Nothing beats massive old school speakers! I see these new speaker systems with 5 and a half inch "woofers" and it makes me sick at my stomach. I have a couple of large B.I.C. speakers with 15 inch woofers and they rock. As the saying goes, there is no replacement for displacement.
Can't beat large format JBLs. Mine weigh 134lbs each, so I have them on oak dollies. After hauling them off the truck and through the house, I decided to make repositioning as easy as possible!
The 5.5 cubic foot volume for the 15" driver is the entire enclosure minus other components. The 10" low midrange is in its own 0.5 cubic foot subchamber. The top portion of the baffle panel is square. It can be turned 90° so the cabinets can be mounted horizontally. The reason for having a hole on each side of the top is that two super-tweeters was an option. I use active crossovers and tri-amp mine.
@@OnceShy_TwiceBitten Used JBL 2405 super tweeters are between $600 and $1000 a pair. Shipping can be expensive because most are in Japan or Australia. They would have to be connected to the passive crossover or have active crossover channels and separate amplifiers.
Wow Fernando, what an amazing find you've got there. Congratulations! I can actually hear your excitement describing the specs of these magnificent speakers. Well done and keep up the great work you guys have been doing. Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺
Im pretty sure I read/saw an interview with the great Nelson Pass where he professes his partiality to these JBLs. Definitely one of those sets that relieves ones need to ever have to buy another pair of speakers ever again!
If the speaker is legendary and all original in perfect condition than any updating anything is an insult. You don't customize a antique Ferrari in perfect condition.
Yesterday I went to an out-of-the-way used hardware store in Kashiwa Japan and they had a small room crammed with vintage audiphophile equipment. Among many other things they had these 4343 Studio Monitors, some $24,000 list Tannoys selling for $10,000, and a pair of Altec Voice of the Theatre speakers. I'd never seen anything remotely like it. To me though it doesn't make sense because in Japan there is a huge emphasis on being quiet. If you wanted to use these you'd have to line a room with lead sheeting. I'm sticking with headphones.
In Japan their preferred speaker is JBL for decades as they preferred top quality. some Japanese live in a 500 square foot room with $50,000 sound system.
Well, my Optimus Mach 1’s have a 15 inch woofer and I can feel the bass hitting my chest. I power them with two Realistic PA amplifiers. The 25 watt models. For speaker wires, I used leftover copper wires from a JCPenny’s side table lamps.
4350b Rocks ! absolutely crazy playing Hotel California and other classic rock on the beast's -these are good as well -sad now JBL got rid of all the old "experts" and the driver support I only have JBL L300 now very managable the 4343 and the 4350b are hearnier busting speakers dolly's are essential to move these around
I drive my 4344Mk2, the last iteration on this design, with a 10w SET on the upper three drivers and a big SS amp on the bass, with a modern MiniDSP handling the external crossover and Dirac equalization. This means I can turn up the pads on the drivers all to full and get the best efficiency and more neutral response than possible stock. The horn lens is essential for matching the directivity across the spectrum. The lens was an anachronism from the beginning but who cares, it works great!
I just recently sold a pair of JBL 4343B's to a guy in Brooklyn NY. I used a pair of MC 275's mono blocked. amazing speakers for sure just to large for my home.
@Mikky Bint To disagree with someone doesn't necessarily make you a troll. A troll in internet culture is someone who posts or comments in order to get a reaction out of people. So if I was having a conversation on a general camera forum about what cameras we like to use and I disagreed with someone about which camera handles best, I wouldn't be trolling. But if I went on to a Nikon forum to tell everyone that since the iphone 8 came out I sold all my camera equipment and never looked back I would be trolling. Audiophiles aren't an endangered species, they're just a community of enthusiasts like any other.
@Mikky Bint if you cant distinguish these jbl from your "very good" bluetooth speaker you have got some serious brain damage. You are way out your league here.
@Mikky Bint People used to buy a Canon to capture their kids growing up. Now they use their phone. Professional photographers used to use pro grade cameras and they still do. If you're a commercial photographer, you own (or rent) a camera. Same with music. You used that have to get a big system just for decent sound. Now you don't need to but if you're really into sound and music then you still need or want a hifi system.
@Mikky Bint there are plenty of sound demos of these legendary jbl on youtube. These right here are not some garbage from modern klipsch or polk audio. It's REALLY special. There's a reason I said it's way out of your league. Because you have no clue what these are and what good speakers can sound like. I am not against new tech at all and personally use ELAC Navis but I am well aware of its limitation and will never claim better sound cannot be had cheaper at wired because that's simply not true. You on the other hand have no experience with actual good speakers, never heard of these JBL legends, and uses some modern JBL boombox. like.. just get out.
Instead of going through the hassle of mounting the tweeters on the opposite side, you could just switch the whole speakers, so the tweeters end up at the opposite side.
@@jasoncarlson4285 You would have to take the back off the whole speaker to switch the tweeter position so work doing that or moving speakers to change tweeter position.
I am the happy owner of a pair of these, bought in 1979 I think.(Had I waited a year or two I would have bought the 4345 of course...) , I have never had the courage to move the super high frequency driver, but it would be nice if someone could show me how to do it. Would really be a pity to damage them...
