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JBL J216A Speakers

Airjmax

Airjmax

Active Member
169A0700-8657-4340-99AF-08AE5B264466.jpeg 7BDA74C7-7672-47F8-A577-867624820E4C.jpeg 9BF06C70-9DC3-48C1-B36A-19D1A2F87BD2.jpeg A recent acquisition, along with a Sansui 5000x that has the instruction manual, service manual, 1971 Sansui catalog, schematic, and quick-reference card. The looks are growing on me quickly. These are the first JBL speakers I have owned, and I know they are very entry-level, but the looks are good, the condition is good, and so is the sound. I can think of many uses for these little guys.
 
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Marine0811 said:
Those appear to be in perfect condition
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Thanks, they were very dusty and covered with cat hair, but they cleaned up nicely. I think they sound similar to a pair of Bose 201 series II that I have. Not the greatest ever, but surprising bass, and nice highs from the TLX tweeter. I'd love to hear from other people that have the J216A's.
 
In my opinion, I think those TLX tweeters are very good and don't really give up much compared to more popular and well known JBL dome tweeters. Really it's rare to see them in such good condition, as the plastic on the TLX tweeter (especially being brittle with age) is VERY fragile and is more often than not broken by now. The woofer is nothing special, but not completely terrible, and there is potential there if you run the speakers with a subwoofer (using the subwoofer crossover with the speakers). It helps the clarity of the woofer a lot once it's not burdened with the low bass anymore, and the mid-range and mid-bass should clear-up and tighten-up a bit. Would make for a nice little 2.1 system.
 
Chris Brown said:
In my opinion, I think those TLX tweeters are very good and don't really give up much compared to more popular and well known JBL dome tweeters. Really it's rare to see them in such good condition, as the plastic on the TLX tweeter (especially being brittle with age) is VERY fragile and is more often than not broken by now. The woofer is nothing special, but not completely terrible, and there is potential there if you run the speakers with a subwoofer (using the subwoofer crossover with the speakers). It helps the clarity of the woofer a lot once it's not burdened with the low bass anymore, and the mid-range and mid-bass should clear-up and tighten-up a bit. Would make for a nice little 2.1 system.
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Thanks for the comments. I am happy that the condition is good, you’re the second one to mention it. I wasn’t aware that this speaker is not commonly in nice shape. They were really a throw-in with a Sansui 5000x receiver, but I have a thing for small speakers, so it was a bonus to get them. I’ve had mixed results with subwoofers, but I appreciate the suggestion. They will probably be paired with a low-watt receiver in a small space.
 
I have a special place in my heart for those speakers. When I was 17 my first hi-fi store purchase was a pair of JBL-J216a speakers. I was bussing tables at Village Inn on weekends so I had saved a little cash. My parents had given me a mass market Pioneer receiver for Christmas and I was using it with the speakers that came with my Emerson stereo I got in 7th grade. I wanted speakers that would do bass and my older brothers friend agreed to help me buy speakers after I had saved a little money. Took me took to a local shop that had many brands I had never heard of. Auditioned these playing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. Yeah. I think I paid $240 for them. Best money I had ever spent at that point in my life. Kicked ass on all the rack system speakers my friends had at the time (1984). Still have them to this day. They are responsible for all the audio gear I have in the house today. They are not being used at this time but they made me appreciate how important the speaker is in a system.
 
cflannery said:
I have a special place in my heart for those speakers. When I was 17 my first hi-fi store purchase was a pair of JBL-J216a speakers. I was bussing tables at Village Inn on weekends so I had saved a little cash. My parents had given me a mass market Pioneer receiver for Christmas and I was using it with the speakers that came with my Emerson stereo I got in 7th grade. I wanted speakers that would do bass and my older brothers friend agreed to help me buy speakers after I had saved a little money. Took me took to a local shop that had many brands I had never heard of. Auditioned these playing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. Yeah. I think I paid $240 for them. Best money I had ever spent at that point in my life. Kicked ass on all the rack system speakers my friends had at the time (1984). Still have them to this day. They are responsible for all the audio gear I have in the house today. They are not being used at this time but they made me appreciate how important the speaker is in a system.



I had to respond when I saw your work history. My first hifi purchase was a botl Pioneer Quadraphonic system in 1973 with my busboy earnings from Village Inn in Davenport Iowa. Lines were around the block on Sundays. Glad you still have yours, wish I did.
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tonicacent said:
I found a pair of these in near perfect condition for $20. Going to build a budget record player set up.
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i came across a pair of these speakers when i bought a sony receiver and a sharp cd player with a mini disc player, i don't know why, the two jbl speakers are, one is a model 8216A that the box is black, the other one is also in a black box and it is a J216A, not J216A pro, they both say industrial series, would anyone know why these speakers are in black boxes and not in wood grain boxes, thanks
 
I am looking for speakers for my Pioneer SA-6500II 30W per channel, do you recommed the JBL J216A for my amplifier? I was thinking in Pioneer speakers like CS-44G, CS-77, can you guide me with that please.
Best regards.
Denis.
 
schuldiner said:
I am looking for speakers for my Pioneer SA-6500II 30W per channel, do you recommed the JBL J216A for my amplifier? I was thinking in Pioneer speakers like CS-44G, CS-77, can you guide me with that please.
Best regards.
Denis.
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What is your goal? Assuming that the tweeters on the JBL J216A are in good condition, I do believe that they would sound better than the tweeters on either of those pioneer speakers. With that said, the Pioneer CS-77 is almost certainly going to have better bass.

Given those choices, I would recommend going with the JBL J216A speakers, and then adding a subwoofer with speaker-level inputs to compliment the low-end, for example:
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-SUB-1200-12-120-Watt-Powered-Subwoofer-300-629

That would allow you to go with the better-sounding speakers (imo), and then you'd also have the subwoofer handling all of the heavy-lifting on the low-end that your amplifier doesn't really have enough power to do well anyway.
 
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