Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Speakers - JBL L36 Decade



Have I mentioned that I REALLY like vintage JBL speakers? Just picked up these L36 Decade speakers today and boy do they sound nice. From what I've read, the foam surround on these is always bad by this point (30+ years) into their life, but these have rubber surrounds, so they must have been replaced. Whomever replaced them did a bang-up job because there's no sign of glue or any modification. I also tested to make sure the woofer travels back and forth without rubbing on the voice coil - no problem there. They sport the original 125-A woofers with their distinct concave dust caps. One of the LE5-6 midrange drivers has a punched in dust cap, but I just ordered an OEM replacement driver from eBay, so I'll have these looking minty in a week or so.

By the way, in case you didn't know (as I didn't before about a year ago), a fouled up dust cap has little to no affect on sound quality for most speakers. Many can be fixed by pulling them out using tape or a small hooked pin. Try at your own risk.

How do they sound? Terrific. I don't have them side-by-side with my L100 Century speakers, but they are very similar. Perhaps not quite as much low-end, but that's fine with me. These are overkill for garage speakers and will eventually work their way into the loft or the house. . .we'll see how long that takes. In the meantime, they will rock the block with vintage JBL quality every weekend. . .or until my neighbors tell me to cool it.

If you have any photos or stories about your JBL L36 Decade speakers, please leave a comment or send me an email.

Want to hook up your iPod to your vintage stereo? Visit my Audio Accessory Store for some great values!

24 comments:

  1. Nice find indeed. Enjoy them.

    I've owned a pair of these for over 30 years and had them refomed once.

    Best regard,
    Michele

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  2. it happens that i just got a pair of L36 last weekend. young guy was moving out of his flat on early monday morning and had to get rid of everything inside. that - hence the ridiculous price - was the good part. originally straight out of his uncle's basement, the B's were in pretty bad shape. the tweeters had been replaced by cheap audax mounted on ugly pieces of plywood - but at least it was done within the original "lemon" frame of the OG anot outside of it. so i'm now on crawling the net to find a pair of tweets. next, the filters were burnt out and the boxes had seen much better days... so, plenty of work scheduled for winter times but i feel quite confident to bring back a classic.

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  3. I just received a pair of these as well. I'm nowhere near an "audiophile" and was hoping that you may have some advice on what kind of receiver I should be looking at to support these speakers. I've had my eye on a pioneer 737 and some vintage marantz, but any help you may be able to give would be appreciated!

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  4. Hi Reid - If you can pick up a Marantz 2270 or 2275, those are my favs from that era and can bought on eBay in the $300 - $500 range. If you don't want to spend that much, just about any decent receiver/amp from the era will power these at moderate volume levels and bring out their potential. I'm not a huge fan of "matching" speakers with amps, as I think it's too easy to get mired in the details, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the music.:) Hope this helps. Shoot me an email if you want to discuss further. Thanks for chiming in. --Tom

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  5. hi , i have a pair of jbl l-26 decade and a pair of jbl l-36 decade speakers .vintage decade series speakers have a great sound with lots of bass and clear highs i have owned these speakers since the mid seventies and they still sound terrific . i use a pioneer sx-950 for the l-36's and a pioneer sx-838 for the l-26's , i am very happy with vintage pioneer and jbl

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  6. I have a set of the JBL-L36s which I too have owned since the late 70's. My brother bought them originally from our local Audio Store back in the day. And I bought them from him when he moved in with his girl friend. I still power them from a vintage Marantz 2252B amp/receiver. Plenty of power to push them! I have had the base drivers reconned once, about 15 yrs ago. The orginal foam wore out and they replaced it with rubber. They did a great job. All else is still all original and in mint condition. They're still my favs!

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  7. 60 years old in Minnesota. I own a pair of the Decade L-36 speakers in perfect condition. Brown Grills. I drive them with my Marantz 2230 and they sound sweet. I bought the Marantz and the JBL's in the seventies and I am happy I did. Never had any reason to change out any of this equipment.

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  8. I have a pair of L-36 bought in 1982. I have had them reconned about 15 years ago by a local shop. They still sound great. I wish all purchases made since would have served me so well :).

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  9. I still have mine, sold them to myself in 1975. Most people preffered the L100 but u thought the 100s were muddy on the bottom end. I always preferred the tighter and brighter side of thd L36s. I still have them, and still sound good. Woofers redone. And the tweeters were perfect until stupid me dented the one last year when I was "storing" them. Go figure. Even the oak held up well,
    With the blonde color gettjng much warmer over the years. Originally bought with blue grille cloth, i changed to brown. Wonder if todays products can hold up so well?

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  10. I have a set that I bought in 75 also. In the mid 90's the foam went bad. I had kept all the paperwork from the purchase. The warranty was kind of vague but it said JBL felt their products should provide a lifetime of performance, so I called JBL. They had me read them some numbers off the warranty cards and sent me to a top end stereo shop to have them reconed at their expense! I'm very happy with the speakers and JBL service. I currently have them hooked up to a relatively inexpensive home theater set. The decades are very efficient and sound decent even with an unsophisticated low power amp.

