A Trip to San Jose for the JBL4343
Saturday May 15th 2004
F and I borrowed S's SUV to drive to San Jose which is 50 miles south of San Francisco. The reason for our journey down this grey, ugly stretch of the 101 that passes through Silicon Valley with its huge HiTech builings interspersed with strip malls lining each side of the road, was so that could pick up his 40th Birthday present to himself, a pair of JBL 4343 speakers circa 1976. They are so big they make our normally huge wide screen HDTV look small. F has been telling me how much he wanted a pair of speakers like this since I first met him 359 days ago. These speakers sell for thousands of dollars on Ebay and then you would usually have to add shipping charges on top of that. Considering that they weigh 175lbs each, you could end up spending a small fortune. He was lucky to find a pair, with all of the original components, in driving distance, and at a reasonable price. He told me, many times, that the sound that comes out of these speakers is incomparible with anything you would normally hear. I didnt really believe him until he plugged them in at home. The sound is so incredible it gives you goosebumps and your eyes well up with tears. F has wanted these speakers since he first heard them in France when he was 12 years old. Needless to say, after his almost 28 years of waiting, he is currently the happiest I have ever seen him. (Apart from when he met me, of course...)
The speakers look totally cool in our loft!
F and I borrowed S's SUV to drive to San Jose which is 50 miles south of San Francisco. The reason for our journey down this grey, ugly stretch of the 101 that passes through Silicon Valley with its huge HiTech builings interspersed with strip malls lining each side of the road, was so that could pick up his 40th Birthday present to himself, a pair of JBL 4343 speakers circa 1976. They are so big they make our normally huge wide screen HDTV look small. F has been telling me how much he wanted a pair of speakers like this since I first met him 359 days ago. These speakers sell for thousands of dollars on Ebay and then you would usually have to add shipping charges on top of that. Considering that they weigh 175lbs each, you could end up spending a small fortune. He was lucky to find a pair, with all of the original components, in driving distance, and at a reasonable price. He told me, many times, that the sound that comes out of these speakers is incomparible with anything you would normally hear. I didnt really believe him until he plugged them in at home. The sound is so incredible it gives you goosebumps and your eyes well up with tears. F has wanted these speakers since he first heard them in France when he was 12 years old. Needless to say, after his almost 28 years of waiting, he is currently the happiest I have ever seen him. (Apart from when he met me, of course...)
The speakers look totally cool in our loft!
posted by Sam or Fred @ 9:19 PM
4 Comments:
At 9:36 PM,
Anonymous said…
So how much did you paid for it ?
Some description of how it sounds, maybe compared
to JBL 4350s or Klipsch Klipschorns would be very
interesting
Please let us in.
At 11:19 AM,
Anonymous said…
$2500 which is quite reasonable for those. Prices tend to go quite crazy theses days for vintage original JBL studio monitors. They sound like I thing they should. A little EQ is more than welcome in our loft to get ride of some boominess but the dynamic is amazing. Last I heard 4350's was back in 1976? at a sound show in Paris and I remember they were playing an LP called "Session" which was a JBL demo sampler and the 4350's blew me in a big way. I always wanted some 43xx's and I was lucky enough to find mine locally at a very reasonable cost. For anyone interested in JBL's legacy I recommend you to visit this website which has a really nice forum with really knowlegebal people.
http://www.audioheritage.org/intro.htm
Fred.
At 9:43 PM,
Anonymous said…
F,
That was a really good price. I had a pair that I purchased years ago for $1100 and then sold in 1989 for $2200. I wish that I have never sold them, but at the time I was trying to go back to school and had to make tough choices! What are you driving them with? If I recall correctly, they sounded a lot better when they were on small metal cones or spikes. That really tightend them up a lot. Enjoy them and have fun!
At 12:48 PM,
Sam said…
Fred
such a shame that your bank account and your audiophile guts don't speak the same language, huh?!
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