sheltie dave
Addicted Member
Except for even ones that end in zero. 
Help with JBL C38's (?) not the same?
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BMWCCA
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A speaker cherished for its efficiency and yet also used by the Grateful Dead in their Wall of Sound, I know for a fact they're capable of handling more than 25 watts!!
I've had C37s with the 030 load in my home for over fifty years. In college we'd put them out on the farmhouse porch and play them to the Blue Ridge Mountains all day long while we partied, swam, played volleyball . . . and killed off a few kegs. On at least one occasion my Crown D150 would hit the thermal limiter and we'd have to reposition it to get more circulation around it. So I'm reasonably certain we were feeding at least a fairly constant 75 watts with no speaker issues.
In recent history they've been powered in my home with a Crown DC300A-II though the JBLs are so efficient they don't need much power to get real loud. I don't see how you could hurt them with too much power and still be in the room with them.
I've had C37s with the 030 load in my home for over fifty years. In college we'd put them out on the farmhouse porch and play them to the Blue Ridge Mountains all day long while we partied, swam, played volleyball . . . and killed off a few kegs. On at least one occasion my Crown D150 would hit the thermal limiter and we'd have to reposition it to get more circulation around it. So I'm reasonably certain we were feeding at least a fairly constant 75 watts with no speaker issues.
In recent history they've been powered in my home with a Crown DC300A-II though the JBLs are so efficient they don't need much power to get real loud. I don't see how you could hurt them with too much power and still be in the room with them.
sheltie dave
Addicted Member
They can handle at least 35 watts of undistorted clean power, without any clipping. At the same time, if you feed them 20 watts of distorted power with tons of clipping, watch them fry and blow.
Back in the day when I played in a band, we fried our fair share of JBL D130s, without a care in the world. But you could take the woofs over to Antech Labs, and get them reconed for under a hundred bucks, and have them back in a day.
These days are gone, and official JBL D130 recone kits are also gone. Abuse these speakers at your own peril.
Back in the day when I played in a band, we fried our fair share of JBL D130s, without a care in the world. But you could take the woofs over to Antech Labs, and get them reconed for under a hundred bucks, and have them back in a day.
These days are gone, and official JBL D130 recone kits are also gone. Abuse these speakers at your own peril.
sheltie dave
Addicted Member
We used them for PA, but they surely had been used in band support for years as guitar as well. I advise caution as a general principal because, as I have found out, many people throw caution to the wind and just crank these indiscriminately. They also don't recognize the sound of a speaker in distress.
You put those two elements together in the hands of someone who cranks like a high schooler with Cerwin Vegas, and a bad amp, and you have a blown JBL.
You put those two elements together in the hands of someone who cranks like a high schooler with Cerwin Vegas, and a bad amp, and you have a blown JBL.