Found an Old Unused Pair of JBL D140F 15" Speakers From The 60's, What Do?

[Altarofpigs]

Sup friends, first post. Recently had some vintage speakers fall in my lap, a matching pair of 8ohm JBL D140F 15", I believe from the 60's, unused (or at least in immaculate condition). I'd comfortably call them NOS. I'm a guitarist so I'm vaguely familiar, but the genres I play don't really serve these all that well and I'm scared to blow them up hahaha. Some people pointed me in this direction, claiming they would work well for hi-fi stereo or SET Amp(?) applications. Would love to use them as I have a 1x15 enclosure for each one and a space in desperate need for a stereo setup.

I have NO idea where to start, if it's affordable, or even possible. Would appreciate any help in either putting these to use or getting a value on them.

 

[Nyjblbob]

If you can get some pictures
Imho the ones I prefer have the very large
Cloth surrounds.
They are the ones That can be used for hifi

 

[HPMguy]

Are then in an enclosure or bare? Seem to have a good reputation as bass guitar speakers, and reputed to be pretty tough.

Old though, getting on 50 years of age now....

For a hi-fi system I'd find a complete multi driver speaker unless you want to spend a lot of time learning speaker and crossover design. It's not just cut a hole in a box and screw a speaker in it, alas.

 

[Fairlane]

Welcome aboard. Check out this forum as well.

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/forums/forums.htm

 

[Altarofpigs]

If you can get some pictures
Imho the ones I prefer have the very large
Cloth surrounds.
They are the ones That can be used for hifi

They are the same ones in this listing, but in 8ohm & essentially new condition. I don't have any photos on hand at the moment.
I believe the F in D140F stands for Fender, so they were likely bought as replacements or yanked out of an old Fender Showman 2x15 cab.

https://salesbaron.com/shop/vintage-single-jbl-d140f-6-15-inch-16-ohm-woofer-speaker/

Here's a couple comments I recieved on Talkbass giving a little info on them:

• "IIRC, the sensitivity of the D/K-140 was about 98dB/1W/1M which at the time was very efficient compared with the more crude products. Part of the reason for the legendary claims of sensitivity is because they were used in very large cabinets, which were more forgiving of the tuning parameters (yes, even back then engineers did understand the basics of tuned spring-mass systems) and favored low frequency extension, which was great until you had to move them. There were also horn loaded applications, which sacrificed the low frequency extension for mid bass sensitivity (in the 70-200Hz range) but at the time this was not seen as a problem because recordings and cinema optical film track playback (variable area at the time, but in some cases they were still using variable density sound tracks well into the 1950's) had significant LF roll off starting around 100Hz. By focusing on what was important to reproduce at the time those drivers (specifically the 2200 series, which shares the same designs as the D/K series) trading off low frequency extension for mid bass sensitivity made a lot of sense given that most of the amplifiers were in the 100-120 Watt range and it was common for each (mono) amp to drive 2 speakers."

• "The highest and best use of these drivers is very possibly not as bass guitar speakers but rather HiFi speakers. The tube HiFi community has a small sub-group who are even more rabid than the rest. You see....most tube HiFi amps are push/pull and generate 20-30-40 Watts per channel or so. There is another kind of topology called Single-Ended Triode (SET) and these amps are often flea-watt units. 2A3 tubes are popular, and the amps that use them generate a paltry 3.5 Watts per channel! SET amp fans adore these flea-watt amps but they obviously require VERY VERY efficient speakers."

I of course can't confirm the accuracy of them, but its what led me here!

 

[Dswankey]

I believe the F in D140F stands for Fender, so they were likely bought as replacements or yanked out of an old Fender Showman 2x15 cab.

They do indeed look like they came out of a Fender amp, seeing as you have 2 of them they might work well in a stereo set up with a tube amp however @HPMguy makes good points in his post .

