ResonantLive Sound Archive

Equipment file · Four-way modular touring loudspeaker

S4

Clair Brothers · January 1974

Evidence status · verified

Claims in this file are tied to item-specific sources.

A compact all-in-one enclosure whose modular deployment helped define practical touring systems.

Introduced
January 1974
Category
Four-way modular touring loudspeaker
Intended use
Arena and stadium touring
Production
1974 onward; S-4F and S-4P successors in the 1980s

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    Put bass, midrange, high-frequency, and super-high-frequency sections into one repeatable road enclosure.

  2. 02

    Its truck-conscious dimensions, rigging evolution, and modular deployment helped standardize large touring inventories.

Engineering record

Transducers
The original cabinet used two 18-inch bass drivers, four 10-inch mid drivers, two HF compression drivers, and two super-HF drivers.[1]
Road format
The approximately 46 × 45 × 22-inch enclosure was sized to load two abreast in a standard US truck.[1]

Original pricing

No reliable original price located

2026 equivalent

Not calculated without a reliable original price.

The S-4 was sold into professional touring inventories; no defensible launch list price was found.

Use in the field

The S-4 debuted in Asia with the Moody Blues, Elton John, and Rod Stewart and the Faces; a hanging version followed for the Rolling Stones' 1975 Tour of the Americas.[1]

Manuals & original documents

Sources

  1. 1S-4 fiftieth-anniversary historyClair Global · reference · 2024
  2. 2Clair Brothers and JBLJBL · reference · 1988

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