Serial Number registry?

[glen]

Seller says he has original sales receipt dated 03/01/62

Components:
130A Signature Speakers, serial numbers not supplied
275 serial number 885 and 886
N600 serial number 1722 and 1719

in auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...DME:L:RTQ:US:1

from auction description:
This is the classic 'Metregon' Stereo Reproducer speaker system from "JBL". The speaker has had one owner all of these years, and it has been well cared for, and it works and sounds great. The entire front display has no scratches, and the color is still nice and bright. The top does show some fading on it, and a couple of ring marks on it, and can be brought back to life. The raised ring area trim around the top has a few small 1" type spots where the outer vaneer has chipped off, and they are only the on the outer vaneer, and do not go into the wood, and can easily be matched back up. The bottom fanned wood speaker grills are in perfect shape, with no chips or other damage, and the cloth over the speakers are in perfect shape as well, and is nice and tight. The edges all around the speaker are nice and clean, and are in great condition. It has all of the original components in it, the 2 JBL 130A Signature Speakers, the 2 JBL model 275 16ohm Drivers, Serial #s 885 & 886, and the N600 16ohm Dividing Networks, Serial #s 1722 & 1719. All of the components are in perfect condition, with no type of wear, and you could tell that the speaker had never been opened up. There is also a number of original Speaker Brochures and documents that came with it, and I'm including those in the auction as well. The previous owner told me that he remembered the day that it was delivered to him, and the original trucking delivery receipt is included as well. I have taken several photos to show the condition. It measures 73" by 25" by 31". It must be picked up in Huntington Beach, as I do not have a safe way for it to be shipped.

[glen]

D123 serial number 69913
LE20 serial number 10596
LX2 serial number 6921

in auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-PIECES-JBL-D12...QQcmdZViewItem

from auction description:
I removed all of these components from the same enclosure. The woofer and tweeter appear to be in great condition. The crossover is in good condition, with some surface wear to the knob and a patina on the metal parts that were exposed to the air. I have not tested these items, so I'm selling them "as described" If their appearance is any indication, they probably work fine, but there are no guarantees. The woofer has a serial number of 69913, and weighs about 9 pounds. The tweeter's serial is 10596 and weighs about 3 pounds. The crossover serial is 6921 and weighs about 2 pounds. These are 8ohm components.

[glen]

D130 serial number 29742
075 serial number 20013
N2600 serial number 10587

I think the D130 is earlier than the 075/N2600 which may have been added later.

ebay auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-SIGNATURE-D1...QQcmdZViewItem

from auction description:
THREE (3) VINTAGE JBL SIGNATURE SERIES COMPONENTS: D130 SPEAKER, 075 TWEETER, and N2600 CROSS-OVER. WITH OR WITHOUT A CUSTOM HOME MADE BLOND SPEAKER CABINET.
The D130 15" JBL signature speaker is 16 ohms. It says on it "James B. Lansing Sound, in L.A. serial 29742".
The 075 Signature tweeter is 16 ohms with serial 20013 (I think, it is hard to read). It also says James B. Lansing on it.
The N2600 Hi Frequency attenuator is labled 16 & 32 ohms serial 10587.
The blond cabinet is very nice and does not have any major scratches or dings. The back of the cabinet fits very snug. Nice construction. It measures 35 1/2" long by 35 1/2" from floor to top and 15 7/8" wide. It has a shelf for a retro amp or receiver. I powered up the cabinet and the system sounds fine but I am selling these old components as is.

[glen]

WOW!!

Greg has added a scan of the original October 29, 1969 sales receipt to his website documenting his C60/S8R speakers. (see attached image)
Thanks a lot Greg!
This kind of documentation is pure gold!

Glen

Claimed 1969 original purchase, seller has assembled a thorough website documenting these speakers


Here is all the serial number information:
Speaker cabinet serial number 11078
LE15A - 9633
PR15 - 10245
H93 - 10888
375 - 6668
L91 - 13589
N7000 - 6667
075 - 51677
LX5 - 12315

Speaker cabinet serial number 11083
LE15A - 9564
PR15 - 10247
H93 - 10844
375 - 6649
L91 - 13660
N7000 - 6658
075 - 51705
LX5 - 12299

listed in auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-Sovereign-C6...QQcmdZViewItem

from the auction:
The original owner purchased these in 1969, and he gave me the original sales receipt.

