JBL C49 The Dale vintage stereo speakers from the 1950's

[@jpaleas]

Absolutely beautiful mid century modern speakers! I do prefer them with the feet on ! You are correct those are collector speakers, looks first then sound and not necessarily the only pair one should own! The same reason I had to chase down and buy a pair of JBL Aquarius IV S109 ! Not the best sounding speakers JBL ever made ... but the looks of something Frank Lloyd Wright could have designed! Thank you for showcasing The Dale C49 just beautiful!

[@stereoniche]

I think EVERYONE should have a selection of speakers to fit the mood! :-)

[@cjmarsh504]

Those JBL's look very amazing. I bet they sound wonderful. I think JBL should reintroduce them.

[@mrc6182]

The "LE" in the speaker model indicates "Linear Efficiency," which meant these were considered smaller drivers optimized to perform best in smaller, unported enclosures ("infinite baffles.") This was back in the days when bass was generated mostly by 12"-15" drivers in large enclosures. Even the first reasonably sized acoustic suspension AR-3's used 12" woofers (if memory serves.) I remember the 8" LE series! Heavy cast frames, 3"-4" voice coils, heavy magnets. Expensive - even back then!

[@michaelvaladez6570]

Ive never seen this model before..very nice looking for the time.The price point at the time were very expensive. Love your channel..keep up the good work, greatly appreciated.

[@stereoniche]

Thanks for watching!

[@cnhhnc]

Never seen anything quite like that, very cool! Interesting design from the 50s, early 60s!

[@stereoniche]

It is timeless! :-)

[@mikecampbell5856]

Bringing us more audio history! Thanks! What a great story. My son picked up four JBL S99 Lancers for 80 bucks. He had two of the 14 inch woofers refoamed and replaced two tweeters. They are easily the loudest speakers I have ever heard with out being distorted. Not really nuanced but could bring a house down. I have tried the brake fluid fix before and I couldn't get it to work. Those speakers are so cool that I could see a pair in Sinatra's house.

[@stereoniche]

The early JBL's are quite efficient and can really crank up the volume. They have a LOT of history and I very much like their early models. These certainly have that "Rat Pack" feel, can almost hear Sinatra just looking at them! :-)

[@bertroost1675]

I got some JBL L55 speakers a few months ago. Much more than $80 but they were already refoamed and I do believe the caps were replaced giving it a bit more top end. I love them! My first JBL's. They are so effortless and sound excellent. Since then I found some JBL L44 speakers, also refoamed. I am hooked on JBL.

[@mikecampbell5856]

@@bertroost1675 I love JBL too.

[@marcparsons1726]

I could see Bill Davis having these in his bachelor pad before Buffy and Jody came along!

[@vendelius]

Very Impressive Tweeter!... Thanks for sharing this...

[@stereoniche]

My pleasure!

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

they look in great shape for their age, pretty big size bookshelf speakers

[@stereoniche]

Back then, an AR3 was considered a "bookshelf" speaker. :-)

[@JF-em6hr]

Yep, really nice looking. I wish new audio would at least "tip their hat" to this aesthetic.

[@stereoniche]

True, there were certainly some good elements that could be brought forward.

[@garthmckeil9539]

Bloody cool! Thx for sharing!

[@stereoniche]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bertroost1675]

You did a really great job with the surround replacements. I love how bookshelf speakers were so huge back then.

[@stereoniche]

Thanks, it just takes patience for the most part to replace the surrounds, but certainly more tedious than most.

[@chrisnovakowski9827]

I love the MCM look of these speakers! Those legs only add to the look. Thank you for sharing!

[@stereoniche]

Glad you like them!

[@pietromanno8916]

NO. WORDS!!!!

[@stereoniche]

I know! They are simply cool and from 60+ years ago! :-)

[@pietrochianese9308]

Bellissime Speakers, hanno un fascino senza tempo, veramente straordinari e originali

[@stereoniche]

Sono completamente d'accordo!

