JBL HDI-3800 Floor-Standing Speaker Review

[William Lemmerhirt]

Lol. Sometimes I just do that...

 

[ajemeditor]

With a $5,000, I’d imagine there is lots of competiton from Paradigm . TeKton Wilson etc right ?

 

[shadyJ]

With a $5,000, I’d imagine there is lots of competiton from Paradigm . TeKton Wilson etc right ?

Wilson doesn't have anything that cheap.

 

[TLS Guy]

Wilson doesn't have anything that cheap.

And not as good where it counts either!

 

[ajemeditor]

Shady- what else would you suggest i look at in This priced range for a box speaker (ie not planar)

 

[shadyJ]

I think the Definitive Technology Demand D17 is probably pretty good. The Polk Legend series is very good. The Revel Performa3 208 is a very good speaker. The Salk Song3 series is very good. I am sure you could find excellent competition from Monitor Audio, KEF, and PSB in this range as well. That is just what I can think of off the top of my head, and I am sure there are many more great choices.

 

[Danzilla31]

And not as good where it counts either!

TLS Guy what are your thoughts on JTR speakers

Down the road it's going to be between the JBL HDI lineup the JTR lineup or RBH for my forever speakers

After a lot of learning I just believe your spot on with where a speaker needs to be able to perform the best

Based on your expertise does JTR design speakers well?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

TLS Guy what are your thoughts on JTR speakers

Down the road it's going to be between the JBL HDI lineup the JTR lineup or RBH for my forever speakers

After a lot of learning I just believe your spot on with where a speaker needs to be able to perform the best

Based on your expertise does JTR design speakers well?

Dan, I have an idea. Send me a pair HDI3800’s and get yourself a JTR setup! We both win!!!

 

[Danzilla31]

Dan, I have an idea. Send me a pair HDI3800’s and get yourself a JTR setup! We both win!!!

Hey we could even do it like this send me a pair of JTR and get yourself a HDI setup!!!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Hey we could even do it like this send me a pair of JTR and get yourself a HDI setup!!!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

Touché!!!!!
I like your choices. I think the HDI series is great, and is just what I’ve been looking for to upgrade my old JBL towers. I’ve also long been interested in JTR speakers/subs. The JTR’s look a little utilitarian in comparison so that’s a tougher sell to mamma. Plus, I feel rather poor these days so I’ll be enjoying any expenditures via YOU!!! Lol

 

[Danzilla31]

Touché!!!!!
I like your choices. I think the HDI series is great, and is just what I’ve been looking for to upgrade my old JBL towers. I’ve also long been interested in JTR speakers/subs. The JTR’s look a little utilitarian in comparison so that’s a tougher sell to mamma. Plus, I feel rather poor these days so I’ll be enjoying any expenditures via YOU!!! Lol

Trust me bro there's a reason I only bought one PB 2000 pro today

I feel you being essential means my job is guaranteed unless stuff really collapses knock on wood but still I'm really not crazy about spending anything right now

I just couldn't resist

But it'll be a good long while before I do my forever speakers due to the issues we have now

 

[Danzilla31]

Touché!!!!!
I like your choices. I think the HDI series is great, and is just what I’ve been looking for to upgrade my old JBL towers. I’ve also long been interested in JTR speakers/subs. The JTR’s look a little utilitarian in comparison so that’s a tougher sell to mamma. Plus, I feel rather poor these days so I’ll be enjoying any expenditures via YOU!!! Lol

If I do go JTR I'm planning on putting in a bigger AT screen and building an AT front wall to put everything behind simply due as you said to the look

But not so much an issue with the JBL aesthetically I'm really digging the new look

I can totally see piano gloss black in that theater room on them beauties

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Trust me bro there's a reason I only bought one

I feel you being essential means my job is guaranteed unless stuff really collapses knock on wood but still I'm really not crazy about spending anything right now

I just couldn't resist

But it'll be a good long while before I do my forever speakers due to the issues we have now

Plus, those 5 series you’ve got should keep you going for awhile.

Yeah. It’s crazy right now fo sho. Just going one day at a time.

