John Darko
The 4329p from JBL isn’t just an active loudspeaker; it’s a streaming active loudspeaker with support for aptX Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, Google Chromecast and Roon Readiness. In other words, a pair of 4329p gives us a complete hi-fi system in a box to which we just supply mains power. However, today’s preview doesn’t start with streaming — it starts with the black stuff…
I’ve been listening to two new bits of vinyl of late. Both records were purchased just after Record Store Day in April: Talking Heads Live at WCOZ 1977 – a 2LP set cut at 45rpm – and Global Communication’s Maiden Voyage EP, its first time on vinyl for thirty years.
My current vinyl rig is a Thorens TD1500 turntable fitted with the German company’s TAS1500 MC cartridge. Its signal is pre-amplified by a PS Audio Stellar Phono before being sent onto the JBLs via a pair of AudioQuest’s XLR-terminated Yukon interconnects.
Where are the power amplifier and the pre-amplifier’s volume control and source selection? Easy: all of the electronics sit inside the JBL 4329p.
Now comes the first twist. The primary speaker’s XLR inputs are handed off to the secondary speaker in the digital domain. For that, we have a choice of hard-wired CAT5 for a 24bit/192kHz interlink or a wireless interlink that runs at 24bit/96kHz. I went wireless because the supplied 3m Ethernet cable isn’t long enough to separate the speakers by (my usual) 2.8 meters without putting an unsightly drooped U-shaped cable front and centre.
In case you’ve not worked it out already: any analogue signal arriving at the JBL is digitised upon entry but before the vinyl purists take to their keyboards, we should acknowledge together that the 4329p’s drivers – and those drivers’ amplifiers – will impact what we hear far more than the primary speaker’s ADC chip or the digital interlink’s resolution.
The 4329p is a 2-way design. That means one tweeter and one mid-bass driver. The tweeter is a horn-loaded 1” compression driver – not a dome tweeter – and is driven by a 50-watt amplifier. The mid/bass driver is larger than most typically seen in actives covered within these pages. It’s an 8” paper cone that sits in a cast aluminium frame, is driven by a 250-Watt amplifier and works with a pair of front-firing ports for (according to JBL) an impressive -6dB at 28Hz.
According to JBL, the advantages of the mid/bass driver’s aluminium frame are:
1) better rigidity to eliminate vibrations
2) better heat transference which means greater power handling
3) a lack of conductivity that would otherwise draw the magnetic field away from the motor structure gap (as a steel frame would)
A second twist: JBL confirmed via email that the two amplifiers inside each loudspeaker are ‘direct digital’ designs where the signal path is digital from input to switching output, with no interceding DAC. In recent years, we’ve seen this DAC-less approach to switching amplifier design pick-up speed with outboard models arriving from Technics, Bluesound, Lyngdorf, Peachtree and, most recently, Marantz. However, this is the first time I’ve seen direct digital amplifiers deployed inside an active loudspeaker.
Splitting the signal between the two direct digital amplifiers in each JBL is a DSP-based crossover. Feeding that DSP crossover are the digital (and digitised) inputs, streaming and hard-wired. The XLR sockets that connect my vinyl front end to the JBL are also quarter-inch phono-plug compatible, exposing their possible double-life as a studio monitor. I can’t see many home listeners putting 30kg of loudspeaker on a desktop to lasso a PC or Mac to the primary speaker’s USB input, but I can see studio bods doing exactly that. Next to the primary speaker’s USB-B socket sits a TOSLINK input for TVs and CD players but I can’t shake the thought that the addition of an HDMI ARC input would have rounded out the 4329p’s homeboy credentials just nicely, especially at their €4000/pair asking price.
However, be prepared to pony up an extra €220 for a pair of JBL’s JS-80 stands that, according to the American manufacturer, put the tweeter at the correct height, keep the low-frequency energy away from the floor for a tighter bass response and – with a third twist – tilt each speaker upwards by seven degrees for superior dispersion, especially when listening at closer quarters.
I’ll get it out of the way early: I don’t love the skeletal look of the JS-80 and their lack of cable routing keeps the primary speaker’s cable vomit on full display. OTOH, I don’t wish to forego the upward tilt when my listening chair sits only 2.5m from the loudspeaker plane. Besides, if JBL intends users to listen to the 4329p atop JS-80 stands, that is how I will review them.
Adding context to their performance during the review process will be side-by-side comparisons to the similarly-priced 2-way Buchardt A500 (whose streaming comes from the external WISA-enabled Platin hub), the more costly 3-way Genelec 8351A ‘The Ones’ (that don’t do streaming at all) and the Zu DWX (which require an outboard streamer and amplifier).
Expect to see a review video arrive sometime in July.
Further information: JBL
