Members Manderson1965 Posted January 10, 2011 Members Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hey guys, I've happened on a couple of speaker cabs loaded with 12" JBL E-120-8's, and they appear to be in pristine condition. I am curious as to their age? I did some preliminary research online, and have not come up with a match on any part of the serial number (#50333), which I took off the magnet of one of them. Someone mentioned a fire at an old JBL plant in Northridge, CA, which destroyed a lot of records that could help in dating these. I've got the spec sheet for them, but it contains no details to help me arrive at how old they are. They seem like decent speakers. I used the cabs at my last gig for X-stage monitors, and they sound great on the bottom end, so I figure they are in pretty good shape (yes, I know these are guitar speakers). I am trying to improve the sound of those cabs, by first replacing the weak horn drivers (terrible sound), the 4" x 10" horns only have 1" throats. I am wondering if I change them out with a slightly different horn and driver, and use them with the JBL's, they might be worthy as stage monitors or fills? Any suggestions on upgrading these 19"x23"x15" cabs, which are front-loaded pole-mountable, solidly built, with a single 3" port? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reverse Entropy Posted January 10, 2011 Members Share Posted January 10, 2011 Some speakers have additional codes stamped on them which are an EIA manufacturer's code and a date code of some sort. These are usually on the frame. Your biggest challenge will be finding a horn flare that fits that cabinet. Check http://www.usspeaker.com/homepage.htm and see if you can find something that will work for you. If it's a standard threaded throat mount on the horn, you can probably find some driver that will fit. How it performs in that horn is unknowable. For close-distance work I'd probably want to cover the horn cutout with a blank and mount some smaller domed or bullet driver, personally. Don't be surprise if your costs add up rather quickly.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Manderson1965 Posted January 10, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2011 I was looking at the Pyle Pro PDS444 1" titanium compression driver, which is rated at 250 watts continuous. If I go with it, I'll have to get a new horn. Luckily, I found both at www.parts-express.com. The horn is a Goldwood GT-400PB with a 1-3/8" 18-TPI threaded mount (the dimensions look good, but I'm not so sure about its dispersion capabilities). The old horns suck! The Goldwood horns look like they have great dispersion left to right, but not up and down. Maybe if I set the cab on its side, it will probably be fine as a stage-lip fill or a directional monitor. After all, horn size does matter! LOL I just wonder how they will sound with the old crossovers and the JBLs? I suppose it's fun to experiment. It's like a box of chocolates...ya never know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reverse Entropy Posted January 11, 2011 Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 I expect the original X-overs were fairly high frequency since they went inexpensive on the horn and driver, so you should be OK there. Expect that horn to work for a standard floor monitor if placed on its side (horn like this [] ) or as a side fill if the cab is vertical ( horn like = ). It's probably about 40x90 coverage or a little less. The edges of the coverage area usually sound pretty weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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