Are these junk speakers JBL?

[mech986]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do think that the tweeters are 2404H Baby Cheeks and the woofers are 2118H/J.
The same components found in 46120K Cabaret Series speakers, minus two woofers.
I just came up with this info by searching the web.
I'm not a JBL expert by any means.

2118J, half of the 4612/4612OK bass-mids.

My laptop keeps crapping out on me so I'll check in tomorrow from my office Mac.
I did check the voice coils and the tweeters measure 6 ohms and 5.8 ohms. The woofers are 10 ohms and 10.4 ohms.
Next step will be to find out if the tweeter diaphragms are still good.

This confirms the 2404H and the 16 ohm nominal impedance of the 2118J.

Interesting that none of the drivers have the proper JBL model number and logo label. Could these be clones?

Always could be, but no, these are the real thing, all the pieces and details check out. Still, there will be numbers on the back of the cones of the 2118 and on the tweeter diaphragm. Be very careful when disassembling the 2404H, the diaphragms aren't cheap to replace with JBL OEM.

Yes, terrible cabinets. those are pro drivers... I've only read half the posts on this thread, so I'm sure someone had ID'ed the drivers by now... they aren't cheap drivers. Probably $400 worth of raw drivers, if they work.

Well, not quite, but roughly $300 or so depending on day of the week.

 

[mech986]

http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Cabaret Series/4612B.pdf

http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Theatre Series/46120K.pdf

 

[mech986]

http://www.jblpro.com/pub/obsolete/2118.pdf

http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Discrete Sales Models/2118HJ.pdf

http://www.jblpro.com/pub/obsolete/2404.pdf

http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Discrete Sales Models/2404H.pdf

 

[Zolton]

I'm back.

It looks like these have lived part of their life in a very damp environment.
In a southern Ontario basement, in the summer time, you might as well be in the rain forest. Humidity from the great lakes causes lots of issues.

It looks as if the proper JBL labels fell off at some point. One of the Baby Cheeks has "2404H" printed on the back and "Feb 5th 1985".

The aluminum has some surface corrosion. I haven't hooked them up yet to give them a go, just put a meter on them.

I am tempted to crack the tweets open to have a look inside, but don't want to risk buggering them up. I do realize that they are high end units and I would like to make use of all of these bits if I can.

The woofer cones will manually move in and out without any rubbing. I've been gentle so far.:thmbsp:

 

[Zolton]

If everything checks out OK, I do believe these qualify as a legitimate SCORE!

:yes:

 

[GD70]

Perfect for a DYI or, search fleabay for some empty cabs in decent shape.

The grills look like the glue came loose with all that humidity and a lousy repair was done, but the thickness looks like my 4301b's, which are pretty thick. The fabric texture looks right to me as well.

 

[Copa1934]

I would call that a really nice score! How is your wood working skills. Time to figure out what you really have and possibly build some nice cabs and crossovers.

Totally agree.

 

[mech986]

might consider looking for JBL 4301/4301B or L19 cabinets which already sport a 8 inch driver and tweeter, basic componentry should fit with some mods for the magnet entry of the 2404 into the cabinet.

Lovely veneers on JBL's:

In fact, here's one with the woofer already replaced with a 2118:

Not sure how the crossover would like the 2118J (16ohm) version compared to using the 2118H (8ohm) which is probably a better choice.

 

[donprice]

Or dig up some 2235 or 2245 drivers and build some big-ass 3-ways. Yeah...big.

 

[Zolton]

I would definitely use these as project drivers if they test out OK.

JBL mated these two drivers (with two of the 8 inch drivers per cabinet) in a box and called them the 46120K. Basically a pro PA system I guess. I don't know if the crossover guts in the ones I've come across are JBL though. You folks here might.

It seems an odd pairing because the 8 inch are only recommended to be used up to 3K Hz. But the tweeters don't really start singing until past 5.5K Hz. There must have been quite a dip between 3 and 5k Hz.

