..a funny looking 150-4C on ebay...

[Harkness]

haven't dropped by in a while, hope everyone's having fun!

do these look real? (http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-150-4C-/160445024842?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item255b44ca4a) wondering if there are some fakes out there when i see things that look wrong, like this.

this also concerns me.. any comments about how legit something like this is? (http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-LE15a-130A-VOX-150-4c-woofer-REAR-BADGE-Logo-NEW-/250650823631?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3a5bf40bcf) he says he can stamp serial numbers if requested.. huh???

take care, and thanks for weighing in.

[stephane RAME]

it sells to other JBL here http://shop.ebay.com/rgwalker/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

Stéphane
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?11750-My-new-Loudspeaker-Systems-%E2%80%93-Great-Plains-audio

[JohnK]

It would be hard to duplicate the basket extension ring, extra bolts and cork gasket. It looks pretty good.

The dup badges seem kind of silly to me. I've hardly if ever seen one fall off & who's going to try and knock off a d130? Anybody who is in the market for a 150-4c isn't going to be fooled by a 130A with a different tag.

[rgwalker]

It would be hard to duplicate the basket extension ring, extra bolts and cork gasket. It looks pretty good.

The dup badges seem kind of silly to me. I've hardly if ever seen one fall off & who's going to try and knock off a d130? Anybody who is in the market for a 150-4c isn't going to be fooled by a 130A with a different tag.

Thank you. The Ebay listings were mine and I pulled the auctions after the lone bidder started saying that they are fakes. I hadn't even thought about it and even though it's more than unlikely I'd be foolish to pass it off without at least investigating it. I only pulled the auctions because they would have ended tonight and he may have been using it to keep other bidders away. I've posted another thread looking for some resolution and hopefully validation that they're authentic and I'll be prepared for the next auction.

The bidders suspicions are based on close serial numbers. He claims that he has several pairs and along with mine they are all within 20 numbers, which he feels is more than a coincidence. When I started looking through here last night I saw two old posts from 2003 about 150-4C fakes and there were several people with multiple pairs and two of them listed 4 - 6 speakers with very close numbers. There weren't that many of them made and many have been for sale so the chances of collectors getting more than one pair of close numberes isn't a stretch.

I'm an Altec guy and I didn't know much about them before yesterday when this started between me and the bidder. There's not a lot on fakes readily available on Google but I did learn that the D130 and the 150-4C have the same basket and magnet and other than the ring the only real difference is the cone, which sits at a differnet angle.

It's a learning experience and the game goes on. I went through this with a set of vintage Gretsch drums that I sold for a friend several years ago. I ended up learning quite a lot about their history and identifcation and meeting a few people who have become good friends.

Bob W

[Harkness]

interesting turn of events..

i think another flag is the serial number which is printed in black, where the badges were made with that spot blank so the number could be stamped in, but not inked.

there are unscrupulous people out there who will fake nearly anything of value now, modern and vintage. it's really unfortunate.

bob, i think you did the right thing to pul your auction until you can be certain. how did you end up with them, if i may ask?

[rgwalker]

interesting turn of events..

i think another flag is the serial number which is printed in black, where the badges were made with that spot blank so the number could be stamped in, but not inked.

there are unscrupulous people out there who will fake nearly anything of value now, modern and vintage. it's really unfortunate.

bob, i think you did the right thing to pul your auction until you can be certain. how did you end up with them, if i may ask?

I'm speculating that these were restored years ago with new badges but weren't being redone as fakes and the owner wanted a cleaner look and got the numbers silk screened instead of stamped. There's no other reason why anyone would go to that much trouble when stamping is so easy.

The recones are recent and the DCR for each is 8.2 and a very close match as the reconer/seller claims. They aren't OEM but the paper looks proper and the job is excellent.

I picked them up on Ebay almost two years ago. I'm always careful with who I deal with and this guy has a perfect feedback score with most of his 1100+ transactions being in vintage audio and almost every comment from a buyer is glowing. He wasn't trying to dupe me and may not have noticed the badge and cover himself or perhaps doesn't care and has seen so many variations that everything has something different and/or wrong with it.

I've offered the original bidder, and whistle blower, the first right of refusal to make a deal before I relist them and I've rewritten the ad copy to talk about fakes and to reflect what I've learned in relation to mine.

I'm thinking of them like the vintage Fender bass that has been refretted and has new tuning keys. It's as authentic as can be and has all of the soul and feel of any vintage instrument like it but it doesn't have any value as a collectors item and is only worthwhile to a player.

I don't know if you can open this link and I'm holding off for a few days before I list it but I wouldn't mind a critique of my ad copy http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160447862646

Bob W

[rgwalker]

I sold them in a private deal for $900.00. I'll be out a few hundred and I might have been able to get a few more on Ebay but it could have been worse. This guy is looking for working speakers and is the bird in the hand. He's well aware of the recent history and realizes that he's getting the guts and not the glory.

Thanks again for everything.

Bob W