JBL began the decade with a remarkable opportunity to firmly establish
itself as a major player in the professional market. Graybar Electric Co.
was the major distributor of electrical and communications equipment in
North America. Altec Lansing had been one of their largest suppliers, but
ended their relationship in 1959. Altec had grown to the point that they
wanted control of their own distribution network. Graybar was desperate to
replace this major avenue of business and approached JBL. JBL agreed to
begin a fast track program to develop a base series of products. Graybar
wanted a product line that covered the same scope of the previous Altec
distribution. For the first time, with the exception of speaker enclosures,
JBL developed products solely intended for the professional market.
Prototypes of three amplifiers and one mixer were developed from scratch.
Even the loudspeaker components had unique castings to distinguish them as
professional products. However, before production began, the relationship
with Graybar fell apart. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Graybar
and JBL could not come to agreement on a sales arrangement and all of the
products developed for this initiative were dropped. Nonetheless, this event
marked the beginning of what would become JBL Professional. In other words,
it marked the beginning of development and marketing of products that were
only intended for the professional industry.
The market segment that was the first to
establish JBL in the professional field in a sustainable manner was
completely unexpected. That was the Musical Instrument (MI) market. Again,
it was an opportunity that came to JBL instead of being sought out. However,
it was the manner in which JBL seized that opportunity that would result in
a market pre-eminence that is maintained to this day.
As early as the 1940's, Les Paul had
sought out Jim Lansing to supply loudspeakers in his development of the
solid body electric guitar. However, it was the rise of the electric guitar
in the popular music of the 60's that generated significant demand for JBL
loudspeakers. Initially, it was musicians buying individual loudspeaker
components from JBL, and in particular, the "D" series of extended
range drivers. This became a viable market segment when Leo Fender
approached JBL in the early 1960's to become an OEM supplier for their entire
line of guitar amplifiers. JBL agreed, and initially supplied the same "D"
series components as in their domestic line. However, it soon became
apparent that these speakers were outside of their design limits in this
demanding application. The high output, high power nature of amplified music
was driving these components to destruction.
In 1963, Harvey Gerst of JBL approached
Bill Thomas with a proposal to develop a ruggedized series of drivers just
for the MI market. Bill approved his proposal and it resulted in the "F"
series of drivers, purposely designed for MI application. They were based on
the original "D" series, but used tougher suspension designs and slightly
larger voice coil gaps. They were a resounding success. New OEM's such as
Sunn and Kustom became major customers of JBL.
JBL would get its foot in the door of the
broadcast and studio segment of the professional market in the 1960's as
well. As in the cinema market, they would be up against their greatest
rival, Altec Lansing. Altec had a lock on the studio monitor business with
their 604 Duplex and A7. Were it not for a misstep of Altec in 1962, JBL may
never have gotten the opportunity to enter and eventually dominate this
market. That misstep was Altec's introduction of the 605A Duplex. The 605
was introduced as the next generation Duplex and replaced the previous 604D.
However, it's primary development objective was cost reduction as opposed to
improved sonic performance. The magnetic motors of this driver were
significantly reduced in size compared to the preceding 604D. It resulted in
a 3db drop in sensitivity in addition to subtle changes in sonic character.
Industry response was entirely negative. Sales of the 605A dropped
significantly in comparison to the 604D. It resulted in such a backlash,
that for the first time, major record companies began considering
alternatives.
At the time, JBL had developed the D50SMS7
as their first dedicated studio monitor. It consisted of the S7 home
component kit installed in an industrial cabinet. JBL was having a very
difficult time breaking into the market with this system until the Altec
605A introduction. All at once, they found a receptive industry. In
particular, Capitol Records had a relationship with JBL through Bill Thomas.
Capitol had a facility in the vicinity of JBL's Casitas headquarters and
Bill had become acquainted with their management. Bill convinced Capitol to
try the D50 monitor once the 605A backlash had become evident. Capitol was
very pleased with this system. They were impressed enough that they
eventually standardized all of their studios on JBL monitors.
Eventually, Altec had to admit their error
and reintroduce the 604 as the 604E Super Duplex. However, by then, the
genie was out of the bottle. The close of the decade saw the development of
two significant JBL monitors that expanded their customer base beyond
Capitol Records. The
first was the 4320, which was a refinement of the D50. It used a higher
cross-over frequency for increased power handling and better integration
between the horn and 15" bass driver. The result was a studio monitor that
had flat axial response and flat power response - something that the 604/5
could not match. It resulted in widespread industry acceptance.
The second significant JBL monitor from
the late 60's would become an industry legend. That was the 4310 bookshelf
monitor. The 4310 had a unique design goal. That was, to mimic the sonic
character of the industry standard 604 in a small package. Even though JBL
was making inroads in the monitor business, they could not displace the
604's reputation as an industry standard. What is interesting, is that the
604 was anything but accurate. It had a pronounced midrange peak and a high
frequency response that is noticeably rolled off. However, because it had
become ubiquitous in studios throughout the 40's and 50's, it became a
reference that all studio engineers knew how to work with. This was arguably
more important than accuracy since it was a consistent basis of comparison.
Bob Fine, a prominent New York studio
owner, set the original design objectives for the 4310. The need for a small
package was the result of the introduction of eight track recorders. Bob's
first approach to using this
technology was to install a monitor for each individual track. It was not
possible to mount eight 604's in a control room, and hence his request to JBL to develop a compact monitor. While this approach to monitoring would not last long, the
small package 4310 that resulted from this demand soon found use in new
studio applications.
The 60's saw the rise of small independent
studios. The 4310 was perfect for their smaller control rooms. The 4310 was
also small enough to be mounted directly on the console bridge for nearfield
monitoring. This had the great benefit of minimizing the effects of room
acoustics. The close proximity of the monitor meant that the engineer was
exposed to a high proportion of direct sound from the monitor, and lower
levels of sound reflected off of walls and ceilings. It is these reflections
that can greatly degrade the sound of a loudspeaker.
There is an interesting anecdote on the
development of the 4310 that speaks to the empirical nature of loudspeaker
design during that era. Ed May was the JBL engineer responsible for the
development of the 4310. He took an existing two-way design, the L88, and
added the LE5 driver to increase the midrange output to match the 604's
peaked response. Corporate pride precluded acquiring a 604 to make a direct
comparison. However, so well known was the 604 "sound", that Ed May had no
trouble replicating its sonic character through subjective listening tests.
The close of the 60's saw JBL take one
more run Altec's stranglehold on the cinema market and it resulted in the
same resounding lack of success. Just like the 604, the
Altec Voice of the Theatre (VOTT) was an industry standard due to it being a
reference and not due to its accuracy. The uneven response of its
horn/reflex enclosure and restricted high frequency extension was well known
in the industry. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
had certified the VOTT as the standard for motion picture sound. Going
against a standard set by such an important industry body was next to
impossible. Nonetheless, JBL tried.
The attempt was the Cinetron system of
1969. It used direct radiator bass enclosures with a high frequency horn. It
introduced the 2397 "Smith" horn that had very wide dispersion, even at high
frequency extremes. After extensive development work, JBL sold exactly one
installation. The VOTT standard was as impenetrable as ever.