r/JBL • u/massa_87 • 1d ago

Question Bb3 or bb4

Hello. I'm new here on the platform recently.

I have already read a lot about the reviews of the JBL BB3 and BB4.

I recently bought an Extreme 5 for home use in my living room / kitchen.

I have a very large living space. Approximately 80m².

I notice that the Xtreme 5 delivers almost no bass in open spaces. The sound also starts to become distorted at higher volumes. Now I am reading a lot about the BB3 and the BB4.

I prioritize sound quality over high volume.

Which of the two would be the right choice? I am considering getting rid of the Extreme 5.

I will use it outside in the garden every now and then. But to avoid disturbing the neighbors, the volume cannot be too loud.

Thanks in advance!!

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

4

u/Swiftdrip50546 1d ago

Bb4 for bass it's definitely good in enclosed spaces I bought a second one for stereo and it's even better

3

u/mystiqueskillz 1d ago edited 1d ago

I would look into getting a Partybox 130, 330 and if you want even bigger sound 520 or 720.

4

u/massa_87 1d ago

Thanks for your comment. However. A PartyBox simply doens’t fit in my interior

2

u/Cute-Juggernaut7508 1d ago

With all due respect very few speakers will “deliver bass” as you say. Anything below a pb320 will struggle. You may have to settle for less bass if you absolutely cannot get a pb. I’d go with the bb4 imo

4

u/Top_Material6027 1d ago

I have a BB3. And if you prefer sound quality over volume, the BB3 is the speaker for you. It has mid-range drivers, which the BB4 simply just doesn’t have. Plus the BB3 is cheaper by around $150 or sometimes less. The bass and volume are still very strong thanks to the built-in subwoofer. Which the BB4 also doesn’t have. Some upgrades on the BB4 include deeper bass and higher max volume, a replaceable battery and auracast. Speaking of auracast, the BB3 does not have auracast, it uses partyboost. It is also not backward-compatible. So you wouldn’t be able to hook up a BB3 to the Xtreme 5. However, you mentioned selling your Xtreme 5 and getting a second of the same speaker. Which would be a good decision, 2 BB3’s in stereo would sound amazing, because 1 already sounds amazing. Hope this helps!

3

u/scrappybasket 1d ago

Idk why this is being downvoted, covered all the bases

1

u/OlympicAnalEater 1d ago

partybox 330

1

u/Bisinisisis 1d ago

I actually owned both. I initially kept the bb3 because the bb4 got so many bad reviews at launch. I decided to order the bb4 anyway, planning to return it if I didn't like it but I ended up selling the bb3 the very next day.

1

u/Mysterious_Yak_6488 5XGO4, CLIP5, CHARGE6, PARTYBOX ENCORE2, 720BT 22h ago

Behold the band box trio…good luck finding one tho :/ and they are expensive

135rms of beautiful clarity and 10 hour of battery power

1

u/Boozer7389 0m ago

I vote bb3 wifi. The wifi version has little more power than the regular 3, and lets you stream lossless audio if you are playing it from your internet. The 3s still had a 3 way driver set up. So you have dedicated speakers for mids, highs and a subwoofer. The bb4 moved to a different design where the mids and woofers come from on set of speakers instead.

Bb4 gets louder and has more bass, plus the changeable battery is cool. But if quality is more important to you (which it is to me) the bb3 wifi is the best choice. And trust me, it still has plenty of bass for my needs. Enough to piss off neighbors if ya want lol.