JBL L88 new to me

ZR9B

Well-Known Member
I just picked up a set of older L88s. I have them hooked up to a tandburg 40 watt receiver.

I have to say ....I like them! I'm sure they are not the best thing since sliced bread but damn they sound good, How can I tell if all the speakers and everything else that is in there is "correct" or "matched"? They are not the plus 88 and the covers are brown cloth and kinda counter sunk in. Does anyone else run these ? Thanks
 
I have a pair or Nova style, with early black woofers. They are built well, and have zero WAF. LOL

I like them, but yes, they are not the best.

Edit::needpics:;)
 
I just picked up a set of older L88s. I have them hooked up to a tandburg 40 watt receiver.

I have to say ....I like them! I'm sure they are not the best thing since sliced bread but damn they sound good, How can I tell if all the speakers and everything else that is in there is "correct" or "matched"? They are not the plus 88 and the covers are brown cloth and kinda counter sunk in. Does anyone else run these ? Thanks

post some photos
 
I love my L88's. They're not the best sounding but those 1960's JBL speakers have some of the most beautifully designed enclosures and deserve to be displayed in an appropriate setting.

Nice find!
 
The only "problem" with these speakers compared to the L100 is that the little LE20-1 paper-cone tweeter does a ridiculous amount of the work. In the L88 the LE20-1 Tweeter is crossed over with the 123A-1 Woofer at 2000Hz... With that in mind, consider that in the L100 model that uses this same LE20-1 tweeter, it is crossed over with the mid at 7500Hz, and the Mid is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer at 2500Hz.

Kinda crazy that the LE20-1 tweeter in the L88 is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer at a lower frequency than the midrange is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer in the L100. With the tweeters being responsible for such a large frequency range, you will be asking a lot of them if you play your speakers loud.
 
The only "problem" with these speakers compared to the L100 is that the little LE20-1 paper-cone tweeter does a ridiculous amount of the work. In the L88 the LE20-1 Tweeter is crossed over with the 123A-1 Woofer at 2000Hz... With that in mind, consider that in the L100 model that uses this same LE20-1 tweeter, it is crossed over with the mid at 7500Hz, and the Mid is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer at 2500Hz.

Kinda crazy that the LE20-1 tweeter in the L88 is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer at a lower frequency than the midrange is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer in the L100. With the tweeters being responsible for such a large frequency range, you will be asking a lot of them if you play your speakers loud.

I have 2 pair of L88, the earlier version has a more complex crossover than the later version. My late version has only a one capacitor allowing the 123A-1 to run it's full range.
 
I was told mine were set up for the 12" to run full range. He said that was not the way it came from the factory. Also said better quality caps and ( I forget) were used. I only got to play with them for a few songs... newest Santana , Doobie brother ,Chicago and Ricky Lee Jones....I will say I like them better than the cerwin vaga and maybe even the kg4 I used. Can I get the year from the s#?
 
Recommend using a modern tweeter such as a Morel or Scan Speak 9130 ...as stated the JBL tweeter can not do what is asked of it.
 
Recommend using a modern tweeter such as a Morel or Scan Speak 9130 ...as stated the JBL tweeter can not do what is asked of it.

In my humble opinion, the problem with the L88's are not the tweeters. My L77's have the same tweeters and crossover points the L88's, but because they use a 10 inch driver instead of a 12 incher, they have a fuller midrange which is what the L88's lack.
 
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In my humble opinion, the problem with the L88's are not the tweeter. My L77's have the same tweeters and crossover points the L88's, but because they use a 10 inch driver instead of a 12 incher, they have a fuller midrange which is what the L88's lack.
L77 does not have the same crossover point as L88.

L77-2500hz
L88-2000hz
 
I had a pair of L88's. Beautiful wood and cloth grilles. Sold them to get a set of L88P's that were immediately upgraded with LE5-5 mids, a custom made L100 clone crossover and ebay foil labels. I liked them but like my KLH Fives better.

L88P_8.jpg L88P_1.jpg L88Nova1a.jpg L88Nova3.jpg
 
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The only "problem" with these speakers compared to the L100 is that the little LE20-1 paper-cone tweeter does a ridiculous amount of the work. In the L88 the LE20-1 Tweeter is crossed over with the 123A-1 Woofer at 2000Hz... With that in mind, consider that in the L100 model that uses this same LE20-1 tweeter, it is crossed over with the mid at 7500Hz, and the Mid is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer at 2500Hz.

Kinda crazy that the LE20-1 tweeter in the L88 is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer at a lower frequency than the midrange is crossed over with the 123A-1 woofer in the L100. With the tweeters being responsible for such a large frequency range, you will be asking a lot of them if you play your speakers loud.
Just about every medium priced two way speaker I have looked at is crossed over at about 2KHz. The crossover point is set just above the Fs of the tweeter and a lot of them are around 1500 Hz. A bigger driver would go lower but the mass would be higher so the high end suffers. On the L100 and (I think) the L88P the woofer runs full frequency without any crossover rolloff so it is providing a little assistance to the tweeter in the 2KHz region before it falls off on its own.
 
Just about every medium priced two way speaker I have looked at is crossed over at about 2KHz. The crossover point is set just above the Fs of the tweeter and a lot of them are around 1500 Hz. A bigger driver would go lower but the mass would be higher so the high end suffers. On the L100 and (I think) the L88P the woofer runs full frequency without any crossover rolloff so it is providing a little assistance to the tweeter in the 2KHz region before it falls off on its own.

My concern was more in regards to possibly harming the tweeter, as opposed to the resulting frequency response of the speaker. Comparing the L88 and the L100 at the same volume, you will have a LOT more power going through the voice coils of the LE20-1 tweeters in the L88 compared to the LE20-1 tweeters in the L100. The tweeter being responsible for everything above 2000hz, as opposed to only being responsible for 7500hz+, is a BIG difference, probably resulting in having to handle twice the power or more through the voice coil for the same overall volume level from the speaker. Tweeters are fragile, generally the first thing to give up the ghost when you push a speaker too hard.
 
My concern was more in regards to possibly harming the tweeter, as opposed to the resulting frequency response of the speaker. Comparing the L88 and the L100 at the same volume, you will have a LOT more power going through the voice coils of the LE20-1 tweeters in the L88 compared to the LE20-1 tweeters in the L100. The tweeter being responsible for everything above 2000hz, as opposed to only being responsible for 7500hz+, is a BIG difference, probably resulting in having to handle twice the power or more through the voice coil for the same overall volume level from the speaker. Tweeters are fragile, generally the first thing to give up the ghost when you push a speaker too hard.
I don't disagree with you at all. But I have also read on AK that more tweeters are blown from the high frequency harmonics generated by low power amps clipping than clean high volume levels.
 
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