Free JBLs, what to expect...

[cwh]

Doing my daily Nextdoor "free/for-sale" browse and up popped a free stereo posting. Pic 1/2 showed an older Sony CD player and a 90s looking receiver. 2/2 got my attention. Waffle foam grills were unmistakably L100s. Surprised to see original grills out in the wild and really surprised that twenty minutes later I was picking them up.

I didn't get a good look until they got back home. The first cab I carried down to the shop got me feeling very good. The drivers looked excellent. The grill and foam looked good too. Long cab sides had that nice old JBL oiled look, no refinish needed. Two short sides showed more age but still wow, I'm going to do some cleaning and throw these guys in the mix now...Wait not so fast.

Number two really showed it's age. Moisture has not been kind to the case work. Grills look good, drivers look awesome, but oh, shoot, these are rough.

I've yet to power them up but the 123a woofers feel good so I'm optimistic.

 

[tonyk]

Wow! Nice find!

 

[cwh]

And some more...

 

[cwh]

Other bits included. The ES receiver is no lights no sound at the moment. The CPP690 seems like a winner.

 

[wu6fiend]

Mind blowing. 30 seconds worth of research on the net would reveal their value. Even if the cabinet(s) aren't worth saving (which IMO they are) that's about $500 worth of speaker components (not counting the grills) out the door for nothing. Add on the components, wow! I'm really curious about the former owners of some of this free stuff, do they not know the value, or do they not care?

 

[SaturationPt]

Nice find, ... VERY nice.

Regarding the speakers:

What you have is a pair of JBL L100A (late). These are less common than the L100A which is the 2nd and most common of three versions, but shares the cabinet with the 2nd/common version. Your drivers appear to be in excellent condition so you're good there.

These speakers are "parted out" fairly regularly, especially if one or both cabinets has veneer damage or damaged drivers. Pairs sell, singles are cheap. Your cabinet is IMO not salvagable without completely rebuilding, the particle board is no longer HD, it has swollen from the moisture and will never be sonically nor dimensionally correct. You can still make it look and sound good, with a lot of work and some money.

I suggest waiting and shopping for an empty cabinet, all you're worried about is a good cabinet with the staggered woof/mid/tweet arrangement (the first version had them in-line) which is the L100A (early and late). You can listen to and enjoy them as-is until the cabinet shows up (and it will).

Even if you need to do some minor re-finishing on the replacement cabinet, I feel that it'll be much less work and a better cabinet when you're finished. You'll swap the "foilcal" with the serial number when you swap the crossover (careful removal is covered here and on the JBL forum) and all is good there. The black grille pegs are available online, the late terminals in the back I have not explored how they mount and if you get a non-late you might want to change those (or just upgrade both).

I have even seen empty cabinets on craigslist, they pop up fairly often and in your area, lots of L100s. Should be able to get one nice cabinet cheap if you are either patient or lucky.

Your grille foam looks like the foam that Radio Shack sold in rolls, fairly common to see it on L100s as replacement foam (was much cheaper than original). If the frames are in good condition you have the option of inserting a frame in it with cloth over it (like Huntley Audio sells on ebay and direct) or buying foam (I prefer Sculptured Foam Innovations / Scott, his email is on the J B Lansing site, or PM me and I'll give you his cell, no affiliation just a great experience). Both of these vendors sell replacement grille frames also I believe.

Very iconic speakers, and extremely collectible. How you like the sound is up to you, I like them very much on some music, much music mixed in their era was monitored on their nearly identical cousins the JBL 4311 Studio Monitors so I argue that the music, whether as accurate as modern speakers or not, comes out as the Mixing Engineer intended it to sound. Don't get wrapped around the axle on people's opinions (especially those who have never owned properly set-up and restored or new), just decide for yourself. Great pairing with tubes and modest-power SS also. A little midrangey to me (bass hump pronounced if you don't raise them off of the floor) which does sound great on some music.

Had them in the late '70s, have them now. They are the most recognized speakers on the planet, the only ones that people notice and first to comment on in my collection, people who don't even care about audio will ask to hear them.

 

[donprice]

AK members have repaired far worse cabinets so I would suggest that you consider looking into the repair option while looking for the replacement cabinet (which will now become extremely elusive because you need one). Of course working on the repair is a great way to pass time waiting for the replacement cabinet. Think of it as the perfect way to practice refinishing and touchups after completing the major fixes.

Good luck!

 

[cwh]

Mind blowing. 30 seconds worth of research on the net would reveal their value. Even if the cabinet(s) aren't worth saving (which IMO they are) that's about $500 worth of speaker components (not counting the grills) out the door for nothing. Add on the components, wow! I'm really curious about the former owners of some of this free stuff, do they not know the value, or do they not care?

