JBL Lancer Gift - A Restoration Project

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I Wanna Rock
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I was "gifted" a pair of JBL Lancer 99 (S99) the other day by an old old acquaintance that I haven't seen face to face for over 40 years. He wasn't even there when I picked up the speakers, but not by my fault.

My first JBL's ever! Consecutive serial numbers.

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The impedance checks out. But, I won't even listen to them yet. First things first:

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Woofer out:

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Surrounds off, new ones from Springfield Speaker and in progress:

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For consecutive serial numbers the crossovers sure look different. What'sup with that???:

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And, back together. Don't look too closely... :rolleyes:

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I thought they were supposed to be mirror-image sets. Even the grilles have their hook and loop pieces mounted differently.

Listening to them tomorrow to see what I think and go from there.

So, again guys, what's up with those crossovers? I know little to nothing about JBL.

Brian
 
Yes, they're like this from new. You have Lansalloy surrounds, and those will need to be replaced with new surrounds. A nice speaker in good working order, a JBL classic. A nice gift. KT Approved!
 
That woofer, once the Lansalloy is replaced, is gold.. The two way design of the S99, not so much.. If you're inclined to want to build some great speakers, you have your woofers.. I think there was more than one set of S99 converted to Econowave very successfully..
 
KT, Cosmos, I've been doing a lot of research and that's the sort of information I've come up with, as well. Not going to do the Econowave thing at this time. Maybe in the future.

For now, I'm going to just lay back and listen to them for a few weeks/months/years and get fully accustomed to what they are before I make any changes.

The glue will be dry this afternoon. Listening tests to come...
 
I'm always surprised when I see pics of a vintage woofer with such a nice cast frame, and so clean to boot. Funny how being sealed up in a wooden box preserves things.
 
Operational tests this afternoon. I took a photo of the setup. Not the place I'm going to put them for listening. Just wanted to make sure everything worked.

I hooked them up to my HH Scott 222C first. But, really just not enough power.

So, next was the Carver M-1.0t (200w/ch). There we go! Butt-kickin' bass, lots of dynamics.

I see what others say about the mids/treble. Mid's seems slightly "foggy". Highs sound like I'd expect a cone tweeter to sound. Not objectionable.

The tweeter level controls need to be cleaned. Wish I had thought of that when I had the woofs out.

All in all I'm very pleased! So far....

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.... :rolleyes: I'm actually considering something like that, except in a freestanding cabinet that I can place up on top. Either the Econowave project or a different mid/tweeter design.

I'm just not ready to get evasive with the cabinets yet.
 

Very nice!... and beautiful work on the surrounds. Those LE14A woofers are works of art and deserve the utmost care when re-foaming, anything less, diminishes their inherent beauty (and value).

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Thanks! (And as much as I'd love to take credit for the refoams, they came that way from eBay.)

Those eWaves remain at my buddy's house in San Francisco, where he just loves them. I get to enjoy them every summer when I house-sit for him.
 
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