Speakers as furniture

[opimax]

Hi all,

My first post and of course it is really questions hidden in the polite background. I hope this is the correct location and all of you experts are biting at the bit to educate a newbie.

I had 2 memories of JBL speakers from the 70’s and early 80’s. At U of MD (Fear the Turtle!) was the 1st and listening rooms in the (at the time) new library listening rooms, they had a t least 4 L100s in each room. Use to think I would study but just listened to the music. The other was buying from Crutchfield the raw drivers for the same speakers (and not realizing it until years later) to install in my car. The 1st is a very pleasant memory and the 2nd didn’t work out well mainly due to the poor install which I paid through the nose (and other places) for.


A friend of mind later bought the drivers when they were removed and put the mids and tweeters in custom home speakers that I years later bought from him. I think the mids are still upstairs.


Forward 20 years to now. At 50 I am building my entertainment room in the living room (sometimes it is good to be by myself) I have purchased completely redone Dahlquist DQ-10s for my front stage. I am having 2nd thoughts. Some Heritage JBLs would look much nicer as long as I don’t loose any sound quality (it will be different I realize). I saw my first ones on EBay, Olympus and Sovereign style. Too wide, they are 40” and I have 37.5 on each side of the fireplace. I found this site and then the library. I looked in the library and the choices I see are the Verona L71, S70 Alpha, C51 Apollo, and C61 Sovereign II.


At this point I will wait for comments and will respond to them. The factors again are appearance, space and sound quality. The goals for the room are sports 1st (already sounds good enough for that), listen to music in stereo using Sony str2des and Velodyne SPL 1200R, watching concerts on DVD, and an occasional movie. My tastes are classic rock, Jam bands, Blues, new age jazz, light jazz


Thanks very much,

Mark

[Zilch]

Forget all that stuff you've listed.

You want 4430's.

[opimax]

They don't have that furniture look.That tweeter does quite the opposite drawing attention to the fact that it is a speaker . Are there others speakers other then what i listed that will fit my needs? what are the chances of finding any of these? are any of these different or extra special?Mark

[yggdrasil]

Be patient, watch eBay. They will come.

[opimax]

thanks, there is no hurry . I am looking for opinions on the different speaker lines, especially as far as sound goes. I don't expect to be able to listen before buying so any thoughts on the sound would be great. Any to stay away from? Replacement parts too hard to find? any over priced that just arn't worth it? any members have any to sell? where to look besides ebay?

Thanks
Mark

[Zilch]

O.K., then,

C51 and C61 came with a variety of options:

1) 001 - 130A, LE175DLH, N1200

2) 030 - D130, 075, N2400

3) S1 - LE14A, LE175DLH, LX10

4) S7 - LE15A, LE85, HL91, LX5

S70 Alpha has a 12" three-way with LE20-1 tweeter.

L71 Verona I know nothing about.

Start watching your local Craigslist also.

Don't be afraid to buy empty cabinets which some seller has parted out. We can make them better than any of the originals....

[toddalin]

Just sold a pair of beautiful C51 Apollo cabinets (with the optional fretwork) to someone on this forum last week. They had LE-14Cs. The Apollo cabinets are not all that big and the LE14A/LE-14C MAY be the best of the woofers for this size cabinet (about 2.9 cubic feet internal volume).

["Duke" Spinner]

you need to re-order preferences

first ....performance

last .....apearance ....

hey, yer w/o wife ....Soooooo ... Enjoy It .....

[opimax]

Duke I need to get wife, not scare her off, And I don't want her to make changes once I get her . What I have ain't bad as far as sound quality, not up to real high end but certainly OK. I will not go backwards.



Todd, not quite there yet but could be in a while as far as speaker numbers, do you have any pictures of the Apollos?



Earl good choice on looks, you are right I am better off not cutting close and go w/ as a max of 35.5. I am partial JBL but if everything were right (sound quality) I could go w/a known alternative.



