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"We don't need these big speakers anymore...

Fred Sanford

Fred Sanford

Addicted Member
...we only listen to music on our TV now, anyway..."

OK, then- more for me. A couple with two young kids only listen to music through their TV & Cable box, so they wanted to ditch their "old, big, black" JBLs. They were a bit surprised to hear that these were the lightest weight & smallest drivers of the 14 JBLs already in my house...heh.

~1992 JBL HP420s, an interesting approach to tower speakers- each cabinet has two ~6" woofs in a Double-Chamber-Bandpass configuration, then a 5" mid and 1" titanium tweet. Nice glass tops, one OEM & one replaced. Liking the tweets, the cabs might need to be located back into a corner to get some more kick to them. With a sub they sound nice so far.

http://manuals.harman.com/JBL/HOM/Technical Sheet/HP420 ts.pdf

Dunno where I'm going to find a home for them, they may end up becoming a "thank you" if a buddy can set up a key job interview I've been wanting...

je
 

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Send them to me. They would be the perfect size for my room. :D

Nah just joking. Nice score. :thmbsp:
 
This part is bad enough on its own:
...we only listen to music on our TV now, anyway..."
Click to expand...
:sigh:

.......and this just adds salt to the wound that is the currently (though hopefully temporary) fading world of audio:
....so they wanted to ditch their "old, big, black" JBLs.
Click to expand...
Old, and big?!

Fred: do you know what is the purpose of that louvered structure on top? Is that where the bass port is (I've read that bandpass enclosures can geenrate lots of bass for their size)? Whatever, those speakers look slick!
 
Speaker trivia: what's also interesting about these is that around '95 (right before Recoton Inc bought and basically ruined this company :mad:) Advent introduced a model that was similar to this JBL: it used a five sided veneered enclosure with a single 6.5" driver mounted inside in a bandpass configuration and on top was a rectangular module housing a 5" midbass driver and the Advent parabolic dome tweeter. IIRC they only sold them for about a year. The other model in this series also used a 5 sided cabinet but was more conventional in its operation, using two 6.5 woofers and the dome tweeter, all mounted on the front baffle (basically this seemed like a hi-end version of the Laureate model being sold at the same time at places like Best Buy).
 
COOL!

That's a new one on me.

And isobaric, to boot.

[I'll put it in the JBL quiz.... :thmbsp: ]
 
RadShak1251 said:
Fred: do you know what is the purpose of that louvered structure on top? Is that where the bass port is (I've read that bandpass enclosures can geenrate lots of bass for their size)? Whatever, those speakers look slick!
Click to expand...

These seem to differ from the HP430s I'd seen in the 1992 German catalog, the push-pull woofers are mounted in the bottom third of the column, and the main chamber runs from the top woofer up into a cone-shaped diffuser that feeds out through the slats at the top. The bottom woofer vents into two vertical columns that run up the front along the sides of the mid & tweet, and also vent out the top, near the front of the slats.

The German ones are shown here:

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1992-german/page12.jpg

...through...

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1992-german/page17.jpg

...and the US owner's manual is here:

http://manuals.harman.com/JBL/HOM/Owner%27s%20Manual/HP420-520-580%20om.pdf

I've only tested them sitting out in the middle of the room, we'll see how they do with some boundary reinforcement. Liking the tweeter so far, though. It's really not fair to switch from the 4333As to them as an A/B comparison.

je
 
Zilch said:
COOL!

That's a new one on me.

And isobaric, to boot.

[I'll put it in the JBL quiz.... :thmbsp: ]
Click to expand...

The next step up in the series seems like the better design, with a mid-bass driver bridging the gap from the push-pull woofs to the 5" mid. Nice enough tweet, though, have you tested an 026Ti yet? Let me know...

je
 
x_25 said:
But can you use them effectively as a blunt weapon? :D
Click to expand...

Nope, but I think you're reaching, now...:D

I tried very hard to kill my Minimus, and they just plain wouldn't die. If you ever want to check out a similar-but-much-better speaker, have a listen to some Canton Plus S. Very nice sound, very durable (I've had mine in punishing use since 1987), and still cheap 'cause people don't know what they are. $330 a pair when new, I see 'em pretty often on E-Bay.

je
 
Fred Sanford said:
Nope, but I think you're reaching, now...:D
Click to expand...

Just a bit. :yes:

Fred Sanford said:
I tried very hard to kill my Minimus, and they just plain wouldn't die. If you ever want to check out a similar-but-much-better speaker, have a listen to some Canton Plus S. Very nice sound, very durable (I've had mine in punishing use since 1987), and still cheap 'cause people don't know what they are. $330 a pair when new, I see 'em pretty often on E-Bay.
Click to expand...

I will look into those. Although right now I have no money so It will have to wait until I get a job.
 
Fred Sanford said:
These seem to differ from the HP430s I'd seen in the 1992 German catalog, the push-pull woofers are mounted in the bottom third of the column, and the main chamber runs from the top woofer up into a cone-shaped diffuser that feeds out through the slats at the top. The bottom woofer vents into two vertical columns that run up the front along the sides of the mid & tweet, and also vent out the top, near the front of the slats.

The German ones are shown here:

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1992-german/page12.jpg

...through...

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1992-german/page17.jpg

...and the US owner's manual is here:

http://manuals.harman.com/JBL/HOM/Owner%27s%20Manual/HP420-520-580%20om.pdf

I've only tested them sitting out in the middle of the room, we'll see how they do with some boundary reinforcement. Liking the tweeter so far, though. It's really not fair to switch from the 4333As to them as an A/B comparison.

je
Click to expand...
Appreciate the info Fred. :thmbsp:

And looks like the Advents I mentioned aren't exactly similar to these JBLs - the JBL's venting system is much more exotic. :scratch2: Makes me think of their short-lived Aquarius series, particularly the larger ones (not that these use the same vent system, just that the Aquarius' system is also unusual).
 
Recently fired these up again as temps (L100s and L110s are out for cabinet work), and I've learned to like them better. Now located on a tile fireplace apron, about 14" from the back wall, they seem to be much improved. Still not on a typical "system", they're running an MP3 portable through an EV mixer into a Yamaha P2100 pro power amp. May have to find a home for these here...hmmm...wife's been buying lots of black furniture lately...

je
 
as happy as I am for thier loss is your gain line of thinking, i'm really sad that they have given up listening to music properly for that of a digital feed from their TV
 
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