JBL 4873

The JBL 4873 is a professional PA horn driver — specifically, a high-frequency compression driver built for a 1-inch throat horn. It is not a home hi-fi loudspeaker, despite occasionally appearing in numeric model lists alongside JBL's consumer "L" series. The record on this unit is thin, but the essentials are consistent across sources: it's an 8-ohm driver with a frequency response of 2,500 Hz to 15,000 Hz, a minimum crossover point of 2,500 Hz, and 50 watts of power handling.

What's documented about the 4873 comes mainly from its use in the field. Recording-Engineer (April 1986, p.52) described a rear-fill cluster for Neil Diamond's arena tour built around twelve 4873 boxes paired with 4866 long-throw and 4860 down-throw cabinets. A few years later, Mix (1988, p.224) noted a permanent cluster of fifteen 4873s at Fiddler's Green amphitheater in Denver, used to augment visiting sound companies' PA systems. These are the only substantial period mentions in the available record — the 4873 was a working tool, not a reviewed consumer product.

- **Type:** High-frequency compression driver / horn tweeter, 1-inch throat

- **Impedance:** 8 ohms

- **Frequency response:** 2,500 – 15,000 Hz

- **Power handling:** 50 watts

- **Minimum crossover:** 2,500 Hz

No production years, original price, sensitivity figure, or driver construction details (diaphragm material, magnet type) have surfaced in the available documentation. A single used-market listing at $45 gives a rough sense of its current value, but that's a lone data point. If you own one and know more — particularly the magnet type or production dates — the archive would welcome the addition.