Ian,
Thanks for a nice overview of the 43XX monitors. These broader looks increase our understanding and appreciation of these classics.
From my limited knowledge and from what I learned from the Heritage Site, I see the 4343, not the 4344, as the "junior" version of the 4350/55. A number of catalogues show the 4345 and 4343 as options to the "flagship" 4350/55, but no where do I see the 4344 shown, listed, or even mentioned! I feel the 4343 should be used as the "15 inch" equivalent of the 4345. I suspect that the 4343 was the most prolific, with the 18" 4345 comming in next. My guess is that there simply weren't very many 4344s made. I've heard that the 4344 is a slightly "improved" version of the 4343 because it uses ceramic drivers and has a slightly "improved" crossover (adding bypass caps, if nothing else). I suspect that, because the 4344 didn't have to work in the "rotatable top panel", the 4344 may have placed the drivers in a slightly more optimum position ? In the lineage of JBL studio monitor development, the 4343 was the design that added the 10" mid-bass driver, used the shorter, 1200Hz 2307 horn, and established the "narrow bandwidth" idea over it's predecessor - the 4333.
It's interesting to hear you, as well as many others, say that the 4-way design using a combination of a quality woofer, 10" mid-bass, compression driver, short horn w/ lens, and slot tweeter was one of the best designs to come from JBL.
I am curious to hear the 4344s, but I'm happy enough with my 4343s that I don't know if the 4344s will be a significant enough improvement.
Tom "cautiously seeking sonic perfection"