Originally Posted by
1audiohack
Hi JPW;
Since Ian went in deep and it wasn’t frowned on by you, I will too.
When I was a kid we had a JBL shop in our town that had most of the 43XX series on the floor, not all at once but I did get to hear 4343’s, 4345’s and 4350’s and being young I wanted them all. I could not tell you at this point which I might have thought were the most accurate. They were dynamic as hell!
Later I acquired, in order, a pair of 4350’s, 4365’s, new, and 4333A’s. I also built a pair of kinda 4345’s. I made them 10 cubic feet based on something G Timbers said about the 2245.
For accuracy, like Widget said, the 4365’s win, but you are talking about vintage 43XX’s.
I found no real love for the 4333’s, no matter what I did. I revisit these from time to time and always just put them back in the barn.
The 4345 clones never had passive crossover components but I could never fill an energy gap, between the 2245 and 2123. That may show something missing in my integration chops. I revisit these from time to time and always just put them back away. No matter how well I can get them to measure, I am never happy with them.
My 3450’s are exactly what Widget describes as cheating. :) The first fix was replacing the 2202 with TAD 1201M graphite cone drivers. Screwed around with the compression drivers, everything from the original 2440’s through 2450’s with TruExtent beryllium and landed on NOS 2441’s as the winner with the 2405’s.
Then 1500AL woofers from the Everest family. Four way amplified with DSP. I love them. I still take them out and out back in the open and tweak on the DSP and they just get a little better each time.
I also have a pair of DD66000’s that have 67000 woofers and crossovers in them, also in the barn.
Ironically what wins in my living room is the 4365’s with ARRAY1500 subs. Go figure.
I also have the DIY itch and my loose plan is for some spare AL1500 woofs, 2251 mid woofers, 4338 horns with 2450Sl’s and 2405’s. Hopefully they will supply my dynamics itch.
Barry.