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JBL L-300s at last!

tarior

tarior

Dirty pool, old man?
Subscriber
I finally sucked it up and took the plunge. I sprung the $$ for a set of L-300s.
I actually saw these on the P-town Craigslist about a week ago for a decent, but not spectacular price. When I saw that they were still listed for sale four days later, I had to email the guy to see what was wrong with them.
He called me back, and we got to talking. He claimed that other than the grilles and an aftermarket woofer in one cabinet, they were virtually flawless. I'm like "MTX woofer? Ewww." He emailed me some pictures and I made an offer which he accepted.
Trouble was that I made the offer on Saturday evening, and I couldn't get the $ out of the bank until Monday. Then the weather was crappy, and I had to put him off till Tuesday. Luckily for me, he was a man of character and he stuck to our bargain. By Tuesday, guys were offering him his asking price and then some.

Anywho, I got down to Camas and picked them up. The cabinets are vitually flawless. I can hardly find a nick or scratch on the wood. The grill cloth is a little worn and cat-snagged on one of them.
Apple Music refoamed the one woofer, and screwed the guy into buying the MTX woofer instead of sending him to Brownell's or JAMAC for a recone. The MTX isn't a bad woofer at all, but I will be finding a 136A (or some 2235s) ASAP.

These suckers are heavy! I unloaded them by myself, something that I wouldn't want to try doing again any time soon. Yeesh.

How do they sound? OMG! They are absolutely phenomenal. Insert all of your favorite hyperbole here. It applies. If'n these ain't the best speakers I've ever heard, then I'm a monkey's uncle.:D But really, they're pretty awesome.
As pleasant, smooth, and detailed as you could ever ask for at low levels, with HUGE soundstage. And when you want to rock, they'll play flat-out stupid loud, and stay coherent doing it.
I got home from retrieving these at about 20 after nine in the evening and stayed up well past midnight listening to them. I finally had to go to bed when I just couldn't stay awake any more. I just don't get tired of listening to them at all.
 

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Very nice! Cabinets look great. Looks like you need the thin black foamcore under the glass as the glass looks recessed a little, should be flush with the curved top.

Sucks about the woofer, they probably have the frame though unless they already unloaded it - worth a call? Are the LE85's original without ever being touched or opened?

PM inbound about drivers.
 
I bet if you put in some calls to the better speaker shops a new woofer could be procured. There are probably more orphaned drivers than good pairs running around.
 
mech986 said:
Very nice! Cabinets look great. Looks like you need the thin black foamcore under the glass as the glass looks recessed a little, should be flush with the curved top.

Sucks about the woofer, they probably have the frame though unless they already unloaded it - worth a call? Are the LE85's original without ever being touched or opened?
.
Click to expand...
Yes, the foam that goes under the glass has deteriorated away. I'm trying to figger something that will work there and look proper.
Aside from the woofers, there aren't any screwdriver marks on any of the screws for the tweeters or to the access panel for the horn driver. I'm fairly certain that these have never been apart.
 
Summits

I'm SO envious! :yes:

Congratulations! :thmbsp:

Now you need a vintage Crown power amp to really drive those beauties!
 
Congrats Tarior. I've heard the L-300 and seen them several times but never had the chance to own them for reasonable coin. The L-300 along with Altec Valencia's are on my bucket list.

I've heard far worse stories of speaker repair shops subbing in MTX or Pyles or whatever crap they have lying around because the foam was shot. They would make bank flipping the vintage drivers and leave the customer with significantly less valuable speakers. Oh man, there are a lot of scumbags in audio.
 
70salesguy said:
I'm SO envious! :yes:

Congratulations! :thmbsp:

Now you need a vintage Crown power amp to really drive those beauties!
Click to expand...

I don't have a vintage Crown, but I do have a not-so-vintage Bryston.:D Right now I'm powering them with a Denon POA 1500, which is my backup for the POA 2400A that I usually use. I'm actually wanting to run them with my Marantz 2385, if I can ever find the time to get it dialed in.
 
Congrats Tarior, they are the real deal! They tend to wear on me after about an hour. Maybe I'm just getting old.:thmbsp:
 
Brad Muller said:
Congrats Tarior, they are the real deal! They tend to wear on me after about an hour. Maybe I'm just getting old.:thmbsp:
Click to expand...
I just finished my third CD of the evening, and no signs of wanting to turn on the TV or anything else.:music: I just hope I don't run out of hot buttered rum batter tonight. It's too damn cold to go to the store right now.
 
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tarior said:
How do they sound? OMG! They are absolutely phenomenal. Insert all of your favorite hyperbole here. It applies. If'n these ain't the best speakers I've ever heard, then I'm a monkey's uncle.:D But really, they're pretty awesome.
As pleasant, smooth, and detailed as you could ever ask for at low levels, with HUGE soundstage. And when you want to rock, they'll play flat-out stupid loud, and stay coherent doing it.
I got home from retrieving these at about 20 after nine in the evening and stayed up well past midnight listening to them. I finally had to go to bed when I just couldn't stay awake any more. I just don't get tired of listening to them at all.
Click to expand...

Haha, bet it's hard to stop listening to those big JBLs.

I bet you are having a blast. Looking at the spec sheet now.

congratulations on reeling those in! :thmbsp:


I think they are in the right hands to sort out that MTX woofer monkey business.
 
Are those the ones that have been listed on Seattle CL off and on for the last 10 months or so? If so, twice I thought I could justify the expense and I almost called and made an offer. I must say I’m very jealous of your acquisition and nice score!
 
If they sound great, why bother replacing that MTX woofer? :D

But seriously, sweet speakers. I would someday like to own speakers such as those.
 
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