Help identify an old JBL speaker?

In the late 60's, one of the local hifi shops had a pair of floor standing JBL speakers. They were shaped like big blocks with a slanted faces, and I believe they were 2-ways - one large woofer and one mid/high horn with an acoustic lens in front of it.

Does anyone else recall this speaker and have a model number or a link to a photo?

 

Do they look like the speakers in the far right, center row of this pic?

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/profiles.htm

They may be part of the Aquarius family of JBL's.

 

You might try here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/jbl/jbl.htm

Bob

 

Those are the ones! I remember being really impressed by them at the time. I wonder how they'd stack up nowadays.

 

You might be surprised how good they would sound. I have a pair of the ones in the foreground, 4311, and they are very clean, detailed and sharply focused. Many would not like the overly clinical presentation, but I've kept them as a "flat" reference since they were introduced. I've upgraded the crossovers with modern parts and they sound better than ever. As an old dried up PA guy, it's hard to beat JBL, in my opinion, but some of their home units were not received well in the past. Not sure why.

I have given up listening to boxes for good, I think. I'm much happier with OB sound, right now.

 

Those look like the old JBL studio monitors. The ones on the right look like 4320's. The one on the left looks a bit like the 4350's and the one on top of it looks like the 4310's. I used to play with a pair of 4320's that sounded absolutely amazing. Nothing quitle like sitting in front of a pair of good 15" bass reflex woofers for impact. The dual woofer designs never sounded as good to me.

That said, we had a pair of 4350's as the main sound system in 'The Backdoor' at SDSU when I was there. They sounded pretty darn good for a club pa.

 

The 4310's were the predecessor of the 4311's. I still have a pair of 4311's here. For some reason they were not favored by many studios. IIRC, the 4310's were more so. Of course these speakers did not have horns, like the 4320's and 4350's did.

 

I think there was also a similar pair (L100 ?) that were a three-way sold for consumer use. It had the waffle iron grill. I think it had a 12 inch woofer. There was also a two-way variant (L88 ?) of the consumer version that had a different grill, with a detent over the woofer.

 

I think the L100's were the consumer version of the 4310. IIRC, they were around before the 4311's came out. I seem to remember that those waffle grilles deteriorated after a few years.

I also remember that though the L100's were effecient and sounded pretty decent, that they were often dissed by audiophile types.

 

IIRC, they were somewhat bright when driven by the Japanese solid state electronics of that period. Keep in mind, however, that they were not high end gear and I thought of them as an excellent value for the money in those days.

 

They did sound bright and that's why many didn't like them. IIRC, Hirsch and Feldman loved them and that helped turn me off to both of those reviewers.

 

I worked in a music store/JBL dealer in the '70s and I had the oppurtunity to hear them side by side before I chose the 4311s, even considering the 4310s were broken-in and the 4311s weren't.

I still think the gnat's @ss detail and mouse PhArT clarity, which they both share with the edge going to the newer design, was just too much for most people. I also have a pair of 4301s (8" woofs), but the foam surrounds are going bad. The funny thing is that they are a little hard to tell apart at moderate listening levels, because they have such a similar voice/color/tone (whatever you want to call it), but not as detailed.

You won't see me jumping on the "bad mouth JBL" wagon. I love 'em!

 

Exactly right.
L100s were intended for home use and were very similar to the 4310. And the foam grilles were a temporary solution at best. Mine have (long ago) been replaced.

P.S. I don't consider myself an audiophile.

 

I use JBL L-166's for mastering...

Bob

 

A trade ad for the L-166's...

 

I have a pair of L100s in my studio that I've tracked and mixed on for fiteen years. My partner says he got them from a commercial studio in L.A. in the 60s/70s. Of course the covers are long gone. Though not flat, I find they are great; good detail and presence. They do the low lows, around 50hz, really well, and seem to have another hump up there between 100 and 200 hz. So while they have somewhat uneven low-end, they have lots of it and at frequencies that musicians tend to like (i.e. they push out bass guitar, kick drum etc. in a flattering way.) Interestingly, I have them set up with the tweeter on the bottom and the woofer on top, as in the photos in above posts. My control room is smaller than I'd prefer, so to compensate for the close proximity to these monitors I've placed the tweeters on the bottom so that that info. doesn't get swallowed up in the ceiling over my head. If a good deal on another pair of these came my way I'd snap them up for sure.

 

Have you read their history? It's really interesting to see what they did, and why they failed to impress (at the time). I think the theory behind them is really cool - I remember dad owning a pair of "omnidirectional radiating" speakers. They weren't the Aquarius, but they sounded really weird (although I loved them).

Actually, I saw them last week. My uncle got them 20 years ago, and they are still running strong.

 

JBL's are the speakers I have had the most fun with, ever. I had the LX-66 floorstander until recently, and had the LX-22, the 82's and the Control LA & 5 at one time (well, my father did!).

The LX-66 may not have been flat in any possible way, but they may have been the most enjoyable speakers I've ever owned. If they could talk, they'd have said "Par---tyeeee!!!" all the time (even with lullabies). The bass was engaging, the highs were crisp and powerful, the mids... well, they were there. They were the Fat Albert of my speakers.

 

Javier,
Here're the details in that site you sent me to. Thanks!

http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/specs/home-speakers/1973-l200.htm

 

Just like everything else JBL makes, west coast sound...yuck!

 

I've never actually seen or heard a L200 but it looks to be a consumer version of the 4320 studio monitor with a slanted front baffle. I guess that makes sense since the L100 was like the 4310. With good amplification, the 4320 was a great speaker albeit it did not have a super extended high frequency response. They tried to correct that in later models by adding a 2405 high frequency driver (spitter), but I found those to be a bit too harsh.

 

Dang, I thought they were the Aquarius! Well, at least I got the shape right

 

I'm not going to get into a discussion about the relative merits of different equipment preferences and opinions ... I promise. BUT, could you give me a description of what you mean by "west coast sound" using a different set of adjectives. BTW, I totally get the expression "west coast sound" in reference to Jazz musicians, but studio coloration/signature is what I'm asking about.

I also promise to phrase any response in the form of a question.
Just wanting to learn, really.

 

If I recall correctly, the west coast sound meant an emphasis on the highs and lows. I haven't heard that phrase since college - brings back memories.

 

Agreed. I love the West Coast sound...