Difference between the D series & K series JBL speakers?

[stephane RAME]

jbl / fender twin

[Harvey Gerst]

The D130 and D140 (F) drivers had treated cloth surrounds. Hope this helps

Tom

No, they didn't. The cones and the surround were all one piece - paper. I did add "goop" to the surround, mainly to keep the surrounds from drying out.

[Tom Loizeaux]

No, they didn't. The cones and the surround were all one piece - paper. I did add "goop" to the surround, mainly to keep the surrounds from drying out.

Harvey,
I certainly respect your knowledge, but when I examine my D140Fs, I see the cone paper ending and the surround looking like treated fabric. Unless I'm calling it fabric when its actually something else ... but it certainly does not look like one-piece rolled paper to me!
Can you double check this?
Thanks,

Tom

[Harvey Gerst]

Tony Lowe may have changed it after I left JBL, but I used stock parts in all the "F" series, so a 15" cone with a fabric surround would have been out of the question for the D140F. It's either a later version, or a recone.

[speakerdave]

I love this horse's mouth stuff.

[Harvey Gerst]

I love this horse's mouth stuff.

Right animal;wrong end.

[Don McRitchie]

Hmmmm...something got wrong.


I have an old D140R. what does the "R" stand for?

Does anyone know?

Regards!

Tomas

This resurects a really old thread. However, I just found out what the "R" stands for - Rogers Instruments. Widget was on the right track. They are a well know organ manufacturer that is still in business. JBL developed a dedicated 15" driver for their use as an organ loudspeaker. Current staff at JBL believe that the D140R preceded the D140F, but I am not certain of this. I remember Harvey Gerst stating that he came up with the 140 model number for the 15" version of his "F" seires because 150 had already been taken by the 150-4 series. Maybe Harvey can clear this up.

[paragon]

Don, es gibt Dich noch ??
You are still here ??

[Harvey Gerst]

There was no taken 1xx series at the time, except for the 13x and the 15x, so I chose to try to number the series according to frame size, hence the D110F, and the D120F. I couldn't change (and wouldn't change) the D130, since it was already so popular. That left the 15" bass speaker; what to call it? It would cause confusion to name it after one of our existing models, so I simply chose D140F as the name. I used an aluminum dome on the D140F more for product identification, but it actually did help a little, and it allowed me to continue with the "F" series as an aluminum domed speaker series.

If JBL made D140R's after I left, I didn't know about it. Tony Lowe took over the department, so it was probably his model number. I know, for sure, there were no 140 anythings prior to my naming the bass speakers as D140F's.

[glen]

I used an aluminum dome on the D140F more for product identification, but it actually did help a little, and it allowed me to continue with the "F" series as an aluminum domed speaker series.

I thought the aluminum dome helped a LOT when I got a D140 for my bass guitar amp, my old CTS 15's sounded really dull by comparison. I was hooked!

[Hamilton]

Harvey, I bought three new D140F's in 1971. After installing them in my 4x15 cab I notice that two of them had a much more supple suspension while the third was noticably stiffer.

So I called JBL and the guy (don't remember his name but I do remember he was very helpful) said that JBL started stiffening them up because too many players were blowing them up.

What does this have to do with anything? Nothing at all....I just remembered it. Those things were expensive back then for a kid and I was so proud of them.

[jim campbell]

werent the k series for bass.i used to have k 140's in single cubes made by a local company .i miss em

[4343]

i used to have k 140's in single cubes made by a local company .i miss em

I bought a new pair in '75, after having been exposed to a pair a bass player friend of mine had. I lost one to a comparison test with a Peavey 1501, around '80. (Salesman said the ALU dome was integral with the coil former to allow better heat conduction and dissapation, seemed to be true, but of course there's no way to center the coil from the front, which is why Peavey's have the removable magnet. I bought 4 1501's in '80, have yet to burn one out...) I ran the K's in 2530's, along with a bunch of D's, the 1501's lived in W boxes where the sealed back meant the only way out for heat was through the dome...

I just finished reconing that K-140 last year! (Note to self, do NOT use Duct tape to protect a gap for 25 years...) I put a 2225 coil, 2226 cone & spider in it to test an idea I had about increasing the Xmax, currently in a W box taking all the punishment I can throw at it...

The other one is still original, and paired with a reconed D-140...

Mike Scott in SJ, CA

[johnaec]

werent the k series for bass.i used to have k 140's in single cubes made by a local company .i miss em

K series were just the later versions of the D series. 140 is designed for bass.

John

[Gerry D]

I believe the K series introduced Kapton coil formers and epoxy adhesives to allow higher power handling. JBL never published T/S parameters for the "F" series to my knowledge. They were long out of production by the time that JBL adopted T/S design.

Actually my re-cone guy tells me they used NOMAX for the "K" series and KAPTON for the "E" series...kind of took me by surprise...