my equipment to get the sound I'm looking for. I listen to all kinds of music. I don't want the bass banging and the cymbals crashing all the time. I like to know I have it when I play that type of music. Everyone has there own preference, there own volume and the kind of music that we listen to the most. Reason why I must listen in my home with my equipment and music to decide whether I like it or not.

Nice review it might be good to add the track titles in your descriptions

Congrats; actually well done, better than most! A diagram of speaker & mic placement in the room would add to the aural experience. Joy-Joy 20-20

have you been able to get ahold of the Jbl 4367 or even the JBL M2?

Great description.Keeping it in the horn realm would like to demo them against Klipsch Cornwall.Really nice midbass on the acoustic guitar track.Have a bit of dryness but like you said does not have to much sizzle up top.The dilemma is always imaging vs soundstage depth/width.Guttenberg noticed this with the Pure Audio Project.Funny for me always looking for combo of things you can't get together like your trying to put together a Harbeth P3ESR,Maggie .7 and a JBL/Klipsch.DI?Devore? it depends on day and what you want for that material.Get a swiss army knife your going to get a knife,saw,and scissor but your not getting the best of any

Great I love JBL speakers with a passion. Have you heard the JBL M2 speakers?

Equipments, room Acoustic and speakers placement are the primary factor. These JBL speakers are for serious listening, they are monitor speakers.

Hi Jay. I just want to say that I enjoy your perspective and even handed approach. i have been around this HiFi thing for much longer than I would like to admit. I, too, was in the high end retail business a number of years ago while attending grad school in So. California. Few products last the test of time. I am very interested in your current thoughts on the JBL 4429. I am very familiar with the vintage JBL products including the forerunner, the 4425. I am looking to get my system back up and lived with vintage K horns for many years with 1st order crossovers and oil cans etc...not the current sub standard products coming out of Hope, I have somewhat downsized and the 4429 is of great interest. I use a FI 2A3 amplifier so I am looking for effeciency and low level capability. Lastly, any chance to review the Mcintosh MA252? Thanks for all of the work and Happy B day to you as well....

i prefer this way of review with music demo. This way is more entertaining and we can discover some new songs too. and the comparison is an important point for me, i don't have access to shop where i can test hear speakers.

Happy new year!

Very good description & comparison. It sounds like the JBL 4429 or Tekton Pendragon would make good rock/metal machines. Which do you think conveys a distorted electric guitar with more authority without getting too hard on the ears?

It might be more worth while to take some acoustical and electrical measurements of the speakers and explain the measurements and how they correlate to subjective listening impressions. Even more helpful would be to show comparisons between two or three speaker brands or models. Great videos BTW keep up the good work!

I like the L112's myself what do you think of them?

hopefully one day I'll get to hear a pair of Kenrick sound - jbl speakers

I already posted my thoughts but just remembered. I did no see much "flex" Movement in your woofers . They were barely moving at all. " Lack of Wattage" I wonder. When I play my music rest assured my woofers will be moving and everyone in my home and in the area knows I'm home. I own my own property and there are times when I have company come over. We put on an action movie and the gun shots the explosions, Jets flying and all the effects in the movie is engulfing everyone. When we watch a concert it's like being at a live concert. That's how I enjoy sound and video. Yes I have mellow times as well. Prefer loud, I use the wattage I paid for.

Great video!! Thanks for that 🇩🇰 I have the jbl L100 CENTURY. Jbl L112 .jbl L96. Jbl 240ti. jbl 4410 jbl L166 . jbl l55lancer . jbl L65 jubal . Jbl s412p .jbl l36 . Jbl L19/4301. jbl L90. Jbl 4333. . An i love them all Very very Much. In my ears are the jbl vintage speakers the best sounding speakers you can get. I like the old vintage Bowers&wilkins speakers to. I had the Dm17 an the 801 / 802 serie 80 . And this are just incriddebel sounding speakers

Very nice. Unfortunately many European rooms are too small for JBL's of that size (plus they cost an arm and a leg). I like your new review concept with sound demos. Even if it is not indicative of in-room playback it gives an idea, amply demonstrated in this vlog. May I suggest a superimposed image in a corner of an SPL meter, taken at 1m (industry norm) or 3 meters representing an average listening distance? Perhaps even a little graph of what 'normal, loud and very loud' would measure. Good work and looking forward to more. Ps. How do you choose your equipment to review? Is it through the shop you work in?

Are these 4429's discontinued? can't seem to find these here in the U.S., purchased a pair about a year ago, glad I did!

Great review Thinking of going for the 4429, I allready wanted the Hegel 190, do these pair nicely ? Other reviews I have read state the speakers play quite nice at low volume, without losing dynamics. That is the only downfall as the klipsch can play really well at low levels

i'm amazed that I like the Klipsch heresy 4 better. I think Klipsch is cheaper too. thanks for the very nice demo

Hey man out of curiousity what happend to your old videos from when the channel was soulsik? Been looking for your review of the noble customs you had.

Conclusion: The new JBL's don't sound like JBL.

