Early JBL 075 075-022 SN <1000

[WmartinB]

Hello - I came across this 075 locally and bought it because it has (what I believe to be) a very low serial number - SN 852 - I am assuming that this is just the same as a 075 although it is stamped 075-022? Is this from the first year of production?

[Steve Schell]

That is earlier than any I have seen, WmartinB. Does it have the usual brushed aluminum front surfaces, or something along the lines of olive drab? Rumor mill has it that the 075 was not designed for audio originally, but to count train cars as a special model built for General Railway Signal Co. From what I can see yours was not one of these, but an early example of the tweeter to augment the highs of the Hartsfield, Paragon etc.

[subwoof]

Have owned a number of the olive-drab painted "bullets" in the last 30 years. Here in the concrete slab north east they were common on some highway intersections ( and temp construction of bridge surfaces ) and of course, General railways was nearby in Chili ( rochester NY ).

The suffix on the GR 075's was -105 most of the time. The dia's had tinned aluminum leads that were really fragile and some of the dia's were made of the same "aircraft" aluminum that the very very first lansing 375's had. The hue ( shading ) of them was distinct and I think I still have one somewhere in my stash.

Some were also made of stainless steel ( like the Dukane 5A360 version of the 375 ) but no doc's exist that i can find other than my service "goes into" data from the early 80's that say NLA or "no direct replacement"

I have some tideland signals ( another railway customer ) foilcals but they mostly used the 077's without the horn wedges installed. Finding the wedges is a real hard quest..

sub

[WmartinB]

This has the normal aluminum bullet front - I am not sure if it had been stripped, it does not have the normal brushed aluminum finish, It looks buffed - Unfortunately the original diaphragm was replaced with an OEM D8R075 2402/075 diaphragm -

Does the -XXX indicate that it was used for railways? I have seen a few articles mentioning the -105 but I have not been able to find anything on the -022 suffix