The CL ad read.......JBL 4315

[Balderdash1]

And then it said.....for $120. And I said YES!


Well, I really thought I had lost these. They were on CL for about a week. I had tried contacting the seller several times for additional contact information. A day or two would pass before I heard from him and then his response would be something like, "Wolverines have shiny coats"...

I thought maybe this guy had skipped a few doses or something, but I persisted. Another message would come through like, "Don't trust Hondurans" ..or something equally as weird....

Finally last night about midnight, I get a message with a phone number and instructions to meet him at the Dunkin Donuts in Philly at 3 pm!

Of course I was taking a big chance because I was sure they must have let David Berkowitz out or something ,but it turns out that he was just a big practical joker. When I pulled into the place, his mini-van doors flung open revealing a not mint pair of JBL 4315's!

No harm.. new surrounds on these gal's and they be good to go!

[johnaec]

'Way to go!!! :thmbsup:

John

[oznob]

Great score!:applaud:

[johnaec]

Be sure you find someone good to do the foam on those mids! It'd be worth shipping those drivers to someone to do it right. If they get screwed up, remember that recone kits are no longer available! It looks like the foam was recently done on the LF's - how are they?

Do you know if they're 4315A or 4315B models? If "A", the serial numbers should end in "A". The B models have the newer ferrite magnet speakers.

John

[Rusnzha]

Amazing story -- has to be the score of the year. They look great!

[Balderdash1]

Yeah. I'm really worried about the woofer/mid cones. These look good but what about the future? Are they available anywhere?

Any recommendations on speaker guy's for the surrounds near Maryland that you would trust?

These are the 4315A's by the way...

[Robh3606]

Well the bad news is the woofer kits are NLA. The mids were available but the cones were lighter than the originals but they should work in a 4315. I would go with Rick Cobb for the surrounds and I would be real careful who does them. If they screw them up especially on the woofers you have a real problem on your hands.

Nice Score:applaud:

Rob:)

[Regis]

A most excellent score! Once you get them up and running, you will love these speakers. Mech986 and I both have gotten great deals in the Los Angeles area and it's funny to see another pair. Seems like the 'wave' theory at work (everything comes in waves). You don't see any 4315's for sale forever and suddenly, three pairs that I know of, drop out in as many months. Very cool!:applaud:

[Balderdash1]

Yeah. I'm getting surrounds from Rick Cobb and will have Scavenger Sound (a local jbl reconer) do the work. Rick said I could probably do the surrounds myself, but frankly I don't want to even breathe on those 2203/2108's...

[mech986]

A most excellent score! Once you get them up and running, you will love these speakers. Mech986 and I both have gotten great deals in the Los Angeles area and it's funny to see another pair. Seems like the 'wave' theory at work (everything comes in waves). You don't see any 4315's for sale forever and suddenly, three pairs that I know of, drop out in as many months. Very cool!:applaud:

Ditto what he said. Although perhaps not as rare as the 434x series, it sure does seem like a crop of 4315A's have popped out. Congrats on your score and let's see them when they're done!

Regards,

Bart

[mech986]

PS: what color are the grilles? The lighting doesn't help distinguish whether they are black (like from utility cabinets) or JBL dark blue?

Bart

[Balderdash1]

They do look black in the photo's but they are in fact a very dark blue. The seller claimed they were original. By the way, I asked him where he
found these and he told me " a garage sale". If I paid $120, I can only imagine what he got them for..

[hjames]

They do look black in the photo's but they are in fact a very dark blue. The seller claimed they were original. By the way, I asked him where he
found these and he told me " a garage sale". If I paid $120, I can only imagine what he got them for..

Sounds like an awesome deal, congrats!!

[opimax]

Time for another MD local listening party!!! hope you don't mind company :)

Mark

[jdo23k]

I've got a pair of mint 4315's (even the original packing). I lent an engineer that I know a couple of hundred bucks and took the 4315's as security. That was three years ago and I havn't seen nor heard from him since. Anybody know what they might be worth? :blink: I'll post some pics.

[Regis]

They're worth way more than $200. I've seen recent pricing at around $1,500 for fair market value. Are you actually using them? They are excellent speakers.

