JBL 2380 (Estimated Late 1970s–1990s)

The JBL 2380A is a big fiberglass horn. It's a Bi-Radial constant-directivity design meant for professional sound reinforcement, not living rooms. It was the workhorse mid/high horn in JBL's pro lineup, the one "most people used in the big boxes," as the forum folks at audioheritage.org put it. It sits above the smaller 2360A and below the larger 2390 in JBL's Bi-Radial family. The horn takes 2-inch throat compression drivers, typically the 2445, 2446, 2450, or 2482. It was commonly paired with 2205, 2225, or 2226 woofers in two- and three-way PA cabinets through the 1980s and into the 90s.

The Bi-Radial design is the interesting part. Instead of a conventional flared horn, it uses two radial sections, one vertical and one horizontal, to keep the coverage pattern consistent across the frequency range. That's constant directivity: the sound doesn't narrow as you go up in frequency. JBL pushed this design philosophy hard in that era, and the 2380 was one of the most widely used implementations.

What's documented about its performance is thin and partly contradictory. The frequency range is consistently listed as 200 Hz to 12 kHz across multiple sources. Dispersion figures conflict. One dealer listing says 90° x 50°, while a forum user claims 120° x 60°, so take either with a grain of salt. Sensitivity claims range from 110 to 112 dB, again unverified. The horn is big, about 32 inches wide, 14 inches tall and 26 inches deep, and it's heavy. One source says 76 pounds for the full assembly. A forum post puts the bare horn at around 55. Either way, it's a two-person lift.

There's no official JBL spec sheet in the archive, no confirmed production years, and no original MSRP. What we have is field experience. The 2380 has a reputation as "the best midrange horn JBL ever made for large-scale sound," smooth, non-fatiguing, and coherent when properly crossed over. It has quirks, though. The fiberglass body can ring at certain frequencies unless you damp it with bitumen or lead tape. It's bulky and a pain to mount. And it's really too big for home use. One AVS Forum user put it plainly: "it's really for PA."

On the used market, prices vary widely with condition: $149 for a single horn on the audioheritage classifieds in 2021, $229 to $349 on eBay, and around $450 for a refinished pair from Speaker Exchange. The factory diaphragms in the 2445/2446 drivers commonly fail after three decades, but replacements are widely available and the repair is straightforward. Moisture damage is the other common issue. The horn mouth can chip if the fiberglass isn't protected outdoors.

Recording-Engineer (August 1983, p.46) showed the 2380 being used in a central array design program, with two horns placed side by side and their drivers separated by 0.5 meters. It was used for coverage calculations and venue arrays.