More fun with (more) JBL L212 speakers

An up-to-date picture. I switch back and forth between the Von Schweikert VR4s and the JBL L-212s -
put the JBLs online last weekend and after some yardwork, I've been enjoying them today.
Cat Stevens earlier - Lanterns on the Lake now ... Really do enjoy the sound, and great imaging too. ...
I gotta say, between the sound, and the unusual look - they are keepers


IMG_4623.jpg

IMG_4624.jpg
 
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Nothing like the sound you get with these older models. A few bucks in parts and they're good as new. Getting my 4320s up and running next. Got the l220s rockin the house today.
 
Are you saying you are acquiring the JBL taste?
It has taken me a little while to get into my 4313b's I use in my home office, but all is good now.

And the Volkswoofer is a nice compliment to them, even in appearance. How's it holding up?
 
Volkswoofer is great. Its an odd duck. Many years back, one of the guys in the Lansing list got one and was raving about the curved wood, rounded trapezoid shape.
I won one off ebay years ago, in Cali-fornia. It was advertised without a plate amp (no prob, I can get an amp), but when it arrived, I found the driver was seized!
So, nice cabinet, but no driver & no amp. Found a guy selling new M&K drivers, got that, ran it for a while with an external amp, then swapped some things
and got a Volkswoofer plate amp from my friend Wilfredo. Put it all together and its been a keeper.
Used with a couple of Magnepans I had over the years, and its been a real good fit with the L-212s - a good, musical sub.
 
Drugolf said:
Are you saying you are acquiring the JBL taste?
It has taken me a little while to get into my 4313b's I use in my home office, but all is good now.

And the Volkswoofer is a nice compliment to them, even in appearance. How's it holding up?
Click to expand...

Well, when I was in college, I worked with the campus radio station in 1973-4, they had SWTPCo Tiger01 amps and JBL 4310 Studio monitors.
I spent many late nights listening to YES and all kinds of music on those things - and grew to really like the JBL sound.
In 1976 I bought my first good system, Yamaha CR400, Phillips 212, and got some JBL L36 Decade. (Could not afford L100 Century at that time).
Had them for many years ... In 2006, I won a pair of JBL 4320s - 15 woofer/ exponential horn combo and I my ears opened and have not yet recovered ...
At once point I got a pair of 4341 4 way monitors and collected 6230 and 6260 amps and M-52 crossover (per zilch)
and biamped the darned things ... Had a bunch of others over the years L20, L20T3, L60, L100, L100T and friends have the 250TIs -
got rid of most of them over the years ... But I did fall victm to the glories of UREI concentric speakers (JBL coaxial 2 ways) - Love them!
Then last summer I decided I wanted a pair of the 2001-slab JBLs ... and found a pair just after Thanksgiving ...
 
And the story continues ... I had an ebay search on L212s - usually returns a daily email for folks selling surround kits or brochures and such -
but, last week turned up a single L212 ... no curved walnut foot, tweeter dome is mashed, no grille - in short, it was very ugly.
Original price was a $400 buy it now ... crazy talk. Turned up as a new ad a bit later - Buy it now was less, but still too much -
I mean no grill, no foot, smashed tweeter dome.
I sent an offer Saturday morning explained I bought a pair of them in clean shape last year for around their intial price,
but since it was a battered single, and had a lot missing, I'd consider it for parts or as a center only, and I made a lower offer ...
Today I got a response accepting my offer, so I made payment and should see it next week or so ...
It wasn't a killer deal or anything like that, but Its worth it to me to have some spares ...
presuming the drivers are all working ...

I mean, the ad said "Works great!!!" - but I take all of that with a grain of salt ...

L212-single.png
 
hjames said:
And the story continues ... I had an ebay search on L212s - usually returns a daily email for folks selling surround kits or brochures and such -
but, last week turned up a single L212 ... no curved walnut foot, tweeter dome is mashed, no grille - in short, it was very ugly.
Original price was a $400 buy it now ... crazy talk. Turned up as a new ad a bit later - Buy it now was less, but still too much -
I mean no grill, no foot, smashed tweeter dome.
I sent an offer Saturday morning explained I bought a pair of them in clean shape last year for around their intial price,
but since it was a battered single, and had a lot missing, I'd consider it for parts or as a center only, and I made a lower offer ...
Today I got a response accepting my offer, so I made payment and should see it next week or so ...
It wasn't a killer deal or anything like that, but Its worth it to me to have some spares ...
presuming the drivers are all working ...

I mean, the ad said "Works great!!!" - but I take all of that with a grain of salt ...

View attachment 1049545
Click to expand...


Was on the local C/L for $300.

Would have made an offer on them for the woofers if it was a pair.

https://ventura.craigslist.org/ele/d/jbl-l212/6388708562.html
 
Oh my! Heather is deep into this current fascination. Shipping this orphan from Cali is a labor of love. :thumbsup:
 
Phil, you and I differ on the value of buying spares. (I think you have more time to haunt the sales sites than I do anymore)
I don't have the luck to find/buy complete speakers to be kept as "spares", and figuring the L212 shares nothing with any other JBL,
except the 4315 "baby" 4-way monitors, I can justify dropping a pair of Benjamins for a box of spare long-out-of-production drivers with cabinet & crossover.
Figuring there weren't many pairs of L212s around to begin with, and certainly less made it to the east, and considering I got the original pair
last year for a nice price, then got a partial refund when I told the seller it had rubbing voicecoils ... Well, they are still quite affordable.
$81 to ship this speaker from California seems reasonable. Don't ask what I paid in shipping for the 3 boxes comprising the pair of L212s with walnut bases cost to ship from Az last Christmas. Or the boxes of UREI 809A drivers and crossovers a year earlier.

Besides, the more I listen to the L212s, the more I enjoy them. Even at lower volume levels, they are impressive. And even with spares, the price is right.

And, you have not heard them ...
 
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I actually thought of you when I saw them thinking you may want a matching center channel, but figured with shipping and all..., Plus, it would be a ~200+ miles round trip across LA traffic. :crazy:
 
hjames said:
Phil, you and I differ on the value of buying spares.
Click to expand...
Not at all. It was all intended as a compliment!

I have a good stash of spare 044s for my L112, L150A, and L96 and understand the value like I understand if you carry an umbrella with you it seldom rains!
 
Box arrived yesterday - cabinet is pretty beat up, as expected. But what I did not expect was the condition of the dome of the 066 tweeter.
I could see in the picture it was pushed in, but seller said the speaker was working ...
Once I opened the box and saw the packing detail, I had bad feelings -
Hard cardboard sheets as spacers against an open beer crate or similar ...!

Pulled the cabinet out - bashed up, as expected, bottom seems loose - maybe got damp somewhere?
But once I saw the drivers ... ugh. I can fix a pushed in dome, but theres not much I can do with a torn dome.
Write that off as a spare tweeter ... sigh.

I ran a wire to the cabinet - woofer plays ok, mid driver seems low volume, and no output from tweeter.
Pads don't seem to do much - the crossover caps are knocked loose from the inside of the cabinet, maybe an issue?
But the woofer does play, so apparently its still connected.
The mid driver looks to have some oil or something on it,
but otherwise, it may be fine.

Overall - Maybe a spare woofer, maybe a spare mid & a rebuildable crossover ...

I've already got 2x 066 tweeters spares in rough, but apparently better shape.
I'll try and swap one in when I get some time, see how it plays.

PackingDetail_5026.jpg TornDome_5027.jpg

L212-spare_5030.JPG
 
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Original ad on C/L said it played well. The pics said otherwise. :bs:

At least you got a nice, rare woofer.
 
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