Help with newly acquired speakers?

[hjames]

Those are some beautiful looking cabinets!
From the brackets on the back, looks like the were meant to be hung horizontal ... interesting!

Label on the back reads: "D-48 S-5 WX"

[speakerdave]

Those speakers are a real item for anyone into collectible JBL bookshelf systems. They are quite unusual. The tweeters look to be in quite good shape. If you want to really cherry out these speakers you can have the woofers reconed at about $200 each.

As for using brake fluid on the surrounds:
1-understand that even if you get it right you will be doing it again in the not too distant future.

2-unless you have something else to practice on, the likelihood is very high that you will get brake fluid into the material of the cone at its edge. If that happens the cones may not be salvageable because the glue for a new surround may not stick.

3-if the surrounds have hardened with the spiders in an off-center position, then the speakers really need to be reconed.

4-So, pull the woofers and see if the spiders look flat (not dished or mounded) when you look across them through the frame struts.

5-Somewhat counter-intuitively, if the spiders are flat I would suggest that you do not try the brake fluid, but rather have then refoamed.

6-If the spiders are not flat, the woofers may not be worth refoaming, and there is much less downside to fooling around with the brake fluid. Before you do it, though, examine them for any signs of cracking. If there are cracks in the yellow foam (now crust), the surrounds are goners.

David

[57BELAIRE]

A beautiful pair of L5 equipped C48 Madisons for $80...
and you quibbled? The tweeters alone are worth $300 (to some).
Check the envelope on the back for dated material. These were
from the early sixties and are the first I've seen with dark grille cloth.

Very nice!

[dibmem]

Unfortunately, no paperwork inside either of the envelopes.
We've had extraordinary luck with getting JBL speakers for very little - Our L-65s were $35 at Salvation Army / L-88s were $20 at a yard sale.
Just learning the ropes here, so we had no idea what the speakers' value would be or more importantly - what they would sound like. Hopefully, after the surrounds are replaced - they will sound lovely.

A beautiful pair of L5 equipped C48 Madisons for $80...
and you quibbled? The tweeters alone are worth $300 (to some). Check the envelope on the back for dated material. These were
from the early sixties and are the first I've seen with dark grille cloth. Very nice!

[BMWCCA]

We've had extraordinary luck with getting JBL speakers for very little - Our L-65s were $35 at Salvation Army / L-88s were $20 at a yard sale.

"Kalifornia sucks!" -BMWCCA

[57BELAIRE]

Unfortunately, no paperwork inside either of the envelopes.
We've had extraordinary luck with getting JBL speakers for very little - Our L-65s were $35 at Salvation Army / L-88s were $20 at a yard sale.
Just learning the ropes here, so we had no idea what the speakers' value would be or more importantly - what they would sound like. Hopefully, after the surrounds are replaced - they will sound lovely.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. LE30 is one of my faves...very smooth.

I have two pair: one with the S5 linup, the other with the LE8T.

It would be nice to get those serial #'s for our registry...these don't show up all that often.