 

[RS Steve]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do think that the tweeters are 2404H Baby Cheeks and the woofers are 2118H/J.
The same components found in 46120K Cabaret Series speakers, minus two woofers.
I just came up with this info by searching the web.
I'm not a JBL expert by any means.

I think your correct, I had some 4612OK speakers and they looked very much like the same drivers. They have great mids and highs but the woofer doesn't go very low.

 

[SoundOfSound]

JBL mated these two drivers (with two of the 8 inch drivers per cabinet) in a box and called them the 46120K. Basically a pro PA system I guess. I don't know if the crossover guts in the ones I've come across are JBL though. You folks here might.

I do believe those are JBL crossover parts. It's very common to see T.I. capacitors ,Tecate Industries , and Toltec inductors in JBL speaker boxes from that time period.

Now the question is if it is a whole JBL crossover or a custom crossover using JBL parts. :scratch2:

 

[Zolton]

Did you find that they had a dip at the crossover point at all RS Steve?

I could go the way that mech 986 suggested, and throw in some of donprice's advise and mount the cabinet on top of a woofer enclosure and make a big 3 way out of it.

Would anyone suggest the addition of a mid range to the original two way design to smooth out the frequency dip that I keep mentioning? Or am I being overly analytical of the specs.

I guess that would make them a 4 way eh?:yes:

 

[Zolton]

Now the question is if it is a whole JBL crossover or a custom crossover using JBL parts. :scratch2:

If you look at the photo in post 12, the crossover is mounted on a raised piece, the back of which has red and black spring loaded terminals of the same style as both drivers. It looks to me like someone took the whole assembly out of the original JBL box and mounted it in this new (and very sketchy) enclosure.

 

[Zolton]

I will test the speakers and figure out the crossover schematic, then post a photo of it. Maybe it will explain the logic behind the 16 ohm woofer matched to an 8 ohm tweeter.

I'm no crossover expert. Is this match-up common at all?

 

[SoundOfSound]

Can you verify the values of the crossover parts. It looks to me that you may have the 46120K missing one 8" woofer for the full range, (Mid?), driver.

Perhaps you could use the 8" as the full range and get a larger 10" or 12" for woofer duties. :scratch2:

http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Theatre Series/46120K.pdf

 

[SoundOfSound]

I will test the speakers and figure out the crossover schematic, then post a photo of it. Maybe it will explain the logic behind the 16 ohm woofer matched to an 8 ohm tweeter.

I'm no crossover expert. Is this match-up common at all?

Basically in the original design the two 16 Ohm woofers are wired in parallel.

So electrically that will give you an 8 Ohm load for the lower frequencies.

 

[Andyman]

Looks like somebody may have stuck some unused JBL drivers into some kind of box. I think JBL had far better cabinet work than that even on their lower cost models.

What, you mean JBL didn't use metal corner brackets in their cabinets...

Those push terminals were a dead giveaway once I saw them as to their JBL bloodline.

BTW, I like the saw and rock comment; seems right on actually...:yes:

 

[Zolton]

Basically in the original design the two 16 Ohm woofers are wired in parallel.

So electrically that will give you 8 Ohm load for the lower frequencies.

So from an electrical viewpoint, if you were to put an 8 ohm resistor in place of one of the missing 8 inch drivers, that would give you your 8 ohm load correct?

Would it work the same way with speakers and crossovers?

Again...like I said before, I'm far from a crossover expert.

 

[RS Steve]

Did you find that they had a dip at the crossover point at all RS Steve?

I could go the way that mech 986 suggested, and throw in some of donprice's advise and mount the cabinet on top of a woofer enclosure and make a big 3 way out of it.

Would anyone suggest the addition of a mid range to the original two way design to smooth out the frequency dip that I keep mentioning? Or am I being overly analytical of the specs.

I guess that would make them a 4 way eh?:yes:

The highs and midrange were very good in the 4612's, they were good for a large room as maybe a good intercom or PA type system where deep bass was not needed, but add a sub woofer and they really did well for music. I remember them being twice as loud as most other speakers at the same volume setting.