JBL L150A, how do they stand up to modern speakers? measurements available?

[paulgyro]

How does the JBL L150A stack-up against more modern speakers? Does anyone know of available measurements? The closest I've found are on-axis in the product brochure (see below).

There is a seller near me asking $800 but one of the woofers needs to be reformed.

I'm currently running Arendal 1723 THX Monitors. I love detail, resolution, dynamics and imaging. Can they deliver?

I've been intrigued by these large JBL for some time...

Paul

 

[Scrutable]

I can't believe no one has responded to this. Maybe you should cross-post on Audio Karma where there are many vintage JBL fans. The L150A is generally agreed to be one of JBL's best ever.

My brother owned L150As in the early 80s and they had fantastic sound.

Individual ears/taste notwithstanding, if properly rehabbed L150As will be excellent compared to anything. There is no replacement for displacement: A 12" passive radiator +12" woofer in a big cabinet will deliver bass that cannot be matched by modern speakers with smaller drivers. They are accurate and can take a lot of power both continuous and transient. $800 is a pretty good deal IMO.

Refoaming is simple but make sure you do them in the OEM style, i.e. surround glued to the back of the cone. You will need 2 sets of foam including the PRs (~$25/pr x2).

If you try them and don't like them there is a ready market for vintage high end JBL.

 

[paulgyro]

Thanks for the reply, I did discuss this in detail on the Lansing Heritage Forums (https://www.audioheritage.org/vbull...3905-Thinking-of-picking-up-a-L150A-should-I/). And received a lot of interesting commentary, none very encouraging (they said 150a wasn't ever a good speaker).

I did check out and listen to the speaker in person:

"Thanks for all the input guys. I went and looked at / listened to the L150a. In the end I thought they were in really good shape for there age and I was surprised at the details of the tweeters and quality of the midrange though I could tell that the midrange was just filling in what was being produced by the woofer but at much lower level.

The woofers and the passive radiator all need to be re-foamed. In the end they were cool speakers that I would love to hear in my room.

No way I'd pay $800 for them though. How much do you think it would cost to re-foam?

Also the mid/treble attenuators where horrible, not sure if just cleaning them would work or if it'd would be better to bypass / replace?


It was trial and error to just get them in a position where there was output in the tweeter and mid-range."

In the end I passed on the L150a because I would have to put a fair bit of money into them.

I have pivoted and will be building these,
"
Call me impressed you know about Joseph Crowe, Troy is great (full name is Troy Joseph Crowe)!

I'll be building the 1964 Bass Cabinet with the "Dayton Audio Pro 15 in. 8 Ohm Neodymium Midbass Woofer Odeum 15N" instead of the Faital Pro 15PR400, I model it in this enclosure, it works great (and ran it by Troy as well).

For the horn I plan on using a pair of his ES-600s, he will send me a pair to test with prior to me ordering from him. I'm also considering a AudioHorn X-Shape (https://audiohorn.net/x-shape-horn/).

I'll design the active crossover first, and maybe a passive crossover in the future.

I've been playing for the last year or so converting 2 and 3 way passive speakers to active and the results have been surprisingly good. Getting the crappy low-order crossovers out of the way for 8th order LR crossovers with the amps directly connect is game changer.

I was considering doing the same with the L150a but that ship done sailed..."
:

 

[Scrutable]

Well that is quite a thread and an interesting pivot. All I can say is that I heard L150As up close and personal and they are excellent. Also I'm happy to see so many people finding fault with them because I will at some point have to get a pair. (Just for the record, I have L166s now and they image beautifully, and IMO have more detail and better bass than the Revels that one poster loved.)

I hope you enjoy your new speakers! That's why we work so hard at this hobby!