[jdo23k]

No, I havn't used them. My home studio room is smallish 12 x 16. I have a whole lot of gear. They're a little large for a shelf behind my console.

[Regis]

If you haven't used them yet, you might want to put them in your living room and see just how they sound. If you have experience with a large format studio monitor, you'll know what to expect.

These are incredibly clean, detailed and powerful speakers. Not a lot of low end (and that's how they were designed), but what's there is some of the best sounding speakers I've ever heard.

[jdo23k]

I've been a professional recordist for around 30 years. I've used the UREI large format monitors (crown amps) and the JBL's with the lens on the tweeter (I forget the model numbers). 4315's are quite different in design by compairson to either.

I have some big ol' Bozaks in my living room with Macintosh tube amps - Oh, MAMMA! My wife won't let me put any more gear in there.

I did try your suggestion - You're right about the low end on the 4315's. But they are "tight" and less "wooly" than my Bozaks. Also, they allow you to hear deeper "into the mix" than my other studio setup (Mackie's and Yamaha's). However, they don't seem to focus untill about 8-10' away. Man! I wish my studio was a bit bigger. I'd keep these in a heartbeat!

:rockon1:

[Regis]

From some research on the Bozaks, depending on what model you have, they made some very nice speakers though the decades. I can tell you about the 4315. They are 70's vintage, yes, but these handmade beauties still exhibit very accurate, very clean sound. I've had bigger speakers, but when I paired these up, with a quality pair of modern powered subwoofers, I had some serious audio nirvana going!

The 12" woofer on the 4315 doesn't go all that low. But for the range it has (down to 35 hz or so, depending on material), it is probably one of the tightest, quickest bass speakers you will find. It is in reality, a 15" woofer, with a 12" cone. It has the same motor and 4" voice coil as JBL's 15" woofers. Ditto for the midrange (correct me, anybody, if I'm wrong here).

Add the powerful midrange and slot tweeter and you've got a speaker that will pick apart piano notes with ease. Guitars, electric or acoustic pluck across the speakers nicely. The cymbals and brush strokes are effortless. The only bad, is lack of serious low end, and my Velodyne HG-12's solved that.

I'd carefully A-B the Bozaks against the JBL's if I were you, before you consider getting rid of them. If the Bozaks are more your flavor and do better than the 4315's, by all means keep the Bozaks (especially if they're the Concert Grands). If you do decide to let go of them, let us know. :D

[jdo23k]

Thanks for the info. I'm not familiar with the Velodyne subs. Are they active? What do you recommended as an effective Crossover point? Also, what kind of curve? I'd like to keep them. We'll see what "the Boss" says.

Oh, by the way, the Bozaks are the concert grands.
:band:

[Regis]

Not sure what you mean by active, but the subs I own are powered. Velodyne makes a wide range of subs, from the consumer-end, all the way up to the DD1812's (that weigh over 400 pounds).

I have a pair of HGS-12x 12" subs. They are self-powered with 1000w Class D amps. They feature adjustable volume and crossover levels (I cross mine at 120 hz). The subs blend in seamlessly with the 4315's. You can't tell where the 4315 drops off and the HGS's begin, it's that good. They are very musical and can go pretty deep (down to 20 hz). The voice-coils have accelerometers that measure the movement and a built-in computer compares the signal to the cone movement and corrects the cone motion. The voice coils are huge and are a push-pull design, so they're always in control.

Here's a link

http://www.velodyne.com/products/brochures/hgs%20series%20II.pdf

One of these days, I'll hopefully get to hear the Concert Grands, among other icon speakers (like the old Western Electric and RCA gear).

[jdo23k]

I wish that I could justify keeping them but, I think I'm going to let them go. They are in beautiful condition and I havn't seen anything even close to them on Ebay, Craigs List, Ebid, Etc.

Any thoughts on how I might best market them? :confused:

[John]

Sure, put them on ebay and start the bidding at $99 with no reserve. Ship world wide and see what happens?:blah:

[jdo23k]

It rips my heart out to part with them. :banghead: Oh well, gotta do it! Thanks for the info. I'll probably put 'em up next week. Thanks again, Dennis :applaud: