stereoman said:
I have no clue how many JBL monitors this company produced but it looks like hundreds. Actually they look really nice, I do not know much about the sound ( although I love their sound in shops that use them for their own music playing ) but it seems they are pretty popular...The 4312SX is lovely looking.
Classic JBL monitors, from the '60s onward all used level controls for their mid and high drivers (in the passive versions) until the end of the 4XXX series released in the mid 90s. This was considered normal in professional circles originally because JBL offered a choice of drivers in their full size systems and was included in their first 'integrated' system, the 4310, as a matter of course.
These speakers were never meant for domestic use though they became highly sought after by hi-fi enthusiasts wanting the 'professional' model. JBL produced several hi-fi speakers based on studio monitors and some had identical driver line ups, they also had the mid and high controls featured prominently on the front panels.
This kind of set a standard that was widely emulated by far easten manufacturers perhaps most famously by Yamaha with their NS1000 and NS1000m models and a few uk manufactures got in on the act, Wharfedale E Series for example.
From the early 1980s onwards the uk speaker market was dominated by british manufactures and these controls largely vanished, sure there have been a few exceptions but they are pretty rare. Check out any mainstream dealer to see what I mean.