Dboy, 2nd one are the best look for me so far, really like the door handles, who/what are those? 1st ones look too much like speakers. generally would think 3 way but I believe a high quality 2 way could work, my current DQ 10 are 5 way , lol



Zilch do you have any opinions on the speakers you know about? The Verona is different furniture then the Alpha, just like the 51 and 61 I believe. And the best size cabinet for my application. If I go the empty cabinet route have patience, it will get done

thanks much guys!



Mark

[Tweak48]

High Wife Acceptance Factor, and they sound pretty good too. Mine are biamped with 125 watt s/s direct wired to the woofs, and 60 watts of tube on top. Really clean, really loud, great extension on top and bottom.

Zilch is right, though. If you visualy can handle the large format butt cheeks, the 4430 is nearly as good as you can get at any price.

[Phil H]

Hi,
I have been reading this forum to learn more about JBL speakers because I don't know much. I bought the Apollo speakers that Todd mentioned. The cabinets look great. I hope I attached the picture OK.

[Zilch]

Zilch do you have any opinions on the speakers you know about?

I hope you're getting my point. What they sound like depends upon what's in them. A box is a box, fundamentally, and whether it's Soverign, Alpha, Apollo, or whatever the same size, they will all sound the same with the same components in them.

I have heard all of those vintage driver systems, and quite frankly, they all need "fixing." That's why I suggest you find cabinets you like and buy them empty, for cheap, if you can, if you want to put together a decent sounding system by contemporary standards.

If I had cabinets with doors on them, they'd be standing open all the time, and I'd have padding on the hinges and handles to stop them from rattling. I do have several systems with fretwork grilles here, and they are very beautiful. However, they are also diffusers, and inconsistent with the constant directivity designs I like best. I guess you can tell, I view speakers as speakers first, and form follows function here....

[Dingusboy]

Dboy, 2nd one are the best look for me so far, really like the door handles, who/what are those? 1st ones look too much like speakers. generally would think 3 way but I believe a high quality 2 way could work, my current DQ 10 are 5 way , lol

They are Voice of Music Model 85's. The speakers are mounted above the handles which are purely decoration. They work but as mentioned with other stuff in this thread, better drivers would be in order. I have no use for them but they were just too interesting looking to pass up.

[Earl K]

opimax

For a bit of window shopping, stroll through all the product catalogues found in the Lansing Library .

- This will help you discern what "furniture" suits your aesthetic needs, plus what will physically fit.

- As Zilch has pointed out, buying empty ( but attractive ) boxes will be a good direction to go .

<>

[opimax]

Thanks, the Apollos look great, I would be happy to have them. Let me know when you are done with them!! Is the price public knowledge?

Zilch, I understand completely on that point. I was originally thinking of going w/the best factory set up and wondering which that was. I thought that the best would be good enough if the original speakers were up to new standards. In my case of the very complete upgraded DQ-10s they are still sweet sounding (albeit no bass but the sub makes up for that) Are there "known" combinations of drivers that are preffered that would be recommened, almost a standard answer? And as far as handles I would only want them for appearence for the reasons you mentioned .....and to watch somebody try to open them who didn't know better, that would make my point . I would think if you put the 4430's you said to buy in some doors they would work also I also need to ask; could my declining hearing appreciate all the nuances the really high end drivers. I would think I can appreciate the lack of colorization(sp?) ,dynamic range(tightness)but I no longer can hear what the dogs hear (use to able to hear burglar alarms which had a high pitch to them in stores) in the upper end but it is nice to know that it is there and other people may appreciate the SQL.

Dboy , I must admit the drivers don't look impressive but I haven't heard them so I won't say anything, still like the looks though.

last comment, I am a function over form guy, fought w/ EX speciffically about that and it does come into play here. The "living room" must be used for that or the toys would get banished back up the "70s dorm room" upstairs w/the pinball machine, lava lamps, black light, etc. The picture Tewak has is very nice but does not show the 61" monitor above the fireplace and the theater style chairs that will be in the "living room" in my house. I am putting the audio/video I want in the room and getting a womans touch on the rest around this install. Anything I can do help this room function as a living room is a good idea in the long run...

Mark