D123 JBL Signature speaker date?

[Guitar1]

Hello everybody,

searching around and getting lost - maybe you can help:

I got a JBL Signature speaker

Modell: D123

Serial No. 79042

on the cone "34145" is marked.

Maybe you can tell me when this speaker was produced..?


Thanks a lot in advance and kind regards from Austria,
Thomas.

[Guitar1]

it´s me again,

maybe this photo helps.

Thanks, Thomas

[rudy sesztak]

My d123's are labeled 16 ohms. They were made between 1958,and 1965. The newer ones are labeled 8 ohms. So they were made after 1965.Sorry i could'nt be more help. If you use them right,with Jbl 077 tweeters, they can sound GREAT.-RUDY

[speakerdave]

It is late, probably seventies, maybe late sixties. That black frame that can be mounted to the front of the baffle and the 8 ohm rating are both late. LH forum member Harvey Gerst, who was at JBL during the relevant years, says the "8 ohm" D123's and the earlier "16 ohm" D123's are the same in all respects. As he says, it had been rated at 16 ohms because it sounded better connected to the 16 ohm taps of the the amps of the day. In a time of solid state amps an 8 ohm rating was more to the point. This driver has a place in my appreciation for JBL because from the beginning of my interest in hi fi it was available used (nearly ubiquitous), cheap and sounded better than lots of other things, as I thought. In truth it is not a very accurate speaker by today's standards. It is almost never absent from ebay.

It was never very valuable, is really now useful for only "classic" or "nostalgic" sound (and who is nostalgic for being poor?), and though some like it for a guitar speaker, it can't take a lot of power.

[Mike11]

it´s me again,

maybe this photo helps.

Thanks, Thomas

Yeah nice photo of your speaker..
Are you willing to sale it ???

[Guitar1]

Thanks for the info!!

I got the D123 last week and try to use it in my vintage (1965) Fender Reverb Deluxe whose Oxford (12K5-6) is gone..

I hope I can mount it - maybe I have to drill some more holes as there are only four..
(just kidding).

thanks again, Thomas.