In this case the folks are clearing out ASAP and moving. Happy to pass on what has become old dusty memories.

 

[cwh]

the particle board is no longer HD, it has swollen from the moisture and will never be sonically nor dimensionally correct.

Hey Jeff I agree with your assessment and why I included pics of the baffle area edge banding. You can see how much the PB has swollen compared with it. Looks about 3/32, almost an 1/8. This cab is beyond reasonable repair. I have taken several vintage bookshelf speakers back from the bottom of the lake but in this case my time would be better spent searching for a suitable replacement.

Good call on the replacement grill foam. Yeah the correct material should be a more closed cell type, that's what I imagine, why they disintegrate. I do know of the $$$ modern replacement ones on ebay. Thanks for including another source.

 

[SaturationPt]

Unfortunately or fortunately (?), Scott is the $$$ modern replacement ones on ebay (or at least in many opinions, the best, also supplies Kenrick sound in Japan for example).

I left miine without for a while, have custom dust-covers for them when not used (most of the time) and were therefore protected, just finally decided to pull the trigger and make them look great again. No harm in making a slip-in frame with cloth like Huntley Designs does until/unless you decide to buy new quadrex foam.

It's interesting also that the coil wires on your woofers are both at 2:00 (cabinet vertical), I believe that the original orientation is 5:00. Please let me know if there's evidence that the woofers (or screw heads) show that they have been removed before, I'm very curious.

 

[cwh]

AK members have repaired far worse cabinets so I would suggest that you consider looking into the repair option while looking for the replacement cabinet (which will now become extremely elusive because you need one). Of course working on the repair is a great way to pass time waiting for the replacement cabinet. Think of it as the perfect way to practice refinishing and touchups after completing the major fixes.

Good luck!

I've gotten pretty deep into cab repair but this one is toast

 

[cwh]

Unfortunately or fortunately (?), Scott is the $$$ modern replacement ones on ebay (or at least in many opinions, the best, also supplies Kenrick sound in Japan for example).

I left miine without for a while, have custom dust-covers for them when not used (most of the time) and were therefore protected, just finally decided to pull the trigger and make them look great again. No harm in making a slip-in frame with cloth like Huntley Designs does until/unless you decide to buy new quadrex foam.

It's interesting also that the coil wires on your woofers are both at 2:00 (cabinet vertical), I believe that the original orientation is 5:00. Please let me know if there's evidence that the woofers (or screw heads) show that they have been removed before, I'm very curious.

They do look great, guess the hardest part after scrapping the money together is; orange or blue? Thought has been given as I've got a restoration project pair of L88+ amongst the piles.

I'll go down and inspect the woofers. I didn't see evidence of any hands before but we'll see. I might just pull the woofers and get a better look at things.

 

[wu6fiend]

There's a nice pair of empty cabinets on eBay right now, unfortunately they are in WV and you are in CA. They seller wants $150 for them, and won't ship. Gives you an idea what the going rate is for cabinets in good shape, anyway. I've seen empty singles for a lot less than that. If you are thinking about getting some new foam grills for them, my vote is for Sculpted Foam Innovations. Wait was long, but when they arrive, man! the quality is off the scale. I liked my first set of foam grills so much, I purchased two more, so I have three options (orange, blue and black) for my L100s.

 

[cwh]

Feels like I'm the first to crack open.

 

[cwh]

There's a nice pair of empty cabinets on eBay right now, unfortunately they are in WV and you are in CA. They seller wants $150 for them, and won't ship. Gives you an idea what the going rate is for cabinets in good shape, anyway. I've seen empty singles for a lot less than that. If you are thinking about getting some new foam grills for them, my vote is for Sculpted Foam Innovations. Wait was long, but when they arrive, man! the quality is off the scale. I liked my first set of foam grills so much, I purchased two more, so I have three options (orange, blue and black) for my L100s.

Yeah options, there you go. Think a pic will help inspire, feel free to share.

 

[SaturationPt]

I also have the blue L65As, so decided to go blue. Orange is great, brown was original, but blue for JBL and the lake.

 

[cwh]

@SaturationPt what’s your method for painless foil removal?

 

[sax6]

Oh C'mon.... Free ?

Good going !

 

[SaturationPt]

@SaturationPt what’s your method for painless foil removal?

I've never done it, but there's a lot posted about it.

 

[Alobar]

I removed my foilcals on my pair of L65's with a hair drier and a long blade. Start with a corner and as the adhesive gets warm it will slowly let go. The key word is worky slowly!