Amplifier to power JBL Voice of Theater Speakers
I had 4343's for years. I had crossovers made with new parts according to the original specs and put in new solid core wiring and connections (lost the vintage value, but wow..what a difference) I used Pass Labs aleph 2 and then 1.2 and actually like the 2's better. tubes are a great option, but if you are solid state I would go for some used class a low powered amps with lots of capacitance. Easy to overshoot the sweet spot with those. People see big speakers and think big power. Have fun |
Voice Of The Theater is what I was told when I bought them 37 years ago. I have photo of the JBL's, I got this from someone else, but this is what they look like. I would get the model number, but they are in another state right now. Pre-Amp http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc237/rpkoran/Chinchilla/Stereo/Audio%20Reaserch%20Pre%20Amplifier%20Model%20SP-3A-1%20Front_zpsugjsq77l.jpg Speakers http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc237/rpkoran/Chinchilla/Stereo/JBL%20Voice%20Of%20The%20Theater%20Speakers_zpsv0skmv39.jpg |
This kind of loudspeaker really will not sound right with transistors unless that transistor amp does not employ loop negative feedback (and most do). Such amps tend to cause a speaker like this to sound quite shrill (and is part of the reason horns were often not taken seriously from about 1970 until about 1995). In addition, if the speaker is old enough (1960s or earlier; hard to tell from the photos) the crossovers might not work as designed if the amplifier has a low output impedance. So the easy way to get them to sound right is with tubes. This speaker is likely no more than about 99db 1 watt/1 meter, so having a bit of power is nice. I have speakers of similar efficiency and so I use a set of our M-60 amplifiers which are triode and make about 60 watts. |
