Coffee Table Sub...

[Rib]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post.

I have a pair of L40's which I have owned since 1979 and still listen to them every day. I remember looking in the catalogue at the time I bought my L40's from my local dealer and seeing a pair of L250's and a coffee table sub bass unit. I have searched and searched and cannot find that particular sub unit-did it ever exist and if so what was the model number?

[rdgrimes]

B460 (http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1982-home/page09.jpg). Not much of a coffee table though, nothing would stay put on top of it. ;)

[SEAWOLF97]

I had read that the UB212 was the original selection for a sub to pair with the L250 ...its a lot more
"coffee tableish"

[grumpy]

My thoughts run to Janis... or Altec LF-1, LF-2 ?:dont-know:

[hjames]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post.

I have a pair of L40's which I have owned since 1979 and still listen to them every day. I remember looking in the catalogue at the time I bought my L40's from my local dealer and seeing a pair of L250's and a coffee table sub bass unit. I have searched and searched and cannot find that particular sub unit-did it ever exist and if so what was the model number?

Some one here posted a link to a CL ad a while back in the SF area for an ALTEC coffee table sub - looked real interesting ...

Ah, here it is - http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?29627-Unusual-Altec-Coffeetable-Subwoofer

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=48001&d=1287109724

[Rib]

Some one here posted a link to a CL ad a while back in the SF area for an ALTEC coffee table sub - looked real interesting ...

Ah, here it is - http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?29627-Unusual-Altec-Coffeetable-Subwoofer

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=48001&d=1287109724 Really like the look of the Altec but, it wasn't the one I saw in the catalogue some years ago. The one I saw had a round top, if memory serves me well. Thanks for the reply....

[Rib]

I had read that the UB212 was the original selection for a sub to pair with the L250 ...its a lot more
"coffee tableish"

Thanks for the reply. Have you got an image for the UB212. Was it a JBL product? Maybe I should ask if anyone has got the original catalogue, that's hoping it wasn't designed just for European market.

[hjames]

The only round speakers I can remember are some things from Empire -
but they weren't subs, just funky speakers that would "hide"as end tables into your room.
I think radio shack sold something like that as well, and some lesser manufacturers also
had cylindrical speakers too ... and some octagonal things as well. None were JBL.

But I did find this very nice pic online for the whole JBL L212 system ...
the short one is the Ultra Bass module,
which might also be known as a UB212.
Of course, this was the production model - not sure about any prototype designs.

Its not round, and I can't imagine using it as a coffee table -
but again, with a glass top, I can see it used as a an end table ...


55630

[rdgrimes]

Really like the look of the Altec but, it wasn't the one I saw in the catalogue some years ago. The one I saw had a round top, if memory serves me well. Thanks for the reply....

55631

[hjames]

Ah yes, the B460 coffeetable - how could I have forgotten !! :banana:


55632
Notice its a faux plant - the owner of this speaker would never risk a watermark from a wet plant!

The speaker actually looks better than my old photo would imply ... and it sounds GREAT!

[Rib]

Thanks for all the replies guys-must say I really like the Altec table sub but, still not the one I remember from the catalogue that was matched with a pair of L250's. So, my next question is; is their anyone out there ( sounds a bit Pink Floydish alla the Wall), who has that particular catalogue from the late 70's?

[HCSGuy]

Have you looked in the Library on this site? Here is the 1979 JBL catalog:
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/catalogs/1979-home.htm

It has the L212's with the UB212 bass module mentioned earlier, which was JBL's first consumer powered subwoofer, which I think premiered in 1978. That was all JBL offered in subwoofers until they came out with the L250 in 1982, with the B460. This was also the year that Audio Magazine published the article on using the JBL 2235 and 2245 woofers to make homebuilt subwoofers using 5th order alignments.
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/catalogs/1982-home.htm

I think the next year, 1983, or '84 they released the smaller B380 subwoofer using the 2235 driver:
http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/specs/home-speakers/1983-b380-b460/page2.jpg

That is pretty much the extent of JBL's subwoofer offerings through the 1980's, so if you saw a catalog with a L250 in it and a different subwoofer, it was someone else's; JBL didn't do anything else with home subwoofers until Home THX came out in 1993 or so and they released the HT1S passive subwoofer, which was big, square, black vinyl, and crappy, so I can't see anyone pairing it with a L250.

So who's subwoofer did you see? Considering the timeline you mention (Late 70's/early 80's), subwoofers were not at all commonplace - Miller & Kriesel, who had nothing that could resemble a coffee table, or maybe a few years later a Sumo Samson, which was a JBL 2235 in a larger box with Sumo's Delilah crossover. I suspect the closest thing to what you describe would be the original Velodyne ULD-18, which I think came out in 1983, and was all the rage for the next 5yrs or so:
55633

If it's not one of these, it's out of my memory, or possibly custom. I'm pretty confident, though, that it wasn't a JBL factory subwoofer. Good luck!

[Rib]

Have you looked in the Library on this site? Here is the 1979 JBL catalog:
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/catalogs/1979-home.htm

It has the L212's with the UB212 bass module mentioned earlier, which was JBL's first consumer powered subwoofer, which I think premiered in 1978. That was all JBL offered in subwoofers until they came out with the L250 in 1982, with the B460. This was also the year that Audio Magazine published the article on using the JBL 2235 and 2245 woofers to make homebuilt subwoofers using 5th order alignments.
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/catalogs/1982-home.htm

I think the next year, 1983, or '84 they released the smaller B380 subwoofer using the 2235 driver:
http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/specs/home-speakers/1983-b380-b460/page2.jpg

That is pretty much the extent of JBL's subwoofer offerings through the 1980's, so if you saw a catalog with a L250 in it and a different subwoofer, it was someone else's; JBL didn't do anything else with home subwoofers until Home THX came out in 1993 or so and they released the HT1S passive subwoofer, which was big, square, black vinyl, and crappy, so I can't see anyone pairing it with a L250.

So who's subwoofer did you see? Considering the timeline you mention (Late 70's/early 80's), subwoofers were not at all commonplace - Miller & Kriesel, who had nothing that could resemble a coffee table, or maybe a few years later a Sumo Samson, which was a JBL 2235 in a larger box with Sumo's Delilah crossover. I suspect the closest thing to what you describe would be the original Velodyne ULD-18, which I think came out in 1983, and was all the rage for the next 5yrs or so:
55633

If it's not one of these, it's out of my memory, or possibly custom. I'm pretty confident, though, that it wasn't a JBL factory subwoofer. Good luck!

Thanks for the detailed information: It's absolutely driving me crackers now because the more I think about it, the more I see the glossy catalogue with a pair of pyramidal speakers with a coffee table sub. In my minds eye, I see the L19's. L40's L110's and the bulky L300's all listed in the brochure. I still remember the list price pyramidal speakers which was mind blowing 1800 GBP which then was equivalent to $4000.00 with 70's exchange rate. I paid 350GBP for my L40's an absolute fortune for me then.