Superbee's lead led me to these 4331A's

[mech986]

Superbee had recently posted a link for some 4331A's for sale near San Diego. I was lucky enough to make contact, talk them down a bit on price , and secure them and my son was able to forward payment for me.

So last Saturday I ventured down to a recording/mixing studio to pick them up. They're the utility grey 4503A cabinets I believe, 3/4" stock but flat front edge instead of the tapered edge trimmed walnut cabinets. The studio said they were custom built for them some 20 years ago (or longer). No grilles at all. They were reconed (more likely refoamed) about 1-2 years ago before the studio changed hands. Typical front edge refoam but in good shape otherwise.

The 4331A's had been taken down from their main control room soffit mounts and replaced by some large Meyers speakers. I noted in the control room a mix of solid state and vacuum tube equipment along with full digital processing. They let me walk into the moderately expansive main studio complete with integrated mobile curved wall treatments and very tall (12 to 20 foot) ceilings with skylights. I was just about to ask where the studio monitors were when they hit me :shock: - yep, a pair of big JBL 4435's upside down, high up soffit mounted over the control room window. I'd never seen them before in the flesh so it was quite a sight That's why I had such an interest in the recent 4435 threads.

Of course, I mentioned if they were ever to consider replacing those, give me a jingle!!!

So, safely ensconced in my van, I shuttled them back to my warehouse, i.e. my mom's garage, to take their place in silent storage. I did get a chance to pull the woofers just to check them out. The JBL Pro Systems Reference charts says I should have found 2231A's, maybe 2231H's if they were really recent. To my pleasant surprise, I found a nice pair of 2235H's instead. The 2420/2312 mids will have to wait for another day's inspection.

All in all, a nice transaction and Superbee's generosity in sharing the link was much appreciated.


Regards,

Bart

[Titanium Dome]

Good pick up. What's that sticking out from behind the woofer frame on the right speaker?

[mech986]

Hi TD,

The bit sticking out is some of the self adhesive (?) cork gasket used with the 15 inch woofers. For some reason, this piece is way off from its usual spot on the baffle. The other speaker's gasket looks like it was put in in quarters because there are small gaps there between sections.

I had just pulled my 2235 woofers from my current 4333B's and found their gaskets to look pretty continuous so I think if they come in sections, they can be installed without gaps. Seems to me they should seal without gaps, otherwise the box tuning gets a little off.

I have some of those gaskets around somewhere from a JBL Pro order some years back. I know JBL still has some of that stuff around for sale.

Regards,

Bart

[SUPERBEE]

Cool.....Cool.......Cool


I love when stuff like this happens!