L150-4C Garage Sale Find

[elliott]

Hey All,
This is my first time here. Picked up this 15" JBL speaker at a garage sale. Thought I had found a killer deal on a guitar speaker. Turns out it is an L150-4C. The guy said it was from when his son had a rock band 15 years ago so maybe they did use it for guitar. Good news is it works. Haven't tried anything hifi just a low power guitar amp. Sounds good, not very loud though (no cabinet). Bad news is it has been repaired with duct tape and nail polish, pink even! On the back of the cone is stamped 21085, and hand written L150-4C and the number 9. The serial number is, 10447.

Questions:

Is this speaker valuable? What should I do with it?

Should I try to fix the bad repair job? If the duct tape and nail polish can be safely removed there must be a better way to patch holes in the surround. They appear to be punctures, not tears.

I will try to post some pictures. Thanks for your input. Elliott

[Mr. Widget]

Is this speaker valuable?

A pair without that sort of repair are quite valuable... on the order of $2K. A single with a damaged surround? Much less, but still worth a decent chunk of change to the right buyer.


Widget

[mech986]

if its duct tape and nail polish, the polish may be stiff and chippable so it might be removable. Getting all the pink color off will be the first step. Devising an appropriate flexible patch/seal would be the next step so a thread specifically asking about how to patch/repair a double roll paper surround would net you more responses than your original thread title.

However, a very neat score and nice driver. Too bad the foilcal is roughed up so much. You might consider a reproduction foilcal to complement it, don't know if that would add value or not though.

Bart

[elliott]

um...what's a folical?

[HCSGuy]

Elliott,
You have a 150-4C, JBL's reference woofer through the 50's and early 60's, used in the Hartsfield corner horn and Paragon. In mint condition, it is highly sought after and mint versions sell for $700-900 as singles, sometimes over $2k for a pair. However, it is sought after as a collectible for its place in history, not for its performance, though I'm sure there are a few still being lovingly used. It handles little power (30w), has low excursion, and doesn't play very low - there is no easy use for it, especially with modern music.

Here's a link to the library page on your driver:
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/...mp/130-150.htm

Yours is not mint, obviously. As it is a single, it is probably not worth a full restoration (you could haunt Ebay for a recone kit, very carefully match and repaint the frame, and have someone make a new gold and silver Lansing sticker for the back of the magnet (the "Foilcal") to replace yours. but in the end you'd put $400-500 and a bunch of time into something that would sell for maybe $700 if you disclose it is restored.

I recommend getting the duct tape and nail polish off, having a tech check it out and glue the crack under the duct tape, and throw it on ebay. Even in rough shape, you'll probably get $250-300 for it, with which you could buy a much better, modern woofer.

Good luck!