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  11. I have a pair of l 36 that have had the woofers redone once since I unboxed them in 1977. Still have the emblems and sound great.

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  12. I bought my JBL L36 speakers new back in 75 and have had them reconed twice, but that hasn't changed my perception of what a great speaker should sound like. These speakers not only look great, but perform flawless. I will own them till I'm gone, Then pass them on.

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  13. I have a pair of JBL L 36 speakers powered by a Marantz 2238 receiver, at the moment playing Hawaiian slack key guitar at a fairly high volume. Now, to me, they sound great, clear, bright with enough bottom....but, I was told at a stereo store that the whole technical basis for speakers has changed a great deal since 1975, so I wonder: am I simply an old guy wed to the 70's , or am I missing out on better quality sound? I realize that much of the answer is subjective, and that it's hard to write about sound, but I'd still like music lover's opinions.

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    Replies
    1. Nope, you're not just an old guy. The JBL L 36 are great speakers and out-perform many of the new speakers with their new technology. Trust your ears and your instincts.

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  14. I have owned L26 (sold to my sister) and then bought 4311 monitors all back in the 80s. Burned out the midranges in the 4311s listening to Ramones through a Phase Linear 400 amp/Carver preamp. I was in another room and smelled something on fire. Replaced the 4311 mids- no problem. Remembered how much l liked the L26s and bought a pair of L36s. Love the vocal presence and articulate bass guitar reproduction. My 4311s are in the closet now-the L36s just sound tighter in my listening room. Will replace the foam surrounds again when necessary--heard if you spray them with hairspray they last longer(!) I shall see. They just look and sound amazing to me.

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  15. I have a pair of JBL L36 bought late 74 from jafco with a Kenwood KR6400 and a Thorne turntable and some other stuff. About 2 years ago I had the kenwood worked on by North Audio service and the JBL's by Around the Sound speaker repair, both in Seattle WA. Both were fair price and did good work. I also have a set of Polk tsx550t and the JBL's have a more realistic sounding bass and warmer sound over all. The Polks are more efficient with the wattage and can be much louder, but both can make your ears ring and who needs that. I use the JBL's for music only and can pair up with the Polks thru a
    Denon avr3313c and the two systems sound great together. No need for a sub when I listen to music.

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  16. just picked up a pair of these free off the curb. The guy said he just put them out there. I was surprised by the thickness of the wood of the cabinets. speakers are mint sound is great. the woofer has turquoise green foam surround and the word SPECO written in green in the middle. No dented dust caps. great find.

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  17. Have four that I bought back in 1977. Had one of the best sounding systems in my network back then. Been stored for over twenty years. Seriously thinking about doing a re-foam and waking up my neighborhood. :)

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  18. Just picked up a pair from the goodwill for $15, seems to be mint - can't wait to hook them up after reading this (:

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  19. Just snagged a pair of L36's from the local thrift for $20 the pair. Drivers look to be in relatively good shape. The front of one looks like someone spilled a thin line of cola, some dark sticky stuff, that can be cleaned. THe cabinets could use some sanding and oiling, the side of one has a dark stain, possibly a water stain (bad for Oak veneer, the iron in the wood fibres goes black when water is allowed to get into it). The grilles are dusty but otherwise in pretty fine shape for their age, definitely cleanable - and in a nice tone of dark brown (almost black) so very classic. I will hear what they sound like tomorrow and may post on the progress of bringing these back to as close to mint as possible.

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  20. I have a pair of Legend 36's that My dad passed down to me when he decided it was time for a Bose wave radio. He bought them new in the 70's (can't remember the exact year). The day he asked "do you want my old JBL's?" was a great day indeed. One of them has had the woofer replaced after the foam fell apart, but other than that they're original. I've got them hooked up to my Franken-surround with a Harman/Kardon 10"sub, Nuance rears and a Panasonic center channel, all hooked up to my TV, PC and various consoles... I gotta say. whether its music, games, TV or movies, the sound quality is gorgeous. I love these speakers.

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  21. This will sound redundant with the above, most likely. I have a pair of L 36's since 1975, and still love their sound. Since many people have said, "the technology has changed a lot since then with speakers, and they're a lot better now", I decided to go to a sound system store, as they were re-foaming the bass on one of the JBLs anyway, and asked to go into their listening room. I took a few CDs I was familiar with, and asked to hear their speakers that were in the range of $1200-$200/pair, and heard weaknesses in all of them, much to my surprise! Some had muddy middle frequencies, some dropped details of the music when a vocal came on, some had a booming bass that I couldn't make out the notes from. In short, they didn't measure up to the clarity of my JBL L 36's, to these ears, after all these years. I was surprised, as I expected a different verdict. Incidentally, the speakers are powered by a 1974 Marantz 2270 receiver.

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  22. I too purchased my L36s in the 70s. Have refoamed the woofers twice. I have other speakers around from Klipsch, Cambridge Sound works, Boston Acoustics, and Polk. The L36s are still my favorite for listening to both rock, jazz, choral, and orchestral music. Bright (but not overly so) and decent bass. Have contemplated adding a sub for movies, but each time I think about it it all comes back to why would I want to mess with a n already good sound?

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  23. Hi would these compare to the Marantz HD880s?

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