JBL Summit 300L - Mod them or sell them?

[MrZ]

I have a pair of JBL Summit 300L that were given to me by a friend.

They are much to big to use in my current HT set up. Could I remove the Tweeter & midrange from both speakers and make two smaller units & then take one woofer and make a sub?

or should I just sell them?

My current system consist of 5 NHT Super Zeros and a Velodyne 70 watt sub. It worked great in my old home because the room was alot smaller, but now I feel the sub and main speakers may be too small.

Anybody have any thoughts?

[planet10]

Flog em... whole or the parts (parts are easier to ship). Even grill cloth & badges can be sold.

Mail me if you want any selling tips.

dave

[jpchleapas]

Do not part them out. Sell them whole if you must. They are not that big as I use a pair in my apartment. As complete units you should get 2K selling them. As parts you will not see 2K. With a tube amplifier my JBL L300 Summit speakers are about as good as it gets. The midrange horns make them a joy to listen to. They were used and are still used as studio monitor speakers in some recording studios. I paid $500 for my pair a few years ago. I rented a truck and I drove across MA to pick them up sight unseen. The seller was the bass player from the 70's band Duke and the Drivers. He just wanted them to go to a good home to someone like me who would enjoy them, and use them daily. He actually had people trying to offer him less than 500 for the pair. Sell them intact with the provision that the buyer will pay crating and shipping/freight costs. There are pro pack and ship companies that do this for reasonable rates. BAX has good prices on shipping to and do other air freight companies. Why not just keep them? They will only go up in value over time.

[roddyama]

Z,

If you're feelin' DIYish, you might think about something like I did in this thread . You wouldn't have to use 2 mid-bass drivers, and you could mount all the drivers in the same box of about the same size (a little deeper to accomodate the horn). You would have to change the x-over arrangement. I would also expect the JBL 136 woofers to be much better WRT extension, efficiency, and quality then the Velodyne.

You have a lot of potiential sitting there. You could have the ultimate front channel HT speakers. For more tip on JBL equipment, you can also try this forum for JBL nuts.

[MrZ]

Thanks for the input guys.

It kills me, but I’ll probably just sell them. I should have planned out the room better, but I ‘m just out of space to fit that size speaker. A pair sold on E-bay yesterday for $2,425
http://cgi.msn.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...category=14993 I’ll probably use the profit to buy a new sub and main speakers.


I may be able to squeeze them next to the TV, but the JBL site mentions that the speakers are not video shielded and could interfere with the TV. Anyone have this issue?


I don’t know if I want to attempt removing the drivers and making new speakers. I would hate to damage them and wind up with nothing.

The original owner gave the speakers to me, along with other vintage stuff. I’ve sold most of the other stuff on E-bay except for an Amp, pre-amp, cassette decks, BBE 2002 and an old Soundcraftsman EQ. I don’t think he realized the value of what he was giving me. Believe it or not, he told me to through the JBL’s out if I didn’t want them.

[roddyama]

Originally posted by MrZ
Thanks for the input guys.

It kills me, but I’ll probably just sell them. I should have planned out the room better, but I ‘m just out of space to fit that size speaker. A pair sold on E-bay yesterday for $2,425
http://cgi.msn.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...category=14993 I’ll probably use the profit to buy a new sub and main speakers.

That would be too bad. You not get the "in-your-living-room" sound that these can give you from many other speakers.

Originally posted by MrZ
I may be able to squeeze them next to the TV, but the JBL site mentions that the speakers are not video shielded and could interfere with the TV. Anyone have this issue?

If these are from the mid-80's or before, they will have the ANICO magnets. The magnet structures that JBL made for these speakers have better control on the flux then the newer ceramic magnet structures even when with the shields. They will not interfere with your TV if they have the ALNICO magnets.

Originally posted by MrZ
I don’t know if I want to attempt removing the drivers and making new speakers. I would hate to damage them and wind up with nothing.

They are extremely sturdy and well built. It would be difficult to hurt any part of these speakers except the cones of the woofers and the mid-horn lenses.

Originally posted by MrZ
The original owner gave the speakers to me, along with other vintage stuff. I’ve sold most of the other stuff on E-bay except for an Amp, pre-amp, cassette decks, BBE 2002 and an old Soundcraftsman EQ. I don’t think he realized the value of what he was giving me. Believe it or not, he told me to through the JBL’s out if I didn’t want them.

So even if you did manage to break them, you have nothing to loose.

[jackinnj]

JBL's are like vintage 396 Camaro's or Small Block Vet's on EBay -- everyone wants to recall their youth and listen to the Beach Boys with that great West Coast sound, something which too few of us were able to afford decades ago!

Particularly true for those of us who bought AR3's instead!

I have often pondered where the heck I would put a couple of JBL Centuries with all the speakers I have lying about.

Jack (East Coast sound).

[MrZ]

Well Jack if you decide you want a pair, let me know I'm from North NJ too.

[jackinnj]

if I bought another set of speakers my wife would crown me.

[qwad]

I second PLANET 10's motion aka [ DAVE] SELL, SELL , SELL , THEM and get something more suitable with the proceeds that you will be happy with.... [ i SEE YOU HAVE NOT MENTIONED sound quality or wether you actually like it as it is equally important] with the proceeds of the sale you can build a plethora of designs floating around on cyber space that will probably do the job more satisfactorily to you since you haven't formed an emotional bond with them yet.... good luck, cheers TC