Will appreciate the tracklist used on the video - Nice tunes, why no reference? I wonder if the community would like to know who plays.

I started with my dads Telefunken system (1968 lived in Paris) which I used until early 80’s. It had a integrated turntable, AM/FM tuner plus a reel to reel. I blew the whole lot during my 1982 initial University year. Then got Harmon Kardon (made in Germany then) front end with Mirage SM 2.5’s. I’ve had so so many systems since then, ebb and flows. The 4429 are an end game for me. I never ever though I would buy “JBL’s” since I was a snob. Boy was I wrong. I’ve got mine hooked up to high end tubes with high end vinyl. When I’ve had two Scotch’s, I’m so happy to not want to buy anything else. My point is I’ve had maybe 10 + sets of speakers, not need to explore no more for me

Please put the demos at the end of the video, so people that want it can have it and those who don’t just get the facts!

Concrete blocks make excellent cheap speaker stands, I use them all the time.

Don't blame the 4429 monitor for being optimized for 85dB monitoring level. If you want to listen at low levels, leave the HF/UHF pots alone, get a RME ADI2 DAC and use the smart loudness function for quiet listening.

Thanks, I have been thinking about a pair of JBL 4307's as I can get a good deal on them but I can find almost nothing about them or this family of JBL products in general. I guess they were for the Japanese market originally which I thought was strange.

The JBL 4367 Best for rock music. Home version of the JBL M2. :)

Wondering if you tried different electronics, and if you noticed a difference or had a preference? I'm not a fan of sound demos, but maybe they could be more effective if you inserted a 'crawler' (or subtitles) describing what you hear as the track was playing.... Either way, props for taking a chance and looking to push the envelope

Do you review any sold state receivers, like the Marantz SR8012, Integra DRX 7.1,Denon 7500-8500?

my JBL L300 has the 375 horn driver which is 4"

Hmm I've had these in room for more than a week with a 300 wpc McIntosh integrated and they're very good a low volumes. It's one of the better parts of this speaker.

4429 rocks with double bass too, any Diana Krall album, or listen to The Thrill Is Gone from the Archie Shepp Quartet.

Sound demos are good but don't get in trouble with the RU-vid stupid music copy right policies!

I’m such a JBL fan but I think Tannoy one ups even the JBL’s. I don’t see a lot of reviews for Tannoy’s. Anyone check out Kendrick sound JBL’s. His work is amazing. He really gets the most out of the JBL’s.

good stands for speakers )))

If used in hone theater what's a good center and surrounds to go with these

I find the first demo of the 429 extremely harsh and bright. I happen to love a bright top end, but my ears can't handle the harshness of the setting. 2nd track the drums. I agree that the midrange is smooth sounding. Lacking a realism and detail and presence. 3rd track. Very warm, and buttery sounding and pleasing to listen. 4th track the harshness in the top end makes it un-listenable.

Love the new format and demos. Ignore the naysayers, RU-vid demos convey certain qualities. For example, I can tell these are not refined speakers, the notes are not that smooth and has an upper mid hardness on certain edge of the notes, compared to an ATC for example which are more precise, smooth and refined.

Wish I could find a rview of Tekton DI monitor with a REL or SVS

Listening with JBL 305MK11s + Gallo sub.

Are the JBL lx2001 any good bookshelf speakers? i can buy them for 25 euro in good condition, no damages.

I got som JBL 503 and Yam R-N602 receiver! A little dissappointed that I cannot crank up the Yamaha...

I’ve my headphones ready for the sound demos 🔊👂👍

The sound demo's were OK but I was not familiar with any of the music (yes, I'm an old guy!), so hard to tell anything, really. I've noticed that you never seem to have any toe-in angle on the speakers. Try it with the JBL's. Image specificity will go way up. Not to electrostatic levels, but pretty good, way better, IMHO, than pointing straight ahead. I would also move them further apart and then toe them in.

Find it strange that you do not play the L-300s. The title says new vs old JBL and this is new JBL versus klipsch and some other speakers but never the JBL's. So who won?

Great review and I love that you're trying out something new! If I may offer a small piece of advice that will help you: when you say "better understand you" the correct way to say this is "you understand better" or "so that you have a better understanding" or "you gain a better understanding" or "you understand more clearly" or something like that. Breaking it down: Basic sentence structure is comprised of two parts, the subject and predicate. The most simple version is Here the subject(noun) comes before the predicate(verb): You understand. ^subject ^predicate ^noun ^verb Here the subject comes before the predicate and we add the adjective 'better': You understand better ^subject ^predicate ^adjective ^noun ^verb ^adjective You are accidentally reversing it: Better understand you ^adjective ^predicate ^subject ^adjective ^verb ^noun I'm not a language expert but I think in some other languages this sentence structure is accurate, but in English it is not correct. I hope this helps!

I like it, great format. You could potentially play some of the music in the background extremely low volume as filler and fade it in llouder for a short clean clip. Just an idea..

Thanks Jay, name of the tracks at 5.08 & 9.33, please ?