There is a dedicated sub-forum here on all things JBL that you might want to peruse

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?forums/the-lansing-legacy.212/

You might find this interesting too

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?forums/musical-instruments.83/

 

[Altarofpigs]

They do indeed look like they came out of a Fender amp, seeing as you have 2 of them they might work well in a stereo set up with a tube amp however @HPMguy makes good points in his post .

There is a dedicated sub-forum here on all things JBL that you might want to peruse

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?forums/the-lansing-legacy.212/

You might find this interesting too

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?forums/musical-instruments.83/

Awesome, I'll make a post over in that sub and see if anything else will shake loose. Thanks!

 

[Nyjblbob]

That smooth cone is from a 130
Not a 140 140’s have ribs

 

[GordonW]

That is, indeed, a D130 kit, in a D140 frame. So, definitely not NOS- they've been reconed at some time.

Nothing inherently wrong with that- the frames are functionally identical- but, it's going to perform like a D130.

However- that's exactly what you WOULD want, in a guitar amp. Or, in any hi-fi application that used a D130.

I'd say use 'em, enjoy 'em...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[EarlK]

From the OP's link to Imgur ( posted within his OTHER THREAD!) :



Definitely not a D130 ( assuming these pics are of his actual speakers ). That cone number ( 29675 ) and the accordion style surround are dead give-aways.

Additionally, these ancient JBL 140's ( pre K + E series ) have a lower Fs than their more modern counter-parts ( 30 hz vs 40 hs ) giving them them the possibility of deeper bass response .

I'd add a horn driver combo ( eWave with + 95db crossover ) and call it good .

 

[Junk Audio]

IMHO, as much as it’s an exciting find, I don’t think they’re worth building HIFi around. But SE bass guitar and Guitar guys alike seem to like them and will pay you for them. I recommend selling them and using the money to buy say, a nice pair of JBL L26’s, L46’s, L56’s or the such. That you’ll actually enjoying having and using.. just my thoughts.

 

[GordonW]

From the OP's link to Imgur ( posted within his OTHER THREAD!) :

View attachment 2323915 View attachment 2323916

Definitely not a D130 ( assuming these pics are of his actual speakers ). That cone number ( 29675 ) and the accordion style surround are dead give-aways.

Additionally, these ancient JBL 140's ( pre K + E series ) have a lower Fs than their more modern counter-parts ( 30 hz vs 40 hs ) giving them them the possibility of deeper bass response .

I'd add a horn driver combo ( eWave with + 95db crossover ) and call it good .

It would have been helpful to have that link in THIS thread, as at least some of us had no idea the other thread existed.

A number of us thought the Salesbaron link above was the speaker in question- the one there has definitely been reconed.

29675 is indeed a D140 cone number...

That will definitely have more low-end than a D130, but will definitely need to be crossed over no higher than about 2400Hz. I would prefer 1200Hz, if using a factory JBL crossover. That means it would need to work with something like a 175DLH or larger, for a mid-high driver. Or, the Econowave setup (over 95dB-sensitivity version) would work fine too.

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[EarlK]

I do agree ( GordonW ) it's all a bit annoying.

( I believe it's just an age thing >>> iow, not fully thinking through the consequences of ones communications )

 

[Altarofpigs]

From the OP's link to Imgur ( posted within his OTHER THREAD!) :

View attachment 2323915 View attachment 2323916

Definitely not a D130 ( assuming these pics are of his actual speakers ). That cone number ( 29675 ) and the accordion style surround are dead give-aways.

Additionally, these ancient JBL 140's ( pre K + E series ) have a lower Fs than their more modern counter-parts ( 30 hz vs 40 hs ) giving them them the possibility of deeper bass response .

I'd add a horn driver combo ( eWave with + 95db crossover ) and call it good .

Yeah that’s my fault, these are the actual speakers. I didn’t have any photos in hand when I originally posted this link, had to have a friend take some and email them to my work computer to make a new Imgur link.

In the Salesbaron link comment I originally specified they were just “the same ones as these” but I guess I botched that and erased it somehow? Although I guess it doesn’t matter cause they still wouldn’t have been the same anyway lol.