vintage jbl cabinent and speaker questions

i am new to this forum and appreicate the good advice of lansing heritage members. anyway, i have a 1957 built house i have just restored and am trying to stick with interior furnishings from the mid50s to the mid/late 60s. i would like to find some vintage jbl speaker cabinents with speakers, but it is kind of scary buying them on the www without hearing them first. i have altec lansing voice of the theatre speakers now, but would like to trade or replace them with jbl's from the late 50s to 60s. my electronics are hidden with two cary amps with VAC preamp all tubes. with this preface, my questions are:
1. What speaker cabinent series should i be looking for which has 50s/60s vintage which are good looking and deliver a fat sound (i mostly to jazz)? 2. Should i plan on finding the cabinents and replacing/upgrading the speakers/cross overs?
3. do any members have something like this for sale or want to trade for voice of the theatre speakers?
your advice is much appreicated. thank you

The JBL cabinets and components from that era are pretty sought after and fairly expensive for the most part, with the larger systems being the most expensive usually. Most of the mid size cabinets that you are likely to find can house a variety of period component systems and vary in sound with the system installed. Something like a C51 Apollo cabinet isn't too large or too small and can be used with everything from a coaxial JBL speaker to a 15" two way sytem. It might take a while to find a set in nice original condition and you'll probably end up spending anywhere from $1000 to $2000 by the time you are done. I would suggest looking through the 50's and 60's catalogs on this site. A bookshelf speaker like the Lancer 77 from the mid 60's could probably be had for under $300 if you want something smaller. The nice thing about the small JBL's from that era is that they were built and finished to the same high standards as the large systems. All of the older stuff is dated sounding but almost all of it is still quite enjoyable for a wide variety of listening styles.

Mike

I would have nostalgic cabinets made complete with the tan grille cloth that hides the drivers and use new components. One system I would recommend drivers from is the L100T. The 2214H woofer is a great driver and can be used in different alignments.

Used in a 3.2 cu ft box (similar to the L100T) it yields low bass and a somewhat thumping response similar to the older systems. The mid and tweeter from this system would complement it nicely. Best of all, you can find the L100T cheap, parts are available easy, and there is a thread here where a member built exactly what I am describing. Old style furniture cabinet with modern drivers.

The best, if you are going to use the original system type, would probably by the Hartsfield with LE15A, 375 with DR162450SL diaphragm and 2309/2310 combo and external crossover and EQ. Reproductions are available or you could look for originals. Either way the cost would be in excess of $10,000.

For less money my choice would be the C34, with perhaps anachronistic drivers.

Here's one possibility currently for sale on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-Vintage-spea...3A6%7C294%3A50

I wouldn't bid those up very much beyond the value of components; they look like copies to me. JBL used to sell plans.

thank you speakerdave, duaneage and mike - great info and i will fine tune my search.