Where do you live ? and so on..

[Niklas Nord]

Don
very interesting !

A great thread this one...

Are you disigning highways, I guess there is alot of planning
due to earthquakes that occour in the US from time to time..

[boputnam]

Originally posted by Niklas Nord
A great thread this one...

I had thought this thread was a goofy idea, until I read Don's solilioquy and then I realized many may not have known all that. Don shared it with me over a lengthy call last year, and his enthusiasm is very contagious.

Me? Well, I heard my first L100's while stoned on my first treat to a waterbed. Of all that, I only kept the waterbed...

[scott fitlin]

Me? Well, I heard my first L100's while stoned on my first treat to a waterbed. Of all that, I only kept the waterbed...


L100's, waterbed, being stoned, what about the rest? Wasnt she any good? Enquiring minds wanna know!

[Figge]

Originally posted by scott fitlin
Wasnt she any good?

he cant remember! he was listening to the damn L-100:s

[Don McRitchie]

Originally posted by Niklas Nord
Are you disigning highways, I guess there is alot of planning
due to earthquakes that occour in the US from time to time..

I'm thousands of miles away from earthquake country. The unique concerns up here regard the temperature extremes that our pavements have to endure - from 40C in the summer to -40C in the winter. I causes hell with maintenance.

[merlin]

Don, thanks for the insight.

I was best man at a friend's wedding in Milwaukee last year and was told they only have two seasons. Winter and Construction.

My real name is Michael, and I live just outside Windsor in England. Now in my 40's I have spent the last 25 years seeking that elusive music maker that keeps me happy.

Over here, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to loudspeakers, from the mighty designs of Tannoy, through the likes of Vitavox, Spendor, Kef and Proac, to the latest from B&W and Living Voice. My current speakers are Proac D100's whilst I build my own Project Maybe in my head! With JBL (First the L100, then the 4344, lately the 1500Al subs), I have found a product that puts a smile on my face everytime I turn on and tune in.

Hopefully other's in the UK will come to apreciate JBL's in a similar light.

Thank's from over here to all of you for providing a source of invaluable information out here in the modern day colonies.

[Niklas Nord]

Hello Michael,
your old unit is still alive and feeling great.

Your 1500AL subs realy look great !

[merlin]

Thanks Niklas,

The subs were conceived to work with the Tact orginally. They sound better than they look!

[Hofmannhp]

Hi folks,

my forum name is nearly my real name Hanspeter (HP) Hofmann and I live in Bad Homburg, near Frankfurt in Germany.
My audio "career" begun short after high school time with audio electronics for our parties. In this time the first power transistors came to the market.
Some years after this start my private electronic revolution began with the first cheap power transistors....the 2N3055, which allowed me to built power amps with 60 to 70 watts (please don't laugh). Some of them ended their life with a cloud of smoke..and a long silence.
During the same time, I remember it was in 1968, I started with building the first speaker cabs. Cheap speakers can't live very long and so I had to change some tweeters and woofers nearly every week.
In this time I walked through the hifi shops and saw the high class speakers, looking for the state of the art types....but...the budget. I realized the name of JBL in this time and found out, that the systems are a lot better than others, well understanding the construction differencies.
Later in the 70s I was happy to have a trip to LA to visit some german friends of my family, living there since 62. First trip was to Orange County Speakers where I lost my whole bucks for two 2441 and two 2205 (which I still own today). The virus had done his job very well.......
1980 DIY copies of the "new" 4333B with 2420 and 2405 and a DIY crossover (still workin fine today)
1984 two Altec Valencia cabinet without speakers for zero bucks, added the 2205, the 2441 with DIY welded horns and a DIY lens like the 2495. (also still working fine today).
1988 DIY of two 4530 with E-Voice EVM15B, active crossed
1990 again OCS , bought some 2308, 2235 and 2405.
2000 bought the 4435 as used speakers from a german music company in Munich.
2001 bought a disco system from a friend with one Klipschhorn and two Heresy
2004 after ebaying around in germany and europe, I had the parts together for my project shown in the forum threads from jan to march with 2240 (thanks again Bo for the terminals) 2441 (thanks again jtgyn) 2495, 2402 and 2202.
2005 we'll see

regards
HP

[boputnam]

My name is Scott Fitlin ... and my family opened the Eldorado Auto Skooter in March, 1973!

And we've still never seen a picture...

OK, part of my story - I'll work it through the next few glasses of fine red wine...

Circa 1970: my dad sought a "stereo" - we were fully monoaural until then. After much searching, I influenced him away from alternatives, and to the Altec Boleros - a 10-inch two-way with a PR. He drove it with sizeable Sherwood receiver... A few months later, having saved every lawn-mowing dollar I had, and selling any spare bicycle in the garage, I managed a pair of Altec Capri's (infinte baffle), and the "seperates" of a Pioneer SX-8100 amp and TX-8100 tuner. IMO, my stereo rocked - my girl sure thought so!