Have you ever heard the RadioShack Optimus Mach 3's? I have had mine since 1990, I have replaced the surrounds and they rock. Was wondering if you could recommend new crossovers

Jbl l300 has the le85 which is 1-3/4 not 1-1/4. Lol and the horn is way bigger as well. Its pretty sad the new stuff isn't as lively. Btw my l300 can be pushed and it's not harsh ever. You can't compare those to l300. The newer ones with the 15incher are 30k$!

They sound a bit like the Radio Shack - Mach speakers.

You noted the L300 but did not compare with the 4429 at all, which could of been good as it is old vs new.

Hi. You got a big problem with all the speakers in your room. The speaker cones of all the others speakers is working as a bass trap as they absorb a lot of energy from the active moving cones(the playing speaker attached to the amplifier ) Tyr moving them out of the room.

Thanks Jay....lots of effort gone into this 1...appreciated. 😎 I've listened to all of this and read all of the current comments (~39). Can I suggest a number of things...not even for myself at all, but based on comments.... Perhaps exclude the sound demos to please those who don't like them (for whatever reason - that's not even imp). However, include the music talk...so say artist A or track A (whatever you like), sounds....'insert your words'...either provide link to the music or just name and artist and peeps can do their own search if they r so inclined. Similarly, compare as per this vid....so by contrast when track blah, blah was played using the 'blah, blah' .....they sounded.... blah, blah'. I'm noticing there's lots of 'blah, blah' 🙉🙉 🙉 in my writing. 😃😃😃 I think that will convey the message of what you're talking about very clearly & it should mean less work for you. If you really wanted to do some sort of sound demos (yup some love them and clearly some don't), make that a separate video. Your first video would serve as the reference, so talk in the sound clips would be a bare minimum. Yup doing 2 videos on the 1 product would be more work with post production etc, but likely not much more as really it could all be done with 1 sitting as per this vid. My personal suggestion would be the former. To me and it should be everybody this is all about the music and how it sounds on....*wait for it*..'blah, blah' gear. Personally, hearing how certain tracks sound on equipment and even better by way of comparison really paints an aural image. I don't need more. Conversely, hearing how music sounds on 'blah, blah' but I'm not even told what the tracks are leaves me somewhat in the dark. I just can't get a handle on what the gear/s 😆😆😆 (gears in joke😂), really will sound like. And yeah, by all means select the music you like...hopefully not the ol school audiophile snooze fest that to me barely tests the gear! Righto...enough of my mumblings.... Nope more mumblings....it's your channel, so you need to do what makes you happy. You can never please all of the people all of the time!!! Happy New Year (wonder how many times of said that now), to you and Becca. Have fun, be safe and happy!!! 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶

The reason I love horns is their "livelyness".why buy Horn speakers that are not lively! ( My Klipsch Belle's,my Klipsch Heresy's,my JBL 632a's,1960 EV Marquis's)are all very lively! They were designed for larger rooms where they can breath! That's where Horn Speakers Shine! Wasting your money stuffing them into a small room!

Yeah sound demos

A very interesting thing that exactly that was my complaint than the L100 Classic, no actual imaging capabilities. Now, these ones neither have that part... so JBL = No actual imaging? Well, then no wonder why I never grew into them. Hm... for that money, no imaging it's just an odd concept to me.

I prefer the new ones by a wide margin...

Alot of people hate equalizers but but you need to use equalizers to adjust the sound I find different sources are totally different soundind. Use equalizers sparingly,there not for adding more low end.Although they can do that.

Ha ha..here in Sweden they are almost 4 grand EACH!!

i have jbl 4888d NOT L 15"driver and horns paired with polk LS90 to make a quad system it KICKS ASS with my homemade 1400w quadrophonic amp

The new ones have low trebble

New my opinion

I bet technics sb 7000 award winner than jbl

I think what your experiencing is the difference between Alnico vs Ferrite magnets on the drivers ie: lines of magnetic force. Ferrite is excellent for LOUD speakers Alnico is the only way to go for ACCURATE speakers. To quote almost every guitar player in the world Alnico is the closest thing to plugging your guitar directly into the speaker. Also notice your stuck on cabinet speakers the many ill's a cabinet places on a driver is not worth the bother. Open Baffle on the other hand lets a driver breath and perform to it's manufacture spec's.

They are more like old 4425

The jbl studio 5 series is comparable (sound-wise only) to the 4429s for a fraction of the price.

If that’s the music you are using to demo 😮…yikes! The 4429’s need a high current, high bias A/B amp with quality power behind it. Everything you feed it will be heard…weakest link 🔗

Cabasse is the best compared to JBL ! Listen to ...

Sound a bit colored

NO IMAGING!? What have you been drinking, Jay? Your speaker setup is horrible! I had the same problem with my M2s until I invested some time setting them up. There is no way your positioning setup is going to allow them to image properly. Also, your comment of them not playing quietly is kookie and shows your limited knowledge. These are extremely efficient and will play wonderfully at very low levels.

U need a haircut - badly