JBL l150a purchase

[Rob]

I've been looking for a set of speakers for my apartment at school. I came across a set l150a speakers for $50. I couldn't resist so I went went last night with my buddy and somehow got these in the back of my car. These are bigger then I thought, I have a set of EPI T/E 360 that I got from my uncle and I thought those where big speakers.

The cabinets are in good shape, the tops have a couple ring marks and look like they need refinished. The sides are perfect with minimal chipping. One of the grills has a hole in it and they are a little faded but that's expected.

I am wondering though if the woofers where replaced in these at one time. The other pics of them I found on the internet shows them with a white woofer and this is a black one, the radiator is also a little different. I haven't had a chance to pull those out yet but hopefully I will do that tonight.

attached is a picture of one of them that I took with my iPhone, my SLR is at home so the quality isn't that good.

[grumpy]

Both the 12-inch woofer (128H) and passive radiator (PR300) have been
replaced... someone probably didn't know that deteriorated foam 'surround'
can be replaced, or the speakers reconed without tossing the whole units
(or got a scary quote for the repair).

Regardless, your $50 was spent well whether you decide to hunt down the
proper drive units (could cost hundreds of $) or sell off the original bits that
still exist (tweeter, mid, crossover, grille, even cabinets). Personally, I'd say
they are worth fixing correctly if their basic sound is 'up your alley', but
parting them out would likely net you a greater return (if that's the goal).

Heck... if you like them as they are... there you go :)

Nice find.

[hjames]

$50 is a heck of a nice price for a pair of big speakers,
even if some parts have been shuffled.
On a tight budget, even that may not matter so much ...

How do they sound to you?
Do you like the way they sound?
Bottom line - can you live with the way they sound?


I've been looking for a set of speakers for my apartment at school. I came across a set l150a speakers for $50. I couldn't resist so I went went last night with my buddy and somehow got these in the back of my car. These are bigger than I thought ...

The cabinets are in good shape, the tops have a couple ring marks and look like they need to be refinished ... that's expected.

I am wondering though if the woofers were replaced in these at one time. The other pics of them I found on the internet shows them with a white woofer and this is a black one, the radiator is also a little different. I haven't had a chance to pull those out yet but hopefully I will do that tonight.

[Rob]

To me they sound really nice. I have heard better systems but I can't complain for $50. As this is my apartment I don't really care as much since I have a decent setup at home. I think I will live with them as is for now, maybe down the road I will part them out or sell them. I don't think my mom would appreciate another set of speakers in the house.

I would like to replace the grill cloths, and good sources for that? I think I saw some at parts express awhile back when I was building speakers.

What where these originally finished with?

[grumpy]

A member here "saeman" might be able to help you out with original
cloth. There are multiple "threads" on the topic, including how-to's
if you can get the Search function to perform for you.

[midlife]

Great bargain, put some cloth on the grilles and use the speakers to see if your initial positive listening impression remains, hopefully it will. If not deals on original components do come up. See if you can determine if the jbl appropriate crossovers are there, they probably will be. All and all, a very good acquision :applaud:

[brad6285]

a guy on here in the marketplace was just selling the correct passive radiatore and the 128h woofers. his name is mike he wants a 100.00 for the pr300s and 200.00 for the 128hs. thats a great buy put them all together and youll only have payed 350.00 for your l150as. i paid alot more for mine. checkout his post on the lansing marketplace under l150 cabinets. get your browm cloth from acoustimac.com its 9 bucks a yard. its the perfect brown color match i have it on my l112s sitting on top of my l150as and the color is exact. brad

[Rob]

I tried to pull the woofer to see what it was. It seems to me that whoever put those in glued them in :banghead:

I have used silicon myself for my home theater sub to make sure it was really sealed but I didn't glue it in.

I might just have to live with them as is. I am wondering though if I can use a heat gun to try to heat up the glue to get it to come off or using a solvent to break it down. This is kinda frustrating!