[glen]

The earliest JBL compression drivers I have seen bear the same square "A Jim Lansing Signature Speaker" badge/logo/nameplate as the early cone drivers. The nameplate was placed on the side of their rolled and welded, smooth finish, magnet pot.
They did not have an applied label showing serial number or model.
The oldest square label shows the "San Marcos" location.
After the move to 4221 Lincoln Boulevard in Venice a square "A Jim Lansing Signature Speaker" with the "Venice" location was used.

The first model identifying label appears on a driver without any other label, badge or logo. It simply says "MODEL D-175" on a small rectangle of paper stuck on the side of the rolled and welded magnet pot. Maybe the original label fell off and the owner replaced it with this?

The earliest "cut corners" tag with spaces for "Model No.", "Impedance", and "Serial No.". and the "James B. Lansing Sound Inc.", name only, appearing at the bottom of the cut-corners tag. This tag first appeared in conjunction with the race-track oval shaped Venice, Calif. "Jim Lansing Signature Speaker" logo nameplate on the side of the rolled and welded magnet pot. It identifies the driver as "D-175" and lists a 16 ohm impedance but the "Serial No." area is left blank

The next version still had the cut corners "James B. Lansing Sound Inc." name only tag, but the oval race-track label was updated to the new "Van Nuys" location. The "Serial No." area is left blank on this driver as well, although the factory cabinet this came in did have a serial number D-1002 Serial No. 1090. This also came mounted on a later version of the H-1000 horn that only had the sound dampening sawdust-glue mixture applied to the backs of the mouths of the multicell horn, from the front mounting flange back to the horn throat the cells are bare, painted metal.

[glen]

D-175 serial number 499 (September 1949)

This is the earliest serial numbered D-175 I've seen. This has the same Van Nuys race-track logo and cut-corners "name only" label on the side of the rolled and welded magnet pot.

September 1949 is the date of manufacture I infer according to the early non-suffix date code interpretation: The first two digits of the serial number representing the last two digits of the year and the next one, or two digits indicating the month (YYM or YYMM)

D-175 serial number 5101 (January 1951)

This is the second earliest serial numbered D-175 I have seen. While it still has the Van Nuys race-track logo it has the newer cut corners label with "Los Angeles, Calif. Made in U.S.A." at the bottom. The name, "James B. Lansing Sound inc." was moved to the top, and in between appear the same spaces for model, impedance and serial number. This change in the cut-corners label was probably a result of the 1949 move from Van Nuys to Fletcher Drive in Glendale, Ca.

[glen]

The new Alvin Lustig designed JBL logo, with the "L" in Jim Lansing rendered in oversized flowing script had appeared in JBL advertising in 1950, and soon it appeared on the drivers as well.
The cleaner and bolder Logo was aided by the redesigned cut corners label that now displayed the address. The name, "James B. Lansing Sound inc." was moved to the top of the cut-corners label, and in it's place at the bottom appeared "Los Angeles, Calif. Made in U.S.A.". In between were the same spaces for model, impedance and serial number..

The first D-175 drivers with this labeling still had the rolled, welded magnet pots and were mounted to the later H-1000 multicell horns.

Also at this time someone decided to try and include more information in the serial number in the form of a numerical suffix. The first three digits of the serial number would be a simplified version of the original date-code, only the very last digit of the year was used, followed by two digits representing the month. Appended to this, sometimes separated by a hyphen, the suffix was initially a two digit number and later became a three digit number. A little later the date-code serial number was given a prefix “N”, “N-“, or “No” which seems redundant as it follows the “Serial No.” that was already printed on the cut corners label.


So far I have no good explanation of what the suffix represents, I think these things are true:

It only seems to increase in irregular increments.
It seems to change more often in the early life of a product but,
It may remain unchanged for years on a mature product.
It does not necessarily change when the product design changes
(Ex: didn’t change when the 175 switched from a welded to a cast magnet pot)
It does not change as often on a simple product.
(Ex: almost every date-code 1217-1290 horn has “153” for the suffix number).

I guess someone will have to ask John Eargle about this one.

