interesting vintage JBL

[ZAKO]

I KNOW THE FEELING IN COLLECTING VINTAGE JBL OR EVEN KLIPSCH SPEAKERS... SHELTIE DAVE IS A HORDER OF BOTH.. I GAVE CARL A PAIR OF KLIPSHORNS,,,AND ITS NOW A FRANKIN HORN,,, I NEVER LIKED THE JBL MINIGON,,,YOU COULD GET IT WITH THE 8" OR 10" SPEAKERS. ,,, IF THE PARAGONS SOUNDED ENEMIC I,M SURE THE XOVERS NEEDED NEW CAPS,, BECAUSE THE OVER ALL SOUND COULD PEEL THE GREEN OFF YOUR TEETH AT FULL TILT,,,THE LATER UNITS WITH THE LE-15 DUG DEEPER,, IVE SEEN A FEW PARAGONS & METRAGONS ALMOST COMPLETELY DESTROYED,,,ONE WITH FLOWERS PAINTED ALL OVER THE CABINET,,,IN THE HIPPIE 70s ERA,,,AND A METRAGON WITH HOLES CHOPPED IN THE SIDES TO MOUNT MORE WOOFERS AND PAINTED A WILD GREEN AND BLACK SWORLE PATTERN,,,THE BETTER UNITS HAVE BEEN SHIPPED OVER TO JAPAN,,,THEY BUY MORE JBL SPEAKERS AND THE JBL COMPANY CATERs TO THE THE JAPANESE COLLECTOR WITH UNITS NEVER TO BE OFFERED ON THESE SHORES....I HAVE A GOOD PAIR OF K HORNS THAT I LOVE TO TWEEK WITH JBL OR TAD COMPONENTS,,,I TOLD SHELTIE DAVE ,THEIR HIS WHEN I DIE...I WONDER WHY HE CALLS SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK ????

[seti]

I TOLD SHELTIE DAVE ,THEIR HIS WHEN I DIE...I WONDER WHY HE CALLS SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK ????

ROFLMA I just spewed coffee on my screen.

[CaptnBob]

I wonder if that's why Dave asked me how to make something look like "an accident?"

My first thought when I heard a Paragon - "Wow - that sounds incredible!"

My second thought - "They sell for how much?"

[JBryan]

Maron said: ",,, IF THE PARAGONS SOUNDED ENEMIC I,M SURE THE XOVERS NEEDED NEW CAPS,, BECAUSE THE OVER ALL SOUND COULD PEEL THE GREEN OFF YOUR TEETH AT FULL TILT,,,"

Well Maron, it has been a few years but the gent was quite meticulous with his restorations and took some pride explaining it all, including which caps were best in which xover. I did listen to the 3 models together - the Paragon on the floor, the big monitors above and behind them and the Hartsfields on the other side of the room so I did have the benefit of hearing them together and the monitors easily out shined the other two (clarity, extension, impact) with the HF's bettering the Paragon. If he used SS amps or more powerful tubes, perhaps my opinion would change but to my ears, it wasn't that close.

"I HAVE A GOOD PAIR OF K HORNS THAT I LOVE TO TWEEK WITH JBL OR TAD COMPONENTS,,,I TOLD SHELTIE DAVE ,THEIR HIS WHEN I DIE..."

I need a better crop of friends!..preferably much older than me.

[ZAKO]

JBryan,,,,, I believe you,,,Some of the monitors are incredible,, TANNOY makes one I really love,,the 215,,Useing dual 15 woofers,, I Told Dave I plan to out live him,,,,His collection is bigger than mine,,

[sheltie dave]

JBryan, if you could, inquire if he has a JBL Harlan - one of the funky midcentury JBLs.

[sheltie dave]

Maron, I thought you said I could have the Klipsch BS button. I have been calling to see if you would add the Village People Greatest Hits CD to the pile as well. [] Here is another droolworthy photo of the Harlan, which was initially named the Jourdain for a few months...

[JBryan]

SDave,

I can't quite make out form the pic but I have a friend (also named David, BTW) in NC who found a pr of horizontal JBL 2-ways with D130 woofers in the local Habitat for Humanity thrift. They had legs like in the pic but I'm not sure about the shape. The fella that helped him load one in his car (all that would fit) also mentioned that there was more gear in the back that he would bring out when Dave returned for the other speaker. Dave returned within the hour but found that someone else had sold the other speaker along with the gear the fella had stacked on it. Apparently no one noticed the sold sign...he was really BUMMED! Not only for losing the other speaker (which he had already paid for) but he really wondered (and still does) what kind of gear went out the door with it. Ah... lost opportunities.

[garyrc]

,All though the general soud was like the JBL HARTSFIELD It didnt have the "SLAM" or dynamics i wanted to hear,,,So I moved on...Meeting Ashworth and Klipsch changed my direction of horn design

I was able to compare JBL Paragons and a pair of Klipschorns a few
times, once at a Hi Fi fair (different, but similar, very large hotel
rooms), and then at the old incarnation of the Good Guys. I had JBLs
then and was a big JBL fan, and loved the JBL/Ampex systems Todd-AO used
in some theaters. My goal was to get the dynamics and clarity of
Todd-AO in my home (the only time I ever came close was with
reel-to-reel 15 ips 1/2 track tape). Anyway, the net impression was
that the Paragon and K-horns were very similar in quality. I
favored the K-horns (this was before I owned them) because they sounded
slightly "warmer" ... i.e........ the shimmer and sheen of the highs
(brass and cymbals) seemed more "golden" with the K-horns, and more
"silver" with the Paragon. Maybe this is because the Paragon's tweeters
(JBL 075) were buried inside, with a relatively narrow angle of
dispersion by the time the highs got out of the box ... still, both were
very realistic, in different ways, with those cymbals. I believe the
Paragons I heard (or at least one of them) was using the JBL Energizer
instead of a power amp, which had a card in it that customized damping and provided some EQ, so
maybe that was applied to the tweeters to partially correct for their
burial. The way JBL put it was, "to make final adjustments in frequency
response." PWK, for his part, called bouncing mids and highs off of
something 'imponderable.' " My listening sessions were after JBL replaced the 154C woofers in the Paragon with the other ones (LE-15?). The Klipschorns seemed to give timpani more
effortless and almost frightening "slam."

The Fair, the store,
and I all used very good recordings to audition, but the average stereo
Lp with the average cartridge sometimes had too many shortcomings
revealed by both designs. A few years later, when moving coil phono
cartridges got better, both speakers became more accepted (by my
acquaintances) for a few years, then the Paragon disappeared. It became
a very sought after collectible, especially in Japan, I'm told.

On
the "slam" issue, the Khorns were great with percussive slams (those
timpani), the Paragon less so. To me the Hartsfield was always
bass-shy. Strangely the Cornwall sometimes has more "Rock slam" than
the K-horns, sometimes less. Maybe the Cornwall for bass guitar, and the K-horns for timpani, big bass drum, and tam-tam? Heyser, in his classic review of the K-horn, mentioned that even car doors slamming sounded better on K-horns than on some other very good speakers.

[kaiser SET say]

JBryan, if you could, inquire if he has a JBL Harlan - one of the funky midcentury JBLs.

Nice Dave, I was half way through gestation when this photo came out! Better watch Seti he'll have her posted on HiFi blog Retro girl before I get through typing this[] LOL

[Fomoco69]

I say it's hard to beat build & sound quality Vintage KG  Klipsch..forte, Hershey's...etc 

and 1970s JBLs....either brand hooked up to my 1979 Sansui reciever...sound Amazing

Edited August 7, 2021 by Fomoco69