It'a an old JBL ad, Believe it or Not!!

[glen]

I liked this old ad from a May 1956 "Fortnight" magazine. It's a take-off on the old Ripley's "Believe it or Not!" cartoons used to inform readers about JBL's technical innovations of the time. (Although the "baffle" bit doesn't seem that big a selling point?)
A real 1965 vintage Ripley's cartoon follows the JBL ad.

this website talks a little about Ripley and his early cartoons
http://www.toonopedia.com/believit.htm
this is the current Ripley's website
http://www.ripleys.com/cartoons.php

[Harvey Gerst]

The drawing of the guy working on the voice coil is indeed a pretty accurate drawing of Howard Wieser, the man who wound all the JBL voice coils, and who hand turned the wire onto its narrow edge.

[BMWCCA]

Which always brings me back to considering a nagging question I've had as a D130 owner:
In what application does the D130A with copper VC have different (better) characteristics than the D130 with it's aluminum VC? If aluminum is lighter I can see how it would allow for a higher frequency response, but is the VC the only difference between the D130A and the D130 in terms of low-end response? Are the cones also different? It would seem, if the VC's are the main difference, that only in high-power situations would the heat-dissipation advantage of the copper come into play and given the efficiency of the D130 in general, at what power level would this become an issue? I've read many quotes from Harvey on the 'Net, mostly with respect to the nascence of the D130F, that discuss this VC difference, and I've owned an 001 system and always figured the folded horn provided the extended bass response, not the actual transducer, compared to an 030. What else makes a D130A so superior to a D130 when used in a two-way reflex system?

Thanks.

[Zilch]

http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Thi...Parameters.pdf

[Steve Schell]

Glen, that's a great ad! Never saw it before.

Harvey, can you identify the men in the picture on this page from the 1950 (or perhaps 1951) catalog? Also, in the picture of the winding operation it looks like someone might be feeding ribbon wire onto a 4" mandrel by hand. What do you make of this? The edge winding processes I've witnessed involved a sliding collar, spring or pneumatically loaded to confine the wire as the coil is wound, and a motor operated feed. Of course, this has been much more recently than 1950.

http://www.lansingheritage.org/image...1950/page3.jpg

[glen]

. . . feeding ribbon wire onto a 4" mandrel by hand.

Here's a blowup from the 1967 catalog, and I think the upper right picture is hand-winding a voice coil. Although this, and the other picture, may be after the winding is done and preparing to take off the finished coil?

What IS clear is that JBL advertising liked to emphasize the care and quality of their craftsmanship by showing attentive handwork being done in their factory.

[glen]

A photographic image of this was still being used in the 1971 home and pro catalogs.
But this may be some process other than winding? Soldering on the tinsel leads perhaps?

[Harvey Gerst]

A photographic image of this was still being used in the 1971 home and pro catalogs.
But this may be some process other than winding? Soldering on the tinsel leads perhaps?

That's Howard, attaching the coil to the paper former. The tinsel leads and cone assembly was done in George Martin's department.

[Harvey Gerst]

Here's a blowup from the 1967 catalog, and I think the upper right picture is hand-winding a voice coil. Although this, and the other picture, may be after the winding is done and preparing to take off the finished coil?

What IS clear is that JBL advertising liked to emphasize the care and quality of their craftsmanship by showing attentive handwork being done in their factory.

Forget the gauge picture; I have no idea where that's from.

The upper left picture shows the spider being attached to the round coil former; you can see the braided leads already attached.

The upper right picture is Howard again doing a 4" mandrel of speaker coils, which he'll later separate (cut up) into individual coils.

The lower left picture is someone in the speaker assembly dept. gluing a surround onto a cone assembly.

And yeah, we did most of the assembly work by hand - even to the forming of the aluminum domes.

[kingjames]

I love all those old JBL ad's,somewhat of a personal time machine.

[macaroonie]

I am in great awe that one of the oiginal participants in what has become one of the great speaker manufacturers can still lend his knowledge and memory to this forum. We are in your debt sir.

[Hoerninger]

I am in great awe that one of the oiginal participants in what has become one of the great speaker manufacturers can still lend his knowledge and memory to this forum. We are in your debt sir.

Yes, I do second. Thank you.
__________
Peter

[glen]

As far as I can tell, this ad from May 1956 is the earliest appearance in ads or literature of a a JBL employee making a speaker. Photographs of the hand assembly of speakers became a mainstay of JBL catalogs over the next 20 - 30 years symbolizing the pride of craftmanship that went into their products.

[Harvey Gerst]

I remember the gauge picture!!! In Howard's area, there was the machine that flattened the coil wire and coated it at the same time. I believe that gauge was used to monitor the thickness of the flattened wire.

[Steve Schell]

Harvey, this is a page from the 1950 (or 1951) JBL catalog. Would the man in the foreground be Howard Wieser? Do you recognize the other man?
I am also curious about the picture of the winding jig. Do you know if they fed the ribbon wire by hand in the early days? Thank you for any insights.