Circa 1972, arrived at Syracuse U, dorming it, and needing spare cash, I signed-up for sound support / audio tech and worked mostly at the ol' "Jabberwocky", a revered club in the ground floor of the then Kimmel Hall. Lots of cool acts, in some tough acoustics. PA was Altec A7's flown, and an Altec 8-channel console. No outboard FX or EQ. Subwoof knows this place , and he too ran sound there at about the same time, though we appear to have not overlapped. I worked many, many shows - Hell, I "grew-up" doing sound at Jab. Was on house sound, grunt/patch-guy, until one night Roger McGuinn (Byrds) showed for a two-night run, and for some reason they gave me FOH. Hell, I was only 18... Anyway, Roger was outstanding (Bryan Bowers opened), and after the show, McGuinn's road manager offered me anything - even virgin maidens to join their tour. Even McGuinn himself INSISTED I go with them and do sound for the entire tour. VERY flattering... I was crapping myself. Stoned and tired - I knew it had been a good show, and we could do it again - but I declined. NRPS was also on a very, very tight tour - which was phenomenal (only it was right after Dave Torbert had left the band, and Skip Batten [weenie] had joined...) anyway, I ditched McGuinn, followed NRPS and stayed at the Jab and did Aztec Camera, Taj Mahal, Mark-Almond, countless other acts I've long-ago forgotten (I became the Jab go-to FOH engineer for a spell...) but was clueless (still am) on the theory of it all. I was merely a shoulda-been music major with a great set of classically-trained ears and an innate ability to mix. I just don't have the same innate ability about the design engineering and theory. I crewed for Loggins and Messina, Hot Tuna, Bromberg, Guthrie, on-and-on... It has been my love-hobby since high school.

All-the-while, I was listening at home to a pair of home-made cabinets with 12-in Jensen coaxials, while the boys down the hall had Advents and a pair of visually stunning L100's. The L100's and I found waterbeds, together... I kept the waterbed...

Leaving Syracuse, I sold the Jensens, wedged the Capri's into L/R position behind the rear seat of the station wagon, fired-up the 25w amp, loaded in Grateful Dead tapes and headed west, New Mexico way. Besides driving up/down the Rockies thusly for years studying and working geology, I got involved with a band who still re-unions, coming onto our 30th in 2005. Not kidding... I repeatedly sold my stationwagon to the bank to fund cables, connectors, mics and stands, speakers and amps, and harps. I pretty much do the same for the band I'm with now in the Bay Area...

I bought a pair of Altec Model Nines from Warehouse Sound, and then later stumbled into a great pair of used 4312's on a road trip through Boulder - turns out John Nebel knows the place.

The 4312's and the Model Nine's were with me for years (always seperate rooms - they never sounded as good together as apart - a polarity issue I never understood until arriving here... ). I then refurbished the 4312's, bought two-pair of 4313B's from cabinet guy Audiobeer (corrected some ingenious network wiring he inherited...), completely refurbished a few pairs of L44's and a pair L77's (eBay'ed the lot), three-pair of 4301B's (still own two-pair), rebuilt the Capri's (LE8T's and LE20's; in holding pattern in the shop), have a pair of 4406s' flown in the master bedroom, and bought the most gorgeous pair of 4345's from Ken Patchkowsky that I have totally refurbished.

Now, I suffer with the self-induced purgatory of trying to do live sound support in settings seemingly perfectly designed to acoustically fail...

[JBL Dog]

Who am I?



My name is Bob Constantin. I've lived in the St. Louis, MO, area all my life. I'm still trying to recover from the Cardinals getting swept by the Red Sox in the WS. But, hey, the Cardinals have been there seven times in my lifetime and won it three times. I can live with that!

I graduated from Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, MO, in 1982 with a BS degree in Speech Communications, though I never took a "speech" class. I thought about pursuing a career in broadcast until I found out the majority of on-air personalities live just above the poverty level. There are a few that make it and rake in the bucks, however. Besides, the college radio station General Manager told me, at 6'4" tall, I was "too tall for radio!"

I started dabbling in the Mobile DJ business part-time in 1979 when I was in college. I couldn't believe people actually got paid to spin records! I did a little club work here and there, etc. I was tagged with the DJ stage name "Boogie-Bob" back in the mid 80's (and, yes, it has stuck with me over the years!).

I got fed up with "Corporate America" in the late 80's and decided to take on the DJ biz full-time. I've used just about every issue of Pro Series JBL speaker produced from the early 80's to present. My favorites are all the "SR" series. "Cabaret" series sounded great, but they weighed entirely too much to lug around. Well, I still use a couple of the Cabaret 4602A's as stage monitors (E120, 2402H). The entertainmnet biz has blossomed into a twelve system operation. I employ eight part-time DJ/Karaoke entertainers (and a roadie) and we do about 1200 shows a year. The majority of that work involves Karaoke presentations at local pubs.

