What can you tell me about these old speakers?

[glendayle]

Newb here. You'll have to forgive my ignorance when it comes to antique/vintage equipment. Something I've always had a little bit of interest in, but just wasn't really at a spot where I had time and energy to do much in the way of research.

I have always been interested at a basic level for old stereo equipment. I've always wanted an old console which I picked up a month ago. I was showing it to my grandma and she asked if I was interested in their stuff.

Grandpa bought this stuff a long time ago. He died a while back. Grandma is sort of divying up things and getting rid of things. Some she is giving away, and some she is sort of putting names on for after she dies. And we don't really know when that will be. She's relatively healthy, but is in her late 80s, so who knows. Anyway, she said she would put my name on the stereo equipment and speakers because "no one else wants any of that old stuff."

Amp is a Marantz Model 32
Receiver is a Marantz model 24.
I can sort of look those items up, but don't know much about them.
The speakers I know very little about. They are JBL. They are about 48 inches wide and 3 ft or so tall. I didn't take the grills off of them recently, but I did once about 20 years ago. They have 2 large speakers(15s I think), and a small tweeter or cone speaker. Grandma says they were all purchased together in the early to mid 70s.
Thanks in advance for any help in telling me more about these things.
76457
76456

[edgewound]

Newb here. You'll have to forgive my ignorance when it comes to antique/vintage equipment. Something I've always had a little bit of interest in, but just wasn't really at a spot where I had time and energy to do much in the way of research.

I have always been interested at a basic level for old stereo equipment. I've always wanted an old console which I picked up a month ago. I was showing it to my grandma and she asked if I was interested in their stuff.

Grandpa bought this stuff a long time ago. He died a while back. Grandma is sort of divying up things and getting rid of things. Some she is giving away, and some she is sort of putting names on for after she dies. And we don't really know when that will be. She's relatively healthy, but is in her late 80s, so who knows. Anyway, she said she would put my name on the stereo equipment and speakers because "no one else wants any of that old stuff."

Amp is a Marantz Model 32
Receiver is a Marantz model 24.
I can sort of look those items up, but don't know much about them.
The speakers I know very little about. They are JBL. They are about 48 inches wide and 3 ft or so tall. I didn't take the grills off of them recently, but I did once about 20 years ago. They have 2 large speakers(15s I think), and a small tweeter or cone speaker. Grandma says they were all purchased together in the early to mid 70s.
Thanks in advance for any help in telling me more about these things.
76457
76456

Welcome!

What you have there is a C50 Olympus enclosure with either an S7R or S8R speaker system. The dual 15" is a pre clue to what system is housed in the C50 enclosure, an active woofer and a passive radiator. Removing the grille will be a better indicator of what's inside. Often times, the factory spec literature is affixed to the rear of the enclosure.

Beautiful!!

[Goldjazz]

Beautiful speakers, hope you enjoy them.

[rdgrimes]

Grampa knew a little something about audio gear. Say yes.

[glendayle]

Grampa knew a little something about audio gear. Say yes.I told her I would love that equipment. It does sound good. Grandpa was into classical music. And I've always just loved the look of those speakers. Definitely not a current trend, but I like audio furniture. Just think it looks cool and is something different.

[hjames]

Just be careful - that fancy grillwork is pretty fragile
and virtually impossible to replace nowadays ...

[grumpy]

Might have a look at the condition of the woofer suspension (flexible "surrounds" between the cone and frame)...

[Mr. Widget]

If you decide to keep this gear... and as a site dedicated to the love for this old gear we all hope you do, you should do some searches on LE15A (the woofers that will be in those speakers) and on Lans-a-loy surrounds.

Here is a thread on some similar speakers. There are several versions of the driver compliment available for these cabinets.

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?33475-acquired-a-pair-of-JBL-Olympus-with-S8R-kit

And there is more info in the "Library" (http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/jbl.htm) on this site. Here is an example:

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1966/page05.jpg

Keep us posted on your journey.


Widget

[badman]

Very nice speakers- take the utmost care with them- they're something that you can enjoy for many years.

[glendayle]

If you decide to keep this gear... and as a site dedicated to the love for this old gear we all hope you do, you should do some searches on LE15A (the woofers that will be in those speakers) and on Lans-a-loy surrounds.

Here is a thread on some similar speakers. There are several versions of the driver compliment available for these cabinets.

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?33475-acquired-a-pair-of-JBL-Olympus-with-S8R-kit

And there is more info in the "Library" (http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/jbl.htm) on this site. Here is an example:

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1966/page05.jpg

Keep us posted on your journey.


Widget
I'll check out those links. As far as keeping them, assuming they eventually fall into my lap, I'll definitely keep them. I've just always thought they looked cool. They are in phenomenal shape on the exterior. Plus they will always remind me of my grandpa, so definitely have sentimental value to me. They have sat where they are sitting since they were purchased. I presume they work just fine. It's been a few years since they've been played, but grandma says they still sound the same as ever.

