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Are JBL L19's supposed to sound this good?

A

afour495

Member
So I just finished refoaming the JBL L19's I got off craigslist in immaculate condition for 25$. I wasn't expecting much from them considering they aren't top of the line such as the Magnepan and Mirages I have but man these speakers sound freaking amazing. Anyone else feel the same?
 
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Yes, I just re-foamed a pair a week ago and I think they are fantastic speakers. I liked them so much I had to get its big-brother too. (Clip from the 1980 JBL HOME catalog)
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afour495 said:
So I just finished refoaming the JBL L19's I got off craigslist in immaculate condition for 25$. I wasn't expecting much from them considering they aren't top of the line such as the Magnepan and Mirages I have but man these speakers sound freaking amazing. Anyone else feel the same?
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They are the counterpart to the pro model 4301. Designed for close quarters monitoring. Rather mundane components but the sum of the parts equals a very good small format system. Good buy for $25 and some investment in time for refoam. Another example of how JBL got it right back in the day despite some prejudices to the contrary.
 
They sound very nice, even better with a decent recap of the crossovers. Give the woofers and crossovers about 50 hours of break-in time and its a very nice system.

Any pics?
 
I've got a pair of these I picked up at a church yard sale for $2.00. I replaced the surrounds and like you wasn't really thinking these were going to be anything special. I was surprised at how nice these sound. I rotate these out of a few systems I listen too but they seem to really sound good on my tube integrated.
 
I fell in love with these a couple of years back. Just kept buying, buying and buying. They are probably the best bang for the buck out there! :thmbsp:
 
I have a pair of 4411's and I really like those. They have deep powerful bass, powerful mids and that small aluminum dome tweeter really sounds good for the extended highs. All in all, a good sounding speaker. Other JBL speakers I have heard also sounded quite nice. Of course, it also depends on the amp you are using.
 
They don't go real deep but what they do they do VERY well.

I've had several pairs of different JBLs and I have to say they are my favorite of the lot.

Yes others do other things better but the L19s are very musical and nice to listen to. I much prefer the paper tweeter to the titanium ones in later models.

Enjoy.

Eric
 
Bought mine for $20 and re-foamed them and they sound excellent. I have multiple systems set-up and the L19's tend to be my default when I just want something that is easy to listen to.
 
I had a borrowed pair (4301's actually) for a couple of weeks after i recapped my MC240. I was stunned by how good they sounded. I actually laughed out loud a number of times, amazed by what came out of them.
 
mech986 said:
They sound very nice, even better with a decent recap of the crossovers. Give the woofers and crossovers about 50 hours of break-in time and its a very nice system.

Any pics?
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I need to correct this mistake for future readers. Do not taint your JBL L19 speakers with awful new capacitors. The originals do not need replacing - and any other capacitor will be a downgrade. The original are stacked-film caps, with hand-soldered teflon leads, in a sand-damped cardboard tube which has been sealed with wax. It doesn't get more luxurious than that. Don't put your audiophoolery filth in these old speakers - you do not know better than JBL's designers.
 
ZOOM said:
I need to correct this mistake for future readers. Do not taint your JBL L19 speakers with awful new capacitors. The originals do not need replacing - and any other capacitor will be a downgrade. The original are stacked-film caps, with hand-soldered teflon leads, in a sand-damped cardboard tube which has been sealed with wax. It doesn't get more luxurious than that. Don't put your audiophoolery filth in these old speakers - you do not know better than JBL's designers.
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Nailed it.
 
ZOOM said:
I need to correct this mistake for future readers. Do not taint your JBL L19 speakers with awful new capacitors. The originals do not need replacing - and any other capacitor will be a downgrade. The original are stacked-film caps, with hand-soldered teflon leads, in a sand-damped cardboard tube which has been sealed with wax. It doesn't get more luxurious than that. Don't put your audiophoolery filth in these old speakers - you do not know better than JBL's designers.
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This is always a tough dilemma for me, and I admit that I like the idea of keeping those original JBL caps. Just to consider both sides of the story, though, one should note the anecdotal evidence from this thread here, about recapping the similar 4301B loudspeakers:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?20249-4301B-Crossover-Rebuild

SIMPLY AMAZING!!!
I got the re-built crossovers from Zilch yesterday but didn't get a chance to install them until late this afternoon. I have been listening to them for about four hours now and the sound is simply amazing! I always felt the tweeter was a bit harsh with the stock crossovers. Harsh no more with extention cleanly into the higher registers, again, amazing! I have always been a metal tweeter guy but I may re-think that opinion? One of my all time favorite recordings is from an old Blue Horizon album of the original Fleetwood Mac with the great Otis Spann. It's disc two of the "Blues Jam in Chicago." The track is a loose studio recording of "Someday Soon Baby" without effects, one track, with Spann on piano and vocals, Peter Green on lead guitar, John McVie on bass and Mick Fleetewood on drums. To me it's one of those magical moments of music that not many have ever heard. I have listened to that track more times than I can count but NEVER better than through the "Zilchified" 4301B's! I could go on but I think I made my point. I am one happy guy! Now if I could just get the S3100's to sound this good!
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ZOOM said:
I need to correct this mistake for future readers. Do not taint your JBL L19 speakers with awful new capacitors. The originals do not need replacing - and any other capacitor will be a downgrade. The original are stacked-film caps, with hand-soldered teflon leads, in a sand-damped cardboard tube which has been sealed with wax. It doesn't get more luxurious than that. Don't put your audiophoolery filth in these old speakers - you do not know better than JBL's designers.
Click to expand...

Unless you are being sarcastic, I am very unsure of your comments and am investigating with my colleagues at Lansing Heritage. There are a number of reasons why I think and believe otherwise but I will wait to provide reasonable evidence.
 
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