BMWCCA
06-19-2016, 06:20 AM
I've had JBLs in my home since before I was five-years-old. I still have the original 030 system my Dad owned back then. When he tried to donate the single 030 from his mono system to the Goodwill and go "stereo" with some bookshelf speakers and a Fisher 400, I dragged the mono system from the curb and stashed it in my closet. I was perhaps 9-years-old at the time. At first I played the mono Elac/Miracord TT through the Pilot mono integrated with the JBL. Later I used a ChannelMaster transistor radio to "power" the JBL from the earphone jack. Later still, I found a used C37 loaded with the 030 system at the local JBL dealer, another mono trade-in, and suddenly I had a stereo pair.
By the time we all had our driver's licenses, my prep-school friends were spending big bucks on new stereo systems. One friend bought his L100s back in probably 1970. He also bought the JBL SA600 to power them. The boys went crazy, except for me. I'd already been spoiled by my familiarity with the 030 by that time. The L100s could rock but I preferred the subtleties of the D130. Over the years I've fallen further into JBLs and drifted farther from the "unique" sound of the L100. I just never was a fan of "fake-but-fun". I learned quite early that money wasn't always the answer and that vintage/used hi-fi equipment was a good deal. I still have the Mac C20 I bought used to run the JBLs, but traded the Fisher SA1000 amp in favor of my first Crown amp 45-years ago. I bought cast-offs while my friends bought the latest and greatest. My Dad used to to tell me I'd "picked the wrong womb". The older I get, the more I realize how wrong he was! But then when he went hi-fi shopping 60-years ago, he stretched for JBL. This being Father's Day, I owe him for that . . . and so much more! I know he would have loved my 4345s.
Flash forward to yesterday. That same friend has kept his L100s this whole time, through college, law school, kids, divorce, several moves and bad and good times. Several years ago he asked me about replacing the grilles and I suggested one of the vendors known to this site and he purchased the unpainted gray version for better WAF. And then came divorce. They've been in storage almost ever since. Yesterday he drove down to visit and brought me the L100s, still wrapped in the movers' cardboard and shrink wrap. I have yet to unwrap them but can already see the bottoms have the typical wear you'd expect from going to college, and the grille frames seem to have some broken parts. He says they're working just fine and wanted them to go to a good home. (Yes, he still has the SA600, though I'm not sure it's fully functional.)
Today's project is to get them out of the car, unwrap, and evaluate them. It might be a while until I can actually find a place to hear them in the "speaker room" which currently houses over ten pair of JBLs from L1 to 250ti (I believe I currently own more than sixteen pairs of JBLs). But I couldn't pass them up. It will be interesting to put six-decades of iconic JBLs in the same room and offer a live perspective on how they evolved, devolved, then blossomed again, only to crash on the heap that is NAFTA and Harman International. I'll be able to play the first pair of L100s I ever heard right next to the first pair of JBLs I ever heard which have lived with me for nearly 60-years.
We hope to start construction on our new, second—and last—home within the next few months. There's a "bonus" room upstairs in the plans we came up with that will be my new speaker room and JBL museum. I hope to be able to invite some of you over for a listen within a year's time. It should be an interesting trip down Memory Lane.
Happy Father's Day to all the other dads here!
By the time we all had our driver's licenses, my prep-school friends were spending big bucks on new stereo systems. One friend bought his L100s back in probably 1970. He also bought the JBL SA600 to power them. The boys went crazy, except for me. I'd already been spoiled by my familiarity with the 030 by that time. The L100s could rock but I preferred the subtleties of the D130. Over the years I've fallen further into JBLs and drifted farther from the "unique" sound of the L100. I just never was a fan of "fake-but-fun". I learned quite early that money wasn't always the answer and that vintage/used hi-fi equipment was a good deal. I still have the Mac C20 I bought used to run the JBLs, but traded the Fisher SA1000 amp in favor of my first Crown amp 45-years ago. I bought cast-offs while my friends bought the latest and greatest. My Dad used to to tell me I'd "picked the wrong womb". The older I get, the more I realize how wrong he was! But then when he went hi-fi shopping 60-years ago, he stretched for JBL. This being Father's Day, I owe him for that . . . and so much more! I know he would have loved my 4345s.
Flash forward to yesterday. That same friend has kept his L100s this whole time, through college, law school, kids, divorce, several moves and bad and good times. Several years ago he asked me about replacing the grilles and I suggested one of the vendors known to this site and he purchased the unpainted gray version for better WAF. And then came divorce. They've been in storage almost ever since. Yesterday he drove down to visit and brought me the L100s, still wrapped in the movers' cardboard and shrink wrap. I have yet to unwrap them but can already see the bottoms have the typical wear you'd expect from going to college, and the grille frames seem to have some broken parts. He says they're working just fine and wanted them to go to a good home. (Yes, he still has the SA600, though I'm not sure it's fully functional.)
Today's project is to get them out of the car, unwrap, and evaluate them. It might be a while until I can actually find a place to hear them in the "speaker room" which currently houses over ten pair of JBLs from L1 to 250ti (I believe I currently own more than sixteen pairs of JBLs). But I couldn't pass them up. It will be interesting to put six-decades of iconic JBLs in the same room and offer a live perspective on how they evolved, devolved, then blossomed again, only to crash on the heap that is NAFTA and Harman International. I'll be able to play the first pair of L100s I ever heard right next to the first pair of JBLs I ever heard which have lived with me for nearly 60-years.
We hope to start construction on our new, second—and last—home within the next few months. There's a "bonus" room upstairs in the plans we came up with that will be my new speaker room and JBL museum. I hope to be able to invite some of you over for a listen within a year's time. It should be an interesting trip down Memory Lane.
Happy Father's Day to all the other dads here!