What else? I married my lovely wifey in 1993 and we have two kids (10 year-old daughter, six year-old son). She teaches the 5th grade. And, yes, I get treated like a fifth grader when I act like one!

My hobbies include collecting JBL stuff. My current collection features two C45 Metregon's (one loaded with an S82 3-way system, the other loaded with a 2-way 201 system - 130A, 175/H5040 & N1200). Other goodies include a nice set of C38 Baron's (D131, 175DLH & N1200), Minigon, and a mirror-imaged set of Bel-Aires (insanely rare according to Oldmics). I also have a set of 4343's and 4430's. Oh yeah, Lancer 99's.

No longer in the JBL family are L65's, L220's, C56 Dorians, L100T's (the most underrated speaker JBL has ever produced, IMO) and L150's (my first set of JBL's). I would like to get a Paragon to complete the "gon" trifecta, but the wifey says I have to buy her a bigger house before that happens.

Other hobbies include wasting a lot of time playing Texas Hold-Em on the internet, Ebay-ing, golf and listening to music. My favorite artists' include Steely Dan, Ella Fitzgerald, Norah Jones, the "Rat Pack", Ray Charles, Beatles, Van Morrison, Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder. I can tolerate just about anything but the profanity-laced rap.

I've never been convicted of a felony and I haven't inhaled for the last 17 years. Sorry, I don't have a good waterbed or L100 story to share!

This message comes from JBL Dog

[Maron Horonzakz]

Hi... My name is Maron Horonzak.....With out the Z.....I lived most of my life in St Louis. Worked in aerospace Mcdonnell Douglas (30 yrs) Retired NE Mo at Mark Twain Lake. Ive had more JBL speakers than you can shake a stick at .., Metragon ( in piano black) w S7... Built 2 Paragons ( walnut) Bought a third from a Salvation Army store. Bought a pair Of Klipschorns Threw out the guts and stuffed them with JBL speakers.... For 20yrs I was recording engineer For the St louis Philharmonic. Then we broadcast the tapes on KWMU fm radio and NPR. We used to have Playback partys after the performense The Philharmonic orchestra were two fisted drinkers & would stay till the wee hours of the night listening to the master tapes. When KWMU went to all talk & no music. The Play backs were curtailed... I still get requests from members for tape copy,s Retired conducters etc. Now up here at the lake things are a bit quieter.

[louped garouv]

Now living in Denver CO -- Grew up in New Orleans, LA....
working as an accountant until I make it rich (somehow) --

I have a pair of model 19s, first high end system to date (they at least come close to predating me -- I am 28); running with a home assembled 14 WPC Tube Amp Kit (Heathkit AA 151) cant wait until I can get a hi end amp to push the 19s, but i guess the neighbors appreciate the low wattage in the system now....

[hosee]

I live in Layton Utah which is about 20 miles north of SLC. I was never a genuine audio expert but I had a friend who was and introduced me to real "Stereo" sound at his house with a pair of Voice of the Theater speakers. He later bought a couple of Sovereign S-8 speakers in dark oak cabinets and I really liked them. We went to a home and garden show and JBL was show casing some 4350s, which my friend bought a couple in gray cabinets and black grills. They sounded REAL good to me so I went and bought a couple too at $1500 for the pair. I got buyers remorse and sold them to my friend for the same amount so I had none and he had 4. I got a call from a salesman at Broadway music down town and he wanted me to see this set of speakers. I went down and the speakers were 4350s in a wood grained cabinet and blue grills. They were $2500 for the pair, which I bought and have kept through the years. I picked up a couple of L-300s when I was in Cheyenne Wy. while I lived in Wyo I bought a couple of new 4312 speakers because they reminded me of the L-100s which I never had owned. I later picked up a couple of Sovereign speakers in dark oak with the S-8 but sold them for $700. Later I picked up another pair in the light oak finish with the S-7 and added a 2405 to them (this is the kind of decision that I make when left on my own). I bought a couple of L-166s from Ebay and liked them so I bought a couple more later. My son uses them in his room. My friend helped me build some speaker cabinets for a center channel using a 2202, 2440 and 2405 using an active crossover. I built two of them and they work great. I still appreciate my friend and we still listen to music when we can. He helped me make good choices without the education of buying something not so good and all the detours that involves. I still own them all (except for the first set of sovereigns) and, sometimes, I think my wife has second thoughts.

PS My friend still has the 4350s and the sovereigns from all those years ago.

[Zilch]

Would everyone enable the location display on their posts, please? It helps us remember who is who by where you are.

Well, it helps ME, anyway.

We need a map here: "A thousand points of light..."