JBL L65 Jubal ??????

[bookasan]

I just purchased a pair of JBL L65 speakers for $90 from a thrift store.
The one's I bought do not say "Jubal" on them and they have 122A woofers. I have noticed some have 126A woofers in them and some are marked Jubal.
What is the difference between the ones marked "Jubal" and the ones marked just L65?
Are the 126A's prefered over the 122A's?

[4313B]

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=107&highlight=jubal

My favorite stock Jubal was the L65B.

If I had L65's today I would most likely try the 128H-1.

In my personal opinion it is easily the best of the JBL 3-inch voice coiled 12-inch LF transducers.

I'm not sure if the 122A will take the 128H-1 cone kit or not. I probably wouldn't go with alnico anyway for that kind of recone.

In any case, for $90 you're way ahead of the game.

"Are the 126A's prefered over the 122A's?"

Not unless you stick dirty old socks in the ports :D

[MikeM]

Originally posted by bookasan
I just purchased a pair of JBL L65 speakers for $90 from a thrift store.
The one's I bought do not say "Jubal" on them and they have 122A woofers. I have noticed some have 126A woofers in them and some are marked Jubal.
What is the difference between the ones marked "Jubal" and the ones marked just L65?
Are the 126A's prefered over the 122A's?

I have you beat there! I found a pair of Jubals 11/2 blocks from the house got them for $40.00. Needed new glass tops and cabnets were banged up. I parted them out on ebay for around 700.00 even the cabnets. :)

[BigBusa]

I almost had you both beat!

I went to the salvation army a couple month back and sitting by the door with sold signs on them were a pair of L65 Jubals. They were mint but the woofer surrounds were going bad. Even both glass tops were there and perfect.

I asked the guy what he pair and he said $20 for the pair!

5 mins earlier and they would have been mine! :o

The tweeters in the jublas sell for around $500 a pair on ebay!!!!!

[lpd]

Hands down I think I have you both beat. $150 Canadian (which is about..... $100.00 US) a pair of JBL 4333AWX speakers!!!

[delta287]

I think I beat everyone up. I was in a used furniture store and found 2 Jubal in very fair condition, Asked to the owner about the price and he said - Those........are very old and are using to much space. I dont want to see them anymore, take it :jawdrop:
Got them my living room.
Sorry guys I saw them first. Best regards:applaud:

[brad347]

got my pair of Jubals, very nice shape L65As, for $50 this weekend! :applaud:

[Regis]

Now that's a deal! The L-65's were my very first pair of JBL's thirty years ago and I paid $630 for them at the Military PX store in Okinawa (they retailed for $1,200 the pair, back then!).

The L-65 is a very capable performer and will play just about any kind of music easily. Do have the woofer's checked out and make sure the suspension (the 'spider' as it's called, a circular reddish tan accordion fold piece under the speaker cone) is not worn or sagging.

Not sure what kind of stereo equipment you have, but make sure it's got ample power. A reciever or amplifier with 200 watts per channel is a good choice, as underpowering these big speakers can damage them if you overdrive the amplifier and cause the signal to clip (square waves are death to speakers!).

[brad347]

Now that's a deal! The L-65's were my very first pair of JBL's thirty years ago and I paid $630 for them at the Military PX store in Okinawa (they retailed for $1,200 the pair, back then!).

The L-65 is a very capable performer and will play just about any kind of music easily. Do have the woofer's checked out and make sure the suspension (the 'spider' as it's called, a circular reddish tan accordion fold piece under the speaker cone) is not worn or sagging.

Not sure what kind of stereo equipment you have, but make sure it's got ample power. A reciever or amplifier with 200 watts per channel is a good choice, as underpowering these big speakers can damage them if you overdrive the amplifier and cause the signal to clip (square waves are death to speakers!).

The 122a drivers are getting re-foamed as we speak. They look clean as a pin, like new, except that one of them had some slight foam rot. I'm refoaming both for good measure.

In all honesty, I don't listen to music very loud, I'm in the music business and I have to protect my hearing. When I listen at home I keep the volume quite low, a comfortable listening level only, and I listen to mostly classical and jazz.