D-175 serial number 10822 (August 1951, suffix number 22)

Almost immediately the big “L” logo decal was moved from the side of the magnet pot to the flat back of the compression driver, but the cut corners label continued it’s familiar place on the side of the magnet pot

D-175 serial number 11138 (November 1951, suffix number 38)

Then the “D” was dropped from the model number so it became simply 175

175 serial number 20442 (April 1952, suffix number 42)

1952 saw the introduction of the cast metal 1217-1290 horn

175 serial number N21074 (October 1952, suffix number 74)
175 serial number N30474 (April 1953, suffix number 74)

The next change for the 175 was from a welded to a cast magnet pot

175 serial number N30474 (April 1953, suffix number 74)
175 serial number 40274 (February 1954, suffix number 74)
175-34 serial number 40374 (March 1954, suffix number 74)*
*the 175-34 variant appears on a theatrical equipment pricelist
175 serial number 40474 (April 1954, suffix number 74)
175 serial number N-40674 (June 1954, suffix number 74)
175 serial number N-41074 (October 1954, suffix number 74)**
175 serial number N-41074 (October 1954, suffix number 74)**
175 serial number N-41174 (November 1954, suffix number 74)
175 serial number No50274 (February 1955, suffix number 74)**
175 serial number N-50274 (February 1955, suffix number 74)**
175 serial number N-50574 (May 1955, suffix number 74)

** date-code serial numbers are not unique, duplicates are sometimes seen

[glen]

The engraved black/white plastic laminate nameplate was introduced around 1955. It featured an early version of the exclamation point logo with an "L" in the dot at the bottom of the exclamation point. "Jim Lansing" appeared to the left of the exclamation point, "signature" was to the right.
For the first time the serial numbers seem to be simply a sequential numbering system, possibly starting with 1000.

175 serial number 1391 (japan)
175 serial number 1393
175 serial number 1398
175 serial number 1482 (from system with December 1955 date code crossover)
175 serial number 2119 (claimed 1956)
175 serial number 2283 (from C34 with July 10, 1956 sales receipt)
175 serial number 2288 (japan)
175 serial number 2307
175 serial number 3672
175 serial number 4076
175 serial number 4237
175 serial number 4346
175 serial number 4368
175 serial number 4410
175 serial number 5379
175 serial number 5396
175 serial number 5805
175 serial number 6298
175 serial number 7001
175 serial number 7105
175 serial number 7116
175 serial number 7238
175 serial number 7289
175 serial number 7373

[glen]

L100 cabinets serial number 29654 and 29655
123A-1 serial number 53561 and 53566
LE5-2 serial number 41285 and 41294
LE20-1 serial number 133444 and 133503

in four separate auctions:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-of-Original...QQcmdZViewItem

from auction description:
Succesive Serial Numbers #29654 & #29655.
Description

This is an excellent pair of JBL L100 cabinets The original style with the vertical array. All edges are SHARP and joints are tight. All of the sides look great with a few light scuffs. One flea nick on one bottom corner as seen in the photos. I have shown all of the sides including the bottoms in the photos to give you an excellent idea of how great these cabinets look. All crossovers and L-Pads are intact and function. All of the original grille pegs are intact. The Original JBL Push Spring terminals are present and work perfectly. An excellent pair of well maintained cabinets

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-of-JBL-123A...QQcmdZViewItem

from auction description:

JBL 123A-1 12" WOOFERS

Description
An absolutely MINT, Fresh from the Factory in Appearance, Beautiful, Perfect pair of 123A-1 12" woofers removed from an equally MINT pair of JBL cabinets. Everything about these woofers looks museum quality. Cones, dust cap, surrounds, spider frame and emblem are all perfect! Serial numbers are super close #53561 and #53566. Removed from a matched pair of JBL L100s. The original red wax JBL seals are still intact.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-of-JBL-LE5-...QQcmdZViewItem

from auction description:

JBL LE5-2 MIDRANGES

Description
An absolutely MINT, Fresh from the Factory in Appearance, Beautiful, Perfect pair of LE5-2 Midranges removed from an equally MINT pair of JBL cabinets. Everything about these midranges looks great. Cones, dust cap, surrounds, spider frame and emblem are all perfect! Serial numbers are super close #41285 and #412945. Removed from a matched pair of JBL L100s. The only minor "issue" with these mids is the fact that the previous owner lightly etched his ID number on the frame. It is extremely light and is hardly noticeable. I have tried to show this in the photos but it really is difficult to show. The original red wax JBL seals are still intact.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-of-LE20-Twe...QQcmdZViewItem

from auction description:

JBL LE20 TWEETERS

Description

Removed from a pair of JBL L100 speakers. These are the original LE20-1 tweeters and are in absolutely MINT condition! Look, work and sound perfect.

