Overview
Play any kind of music on the JBL HDI-3800 tower loudspeakers and you’ll be treated to a magic trick. They’ll disappear right before your eyes, producing soundstages and images that will take you up and close with the original recorded event. No, these 84-pound dynamos won’t physically disappear, but they will seemingly vanish, leaving you alone with your favorite albums and songs by getting out of the way of anything preventing you from enjoying the content to its fullest.
Created and engineered in the company’s famed California-based acoustic testing facility, the HD Series flagship is on paper a 2.5-way speaker incorporating a bass reflex design that includes dual, rear-firing, computer-optimized flared ports. A patented one-inch Teonex compression-driver tweeter and three woofers with 1.5-inch voice coils round out the core specifications of the 43.33 x 11.81 x 16.45-inch (HWD) model. But HDI-3800 is so much more.
The distinctive attributes start with patented High-Definition Imaging waveguide technology – responsible not just for the series’ name, but for the phenomenal speed, uniform directivity, smooth responsiveness, and major dynamics you’ll hear every time you fire you up your system. Equally impactful, each 2410H-2 tweeter arrives with elements taken from JBL Professional’s D2 transducers and sports a lightweight, polymer, annular diaphragm that improves high-frequency extension by reducing diaphragm mass. In addition, the V-shaped geometry of the annular diaphragm lessens breakup modes, eliminating time smear and minimizing distortion.
Making an aural and visual statement you won’t soon forget, the triad of eight-inch woofers beats as the heart of HDI-3800. In concert with the symmetrical field motor design, flux stabilization ring, and copper shorting ring, a long-throw voice coil ensures maximum output without harshness or noise. Advanced Aluminum Matrix cones provide a lightweight, rigid diaphragm and eradicate breakup modes, allowing for proper pistonic motion throughout the operating band.
Easy on the eyes, HDI-3800 commands a room with modesty and elegance. Its heavily braced enclosure offers a firm acoustic foundation, while the curved cabinet adds a touch of modernism that showcases the absence of any screws or fasteners. Whether you choose the automotive-grade high-gloss black finish or furniture-grade satin walnut or gray oak veneers, you’ll be in the presence of luxury.
