What the heck are those speakers?

[millerman 3732]

Every time I see a big name music artist, director, or just about any time I've seen an interveiw inside a studio there are always a pair of speakers with a black housing and a white woofer setting behind them, what are these speakers and why does every studio seem to have them, what the heck are they:confused:

[Dennis Gardner]

JBL 4311..........Alot of rock albums have been cut using those.

This is the 4311b with the woofer on top and controls on bottom.
Other models have them reversed.

[millerman 3732]

Thanks, I've been wondering what those were for a while now.

[Polkersince85]

I stopped by local Goodwill Monday, a pair of 4311's was sitting on the sidewalk. Just as I got to them. a guy in a truck drove up and said " He had just bought them. 12 bucks. Dang, missed it by that much. Surrounds were still good. Apair of the woofers alone just sold for 330 on bay.

[Dennis Gardner]

The L100 Century was the home version of those monitors. It was the first speaker purchase of any quality I made in 1977. Drove them with a 30wpc Marantz integrated to levels that would shock you.

[Sthrndream]

I use to own JBL L112s--studio monitors. They were used in alot of recording studios in the laste 70s to mid 80s. Damn fine speakers by James B Lansing. Its a crying shame Harmon International bought them out!!! But if that didnt happen I wouldnt have switched to the second best company...err best company now for speakers--POLK AUDIO

[Polkersince85]

About a year ago I picked up a pair of 4313b's at GW for 15 bucks. One was missing the 10" woofer. I'll find one to fix them one day, Cabinets are super. Put the good one on left and a Monitor 7b on right to test. I'm going to reserve comment seeing how this is Polk's forum.

[sucks2beme]

What drives me crazy is a good set of L100's on EBAY goes for about what I paid for them 30 years ago. My wife gave mine away six years ago while I was out of town(she always hated those blue grilles). Not the best speakers in the world, but very good rock and roll work horses.

[Sthrndream]

JBL had a nice sound stage in the mids. The tweets were brighter. I went to Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville and Mobile to demo Magnepans, McIntosh, Polks, B& W, but I have to say the JBLs sounded best to me. But hey, they used them in recording studios so you heard what the musician heard. Life was so simple back then!!!

[Danny Tse]

JBL still makes the 431X series for the Japanese market. I especially like the look of the 4318 (http://www.harman-japan.co.jp/products/jbl_cons/jblcindx.htm). :D

[cmy330go]

I think this is most commonly the one you see. It's the Yamaha NS-10. There is a few versions of it but they all look virtually identical. I think almost every studio I've ever seen, or been in has a set of these somewhere.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g46/cmy330go/ns10mstudio_medium_jpg.jpg
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g46/cmy330go/ns1.jpg

[millerman 3732]

I think this is most commonly the one you see. It's the Yamaha NS-10. There is a few versions of it but they all look virtually identical. I think almost every studio I've ever seen, or been in has a set of these somewhere.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g46/cmy330go/ns10mstudio_medium_jpg.jpg
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g46/cmy330go/ns1.jpg
no disrespect to any of the other post but these do look more like the one's I was thinking of:confused:

[Dennis Gardner]

Nice catch, I forgot about the NS-10. Very popular speaker, and I would have to say that I might prefer them over the JBL monitors for accuracy.

[Sthrndream]

Dennis, I know its snowing in Guymon but cmon man!!! Oklahoma City is still warm!

[Dennis Gardner]

I drove the TX. panhandle through snow all day today, and I've got about an inch in my backyard.

[cmy330go]

Just did some searching for recording studios on Google out of curiosity. Out of the first 15 I found I think 13 had some version of these in their pictures. The NS-10M was the most common.

Also I remember reading a while back that one, or maybe a few, of the versions was considered too bright. But rather than go with a different monitor, the solution of choice was to tape a piece of fabric or other material over the tweeter. In fact one of the sites showed a pair like that in their studio.

Just a piece of goofy trivia.:rolleyes:

Oh yea, I think two of the studios also had the JBL's shown above.

EDIT: Found pic of covered tweets.
EDIT 2: Found article on why they were discontinued (http://www.cdmasteringservices.com/ns10nearfieldmonitors.htm), also contains link to "Tissue Paper mod (http://www.bobhodas.com/tissue.html)".:rolleyes:

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g46/cmy330go/a-control.jpg

Later!
Dave

[mhardy6647]

all you even wanted to know about the JBL monitors may be found here:
http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/jbl/l100.htm

http://www.audioheritage.org/images/jbl/extracts/l100-431x.jpg