We have SL2 active, SBL, IBL in our systems with Nsat and Kans as back ups. We love the first three but looking for some JBLs as a stand in to the SL2 on occasion. Which ones would you recommend?
Dev, just cause you cant find dbl’s substituting a “J” for the “D” just wont cut it!
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Assuming the OP did not mistype, JBLs are having a moment on the forum lately. Especially the Classic range. I guess L82 or L100 are the right sort of level. But they have many fine models if their sort of colouration is to your liking.
To be honest, there’s a lot to like.
You could look at Kenrick Sound, depending on budget and commitment.
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Dev, you deserve to have a pair of JBL 4343s in your life.
Many years back, while having a very good dinner with Naim’s Italian distributor, Vanino Spinelli, he told me to keep an eye out for a handful of classic speakers that he felt I had to hear, the JBL 4343s being one of them. When I did finally come across a pair, which had just been refurbed after spending their life in the Deutsche Schallplatten studios, it was a revelation. Listening to Neil Young’s Sleeps With Angels played through just a CDX2 and a Nait and the hairs on my arms stood on end. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps still.
Not being able to stretch to the offering of Kenrick Sound, and 4343s being quite rare here in the UK, I did happen upon a pair of 4311s that originally belonged to Martin Birch and came from his studio. They are a lot of fun, albeit not up to the standard of those 4343s.
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Thank you Richard. Great post!
Wonderful!
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A friend has a pair of 4311s with a Troels Graveson fixed crossover. He claims that most of the music he loves from the 1970s was probably mastered on them, and they do sound damned fine.
He’s probably right because my own pair were originally used for exactly that by Martin Birch. He eventually sold them to a musician friend, Les Payne, and I then bought them from him. As you’re doubtless already aware, Martin Birch engineered a fair number of albums of early Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Jeff Beck, and many others. It’s quite cool to think that this very pair of 4311s could very well have been used during those engineering sessions.
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My speakers use 2xJBL 2226H in each for the lower frequences. Large drivers sound big. Addictive
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In the mid-1980s, my secondary school’s music department’s classroom listening system had clearly been put together by someone who knew their stuff. From memory, it consisted of:
- Dual CS505-2 turntable
- TEAC cassette deck (with ?dbx, possibly a V530X?)
- Philips CD player
- Quad 34 pre-amp
- Quad 405-2 power amp
- JBL L100 speakers (or ones that looked remarkably similar - 3-way, white woofer etc.)
Even with a very nascent interest in hifi, I could tell this was serious kit and very much enjoyed listening to it.
Mark
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