 

[Verdinut]

Crutchfield (as well as other outlets) has these in 3 different finishes for $1900/ea. or $3800/pr. so very close to 25% less!
The strange thing is Crutchfield does not show this as a sale price so I wonder if this is JBL's actual price?!
@shadyJ do you have any thoughts on where you got the $5000 price vs Crutchfield's price?

JBL HDI-3600 (Satin Walnut)

Floor-standing speaker

www.crutchfield.com

Unfortunately, the bookshelf version is not less than $900/ea!

Edit: I am mistaken, this is the HDI-3600 with smaller woofers! See ShadyJ's post below.

This HDI-3600 with a Denon AVR-X3600H and a pair of SVS or Hsu subs would make an excellent system.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

This HDI-3600 with a Denon AVR-X3600H and a pair of SVS or Hsu subs would make an excellent system.

Yes indeed!

 

[Verdinut]

This HDI-3600 with a Denon AVR-X3600H and a pair of SVS or Hsu subs would make an excellent system.

Three of those HDI-3600 would definitely bring an ideal front sound stage which many audiophiles would enjoy having.

 

[TLS Guy]

TLS Guy what are your thoughts on JTR speakers

Down the road it's going to be between the JBL HDI lineup the JTR lineup or RBH for my forever speakers

After a lot of learning I just believe your spot on with where a speaker needs to be able to perform the best

Based on your expertise does JTR design speakers well?

I have never heard them. Such measurements as are out there, just very directional speakers. Large sectoral compression horn speaker systems have not had a good track record under domestic conditions. They have fared much by better in large cinemas and theaters.

However of late at least by measurements JBL seem to have tamed the beasts, producing speakers with a very flat mid band response and acceptable dispersion.

So in your list I would be inclined to go with JBL.

As far as RBH is concerned they are an unknown quantity to me. However my suspicions are always on alert when I see so many drivers. I personally favor fewer more potent drivers with superb powerful motor systems. Lets just put it this way. I have a very different design approach.

 

[SDX-LV]

I am actually VERY disappointed to not see Spinorama measurement of this speaker. To me the whole review looses value if this crucial graph is omitted. Why then go through all the work of measuring the speaker if there is no Spinorama in the end?

Otherwise interesting speaker. Seems that objectively it has issues, but subjectively everyone praises it no matter what. I just don't think it is a significant enough upgrade over my JBL Studio 580.

 

[TLS Guy]

I am actually VERY disappointed to not see Spinorama measurement of this speaker. To me the whole review looses value if this crucial graph is omitted. Why then go through all the work of measuring the speaker if there is no Spinorama in the end?

Otherwise interesting speaker. Seems that objectively it has issues, but subjectively everyone praises it no matter what. I just don't think it is a significant enough upgrade over my JBL Studio 580.

That is because Shady does not have access to a turntable in an anechoic chamber.

However, quasi anechoic measurements done with acceptable hardware and software can give very meaning full results. You just can not entirely rely on results below 400 Hz. However you certainly can get meaningful results right across the crucial mid band and higher. You can move the microphone and not the speaker to get off axis measurements.

I think it is widely agreed that if a speakers has a good on axis response and the off axis response to at least 60 degrees mirrors the on axis response, even if there is some LINEAR reduction in HF response, then listeners will very likely give that speaker high marks.

I think the HDI-3800 would be a massive upgrade over the 580s. I can't find and FR of the 580s now, but I have seen it. There are couple of nasty horn resonances one just above the crossover region and another at 9KHz. The 3800 on the other hand have a very good mid band response with an acceptably controlled dispersion pattern. The latter looks to be a good speaker and the latter a relatively poor one.

 

[shadyJ]

Spin-o-rama requires a full 360-degrees of measurements on both the horizontal and vertical axis. I would need either a microphone array with a 2 meter radius, or a way to rotate the tower speaker on its side and use the tweeter as the point of rotation. Neither are practical. Besides that, the waterfall graphs are more informative than spin-o-rama regarding the speaker's behavior. Spin-o-rama is just a summary of a whole bunch of other measurements, but the waterfall graphs are the measurements that spin-o-rama summarizes. Not only are the waterfall graphs more helpful to understanding the speaker, I would also say they are more intuitive to understanding as measurement information.