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View Full Version : Does Anyone Recognize This Speaker?



farleybob
02-28-2009, 04:59 PM
I saw this speaker today. It has a JBL d130A and D175. I can't place the cabinet though. It doesn't look like any JBL cabinet I know and I can't find any identification on the cabinet. It's very cool looking though. And there's nothing more tempting than a old speaker hiding under a box of stuff.

grumpy
02-28-2009, 05:18 PM
1949-50 D-1001 kit (from catalog in LH library) may be a likely candidate
(in a custom or retrofit cabinet).

rdgrimes
02-28-2009, 06:59 PM
Looks like an old radio cabinet - turned - speaker cabinet.

speakerdave
02-28-2009, 08:09 PM
Looks like an Altec 605A cabinet hacked for some JBL components.

grumpy
02-28-2009, 09:44 PM
http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1945-duplex/page09.jpg

even older 605 cabinet might be a match (1943-45?)

farleybob
03-01-2009, 07:58 AM
Thanks! I hadn't really thought that it might be a hacked radio console or different cabinet. I sure hope some one didn't hack a 605 cabinet. That would be a shame (although I guess it wasn't such a big deal in 1950). After hearing your suggestions, I do notice that at the very least there must have been some kind of insert or trim to hold the grill cloth (ala 605) that is missing. Bummer -- I like the overall looks of the cabinet and what is there is in pretty decent shape.

speakerdave
03-01-2009, 10:24 AM
There was another cabinet similar to the 605 that I think was Western Electric and was called the lobby monitor; it was used to play the soundtrack of the movie in the lobby and theater offices. I think that is it.

farleybob
03-02-2009, 02:24 PM
Thanks again. I've heard of the WE 753 which is a little monitor in a furniture cabinet, but I didn't know about the lobby monitor. In thinking about it more, I doubt it's a radio cabinet because it looked like the cabinet back is original to the cabinet and most console radios didn't have backs. Oh well, I guess it's moot anyway -- it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to get it to follow me home to join the other misfit single mono speakers.:banghead:

Steve Schell
03-02-2009, 08:52 PM
Farleybob, those are excellent early JBL speaker components that were designed by Jim Lansing shortly before he died. These examples look to have been built between 1950 and 1954. The "big L" Jim Lansing logo (designed by Alvin Lustig) didn't appear until 1950, and the cast woofer pot replaced the pipe and plate pot of this 130A in 1954. We could nail it down closer with serial numbers from the decals on the components.

Grumpy the Altec 605 is a good guess for the cabinet, but this one is somewhat different in the details. It looks taller to me as well, as though it was designed for a non coaxial two way system. We have no evidence that JBL built anything that looked like this. Stephens and Jensen are two companies that did built similar looking cabinets and I'm sure there were others as well.

Speakerdave I'd love to know more about that lobby monitor. The two WE two ways that I'm familiar with are the 753 and 757 (I think) systems, but I've learned over the years that there are always more undiscovered goodies out there.