L220's

[F350SD]

About 6 months ago I pulled a set of speakers from the curb. after a brief inspection I determined these big monsters were JBL brand speakers in need of 4 surrounds. I wheeled them into my garage and hooked them up to my Marrantz 2270. Frankly, I wasn't impressed! Next, in their place I hooked up Bose 201's, much better sound now. After a brief Ebay search, I found they had value. Therefore I listed them. Immediately I knew something was up, apparent by the number of hits and watchers these L220's received. Instanly I began receiving emails with offers ranging from $150 - $800 to stop the auction. Naturally I refused. At this point it was very exciting to think that something I pulled off the curb would bring such a nice profit. My reserve of $650 was almost met when another questionable email came telling me to stop the auction. But this one was very different. This guy was asking to stop the auction because in his opinion these L220's were the best speakers a working man could possibly posses without spending thousands and thousands of dollars. Furthermore, he was willing to teach me how to build a system to drive these bad boys. At this point I still had my doubts. Time was running out (reserve almost met) I stopped the auction to do more research. After contacting my local JBL dealer and pricing driver repairs I was extremely disappointed to find they needed $150 or more per driver to recone (ouch). After more phone calls and disappointments I decided to tackle the job myself. What a learning experience, I got pretty good at replacing these surrounds. Much patience needed (see pics). I got many compliments on my patented shimless voice coil alignment technique and factory looking back glue method. Now the big day, back to the 70 watt Marrantz 2270. Although my voice coils alignment was flawless, no rubs no scratches I wasn't impressed! So again I emailed my new FRIEND from Bakersfield, CA. He indicated it's time to buy a Yamaha brand amplifier. Soon my MX1000u arrived ($455 Ebay). WOW, NOW I AM A BELIEVER! My quality of life just stepped up a couple of notches. THIS BABY ROCKS!!!! My friends are jealous and I can't wipe the smile off my face. Let's face it, I would have tried to make a buck$ like all the other email offers I had, but one UNIQUE, UNSELFISH, AWESOME, GUY KEPT ME FROM MAKING ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES OF MY LIFE!

THANKS TO MY NEW FRIEND.....STEVE GONZALES! (meep meep)

For those of you have made it to the end of my thread thanks for listening.



<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">

[4313B]

Obviously I need to start driving around the streets of Livonia...

[Mr. Widget]

That's a JBL story that will almost put a tear in your eyes.

Welcome aboard Mr. 350. Nice work on those surrounds too!

Widget

[Earl K]

Glad it worked out so nicely for you ( and Steve, the L220 evangelist ) .

Those sure are nice components / and the cabinets are stellar looking when restored .

Are you going to do his horn mod. - it makes good sense to me ( FWIW ).

<. Earl K

[John]

Is it me or does that story,at least about the part by the curb sound something like the 58 vette or 70 chevelle in the barn for $500.00 story that used to circulate a while ago.

[Zilch]

Nope. He got them for FREE!

My own pair I got for about $200 from a "picker."

No wonder to me, they looked totally and miserably thrashed.

Thought I'd use them as subs, if nothing else, 'til I heard the 076 tweets.

Fully restored, now, except the cabinets. Doog dawg, I love 'em....

Good JOB, F350SD!

And a special thank to Steve for his timely intervention.

[Steve Gonzales]

Thank you

[scott fitlin]

Hi F350, welcome, you made out like a bandit! Way to go!

Theres just something about vintage JBL

[JBL Dog]

Is it me or does that story,at least about the part by the curb sound something like the 58 vette or 70 chevelle in the barn for $500.00 story that used to circulate a while ago.

I got my L220's for $305 on Ebay three years ago. I rolled the dice on that one. The seller had real bad pictures and said all woofers needed recones. New surrounds and a refinish later, I sold 'em for a nice profit. I know of a guy that got a Paragon in a New Orleans pawn shop for $800. That was long before Ebay was around. He talked the guy down from $1k because an 075 wasn't working. It was just disconnected. I would say the return on investment would be fairly good if he decided to sell it!

It's called being in the right place at the right time.

This message comes from JBL Dog

[Steve Gonzales]

I got my L222's in trade for a $120.00 pair of Sony SS-X7's from a good guy that couldn't even get the $200.00 starting bid on eBay. He had HORRIBLE pics and they were in worse shape then that in person. I learned SO MUCH restoring these speakers that it led to the Summit horn swap. It's a big world out there and not EVERYONE is aware of the value of JBL's. They see that rotten foam and they think that they are toast (LUCKY FOR US)

[JBL Dog]

It's a big world out there and not EVERYONE is aware of the value of JBL's. They see that rotten foam and they think that they are toast (LUCKY FOR US)

Amen!

This message comes from JBL Dog

[John]

I could relate to being in the right place at the right time,but sitting at the curb with the trash well,that is just a bit out there. What is the chance of a owner of something like that thinking hey the foam is rotten i think i will throw them out with the garbage I have run into my share of deals but not sitting on the curb,more like in a garage or basement with a half inch of dust on top. Seller most of the time knows there are a few parts in there that are worth something and is just looking for a token amount. Then on the other hand I think Giskard is right lets start cruizing the Hood on garbage day

[150a/250ti]

i noticed steve was mentioned here and i wanted to add in.steve is a good guy he hooked me up with a very rare set of le14h-1s that are perfect.thanks again steve you are a jbl master.
jack

[John]

Hi Steve I hope you do not think i am a dark cloud??? Also the way I read this opening post it implies to me that these were picked up at the curb,like where the trash is located. I reviewed the link you provided and F350SD sounds like he knew something about these,and did you notice he indicates he bought them at a estate sale!!! and not picked up off the curb!!! So this makes me believe he had a idea these were indeed worth something. Lets face it these were not trashed speakers in any way,seems to me the only issue was the foam surrounds. I think if anyone also looks at the links they will conclude the story was like a fishing story ,you can call that untruthfull if that is what you want to do,i never used that term.

[Zilch]

Somehow, I don't think "I pulled these from the curb" would be something I'd put in my auction listing for them either. "I got them at an estate sale" might read a little better there....