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cplyons
09-20-2004, 09:15 AM
Should I buy these or not? I have found some excellent condition Lancer 99 speakers locally. Wood grilles are perfect, as is the finish. These have been in a local home since the mid 1960s, and uplayed for the past thirty years. These are speakers only, no amps built in...

I pulled off the grille covers and the drivers look original and minty. I gently pressed on the 14" woof Lans-alloy surrounds and found them quite pliable and offering decent travel. There are no signs of cracks in them. The speakers also have all the original paperwork.

The price for these babies is $300 but I think he'll let them go for $250. But there is no provision there for listening to them first. The guy says they work great, but was not thrilled with the idea of letting me audition them, and I think I can talk him into lower $$ if I just buy them.

I've been all over the web and can't find out much about these, other than they were built early to mid 1960s. I have looked at everything at the Lansing Heritage site (only found one catalog page) and searched the Audio Asylum, but I haven't seen anything on the most critical piece of information: HOW DO THEY SOUND? Is this a special speaker or just decent for the era they were produced? I currently running a 35 wpc tube amp into Altec Fourteen Horns in the living room, and these would replace the Dynaco a25's in my shop. How good is the price, and how good is the sound?

thanks!

Chris L

johnaec
09-20-2004, 09:25 AM
It sounds like a good deal - that's about average on eBay. Some consider the mids somewhat weak because the 14" LE14A gets pushed so high. I have a pair and find them OK for what they are,

John

cplyons
09-21-2004, 11:26 AM
Thanks John for the candid opinion. "sounds OK for what they are" tells me that since I already have a house full of vintage speakers I don't need to add these! Maybe some other nice set of JBLs will eventually find their way to my door.

Chris

jmpgfoto
02-17-2005, 12:53 AM
:blink: I've read the several posting concerning Lancer L99 speakers but would like to have more info. I've just come across a pair of James B. Lansing Lancer L99 SUB (marked) speakers but know nothing about them other than they are two way and in fair condition and sound OK. I thought they might be OK for home recording monitors but they seem to sound a bit mushy compared to what I am using now. Does anyone have more info about these speakers. Are they worth keeping?

John / Burbank CA

Zilch
02-17-2005, 02:03 AM
Lancer 99 was a home audio bookshelf and/or floor speaker, not a monitor. I don't know why it would be marked "SUB." I wouldn't think it suitable for use as a monitor, even for home recording.

They're marginally collectible, particularly the ones with fretwork wood grilles, routinely sold on eBay, and otherwise often parted out. The foam surrounds on the LE14A woofers must almost invariably be replaced due to age to restore bass performance.

There's plenty of used JBL REAL control and studio monitors available for the same or less $$$.

My first JBL's, I bought them instead of the then popular L100 because the grilles were somewhat impervious to attack by the cat, knowing the L100's foam would be shredded instantly. I sold them well used years later in a relocation purge, and then bought another pair for the "collection" here more recently.

Find info on them in the Lansing Library on this site....

jandregg
02-17-2005, 06:03 AM
I personally am very fond of the S99. It is a great sounding speaker for easy listening and soft classical music. Not as foward as the L100 and not as loud. Makes many vocalist sound better than they would on a more revealing speaker.


John

mike
02-17-2005, 03:02 PM
For $250 you shouldn't hesitate. It's tough to find older JBL's in such nice original condition. They should sound decent and are certainly competitive with other large bookshelf speakers from the same time period. I think they would sound better than the Dynaco A25's.

Mike

Titanium Dome
02-17-2005, 04:21 PM
For $250, I don't know. What's the going price for nostalgia these days? IMO you'll be buying nostalgia rather than a classic knockout speaker.

If you've got an extra $250 and won't mind having some inoffensive sounding, interesting conversation pieces taking up some space, then, sure, do it. If this is meant to be a serious purchase for higher quality listening, then, no, don't do it.

I agree with Mike that they'll sound better than the Dynacos, but then I'll posit that that's not much of an endorsement to spend $250.

mike
02-17-2005, 07:13 PM
Yeah, there are JBL's that you can get for $250 that will sound better. I was more or less saying get them for the collector's appeal. That is if you are into that sort of thing. Super clean L99's with fret grilles can bring $500 a pair from the right buyer. A clean pair of LE14A's might even be worth $250.

Mike

transducergeek
03-20-2005, 03:12 PM
I just sold a pair of S99's, or "LANCER 99's" to a guy in Japan for $335.00 and they were without grilles! And the wood was poor. They are giving a lot of yen in the land of the rising sun..

They all worked fine, and the Lans-a-Loy was hard, of course. At low level listening the sound was OK, I did not want to "exercise" the surrounds much, and crack them. If I were to buy for sound, I could find better sound per dollar, perhaps in a set of 166's, findable for about $200-300/pair or so. But the 99's do have a "collector" value, and perhaps are a better "investment".

So, do you want collector'age? or sound'age?
In the case of the 99's it's one or the other.
RE