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Cheap and (Pretty) Easy JBL 4430 Upgrade

Honestly, I think any of those would be substantial enough; the 4430 is pretty sensitive at 93 dB.

In my mind, cleaning or (preferably) bypassing that damn switch is the real key; it is a major current chokepoint on both drivers:

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It look complicated to me, the crossover things :( I have never open any crossover before. I will try to open these and study your detail instruction, maybe cleaning first.
Thanks!
 
Hi Zonker92,
Have you ever checked the panel of high/mid frequency level? I think it also affect the sound. My 4430s even have little scratch sound when I adjust the levels.
Thanks
 
Yes; definitely good to clean them. You can get at them pretty easily through the woofer hole.
 
I have tried to clean the rotate switch, result is recognizable! Thank Zonker!
Sound of jbl 4430, especially bass sound, is depend so much on room figure and the balance of the two side wall.
Today I moved the speakers in 90 degree direction, so the speakers locate symetrically in the room, and far 1,5m from back wall. The sound is so different, much better bass.

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Dragon.fly said:
I have tried to clean the rotate switch, result is recognizable! Thank Zonker!
Sound of jbl 4430, especially bass sound, is depend so much on room figure and the balance of the two side wall.
Today I moved the speakers in 90 degree direction, so the speakers locate symetrically in the room, and far 1,5m from back wall. The sound is so different, much better bass.

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Click to expand...



From my perspective, the side walls look like one is largely missing and the other has 2 mattresses on it!!!
 
Are you in Japan, DF? I love your abode!

After some experimenting I turned my 4430s a full 45 degrees inward, on the theory that I'd reduce side wall reflections that way. It sounds good but I'm still not sure it's optimal.
 
The left side wall is infact is the main font wall (with TV).
The right side wall has windows in middle, and I use mattresses for the whole wall.

[From my perspective, the side walls look like one is largely missing and the other has 2 mattresses on it!!!
Click to expand...
 
I'm in Vietnam, Zonker.
I also turned my 4430s a bit, in Option 1 plan attached here. Focus is better.
-In normal, I setup the speakers in Option 1. That's tisy and the best for livingroom function. But sound is not so satisfied.
-Sometimes, I setup like Option 2. The focus and sound stage is really better. Bass is better but still considering... This setup affect the room function, as the 4430s extend to the room center :)
-Yesterday, I tried a completely different way, rotate 4430s system 90 degree. I don't know why but I am satisfied with bass sound, feeling it covers fully all the room, and deeper, even in low volume. Maybe the reason is the balance of the two side walls that other options don't have?
Unfortunately, this option is completely again the living room function (with normal location of TV and sofa...) Haizz...
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Interesting thread. I've messed with quite a few JBL switches and intermittent l-pads to see the value of cleaning them and even better going active. Good tips.
 
Dragon.fly said:
I'm in Vietnam, Zonker.
I also turned my 4430s a bit, in Option 1 plan attached here. Focus is better.
-In normal, I setup the speakers in Option 1. That's tisy and the best for livingroom function. But sound is not so satisfied.
-Sometimes, I setup like Option 2. The focus and sound stage is really better. Bass is better but still considering... This setup affect the room function, as the 4430s extend to the room center :)
-Yesterday, I tried a completely different way, rotate 4430s system 90 degree. I don't know why but I am satisfied with bass sound, feeling it covers fully all the room, and deeper, even in low volume. Maybe the reason is the balance of the two side walls that other options don't have?
Unfortunately, this option is completely again the living room function (with normal location of TV and sofa...) Haizz...
Click to expand...

Dragon.fly - You could try raising the speakers off the floor about 8-12 inches (0.2-0.3 meters) with speaker stands. People have reported good results with this for taming bass. Then you might be able to push them back, closer to the wall again and reclaim floor space.
 
Thank HTW,
In a local shop here, they have a typical stand for jbl 4430, with 0.15 meters hight. I am considering to buy this typical stand or ask them to make a higher stand, 0.20m.
How do you think? Which is better? I prefer as more bass as possible :)
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HTWillie said:
Dragon.fly - You could try raising the speakers off the floor about 8-12 inches (0.2-0.3 meters) with speaker stands. People have reported good results with this for taming bass. Then you might be able to push them back, closer to the wall again and reclaim floor space.
Click to expand...
 
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Dragon.fly said:
Thank HTW,
In a local shop here, they have a typical stand for jbl 4430, with 0.15 meters hight. I am considering to buy this typical stand or ask them to make a higher stand, 0.20m.
How do you think? Which is better? I prefer as more bass as possible :)
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I have have not personally experimented with raising my 4430's off the floor, but several 4430 owners on another forum have discussed it a lot for fine tuning the bass. I believe Zonker's stands are closer to 0.15 meters.

Kenrick Sound seems to prefer them a bit higher, like here, and here.

It might be easiest to try the stands you have available locally first, and then try raising the speakers more later.
 
Just like everything else in this world. KISS Keep it simple stupid. But I'm not negating what you did! (Just the factory) You should be awarded a metal of Merit for seeing there was an issue and fixing it. Wonder what the system would sound like with the low pass section of the cross over tossed out the window and the HF section modified, and the system bi-amped using an external electronic crossover?
 
Thanks, DF and twiii! I wound up passively biamping mine with good results (tubes up top and SS below), but I haven't gone further. Many of the threads I've read over the years, involving a lot of the cognoscenti here and on LH, showed people saying that actively biamping the 4430 is really difficult to do properly and may not yield great results. (The technical discussion as to why, went way over my head.) I don't know if that's true, but it's certainly made me reluctant to try it.

Rather, my possible next project would be to build charge-coupled crossovers for them, and hide the crossovers inside the stands. I've built them in my head a dozen times, and one of these days I may actually try it.

DF, I would think that the higher you raise the speakers, the less bass you will get, since their proximity to the floor gives them some "boundary effect" bass reinforcement from the floor. Or so I hear. I might suggest putting them on milk crates or sturdy boxes to find out what happens.
 
Hey Zonk, I just noticed, you have some thin material lining your port. Is that a slight tuning device?
 
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