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Today's find: JBL D130's in kit (?) cabs

Redboy

Redboy

a few good watts
I lugged these home today. Could someone tell me what to do with them?

First the cabinets...

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Do they look like a kit to you? There are no badges, labels, or stickers anywhere that I can find. The wooden grills are in quite nice condition, but the cabinets themselves have peeling veneer and edge dings. Scratches, too!
 
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Now the guts...

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The drivers seem to be in nice condition. I haven't tested them yet, though. Looks like the port tube came unglued, and the other rectangular piece in the corner suggests to me that they had the option of horn-loading - right?

In need of education, thoughts, and general opinions.
 
Oops. That's kinda' what I meant. Not "horn-loading" but the option to add a horn to the cabinet in that slot...
 
Looks like a kit, and not a JBL plan. It is acoustic reflex but should not have a tube. It is single driver, for 2 way a horn like in this picture is used and then you would
remove the plate in that case. pic The single driver is not really adequate and best results are 3 way IMO.


Carl
 
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BTW, JBL speakers did not use tuned ports with tubes until cabinets with the "L" designation starting in the mid-late 60's. :)


Carl
 
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Those look real close to a pair that I found several weeks ago. The grill work runs East and West though. Mine are Barzilay cabinets. Produced in the 60's I think when Hi-Fi enthusiasts would get cabinets and consoles and load them with gear of their choosing.

MY cabs are in rough shape. Yours are nice. My cabs are loaded with Electrovoice drivers. sp12b, t-35,x-36 crossover. They sound great and so should yours.
 
Anyone want to venture a guess as to their age? One site I found said the D130 was developed in 1947, but apparently it was in production for a while. The serial is 73594 if that tells you anything.
 
Doc Brown said:
Those look real close to a pair that I found several weeks ago. The grill work runs East and West though. Mine are Barzilay cabinets. Produced in the 60's I think when Hi-Fi enthusiasts would get cabinets and consoles and load them with gear of their choosing.
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I think you may be onto something here, Doc. I found an auction for some Barzilays that look very much like what I've got here, down to the port tube and the way the damping material is applied (weird that one side wall is left "undamped").
 
I had a single D130 in that condition from a late 50's JBL cab. Wow, those are just spectacular. So are your cabs too. I'd be tempted to resto those and hunt down the HF components.
 
kind of looks like a Barzilay cabinet...nice find
all you need now are some 075's and n2600's...should only set ya back about $500
 
Yep, those look just like mine except for the condition and drivers of course.

I went to check out a dynaco amp the other day and the guy also had a cabinet like mine but the driver you have. He said it sounded real nice. I'm sure they'll sound great when you get them working. Now all you need are some big horns to sit on top. And maybe a tweeter in their somewhere, x-overs

The damping material is the same on mine.

Isn't it amazing what the drivers look like after 40 plus years. Even though my cabs are real sorry, the drivers are mint.

You're gonna have fun with these. Great find. They should sound great with tube gear.
 
Very beautiful enclosures. Shouldn't take much to get them back up to snuff. That top piece looks to be soild wood. You don't see that too much anymore.
 
They look similar to my Barzilay enclosed D130's. I would restore them and as suggested get some nice tubes to drive them... :yes:

My Barzilay console with H/K Citation 1 preamp and the Dynaco Stereo 70's driving the D130's are magically smooth and warm !!! :thmbsp:
 

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Nice find redboy, you might really be onto something here especially considering you are building a 2A3 amp.

The D130 is supposed to be up around 102db efficient and many find it a fantastic match for low power tubes. I've heard the D130 on a front horn and loved it but think you will need something on top like a JBL 075 high-eff tweeter horn.

I heard the D130 in Edgar Titans which used mid-horns but the much simpler D130/075 pairing is supposed to be pretty nice. Dingusboy owned this combination at one time and even felt it outdid his Tannoys - pretty amazing as I've heard his Tannoy based system and it sounded fantastic.
 
Redboy said:
I lugged these home today. Could someone tell me what to do with them?

First the cabinets...

IMG_6059.jpg


IMG_6061.jpg


IMG_6068.jpg


Do they look like a kit to you? There are no badges, labels, or stickers anywhere that I can find. The wooden grills are in quite nice condition, but the cabinets themselves have peeling veneer and edge dings. Scratches, too!
Click to expand...

You can easily refinish the cabinets that will hide the scratches and make them look like new. A link below will take you to a very good wood polish called BriWax. I would almost kill for a pair of empty cabinets like those for my pair of 15" Altec Duplex drivers. All you need is a pair of decent tweeters and a set of crossovers and you are in business. There is a new company selling a kit for active crossovers for under $200. Let me know if you need the link and I can look for it in my encyclopedic growing set of saved bookmarks. Nice find BTW! John

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=1635
 
Hey, That's one heck of a find Nate! Everything I would have to add regarding the cab and D130 has been said already so that's, that.

Very nice indeed!

RC
 
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