JBL L65A (born in 1974)

I know I was not supposed to buy any more new "old" toys in the current economic climate. However, with crisis also come opportunities. Many of these vintage gears prices have fallen to the 2005 price level and many of the rare items began to "surface" : )

I remembered the prices of a pair of all original and good condition JBL L65A was around HK$11,000 in 2005 and it went up to as high as HK$16,000 in early 2008.

With the financial crisis, it went back to a "reasonable" level where I felt the offer was too good to resist. Another reason why I need these slightly "larger" speakers was because I have been into classical music lately and the 8 inch full range, while good for vocal and light instruments, has limitation when handling the classical orchestra music whch needed both high and low. Since my Tannoy Cantebury is back in Singapore, I have no choice but to get the JBL L65..

I was trying to find out more on the JBL thread in R33 but everyone was "busy" and few has the time to answer my questions . It seemed that many of the hifi threads have become phtographic societies with posting of photographs of scenary rather then hifi discussion? : )

I have to open another thread in order to get some responses. I was torn between the Lancer 77, the JBL L65 and the C56. After much consideration, I went for the JBL L65 as it has 126A, LE5-6 as well as the 077 high frequencies all into one. The most expensive item in the speakers is the pair of 077 crystals high frequencies whih costs about HK$6000-6500.

I was told that there are a few versions of the JBL, namely JBL L65, JBL L65A, and JBL Jubal.

My units is JBL L65A where all the 3 drivers were alnico magnets (L65A 個 A字代表鋼磁單元). There was one set in the shop at Ap Liu street in much better cosmetic selling at $12,800 but unforunately, the mid driver was ferrite (粉磁) and not alnico. I almost "went" for it but lucky I took my time to do my research and search.

This JBL is Ah Bao Christmas present ! Ha ha! When I plugged in my amplifiers into the speakers, I was immediately attracted by its ability to have a "fuller" sound stage and a quicker responses when listening to Dvorak 9. Listening to vocal was also a pleasure..

1974 was the year when I was in still in my primary 3... Ha Ha

There is another version JBL L65 Jubai...where the layout is slightly different..