Above is an illustration of
the new JBL 4348 Studio Monitor. This is the replacement
for the 4344MKII. It adapts new technology developed for
the K2-S9800 in the same configuration as the 4340
series monitors. In other words, it is a four-way system
with a 15" bass driver, 10" mid bass, compression driver
mid and compression driver UHF.
The bass driver
is the new 1500Fe which uses the same basket as the
1500AL with a ferrite motor. Midbass is handled by the
10" pro 2251J which uses a differential drive motor. The
midrange compression driver is the 435AL which is a
consumer conversion of the 2430. This is the same motor
as the 2435/435Be but uses an aluminum diaphragm instead
of beryllium. The acoustic lens is gone, replaced by a
small biradial horn. The UHF is the same 045Be from the
S9800. Pricing in Japan is rather high at 16,000,000 Yen
or around $12,000US/pr. No word yet on whether this
system will be made available domestically.
The photo is extracted from
the current "Summer 2002" issue of Stereo Sound Japan.
The text is in Japanese, but there are a number of
illustrations of the various components and construction
details. Since this issue is just hitting the
newsstands, I won't be publishing any further
illustrations from that article. If you are interested
in more details, it is worth ordering a copy of this
issue from Stereo Sound
at
this link.