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JBL C38s and amplifiers.

Hula

Hula

New Member
I’ve recently inherited my dad’s C38s that he has coveted and enjoyed the last 50 years and we occasionally talked about buying a tube amp. I’ve been reading about Icon amps and would entertain any suggestions or discussion on the subject.
Thanks
 
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What are the components in your c38’s.
Pictures with grills open or the backs off are helpful
What is your budget?
Are you looking for new or vintage?
You can spend from 300$ to 30,000$ on amps and preamps .
Let’s see the JBL
What happened to the other equipment that powered them?
Tubes?
 
This is what I have right now.

Rotel RB993 three channel amp
NAD 1600 monitor series pre amp
Denon DP 61F turntable
Considering a single CD player

I’m not sure if It makes sense to have a tube pre amp with the rotel or just use an integrated tube amp. I’d like to stay under 2000.00 and I’ll post some pics tomorrow.
 
IMHO if your going Tubes, go all tube. no SS preamp. its hard to beat a Fisher X200, 202, all the variants. for around 1K all done, as you go up
you can do better. prima Luna sells a new 60 watt + integrated amp that are quite good, also under 2K, much less on the used market.
 
There are no screw holes in the back of the cabinet. If I remember correctly the grills drop down and when I get them in the house I’ll check. I have two pairs and the ones I’m using have 075 bullet tweeters and D130s.
 

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Yes very common, with the D130's and bullets.
While very efficient, somewhat lacking in Bass.
I believe a nice El84,-6bq5, 7189 based integrated amp or receiver, tons of them in the used market,Fisher, Scott, Dyna, ect.
and a Powered sub with an adjustable low pass xover with at least 12" or better yet 15" driver, maybe 2.
is money better spent. than bigger higher powered and more expensive tube amps.
Too get the most out of your JBL's. Oh yea tilt the speakers up
 
I’m all about vintage equipment, but I haven’t had great luck with it and Oklahoma has basically no sources for repair.
 
If your not already part of the AK Barter town, its the best 25$ you can spend. Plenty of deals of already Restored Tube items.
I have found most sellers and buyers are far more trustworthy that the Fleabay. I refuse to sell any of my hord on the bay.
 
I have run the 030 system (D130 and 075) in larger C37 cabinets since 1957. My Dad used the first mono unit with a Pilot mono tube amp. When I added second for stereo pair I used a McIntosh C20 tube pre and Fisher SA1000 tube power amp. The Fisher became unreliable needing expensive tubes every year so I replaced it around 1970 with a Crown D150 and never looked back. That's roughly a dozen years with tubes and nearly 50 with tube pre and solid-state amp.

I still use Crowns in my main system with JBL 4345s and run the C20 and D150 still today on the 030s. Nothing wrong with solid-state but I have to say the sound of the Mac C20 is quite mellow. It's like analog versus digital . . . or stuffing your ears to get that analog sound! Solid-state can be unforgiving but it plays everything on the recording. I don't think you can make an 030 system sound too harsh. I don't even have any complaints about the 075s that others do here quite often. At some point I added LE175DLH to the system but it's too long ago to remember if that was an earth-shattering upgrade, or not. I always planned to go tri-amped with electronic crossovers to use some of the Crown D45 amps I have sitting around! Like many things, I've not gotten to it yet.

Enjoy!
 
I will caution the OP that you are entering not one but 2 Rabbit Holes. The first is the Tube endeavor
And the Upgrade my JBLs pit.
Come on in my friend,
Plenty of help here on AK
 
I ran across a Luxman L 450 in town asking 495.00. I remember Luxman was a good name. Thoughts?
 
Definitely not tubes, and from what I saw It will need to be recapped 55 watts per channel
Eh I think you can do better
 
I have the JBL C-38, I'm running it with Dynaco St-70,VTA Board with Lion KT77 tubes. I use a Tilbury Passive Pre and find it a very good match. Hope this helps!
 
reardonp6 said:
I have the JBL C-38, I'm running it with Dynaco St-70,VTA Board with Lion KT77 tubes. I use a Tilbury Passive Pre and find it a very good match. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

What is a VTA board and how hard is it to build? I can use a soldering iron.
 
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