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gmitten
10-24-2011, 08:04 AM
I recently bought a 1950's contemporary house from the original owner. He was a big music fan and left me what seems to be a JBL paragon speaker. I really don't know much about them, but noticed the one he left me has some differences to the models I have found online. I can't find any serial numbers but to be honest I am afraid of taking anything apart to look closer. He claims he bought it in 1957. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have attached some pictures. Not sure if there are any other areas I should take pictures of to help identify model.

Thanks in advance,
Gareth

rdgrimes
10-24-2011, 08:25 AM
Looks like a kit or home-made derivative.

gmitten
10-24-2011, 09:00 AM
Could he have bought the cabinet in the 1957 and put his own electronics into it himself? He made reference to paying a handsome some for it when he bought it. Not sure if the JBL paragon was sold that way or not.

Robh3606
10-24-2011, 09:11 AM
It's not a Paragon. Even the crossovers look to be hand made by a hobiest. So how does it sound?? Any idea what woofers are hidden in there?? Are the horns 511 or 811's?? You should be able to tell with a tape measure if you can't find any labels.

http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/altec/specs/components/sectoral.htm



Rob:)

Maron Horonzakz
10-24-2011, 09:36 AM
Its a home built cabinet stuffed with Altec drivers,,That Altec horn in the bass bin cavity is not even pointing at the reflector panel,,Kinda useless,,Cabinet does not even have proper legs,,Not that hard to carve with proper templates.

hjames
10-24-2011, 10:10 AM
The Paragon was a JBL speaker system, and would have JBL parts in it,
but the system you show looks to have Altec Lansing parts in it.
Not sure how much you know about the companies, and I mean no offense, but
James B Lansing and Altec Lansing are two distinct and different companies
My guess is your system is a very cool looking custom speaker system.

Its an attractive system, at least - a very interesting late 50's design, no doubt.
The real question is always - how does it sound?



I recently bought a 1950's contemporary house from the original owner. He was a big music fan and left me what seems to be a JBL paragon speaker. I really don't know much about them, but noticed the one he left me has some differences to the models I have found online. I can't find any serial numbers but to be honest I am afraid of taking anything apart to look closer. He claims he bought it in 1957. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have attached some pictures. Not sure if there are any other areas I should take pictures of to help identify model.

Thanks in advance,
Gareth

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=53388&stc=1&d=1319468486

Maron Horonzakz
10-24-2011, 10:40 AM
Its an attractive cabinet even though the details have been simplafied..i wonder how the curved panel was constructed,,altough for a brief time jbl would supply curved panels and legs,,i aquired some from the factory..later i made my own...a special jig is needed to hold its shape while laminating..

gmitten
10-24-2011, 10:59 AM
Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate all the help. The previous owner had an extensive wood working shop in the basement and I would not put it past him making this speaker system. I was scared to hook up anything and test out the sound. Now that I know its homemade I will give it a spin and let you know how it sounds.

Thanks again,
G.

gmitten
10-24-2011, 11:40 AM
cabinet dimensions
103 inches across
21 inches deep
32 inches high

The horns are 18 inches across, not sure what I have to measure to determine if they are 511 or 811.
I took a picture of a woofer too. hopefully its enough to determine what kind it is.


Thanks,
G.

shaansloan
10-24-2011, 07:08 PM
The horns are 18 inches across, not sure what I have to measure to determine if they are 511 or 811.
I took a picture of a woofer too. hopefully its enough to determine what kind it is.Thanks,
G.

The horn is a 511(at 18" wide), much larger than an 811. The woofer is not an Altec or JBL, is there any manufacturer name in that writing? Is there 4 wires going to the woofer? maybe its a duplex? Also, looks like a 3 way and has a tweeter also below the horn on the right...?

This is definately a homemade job, a Paragon look-alike, but not really taking advantage of the Paragon sound projection designs, as Maron pointed out. Nevertheless it is probably a fairly good sounding unit....for sure it is very unique.

Tell us how it sounds!

Maron Horonzakz
10-25-2011, 09:12 AM
A word of caution,,,Never pick it up in one piece,,Take it apart and seperate in three sections to move,,, The gentilman who built this did a great job,,,That woofer looks interesting..The woofer basket does not resemble Altec..But the green color looks right.. Looking closer is that a black grill frame over the bass cavity ???

hjames
10-25-2011, 09:49 AM
Its an odd-woofer config ... is it some kind of concentric driver like the UREI woofers in their studio monitors?
I dumped the image in PhotoShop CS5, but can't make it much clearer ... sorry.


53417

toddalin
10-25-2011, 10:47 AM
Someone's cool project.

Tweeter is a cheap piezo, maybe a Motorola. The right side tweeter simply appears to be wired in parallel with the horn.

The horn does not look properly situated to take full advantage of the curved baffle for proper dispersion.

grumpy
10-25-2011, 01:59 PM
I completely missed that (enhanced a bit here):

53419

Eaulive
10-25-2011, 04:07 PM
I completely missed that (enhanced a bit here):

53419

Good eye, only on the right side however (I was frantically looking on the left side and was wondering what kind of magical enhancer you were having) :D

Mr. Widget
10-25-2011, 08:02 PM
Definitely a unique speaker... a beautifully executed one with genuine Brazilian rosewood. Even though it is a home made speaker, this one is special and deserves to be kept. If the sound isn't quite what you like, I'd suggest getting help changing the business end.


Widget

tomt
10-26-2011, 12:45 AM
I recently bought a 1950's contemporary house from the original owner. He was a big music fan and left me what seems to be a .... .... speaker.
Thanks in advance,
Gareth

if you like music, its worth keeping.




university woofer.



`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````
and of course,

sound better w/tube amps ...

Cooljjay
10-28-2011, 07:32 PM
It may not be JBL but I love the cabinet, the rose wood veneer is very nice. I would imgine the system would sound very nice with up to date crossovers and tweeters.

The woofers are University C-15W....great woofer, heavy as heck.

http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/69088.aspx