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the worst speakers ever!! jbl 4655 [message #34169] Thu, 15 November 2001 16:20 Go to next message
replay is currently offline  replay
Messages: 284
Registered: May 2009
Grand Master
what gives? just received my jbl 4655's from the tent sale. the worst sounding speaker ever. these must be the speakers which gave horns a bad name. all midrange, no bass, nasal and piercing. how does a company which produces some of the worlds best components deliver a finished product like this? the speakers each use one 2032h 15" woofer and one 2416h-1 compression driver in a 2373 horn. cabinets are 25.5"x19"x12.75".

cheers,

george

Re: the worst speakers ever!! jbl 4655 [message #34172 is a reply to message #34169] Thu, 15 November 2001 18:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
mikebake is currently offline  mikebake
Messages: 243
Registered: May 2009
Grand Master
The answer to question #1 is PRICE, and YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! It isn't like this is JBL's best effort. They were originally built to a price point (remember the cost-effective phrase?), and on top of that they were now sold for $111............. Mine haven't arrived yet for analysis (I couldn't resist buying a pair) but I frankly don't expect much from them. Did you pick up some CS3115's? That would have been a better choice. My 4655's are headed for garage/workshop speakers.........
MBB
Re: the worst speakers ever!! jbl 4655 [message #34173 is a reply to message #34169] Thu, 15 November 2001 18:38 Go to previous message
str8aro is currently offline  str8aro
Messages: 12
Registered: May 2009
Chancellor
Well, if you look at the JBL response graph (which is way too small to be of much use and probably smoothed a lot - no way of really knowing, though), there's about a 5dB dip that's fairly broad (getting close to half an octave, maybe?), probably at the crossover frequency. I would call that significantly NOT flat. Then at around 3khz (around where the ear's most sensitive), it looks like the response is up about 2-3dB compared to the woofer. That's a lot, IMO, and probably accounts for the nasal and piercing sound you comment on. Then, the high end (above about 11khz) just dies. There's also not much real bass according to the FR graph. Of course, that's the trade off you make for high efficiency and a not-very-big box. One other thing - the impedance graph seems a bit funky - there's a big broad impedance peak in the midrange. Depending on what kind of amp you're using (tubes?), that could be another source of problems. Of course, the actual components you have may not do all this, considering manufacturing tolerances. My advice would be to measure the components and then redo the crossover, my personal preference being an active line-level crossover. This may be a bit more of an undertaking than what you're looking for, though.

John

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