Not in my living room

[Bill H.]

I have had a pair of JBL c-50 monitors in storage for 25 years. They are the original blue with JBL on the side. Would it hurt the resonance and sound if I had cabinets built to just slide them in and put grill covers on. These cabinets are in very good shape and I don't want to ruin their nostalgic value to me.

[Zilch]

No, but it's all gonna rattle unless you put space or damping material between the cabs.

A prime objective has always been NOT to have box resonance....

[boputnam]

Hey, Bill...

Interesting idea - but do consider Zilch's advice.

I considered similar for my 4345's - trying to appease the gods of family room esthetics... I was going to put casters on the bottom of the 4345's (behind their wood skirting) and push them into alcoves covered by hinged and screened doors. Looked like a good plan - and I was leaving some space between the wall cabinet and the 4345. I was worried some about resonance, but I never went through with it because I was able to convince the gods that the beauty of the walnut cabinets deserved nekkedness.

Anyway, IMO, your plan should work just fine. Post some pics - before and after, deal?

[Hofmannhp]

I have had a pair of JBL c-50 monitors in storage for 25 years. They are the original blue with JBL on the side. Would it hurt the resonance and sound if I had cabinets built to just slide them in and put grill covers on. These cabinets are in very good shape and I don't want to ruin their nostalgic value to me.

Hi Bill,

I had the same problem about 20 years ago with my Altec Valencia cabs....I built some very cheap (chipboard) enclosures which house the original cabs ..the space between both woods I filled with a thin carpet tackered on the inside of the outer cab, that made both fitting together very tightly....the sound was influenced in a positive way...... I use it till today in this way.

HP

[Hofmannhp]

Hey, Bill...
.....I was going to put casters on the bottom of the 4345's (behind their wood skirting) and push them into alcoves covered by hinged and screened doors. Looked like a good plan - and I was leaving some space between the wall cabinet and the 4345. I was worried some about resonance, but I never went through with it because I was able to convince the gods that the beauty of the walnut cabinets deserved nekkedness. .....

Hey Bo,
same idea in the basics......but please try it with a good fitting carpet between....sound nice. The furneer will be very thankful.

HP

only my 1/2 cent

[boputnam]

Thanks, HansPeter!

Luckily, my wifey has grown quite fond of the 4345's just sittin' there, right in the family room. They are a beauty to behold...

[Bill H.]

I can assure you if they were in walnut, oak, etc. cabinets they would be in there or she would be in storage. I envy you on your 4345's

[Steve Schell]

The desire to beautify industrial speakers for home use goes way back. I have seen several old utility model Lansing Iconic speakers that were later modified for more acceptable looks.

Most recently, I purchased a strange one. It contained Altec Lansing era (circa 1944) Iconic components, but in an unusual box where the high frequency driver and horn, field upply and crossover were on the side in a separate compartment, with the horn oriented vertically. At some point during the process of removing the 1950s remodeling- grill cloth, grill frame, naugahyde- it dawned on me that the speaker was a standard utility model that had had a separate compartment later added to the side! The original mounting holes for the components were still on the top, under the naugahyde. I carefully removed the added portion and remounted the components in their original locations. The standard Iconic is beautiful enough for me.