[HCSGuy]

Great speakers! If you can, take pictures of the back of one of the speakers and get the model numbers off the black crossover/crossovers that are on the back panel and we can tell you more about them.

The LE15A woofers had an early type of foam surround called Lansalloy that has a 100% failure rate outside of a hermetically sealed chamber - they get rock hard and either keep the woofer from moving, or crack all the way around, which no longer supports the woofer. I guarantee your grandmother's woofers put out sound, but the bass is nothing like it used to be, and you can damage woofers that are pretty much irrreparable at this point if you try to play them loud. The woofers need to be reformed, and then they will sound excellent. When you get them, shoot a post and we can give some tips to make them sound much better as well.

Good luck!

[glendayle]

Great speakers! If you can, take pictures of the back of one of the speakers and get the model numbers off the black crossover/crossovers that are on the back panel and we can tell you more about them.

The LE15A woofers had an early type of foam surround called Lansalloy that has a 100% failure rate outside of a hermetically sealed chamber - they get rock hard and either keep the woofer from moving, or crack all the way around, which no longer supports the woofer. I guarantee your grandmother's woofers put out sound, but the bass is nothing like it used to be, and you can damage woofers that are pretty much irrreparable at this point if you try to play them loud. The woofers need to be reformed, and then they will sound excellent. When you get them, shoot a post and we can give some tips to make them sound much better as well.

Good luck!Thanks for the advice. I'll take a look at them and get some pictures and whatnot. I live a couple of hours away, so not sure when I'll get a chance to look at them again.

[mech986]

Any update on your potential speakers? If you gently pull the grilles off, tugging on each side a little at a time, they will separate from the clips that hold them. Once the woofers and drivers are clearly exposed, we can then help you get a fix on the specific driver complement. I would suggest that if the woofer had never been serviced, it will have a rock hard yellowed surround (the Lansaloy), that should be replaced with a modern polyether surround of specific shape and size. If you ship the woofer to Upland Loudspeakers (our member Edgewound who replied above), they will be professionally re-foamed and checked, and shipped back to your for re-installation.

I guarantee you, the speakers will then sound much much better as all the bass and midbass will promptly return in spades. Your mom will probably enjoy the system a lot more properly working.

One other caveat, the Marantz model 24 is a preamp tuner which is hooked up to the Model 32 power amp, a 60W/channel unit. Both are quite old and would benefit from a good servicing and probably re-capping (replacing old electrolytic caps with new caps of same value and same or higher voltage) plus general refurbishing of relay protection boards and such. You should go over to Audiokarma.org and post questions about these units in the Marantz forum where there are some very good technicians who could help you repair them or find someone who can do it. Even though they may still work, a testament to Marantz design and parts selection, eventually they will have problems like any piece of vintage gear, so some help now will go a long way to keeping them working properly.

As mentioned above, your grandfather and grandmother had some very good taste in equipment, music, and quality audio gear.

[GNorth]

Newb here. You'll have to forgive my ignorance when it comes to antique/vintage equipment. Something I've always had a little bit of interest in, but just wasn't really at a spot where I had time and energy to do much in the way of research.

I have always been interested at a basic level for old stereo equipment. I've always wanted an old console which I picked up a month ago. I was showing it to my grandma and she asked if I was interested in their stuff.

Grandpa bought this stuff a long time ago. He died a while back. Grandma is sort of divying up things and getting rid of things. Some she is giving away, and some she is sort of putting names on for after she dies. And we don't really know when that will be. She's relatively healthy, but is in her late 80s, so who knows. Anyway, she said she would put my name on the stereo equipment and speakers because "no one else wants any of that old stuff."

Amp is a Marantz Model 32
Receiver is a Marantz model 24.
I can sort of look those items up, but don't know much about them.
The speakers I know very little about. They are JBL. They are about 48 inches wide and 3 ft or so tall. I didn't take the grills off of them recently, but I did once about 20 years ago. They have 2 large speakers(15s I think), and a small tweeter or cone speaker. Grandma says they were all purchased together in the early to mid 70s.
Thanks in advance for any help in telling me more about these things.
76457
76456

Great speakers. Do you recognize the model of your speakers? I want to make a small but very important experiment for me. Can I use your picture to ask what famous companies think of these speakers? There's a company that provides conference audio visual equipment hire in London (https://www.ontourevents.co.uk/conference-audio-visual-hire). I want to ask them this question and what they can offer and what services they can provide using this speaker? I hope for your positive response as for me this experiment is important, and please write to me in private messages.

[BMWCCA]

Great speakers. Do you recognize the model of your speakers? I want to make a small but very important experiment for me. Can I use your picture to ask what famous companies think of these speakers? There's a company that provides conference audio visual equipment hire in London. I want to ask them this question and what they can offer and what services they can provide using this speaker? I hope for your positive response as for me this experiment is important, and please write to me in private messages.
You could always just use the catalog photographs posted here in the Library from that same period in the late '60s to early '70s:

89278

[GNorth]

You could always just use the catalog photographs posted here in the Library from that same period in the late '60s to early '70s:

89278

Thank you so much for the advice.