Help! check old JBL Speakers before bye.

[imtkjlu]

Help! check old JBL Speakers before bye.
Excuse my english i'm from Sweden.
I have found two old JBL speakers for sale.
How do I check if they are worth the price ?
It's two 4530 Horn (haven't opened them yet)
with two home made (ugly) top's with LE85 and 075
and I think they are 30 years old.
They have been stored for the last 20 years.
What should I check ? I have only tested them with a small amp (40w) so far I don't trust
the old (non JBL) passive filters.
I will soon test with two big amp's with a active filter.
But even with ny small amp and half volume they sounded a lot!
Do I need to change the diaphragms ? Do I need to re mag the magnets ?
The Price tag starting point is $570:-
I want to use them for garden parties :-)

Cheers
///imtkjlu

[Mr. Widget]

Sounds like a fair price. I would imagine if they sound fine with a 40 watt amp then they are in good shape. Back in my early JBL days I blew a few LE85 diaphragms with a 40 watt amp that I would overdrive at parties. Once I got a bigger amp I never had a problem.

I would make sure the LE85 has at least an 800Hz 12dB crossover. If you go with an active use a newer one, they are mostly 24dB per octave, that will help protect your LE85.

Have fun with them.

Widget

[Guido]

Welcome imtkjlu!

You should open the 4530 cabs and check the speakers if they are original. Often they change with cheap ones.

[imtkjlu]

Thank you!
I will open them tonight.
Next test will be with two stageline amps 2*150 and 2*570 watt.
But I must first fix an active filter with 24dB per octave.
Any suggestion on split freq. 800, 1000 or 1200 hz ?
And should I bye new passive filter for split between 075 and LE85 ? and which split freq. 8000hz ?
Or shall I bye a three way active (I have a spare 2*150 amp).

And please more advice on this speakers for big parties, are they OK ?
I've found on Internet that new diaphragms are expensive (especially for the LE85).

Or shall I search for newer boxes ?

Many thanks for input!
///imtkjlu

[Tom Loizeaux]

It looks as if you've got nice high end componants. Look to see what woofers are in the bass cabinets. If the woofers are correct for those cabinets, you're going to have a pretty nice system. You'll need 2308 lenses to disperse your mids, but then you should be on your way. Bi-amping those cabinets and using a quality passive between the compression driver and the bullets is the best way to go.
Keep us posted!

Tom

[boputnam]

Yea, imtkjlu, I've been following this Thread since the start - I agree with all the comments (saved me some typing... )

That network looks original JBL - the wiring colors and cabling look like they were taken from something else. Can you get any more pictures of that, and maybe the more keen here can identify what you've got? It looks like there were some L-pads, too.

And, do tell us what the LF's are.