I do not have a high-powered amplifier, but rather a medium-power (35WPC) tube amp. I would never tolerate the sound of clipping, so I'm not too worried about damaging them with clipping, even though they're (maybe?) not as efficient as some others by JBL standards (about 78dB at 1w at 15ft, or 92 dB at 1m, if i remember right).

To be honest, though the concept of "underpowering" speakers is a bit new to me. Would anyone listen to clipped amplifier output, anyway? How do guitar and synth players get away with sending square waves through their amplifiers? How do intentionally distorted signals and square-wave synth sounds, etc. in modern recordings keep from damaging speakers?

I'd assume, also, that the manner in which a tube amp clips is much safer than the manner in which a solid-state amp or digital device clips. Tubes 'round off' and gently compress and fatten up first, long before any flattening takes place. You have to drive a tube amp pretty hard into distortion to get actual square waves.

But I'd love to hear more on the subject. I'm not too paranoid about it, but if there was a real danger at low listening levels, I'd want to know about it.

[brad347]

After some more asking around I have found that the DC produced by a clipping solid-state amp is what's really the killer more so than the square waves. Tube amps, even when driven to clipping, almost never put out that kind of DC.

[BMWCCA]

But I'd love to hear more on the subject. I'm not too paranoid about it, but if there was a real danger at low listening levels, I'd want to know about it.

Here you go: http://www.jblpro.com/pub/technote/lowpower.pdf

Though I'd still have my Fisher SA-1000 amp if the tubes hadn't become unavailable to normal college kids back in 1973, I've been operating solid-state high-power amps now for over 34 years with no failures. I think the trick is buying quality equipment with a good reputation. In my case that has always meant Crown, and all seven of those are still working perfectly. But then when I find something that works for me, I don't look for a reason to change. I've used the same brand of speakers continuously since I was 5-years-old (still have that one), same brand of motor vehicle since 1971 . . . and married to the same wife since 1981 (though we began the "test-drive" in 1975). ;)

[SEAWOLF97]

. I think the trick is buying quality equipment with a good reputation.

I just had a Bryston 4B go DC on me 20 minutes ago :banghead: and it took out the woofer of one of my 4315's. I could test everything out with the remaining good side of the Bryston but, that might be acting stupid twice! Right now I want to throw it in the gargage.


Looks like quality equipment with a good reputation, is not always a guarantee, but then what is ?

[Mannermusic]

Brad, BMW - Yep, been using "low powered" amps for 40+ years with no difficulties. The tube jobs were Fischer and Marantz 8B and the SS Crown, which I still have, like BMW. I'm also a player (trumpet) and I think our sense of proper volume is related to what we've learned playing in our various groups over the years. I can tell you that my Crown D60 will fill my 20X22' listening room with a Big Band or full orchestra with a sound level that is all I can stand and have never heard any semblance of clipping. If I feel like going insane I have a D150 and a SAE 2200. By the way, the SAE has power indicators on the front and the most I have ever seen is 10 watts (peak) which is painful - not good for a musician's ears, as you say above. A typical listening level is about 1 watt for my big system (S8+) and a bit more for my smaller system (4313B derivative). Actually, what happens is that in a small room like we use for listening, the reverb simply overpowers the environment and any semblance of "Hi Fi" is lost. It's just LOUD. Can't hear anything. Who is kidding whom? Maybe we should all rent an auditorium then we could really crank it up . . . but I'd rather hire the musicians. Mike

[grumpy]

for Brad... in your application, you should be just fine. If you like the bass
that comes with that pairing of amp/speaker, then you're done (which is
nearly an impossible feat for a bunch of us ... being "done") :)

So... congratulations on a remarkable purchase, that I hope you enjoy for
quite a while. -grumpy

[BMWCCA]

Looks like quality equipment with a good reputation, is not always a guarantee, but then what is ?The most complimentary thing you'll hear me say about Brystons is they sure do cost a lot! :applaud: Don't mean squat, apparently. :(

Heck, when I was ten I used to play my mono 030 system out of the headphone jack of a ChannelMaster transistor radio. That 030 is still alive today and in my living room.