Hi TD,

I also appreciate your efforts in showing us what this Northridge speaker looks like from the outside in and inside out. With all the questions of what is better, vintage or new, its instructive how JBL has changed or evolved over the years. With different owners and administrative/marketing leadership, constant changes in the compromises inherent in designing loudspeakers become evident. Some of these changes you can see, some you can hear.

I think the engineers at JBL Consumer and Pro have a heck of a job to do when trying to create great products which must meet a specific marketplace niche and price point. Sometimes they do well, sometimes it doesn't work out. But they learn and evolve with ever changing marketplace.

For all you other folks out there looking in, imagine, if you will, doing this exercise every 5 years through the JBL consumer catalog. Pick a TOTL "statement" speaker, a mid-pricerange speaker, and an entry level model. Now photograph them, dissect them, and place some quality judgement on how they were built and what went into them. I think, with a few exceptions, we would have been deriding the entry level models as being poor substitutes for the big boys. Yet these particular speakers had to sound and look good to attract the young, not so well healed buyers who had no prior experience with JBL products.

I absolutely agree that sometime in the late 80's to early 90's production quality shifted as JBL products sometimes used Harmon affiliated drivers or specific offshore made components. That's just part of the globalized manufacturing for a large diversified and somewhat multinational company. It does mean that JBL can use all of Harmon's resources to engineer, manufacture, and bring to market cost effective products which enable JBL to survive and prosper. That's a whole lot better than the alternative outcomes that have plagued so many other audio names and manufacturers.

TD, keep asking questions and looking for the answers (or in this case, wielding the screwdriver/allen wrench, digital camera, and presenting your findings without editorializing). That's what makes it fun and interesting to be involved with JBL products and people. That's what keeps me coming back.

Regards,

Bart