Are these early L77's ?

[2275xxx]

Hello,

A few days ago I saw these speakers on a local auction site, and I could not resist.

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/%5BURL=http://img12.imageshack.us/i/img4483v.jpg/%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1048/img4483v.th.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1048/img4483v.th.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/i/img4483v.jpg/) http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5254/img4485r.th.jpg (http://img18.imageshack.us/i/img4485r.jpg/)

From the loudspeaker setup and the dimensions of the enclosures it looks like they are early L77's, pre-1967.

However....
- there are no badges, no identifications;
- the grills are not the typicall ones with the aluminium edges;
- the location and size of the openings for the LX4-2 crossovers are different from "usual" L77's - and the crossovers use F2 adapters;
- after having searched through LH and googled a lot I have not managed to find pictures of L77s with the same features.

Does someone know if these details are typical of early examples ?
Or maybe they are not really L77s, but a kit (S11 + PR10) in a C-xx enclosure ?

Serial numbers (I opened only one of them):

LX4-2 #8404 & 8440
LE20 #6533 & ?
LE10A #13921 & ?


Thank you for your help.
Marc

[2275xxx]

Bump

[grumpy]

yes, earlier units, due the LE20 driver, but an odd crossover arrangement (newer
-appearing- LX-4 in older/large can), and what appear to be replacement
grilles. :dont-know ... or something someone cobbled together... there were usually
speaker -system- metal plate id tags with speaker model and stamped serial number.

[2275xxx]

yes, earlier units, due the LE20 driver, but an odd crossover arrangement (newer
-appearing- LX-4 in older/large can), and what appear to be replacement
grilles. :dont-know ... or something someone cobbled together... there were usually
speaker -system- metal plate id tags with speaker model and stamped serial number.

Thank you for your input.

Regarding the size of the openings for the xover, they are the standard JBL size, same as on the C36, C38, C40 and C53 enclosures - hence the use of the JBL F2 mounting flange for the LX4-2 : http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1964/page19.jpg
(http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1964/page19.jpg)

I did more investigations.

First, the components are all pretty early in the production range.
The LH Registery mentions a pair of LE20 manufactured in 1961, with serial numbers 6291 and 6293.
Mine are 6533 and 7250, so they must be as old as 1962/1963,if not 1961.
That was before the launch of the L77, isn't it ?

Then I discovered an interesting detail when I inspected the cabinets.
Although the dimensions are the same as the L77, there seems to be evidence these were component cabinets :

The openings for the filters in the back are machine-cut. Factory work.
On the contrary the openings on the front baffle were obviously cut by hand.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9255/img4499h.th.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/img4499h.jpg/) http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6827/img4496y.th.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/img4496y.jpg/) http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1628/img4498i.th.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/img4498i.jpg/)


This is intriguing.
Was there a short lived component cabinet with the exact same dimensions as the L77 - before the L77 was launched ?

I do not see any mention of such a component enclosure in the litterature available in the LH library.
Too bad there is no 1963 catalog available in the library..