JBL 4367 shoutiness remedies?


Hello all, I am a first time post-er, so pardon me if I am clumsy with this venue. 
I live in a small town on an island in SE Alaska, and do not have immediate access to anywhere locally that sells hifi equipment besides Walmart. So after reading complimentary reviews, I ordered from USA Tube Audio a pair of JBL 4367 speakers, ..a two way design  with a woofer and a horn. I have about 20 hours on the speakers, driving them with a Primare I35 Integrated Amplifier and a perceived higher end Primare CD player., and for an alternate music source, I use Music Choice from my cable box. I also have a 10 band graphic EQ to tailor the  sound to my liking. The issue I bought when I paid for the speakers is a  loudly blaring shoutiness in the range of frequencies of the human voice. It can be loud and overpowering even with EQ attenuating the frequencies between 500 and 4khz. I called the dealer who I bought them from for advice..he told me the amp and cd player are junk, ($6000 junk) and the only way to fix the shoutiness was to buy tube equipment.  On some recordings, the speakers sound wonderful, but on some, it makes me question whether or not they're worth keeping. The room in the apt I have them in is about 15x18 with low ceilings. Does anyone have any practical suggestions or ideas on how to remedy or at least partially correct this issue? Thank you for reading.
deckhand

Showing 4 responses by d2girls

first of all the jbl 4367 are ruthlessly accurate and revealing of source gear however more then that they are just straight up neutral. it is highly likely that you are simply not accustomed to the sharpness in treble which can be accounted for as in increase of midrange energy due to the speakers design. as I said, it is a very flat speaker. it is highly possible your previous speakers had a dip of several dB. most speakers designed today have this. the JBL 4367 do not.


read the user manual how to set them up. 3 feet into the room. 11 feet apart. will give them 2 feet of space from side walls. toe them in to your listening position. ideally sit 11-13 feet away. toe them in more if you sit closer. experiment with toe in and distance from the speaker. personally I like triangle setup, sit equal distance from the speaker. measure length from center of speaker to center of speaker. like I said, 11 feet apart if you set them on the 15 foot side of your room.


this is the best advice youre going to get in the thread. your gear has nothing to do with how the sound you are hearing, its the function of the speaker with your room, and the fact they are much more accurate and revealing then your previous gear (assuming this but most likely true)

good luck and do not under estimate the improvement in sound you can get with proper setup.
I should have said this before but I want to mention congrats on purchasing and owning one of the best current production loudspeakers being made on the market today. I assure you, you did not make a mistake. The 4367 are extremely well engineered and behaving loudspeakers, with proper setup they will be as transparent as can be. I do think that you ears have a sensitivity to certain frequencies that previous speakers you may have owned were recessed in that specific area. Like I said, the 4367 are neutral, so that dip that most speakers have will not be present. As such, the sound may sound more forward, bright, and harsh. But what you're hearing is simply a more true to recording sound.

I own these speakers and I don't have any short term plans to get rid of them.