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

I was surprised to hear those were considered bookshelf speakers.

[@stereoniche]

Back then, an AR3 was considered a "bookshelf" speaker. :-)

[@eabr2881]

Very cool

[@christophermblanton]

Wonderful speakers! Absolutely stunning. Thank you for showing them to us.

[@stereoniche]

They are quite high on the cool meter. :-)

[@stevenbailey4119]

I definitely dig the style.

[@marksweeney7327]

I think this guy made a deal with the devil. How can one man have so much good stuff.

[@stereoniche]

And what a deal it was! 🙂

[@marksweeney999]

@@stereoniche We all appreciate what you do. Keep up the good work.

[@pietromanno8916]

JBL AMAZING!!!!!

[@stevenbailey4119]

I had a pair of ones for many years until I bought my Thiel 3.2's.

[@jeffbrooke4892]

Just curious if you recap your speakers? Yes, those JBLs do ooze mid-century cool. Always enjoy watching your programs. Thanks!

[@stereoniche]

For this one, yes. I felt it was old enough to just go ahead and change it. They are MCM kings! :-)

[@DQ-su6qf]

Absolutely 20……They’d go beautifully with the JBL SA600…

[@claudekeppenne5345]

Très joli et un design magnifique ! ça, c'est du"vrai" vintage ! Mais la qualité sonore me paraît aussi très claire, agréable à l'ouie ! Je serai curieux de savoir , si le prix reste "raisonnable" , s'il est encore possible d'en trouver ??? J'en doute !. Merci à vous pour cette présentation , cette découverte pour moi !!

[@stereoniche]

Oui, ils sont! Ils sont assez rares, donc les trouver est un défi et ce sont les armoires qui détiennent une grande partie de leur valeur. Les armoires vides coûteront probablement entre 800 et 1 200 $, cela dépendra ensuite de la charge de pilotes installée. Le LE8 sera la version la moins coûteuse. Les pilotes LE10/LE30 séparés feraient grimper le prix beaucoup plus. Les prix varient donc souvent entre 1 400 et 2 000 dollars s'ils incluent tous les chauffeurs en activité. L'autre modèle similaire s'appelle le JBL Bel-Aire.

[@vintageaudioreview]

When I saw these JBL's it trigged a memory and it turns out owned a pair of them. They were given to me by a friend many years ago, and they did have a cool look, but as far as speakers I found them to be very inefficient and sounded like crap to be blunt. I sold them on Ebay around 2016- think it cost nearly as much to ship them as I sold them for.

[@stereoniche]

They seem to have attracted more in the collector crowd the last few years. Right after I initially acquired them, someone kept reaching out to me with offers that I kept turning down and they became fairly significant, but he only wanted to gut them for the tweeters. I was not interested in selling them then or now, but I was especially not thrilled about them being gutted.

[@vintageaudioreview]

@@stereoniche I checked the photos I took of them and the tweeter's dust covers were a bit dented. Had I the "arsenal" of tools I have now, I would have done more testing on them and maybe they both had something wrong with the crossover. But this was before I had gotten back into stereo so having the cash was more important. I checked my records and I got $450 after Ebay fees in 2016, but then it cost me $139 to ship them. My Paragon owning friend is going to be disappointed that I owned them and did not keep them...

[@stereoniche]

@@vintageaudioreview There is a set of empty cabs on eBay right now of a pair painted black. They are asking $1200. A bit optimistic, me thinks, but I was offered $1600 for my pair 10 years ago.

[@ThunderFootLevin]

I've always been impressed by how great these speakers look. Great design. On a side note I'd like to commend you on the excellent sound quality of your video. I wish some of the other shows I watch would figure out what to do to improve their sound quality (oddly enough quite a number of them are hifi and vintage stereo shows). What do you use for your sound recording?

[@stereoniche]

Thanks for the comments. The audio capture is really not high end, I use a wireless Comica mic under my shirt. I have used the same gear from the beginning, but my first videos have horrible audio as I did not know how to level it during the editing process initially. I've seen some other videos and agree on the poor audio capture. BTW, nice avatar, the late, great Gordon L. is one of my favorite artists.

