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JBL 4344 Speakers

Littletoot

Littletoot

Active Member
Banned
I have had a good deal of trouble finding anything out about my 4344's, and forget about LH - they don't have anything on them. But not to lay any blame, because the US literature is virtually empty of info, even the US pro brochures of the day don't mention them. I also have 'The JBL Story' book, that makes no mention at all of the 4344. Incidentally, I also have a pair of 4315s, and can get plenty of info on these. (Oddly, the drivers in my 4344s are not monogrammed by JBL either ie: no metal decals you usually see on all JBL components.) My hunch is that 4344s were not made or sold in the US market, but I can't verify this. I am not talking about the 4344 mk2 versions here - I know these were made primarily for the Japanese/Asian market. It's all a mystery to me. Can anyone fill in the blanks? Sorry for the rant.
 
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Google may have info, but it's all the same stuff. What I need is some real background info on these speakers by someone in the know.
 
I've been on the hunt for a pair of these speakers and been doing a lot of web searching,found all kinds of info. Theres more it seems, on the asian
4344 mkII,but also tons of threads on both over at LHF.

Good Luck.....
 
The 4344 was a relatively short-lived improved version of the 4343. It came at the time when JBL was shifting focus from the four-way concept, to a more "coherent" design philosophy, based on a "augmented 2-way" concept... as seen in the 4435 monitor, which basically eclipsed the 4344, fairly quickly.

The 4435 was based on the then-new bi-radial horn technology developed by Don Keele (then chief R&D officer for JBL). This was a response to UREI designs using concentric drivers (such as modified Altec 604s)... the UREI monitors were perceived as being more "coherent" than the 4-way 4344, and as such, were being adopted in great numbers in studios. As a response to this, JBL not only BOUGHT Urei as a company, but themselves set about making a "simpler" setup, that could do the same "focus" things as the UREI monitors.

Hence, the "2.5-way" (2-way with an "augmenting" second woofer) 4435 basically took over from the 4-way 4344, after about 1980 or so. This design became prevalent at JBL... it was also seen in the JBL Cabaret 4612 speaker (dual 2118 8" and a 2404 bi-radial horn- very much like a "miniaturized 4435", at least in basic concept).

You can read more about the events of that era here:

http://test.audioheritage.org/Web_P..._of_JBL/06_Second_Harman_Era/SHE_Content.html

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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