JBL 8110H

The JBL 8110H is a small 10 cm (4") cone-type full-range driver from JBL's 8000 Series. JBL developed that line for broadcasting, BGM, and other distributed sound systems, where high intelligibility, wide directivity, and high input resistance matter more than flat response in a listening room. It's an industrial loudspeaker. You find this kind of driver bolted into theater stage lips and ceiling enclosures, not sitting on a shelf in someone's living room.

The available spec sheet appears to come from a Japanese catalog listing (audio-database.com). It gives a fairly complete picture of the electrical and mechanical side: 8 Ω impedance, 92 dB/W/m sensitivity, 40W continuous program input, and a frequency characteristic rated at 200 Hz to 10 kHz ± 4 dB. The Thiele-Small parameters are documented in unusual detail - f_s of 95 Hz, Q_ts of 0.40, V_as of 5L, X_max of 2mm. That suggests JBL intended the driver to be properly modeled and specified into enclosures, not dropped into whatever box was handy. The voice coil is 25mm, the magnetic flux density is 11,000 gauss, and the weight is 0.925 kg. The driver measures 129 mm in diameter and 55 mm deep.

The record conflicts on frequency response. The catalog sheet cites 200 Hz to 10 kHz ± 4 dB, while another source lists 50 Hz to 18 kHz. The catalog data includes the ±4 dB tolerance and the Thiele-Small parameters, so the narrower figure is likely the more honest rating. The wider one probably reflects an optimistic free-air measurement. The catalog figure is the one listed as primary.

The same document compares distortion data for the 8110H favorably against Soundolier and Altec models, noting a rise in the 400 Hz to 4 kHz range in those competitors relative to the JBL. The 9315HT transformer was designed to pair with the 8000-series drivers for 70V/100V distributed-line systems.

Real-world installations bear out the industrial pedigree. A 1985 issue of Sound & Communications describes a "small desk consolette" built around a Shure AMS-22 microphone and a JBL 8110-H loudspeaker. It separately documents four 4-inch 8110-HT drivers in a ceiling enclosure covering the zone under a balcony and outside a chamber entrance. The Broward Center's Amaturo Theater in Fort Lauderdale has 98 of them built into the lip of the stage as front fills, a configuration still documented in their tech specs as of 2018. Researchers have also used the 8110H in psychoacoustic studies. One paper on minimum audible movement angle used 13 of them as stationary loudspeakers, and another on auditory spatial resolution suspended a single 10-cm 8110H from a movable boom over a KEMAR dummy head.

Production dates are fuzzy. The audio-database listing suggests "around 1983?" with a question mark, and a brochure (described as a "depliant") dated 1990 exists, so the driver was in production for at least part of that span. No original price has surfaced. A Japanese listener described the sound as "clean and crisp - the so-called JBL sound," which is about as much qualitative reception as the record offers.

If you're chasing one of these today, it's worth knowing they were built for duty, not for show — and that the 8 Ω "H" version is the one most commonly documented.

Type: 10 cm (4") cone full-range driver, 8 Ω
Frequency characteristic: 200 Hz – 10 kHz ± 4 dB
Sensitivity: 92 dB/W/m
Allowable input: 40W continuous program / 20W continuous sine wave
Voice coil: 25 × 5.3 mm (1" diameter)
Magnetic flux density: 11,000 gauss
Effective mass: 4.2 g
Dimensions: 129 mm dia. × 55 mm depth; 0.925 kg
Thiele-Small: f_s 95 Hz · Q_ts 0.40 · Q_ms 2.2 · Q_es 0.49 · V_as 5L · S_D 0.0073 m² · X_max 2 mm · L_e 0.1 mH