[@mladenbasic1]

Never knew these existed. Great review. Just curious. What are the huge speakers next to the red ones behind you?

[@stereoniche]

Those are IMF Reference Monitors. Waiting patiently for their turn in the spotlight.

[@mladenbasic1]

@@stereoniche Wow I lusted after those when I was younger. Transmission line and all. Looking forward to the full review.

[@jamester1ful]

Lovely speakers. My only disagreement is with the high points for size/ compatibility with space. Not everyone can accommodate horizontal speakers of their size in their listening space.

[@stereoniche]

By modern standards, they are considered large, but seriously, they are quite small by 1950's/60's size averages.

[@Mrsteve4761]

A rating of 20! Is that a first? I'm curious of the wooden blanking plate having an apparent crack down the middle. It looks to me as if the one side is raised above the speaker basket and it's not sitting flush. Is this an acoustic suspension design in the upgrade configuration? And if so perhaps if a port there it is to be sealed by the blanking plate. Nonetheless, as you mentioned these things wreak mid-century style.

[@stereoniche]

Yes, a first for any rating prior. The cover is just plywood and the crack is just the outer layer, but it is not an airtight cabinet. I don't think any JBL of this era were completely sealed.

[@slantstreetrecords3274]

I have the C38s and they are an exceptionally better speaker with tube amplification.

[@stereoniche]

The Baron! Another beauty from that era. Certainly meant to be played with the amplification of the era, tubes.

[@slantstreetrecords3274]

Absolutely! Style points are very high with The Barons as well so they get to stay upstairs in the living room! Love your channel! @@stereoniche

[@leowetzel2497]

Why not use Butyl RUBBER Speaker Surrounds? I bought a pair of ESS AMT-3 Rock Monitors and that was used on them.

[@stereoniche]

Typically, we think about replacing foam with foam, however, you make a good point. Lansaloy was probably closer to rubber surrounds and I did not think to look for one that may have fit.

[@stevenbailey4119]

Do you own any Allison's?

[@stereoniche]

Unfortunately not. I've only run across them once and was not able to get them. Allison One's in the box!

[@sidesup8286]

Another great trip down memory lane Scott. There's probabably someone out there in their late 70s, who is shocked that you reviewed their very first loudspeaker, bought with their paper boy money as a teenager. To the rest of us, it is another interesting block of audio history. That these old speakers can compete with modern speakers in any way is amazing, and says something; but I don't what it says. Our technology way back then, (and before) was good enough to build a decent speaker. Were there any speakers from the 1950s that were bright? Perhaps that was a mortal sin. Warm and dark sounding seems to have been the name of the game. There is something cool about hearing treble or a tamborine shake coming out of conplete darkness. I've gone to sound that is a little treble shy, but the treble comes out of darkness instead of something spotlit. It gives it more of a contrast or something. I know I'm missing some fine treble detail; but I'm also missing a lot of electronic signature and garbage up there. I AM wondering though, if liking this tonal balance is just a fad of mine, or if it's here to stay.

[@stereoniche]

According to the LE30 literature, "masses of data were fed to giant computers" in design of the driver. :-) It goes on to say that it is the first high frequency driver not designed as a miniature cone, so it does seem it was breaking new ground. For me, I am just fine with the mid-high end for what it can do. Maybe pair it with a small hidden sub and it can serve the vast majority of needs. But for the period, this may have been considered "bright".

[@christophermarvin85]

I have mint JBL-L65.

[@stereoniche]

Excellent. How do you like them?

[@christophermarvin85]

Thay put me to sleep every night.

[@bertroost1675]

@@christophermarvin85 What do you listen to?

[@sidesup8286]

What about in the daytime? If the speakers put you to sleep in the daytime too, then they might not be that involving, interesting or exciting to you; and you might want to look for new speakers that are more stimulating. Probably we don't know what you mean though.