Yard-Sale Speaker Spotter’s Guide: 1: JBL

View Comments

• not only do i still have the orange with brown grill cloths, i picked up a pair of white on white recently. the w/w primas have the original woofers and tweeters and sound great through my custom 3-piece olmsted tube amp.

• Hi Chris:

  The JBL L-100 was one of the most popular speakers of the 1970s. There are plenty of examples around and it's worth trying out if you get them cheap at a yard sale. The speaker was the consumer version of what started as the 4310 studio monitor. The 4310 was developed at the request of Fine Recording:
  http://www.audioheritage.org/html/history/jbl-pro/1960s.htm
  and
  http://www.resolutionmag.com/pdfs/SWEETS~1/jblat60.pdf

  Modern listeners may find the 1970s JBL speakers to be "boomy" and somewhat "honky." They probably worked better in rooms deadened by thick shag carpets and knitted tapestries on the walls!

  Another speaker from the 70s worth grabbing at a yard sale is the Klipsch Heresy. These make superb home-theater speakers due to the horn tweeter and mid-range, which produces cinema-like sound with wide dispersions. I suggest a subwoofer to produce that gut-loosening bass that's present in modern DVDs.

  Finally, never forsake an Advent speaker if you see it on a lawn or at the curb. These sound a bit less harsh than a JBL L-100 but reproduce about the same spectrum. The New Advent Loudspeaker, which was the second generation, had a tweeter-level switch on the back, which allowed for cutting the shrillness in a non-deadened room.

  Oh, and the larger Pioneer speakers of the early 80s were surprisingly good, as I remember them sounding in showrooms. But when you get into the 80s, there were better home-speaker choices emerging.

  -- Tom Fine

• Chris, this photo is interesting:
  https://www.preservationsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/JBL_studio.jpg

  The studio seems to have a 4-channel monitor buss. Quad? Maybe, but why 4 speakers across the front? The tape deck shown on the lower right is an Ampex AG-440-8 (1" tape and the extra takeup tension roller to allow for proper idler wrap and also quick-start for punch-ins. Note the moving blanket on the console meter bridge to kill the harsh reflections from the super-loud-playing 4310-types. Crown power amps would definitely enhance the harshness! Ah, the 70's.

  Did the piece of literature that you scanned say what studio is shown?

  -- Tom Fine

  • Hi Tom. That image came from a JBL catalog; no info was provided. MCI console?

  • I agree Crown DC amps are harsh but some of the smaller ones that were not DC coupled are quite good sounding. DC coupling made it possible to use them as emergency console power supply or for welding watch or camera parts but is a disaster waiting to happen in audio service.

• Want to really know what went on during tracking?
  Say goodbye to all the bass-boom, harshness, phase shift, and, - above all - listening fatigue and get yourself some real monitors: BBC-pedigree Spendors or Harbeths.
  Team them up with some (classic) quality all-tube amplification from Quad, Leak, McIntosh, Scott, etc. and you're in business. For Good.

• Yes, JBL L25 Prima sounds great... I really love the pair I have the chance to own...
  my favorite little JBL are the L19, the Decade L26, and the L100 Century...

  the L25 are quite the same of the L26 : lovely boxes...but don't believe it is plastic boxes... it is made of resin and wood ashes, I believe... it is a strong and great material...(sonically perfect)
  The L26 sounds ROCK...L100 are more smooth... they have both nice qualities...
  really love the punch of the Decade L26...but appreciate the comfort of the L100 (4310/4311)...
  but, believe me : the L25 prima have both qualities : the punch and the smooth... it' s magic!

  some says they are from 1974.. they are from 1972!!! and still pretty young ladies, in my living room... pretty fairy

• BBC monitors are a fad I never understood. The were designed by committee and are bland and uninvolving. Like everything else from England after Harold Wilson, 'rationalisation' and received pronunciation except a few remnants of the old order. Aston Martin before Ford, Gardner diesels and Holland & Holland.

• I bought my prima 25's in 1972 the year I graduated from high school, who ever says they are from 1974 - they have amnesia!

• Hello guys,

  This site is amazing, to me: thanks for the interesting stuff You provide, Chris.

  This is the first time I am leaving a comment here , and I am because exactly during these days, after many years, I am looking forward buying a pair of L50 for my old McIntosh system (C26 + MC2505): I used to own a pair in the past, until about 15 years ago: to me, all in all, they are nice speakers – at least very enjoyable and somehow "moving".

  I know that perhaps JBL loudspeakers are not the most refined and neutral monitors around, and I am referring to the old speakers (do not know about the recent stuff), but honestly I enjoy them (in my personal experience, the above-mentioned L50, and the L100).

  Also: since I am a musician too, and working as both musician and producer, lately, I have been interested in returning to JBL: not the L50 for such a purpose, but I am looking forward getting both a pair of big 4343 and small L26 or similar: mainly I would use them as a supplementary reference during editing, which happens to be through headphones, in my case, mainly (SPL converters + Ultrasone Pro 750). For tracking, further processing and mixing I almost exclusively recur to proper studios and all the good stuff, included 2" tape whenever possibile.

  Any advice?
  Above, I read Chris writing: "[...] you wouldn’t want to use these in an actual recording studio these days, trust me I’ve tried". I trust him, and as just said right above, I would not use nor trust them as a real, proper reference for mixing. Yet I am curious to know eventual thoughts about the models I am mentioning: especially the 4343 I know they are somehow a classic.
  For sure, to my tastes, as hi-fi playback, I like the JBL flavor : I like ATC – even the small SCM20 –, I like B&W, also Tannoy and other classics, but honestly, somehow the JBLs give me a thrill, generally, and to me, it would be nice to return to them in some occasions – eventually even during studio work.

  All my best to You all