Philips FB585's Designed by JBL?

[Tooker]

Like many on this forum I have too many speakers already. But not so many that I don't watch the ads for more. These were on Craigslist and the poster mentioned the woofers had cast frames and the price was right. I couldn't find much info with the exception of being listed in my old Audio Blue Book as being sold in 1988 for $1100. I couldn't resist and here is what I found.

After the refoaming and finding an over crimped connector on one tweeter they work well. They're IMHO a very good sounding pair of speakers.

 

[janikphoto]

The quality appears to be there. It's a bland look, but that can be fixed, if you know how to veneer!

 

[Tooker]

The cabinets are veneered but stained/painted black. Not sure how difficult it would be to remove the original finish...

 

[xero-D-hero]

The midrange definitely looks JBL to me,it looks like the midrange they used in the three way LX series speakers (405G/405G-1/405G-2/405G-3).
Only difference I can see is this one is shielded so you cant see the magnet.

Tweeter is a Ti unit,so that easily could be some derivitive of that LX series as well (026Ti/027Ti) albeit with a different escutcheon.

The woofer is a better unit than the LX series used as that one has a cast aluminum frame,so I cant say much about that situation.
And that too is shielded,not the norm for JBL drivers from that era so that's a neat little difference to see.

Crossover is definitely JBL,no doubt about that.

Awesome find,I bet once they're all rehabbed back to 100% and back together they're gonna sound really nice.
I know for a fact that 405G midrange is sweet,as that's probably one of the best features of the LX series 3ways.

Cool find for sure !

Congrats.

Bret P.

 

[soundmotor]

Cool find for sure !

Congrats.

Bret P.

Do these speakers match any equivalent era JBL? If so, did JBL build them or contract them out? I've never heard of any NAP/JBL relationship yet here these are.

I love stuff like this as it shows once more how convoluted the speaker industry is/was.

 

[Tooker]

Thanks Bret.

Not sure who the actual builder was. Other than no bracing the cabinets are well made. Interior walls are covered with what appears to be yellow fiberglass insulation and they used T-nuts on the woofers. I was hoping a forum reader had some insight on this NAP/JBL collaboration.

 

[Keldog]

What size surrounds did you use for the woofers?

 

[Tooker]

2F12-Standard Kit From that auction site.
Outer Diameter
11.625" - 295mm
Outer Roll Diameter
10.625" - 270mm
Cone Diameter
9.375" - 238mm
Inner Diameter
8.9375" - 227mm
Roll Width
5/8" - 16mm
Inner Attachment
Flat

 

[kirk57]

I wonder how many of those labels where printed, applied and shipped before somebody noticed they'd misspelled Tennessee.

 

[Keldog]

Thanks, Tooker. Much appreciated.

 

[Nat]

I think JBL is part of Harmon, and maybe North American Philips is too. Wasn't the Bolivar factory in Tennessee? Seems to me that they were a low cost relative of JBL and maybe NAP took over when they went under.

 

[Tooker]

Here is some Bolivar history. No mention of NAP.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/672-bolivar-speaker-works-info.html

 

[mech986]

Does the wiring from the crossover look like it was attached with alligator clips that were then covered in a molded or shrink wrapped plastic? That would suggest that the original drivers maybe were subbed from the equivalent JBL LX model and the crossover was transplanted there too.

 

[mech986]

Can you get a pic of the underside of the crossover?

Interestingly, the crossovers superficially resemble the L100T and L80T crossovers with a few less caps and one less resistor, and the round air coil has more turns of wire:

L100T

L80T and L80T3

 

[mech986]

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/heaviest-speaker-find-so-far.765828/

 

[GordonW]

Man, that woofer frame sure looks like the same casting as the 2214H that's used in the JBL L100T and 4425. Different terminals, magnet and cone assembly definitely, but the same frame, looks like...

Agreed on that midrange frame looking like JBL/Infinity too. I've seen that stamping, with the rolled metal edge, many times.

The tweeter looks like a clone of the JBL TL-series unit. Not exactly the same, but close.

$1100 was close to the price for the JBL L100T/T3 in that same era. But, they had the cast-frame 104H-2 mids and the 035Ti tweeters...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[Tooker]

mech986 writes "Can you get a pic of the underside of the crossover?"
"Does the wiring from the crossover look like it was attached with alligator clips that were then covered in a molded or shrink wrapped plastic?"

Mine are currently in use but maybe Keldog has his apart yet and can get a shot of the crossover underside.
Those are spade connectors under the shrink tubing.

Keldog, post: 10573819 "What size surrounds did you use for the woofers?"

When you wrote this I had no idea you had a set of these. I wish my cabinets were as nice as yours!

Thanks for the info Gordon!

 

[Keldog]

Tooker, your post is the only info I could find on the internet about these speakers. I got the surrounds in the mail yesterday and will have pics of the crossovers forthcoming after refoam.

 

[Keldog]

Can you get a pic of the underside of the crossover?

Interestingly, the crossovers superficially resemble the L100T and L80T crossovers with a few less caps and one less resistor, and the round air coil has more turns of wire:

Here are a couple of pics of the back. The left side of the pic is the top of the crossover.

 

[mark r smith]

Glad to have found this thread. I just picked up a pair of these and needed to replace the foams on the woofers. The recommended replacements worked perfect. Not much info on these speakers other than this thread, thanks. Curious about their comparison to the JBL L100t.
I really like these alot.
Just realized I have AK01, OP has BK01???.