Fun, Excitement, and Emotionalism Plus Audiophile Accuracy, Clarity, and Imaging: JBL HDI-3600 Floor-Standing Loudspeakers Feature High-Definition Waveguide Technology

Floor-standing loudspeakers don't have to dominate the space in a room. And when they play as convincingly, powerfully, emotionally, true, and accurately as the JBL HDI-3600, you won't even notice they're there when listening to music or enjoying a blockbuster film. Created to supply gripping performance from a relatively compact footprint, each pair of HDI-3600 is a master of imaging, soundstaging, and dynamics. Combining 21st-century technology and advanced technicality with JBL's long track record of speaker expertise, these floorstanders sing.

Devised and engineered in the company's revered California-based acoustic testing facility, this 2.5-way speaker incorporates a bass reflex design that includes dual, rear-firing, computer-optimized flared ports. A patented one-inch Teonex compression-driver tweeter and three Advanced Aluminum Matrix cone woofers with 1.5-inch voice coils round out the core specifications of the 38.84 x 10.04 x 13.46-inch (HWD) model. Of course, that's just the HDI-3600 on paper.

Any discussion of these 62-pound beauties revolves around their patented High-Definition Imaging waveguide technology – responsible not just for the series' name, but for the transportive speed, uniform directivity, smooth responsiveness, and excellent contrasts you'll hear every time you turn on your system. Equally important, each 2410H-2 tweeter arrives with elements borrowed from JBL Professional's D2 transducers and boasts a lightweight, polymer, annular diaphragm that improves high-frequency extension by reducing diaphragm mass. In addition, the V-shaped geometry of the annular diaphragm reduces breakup modes, eliminating time smear and reducing distortion.

Making a lasting statement, three six-inch cast-frame woofers beat as the heart of HDI-3600. In conjunction with the symmetrical field motor design, flux stabilization ring, and copper shorting ring, a long-throw voice coil ensure maximum output without harshness or noise. Advanced Aluminum Matrix cones provide a lightweight, rigid diaphragm and eliminate breakup modes, allowing for proper pistonic motion throughout the operating band.

Aesthetically, the understated HDI-3600 conveys timeless elegance. Its heavily braced enclosure offers a solid 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.

Able to deliver authoritative high-end two-channel stereo as well as immersive home theater, HDI-3600 straddles the best of both worlds by supplying sonic thrills, fun, and excitement as well as accuracy, imaging, nuance, and clarity.

"The HDI-3600 towers rendered this [music] perfectly, disappearing into an endless-seeming soundstage that somehow reminded me of sitting in a planetarium.... Paired with the right amp, the HDI-3600 can dazzle in a music-only system, and it will also make for a great choice as the main left/right speakers in a home theater setup."
—Al Griffin, Sound & Vision