You are going to think I an crazy - but - I have a pair of Klipsch R-14M bookshelf speakers mounted on a shelf on the wall above my pc monitor. The base is absolutely coming thru strong. Makes me wish I was there to get the full effect.
Do the speakers have different serial numbers? The ones I’ve seen are always different in Hong Kong. I imagine they would sound great with the Vintage Marantz 7 + 9s combo. Can’t wait to see you play with the crossovers, please post more videos on these.
that color is splendid, i keep watching videos of the vintage jbl but i've haven't seen/listened to them in person.. thanks for the presentation. i have a question for the knowledgeable: wouldn't swapping the left with the right speaker achieve the same positioning of the super-tweeters as changing their location on the baffle? thanks.
Yes you are right the speakers are twins so just move the two speakers instead of moving the tweeters. The speakers are identical. I know I had the JBL 4311 WX-A and they were twins.
Great setting. One question: JBLs work best with MCs or Krell? Have you tried jbl urei 6260? the mids (and all other regions) sound incredible. You can also try electronic crossover, which cleans up even more the sound. Best regards.
We're keeping the pair in this video AND we recently scored another set that need a lot of work in a more recent video. We've already had a lot of offers for them and we have a call list we've started. Please give us a ring if you'd like to be added.
Wow incredible store! My father had a HIFI store in Puerto Rico from the 60s to the 80s he was a JBL Professional dealer. I grew up with the 4350 studio monitors which were listened to often in our living room with vintage Luxman equipment. You truly scored a pair of gems here! I have a question to see If you could help me. I purchased the newely released 4309s. I'm on a budget and wanted to get the best integrated amp for under 2500 to drive them. What would you say would give me the best matching for the neutral sound signature of these speakers? Something that would be the most performance for the money. Thank you!!!
I have a feeling careful DSP active crossover multiamping will improve these a lot, especially in imaging. It made a world of difference with my big 4-way DIY system that I put together from vintage pro audio drivers plus a modern pro sub driver with hopes of competing in this sonic ballpark. I think I'm getting similar sound quality to what these beauties are putting out, and much higher performance than my highest expectations when I started out. But they are not JBL blue or Altec green. I'll have to come up with my own branded color. ;-> Cheers!
I bought a freeDSP Aurora, but have gotten a little sidetracked. I'm building a σ11 power supply for it. In the meantime, I use some pretty good analog active crossovers to tri-amp. My sidetrack is that I'm re-capping my amps. I'll go four-way when I get the DSP finished. Do you use compression drivers?
@@BlankBrain Yes I have alnico compression drivers for big radial horn mids and slot loaded ring tweeters, not JBL but similar in performance. Ironically, since the Japanese are so into American vintage pro audio stuff, most of my drivers are Japanese-made. Super happy with the sound. I'll check out the freeDSP stuff.
@@naturalverities Unfortunately, you may not be able to buy them any more. Funny thing happened when I bought mine. The purchase was from Germany and my bank's card processor blocked my card for potential fraudulent activity. I wound up having to replace the card.
@@BlankBrain no worries, there are other options. The DSP I'm using is a Dayton DSP-408 and it's under $200 for 4x8 which is all I need. Works really well, though some audiophile tire-kickers complain that it might not have the very highest sample rate ADA converters. Others complain that it only has analog ins and Bluetooth, but again that's adequate for me, and I bet my system SOUNDS as good as theirs or better... never demoed it to anyone that wasn't startled by the uncanny realism!
Yuri, Those speakers were made by Jadis of France, and the model is the Eurythmie. I have no idea as to their sound quality, (I've only ever read about them) but visually they are absolutely stunning
There's no detectable magnetic field on the sides or the back of the drivers. You spiked my curiosity. I just took a steel screwdriver and held it at the edge of the dust cap where the coil is. I could just barely tell there was a field there. A hard drive would be more dangerous to a watch.
The only man who can make this speaker even more superb and restore it to a new level, is Kenrick, after he is finish with your JBLs you never need new speakers in your live ;)
Don't mess with original perfect condition high end JBLs. They are authentic in perfect condition and modified systems aren't authentic. It's like taking an all original antique Ferrari and customizing it. NO WAY just say no to customizing perfect legendary JBLs.
They are super efficient at 93 db at 1 watt so as he said even a 10 watt amplifier could damage your ears. So get a quality amp depending on the volume and room size you want.
Hi Harry, it's a balance as we've found quoting names and specs and frequencies can turn off some viewers. Our listings like the one for these JBL 4343's (since sold out) tend to have that info. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@arande3 I bought my JBL 4311WX-A in 1978 for $900 new and partied 500 times with them until sold them in perfect condition all original for $1,200 Canadian October 2021.
im in UK i need superb speakers for up to 1000 pounds, the catch... i need late night speakers, not megabassy power beasts lol, something with great imaging and and spatial sound, ive been looking at the Duvell Planets,,,,,, any advice would be greatly appreciated ,cheers from England
Buy the JBL 4311 or the JBL 4312. Both are legendary and much smaller than these JBL 4343, however still have the classic JBL sound. I owned JBL 4311 for 43 years and loved them and sold them in mint all original condition to an audiophile with 11 sets of audiophile speakers in his basement yet was looking for a great original set of JBL Professional JBL 4311 Control Monitors. He listened to mine for 20 minutes than paid me cash for my asking price of $1,200 Canadian in October 2021.