[glen]

4425 serial number 474233 and 474234

With their original shipping cartons dated November 15, 1989

in auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-JBL-4425-Pr...QQcmdZViewItem

from auction description:

You are bidding on a vintage pair of unused JBL Model 4425L Professional Studio Monitors!
Those of you looking probably already know that these are some of the most highly acclaimed Studio Monitors of all time!
I purchased these years ago at an auction of unused new equipment from a now-defunct New York City Cable TV News Station. The address labels of the Television Station are still on the original boxes!
The date stamped on both boxes are identical; November 15, 1989. (See pics)
Consecutive Serial Numbers: 474233 and 474234 (Serial Numbers are on each box, as well as on the back of each speaker!)
Affectionately known in the Industry as the 'Dolly Parton' or 'Baby Butt Cheeks' Monitors!
Includes the original boxes; all packing materials, Original Owners Brochures with complete descriptions and specs, as well as the warranty cards! (See pics)
200 Watts continuous program power capacity!!
Short term peak power 1KW!
The famous Dark Blue Grills!!
These babies weigh almost 60 pounds each - UNPACKED!
They are in ABSOLUTE PERFECT, NEW, MINT CONDITION!!!!! Never Used!! Not a scratch, dent or ding ANYWHERE!
I did take them out and test them a while back with my MARANTZ Model 2500 Receiver, and they shook the walls! AWESOME!!!
This type of monitors were used in some of the most famous music studios across the country to mix the hit records of the 80s and 90s!
I would prefer in-person pick-up of these rare classics to avoid any chance of them being damaged in transit. (I live on Florida's west coast, 1 hour north of Tampa)
However, I will DOUBLE BOX and pack them up for safe shipment if necessary. Due to their large size and heavy weight, they must be shipped separately.
I would also consider meeting someone 'half-way' if an arrangement could be worked out between us. Thank you, and good luck bidding! ~ Joe

[Zilch]

ACK! Two lefts. Who is it here has the two rights?

[tony winogrocki]

Congratulations Tony! Sounds like quite a prize to be in such nice condition.
As you do the conversion to S8R, it would be great if you could post the serial numbers of the horn, lens and passive radiator.

I hope it will bring you many years of enjoyment!
Glen

Thanks Glen,

Here are the rest of the serial numbers of the S7R Olympus and my other slightly newer one with an S8R minus the 075 and N7000, originally purchased in Dec. of 1967 at Pecar Electronics in Detroit. I believe the one with the S7R to be a year or two older and has the LX5 at the bottom of the cabinet, the other has it close to the top but otherwise they're a very close match. When I make changes or additions I'll post those numbers as well.

C50 Cabinet Model D50 S7R WX
Cabinet serial number 47390
LE15A - 7899
LX5 - 10455
LE85 - 5365
H91 - 11857
L91 - ?
PR15 - 11570

C50 Cabinet Model D50 S8R WX
Cabinet serial number 47783
LE15A - 10251
LX5 - 12581
375 - 7156
H93 - 11476
L91 - 11475
PR15 - 10651

[glen]

Here are the rest of the serial numbers ...

Thanks very much for adding your system serial numbers to the thread Tony! This is great information that will help build a more complete picture of JBL history.

Much appreciated!

[hmmmshai_hulud]

JBL Century L100's

Cab serials#: 16172
16176

LF: 35496
35425

MF: 26181
26109

HF: ? (will edit later)

will add photos later today. they have to be resized.

[glen]

I believe it was around 1956/57 that the engraved black/white plastic laminate nameplate was updated to feature the new version of the exclamation point logo with "JBL" in the dot at the bottom of the exclamation point. "signature" moved from the right side of the exclamation point to the left, where "Jim Lansing" had been, and “speaker” now appeared to the right. The serial numbers continued uninterrupted over this change which occurred sometime between serial number 7373 (“L” “Jim Lansing signature” exclamation point) and 8860 (“JBL” “signature speaker” exclamation point).

175 serial number 8860
175 serial number 8872
175 serial number 8873
175 serial number 9217
175 serial number 9598
175 serial number 9880 (claimed late 60s, but I believe it is earlier)
175 serial number 9901
175 serial number 10032
175 serial number 10133
175 serial number 10167
175 serial number 10419 (claimed late 60s, but I believe it is earlier)
175 serial number 10471
175 serial number 10542
175 serial number 10726