Does anybody have any experience with the JBL 1400


I have an opportunity to get a pair of these for a great price. I have listened to them a couple of times and liked them. I would be driving them with a Mcintosh 452 power amp. Any input would be appreciated
dethklok
Do they have an "in your face" presentation ?
they look beautiful and must have a very controlled dispersion
There is so much misinformation about horns. I wonder if it came from folks, years ago, hearing Klipsch speakers with bad solid state amps when SS was new.

Certainly there are horrible cone speaker systems, really bad planars have been made, and there have been bad horns made. Why do horns alone seem to be saddled with prejudice about "harsh sound"? Maybe the dynamics of horns make bad ones stand out more than bad cone speakers.

In the case of the 1400, look up the Stereophile article. Reviewers often get things wrong, but the reviewer describes the 1400 well. He loves them. And he's comparing them to Quad electrostatics! And yes, there are some similarities (I have owned both speakers) The 1400 are smooth, natural, great on voices, great on a wide range of instruments, very nice dynamics (seeing off nearly all cone speakers), great driver integration. They do NOT quack, honk, zing you in any way. Behind a curtain nobody would be able to hear a "horn" sound. And they go DEEP in the bass, JBL certainly knows woofers.

If I had to assign a "coloration" from neutral, they are slightly warm, a bit on the "natural" side.

A very, very well balanced speaker. A bargain, in today's crazily-priced speaker market.
I agree, there's no typical horn coloration. I chalk that up partially to the material (Sonoglass) that JBL uses for their high end horn-based systems such as my S4700s (one model up from the 1400s). Both are very good to great speakers overall! Then you get into the K29900s and Everests which are in a league of their own!
Hi Dave_72!, very well said Omsed!, BTW, omsed, I did not know you own JBL speakers, Welcome to the JBL family of friends!,Good to see you again Dave_72! cheers!
Hi Audiolabrinth, yes, Everests and 1400 Array, amongst other more usual speakers. The 1400 are really good, the Everest 67000 are magical.