Should I keep my JBL 150A's?


I want to put a Home Theater together in my new rec room. The area is large enough (20x30 feet) to support a large Big Screen and a 5.1,6.1, or 7.1 surround system.

My delema. Should I start from scratch or should I anchor the system with my JBL L150A's? These are from 1980. They're large 3-way towers with a 12" woofer and base passive radiator. They're rated to handle 300W. I drove them in college (early 80's) with a Yamaha M4/C4. I hooked them up with my M4/C4 after a 10 year break. They are unbelievable. The walnut cabinets aren't bad to look at either. The only knock if you could call it is they seem to want to be played loud where imaging and detail improve as volume goes up.

If you wanted to keep the 150's, what would be a good compliment for a Center Channel, surrounds, and subwoofer?

Is a subwoofer really needed if I have the 150's? (My wife is already complaining that the floors are shaking). Oh yeh, I broke a window in my parents house with one too.
sempaul
Sempaul, Tough to give them up, isn't it? I own a pair of JBL L112s. I purchased them new in 1981. To this day, anytime I hook those speakers up and play them, I just sit there with my mouth hanging open. It is unreal how good those speakers sound. I keep saying I'm gonna sell them, but I just cannot bring myself to do it! The L150s are great speakers, although they are somewhat intrusive in size.

Tomryan is el correcto. Speaker tech has changed a real lot in the last 23 years.

But, one thing has not changed. The fact that many of the older classic speakers sound great. Depending on your room size, you may not need to actually use a sub, considering you will have four twelve's firing at you. Now the problem starts when you try to match a center and rear speakers in regards to timbral characteristics.

I feel, HTs sound better when using a set of matched speakers. At least having your L/R front and L/R rear speakers matching. And when using speakers designed and built by one manufacturer, in most cases, they have taken time to make sure the speakers have at least a timbral match, although the speakers may differ in actual configuration.

And, I hate to say this but, you may find that the only way you're going to find a center speaker to seam with your main speakers is by trial and error.

Hey, I just had an idea. Look for two more L150s! Then try some vibrapods under the legs of your couch. Maybe the floor shaking won't be so annoying to your wife (as long as she stays on the couch). And if your breaking windows with those speakers, an annual hearing check may be in order. Good Luck!
Buy some cardas speaker jacks, some silver solder, and replace the jacks on the JBLs so you can hook up real cables.. replace internal wiring if you are able to..you could probably find some used cardas quadlink or hexlink speaker cables, I use a pair of hexlink with my rebuilt JBL L166 horizons. Get some mod squad soft shoes and put 3 or 4 under each speaker if you have a wooden or tile floor, they will give you excellent results. Have the woofers and passives reconed if necessary, extremely expensive but worth it!
I use them on my 2nd stereo system (tubes). They sound great especially with tube gear. These were reconed in '96 and been powered with PP-ultralinear 40watt amp.
The original owner tried to buy them back from me at a higher price but I declined.

They just sound right with my system. Considered selling them last year after getting the Martin logans but decided to keep them for obvious reasons.

whatever you decide I wish all the luck. I know that I cant let go with mine...at least not yet.
L150A's are the best JBL's ever made - use a amp rated @300 watts to make them sing. The surroundds are subject to foam rot & can be replaced by lbrown sound in Marin County, ca (where I had mine done). You would be a fool to ever get off of those..................
I purchased a pair of the 150As when I was stationed overseas in the 80s. Unfortuantely I sold them in '93 when I moved into a smaller appartment. The sound they produced was remarkable for a speaker of that era. I often wish I still had them just to compare them to my present Merlin VSM-MX pair.

I would say that if the size of the 150A doesn't overwhlem your video setup, and your room is large enough to accomodate the large woofer output, than they should work very well. I can guarantee you that my wife would never let them in the TV/video room. I'm presently using a pair of Dave Ellis 1801 two-way monitors built by Jim Salk in my video setup. Sorry to say but these 1801's are light years ahead of the 150As in imaging and accuracy. But I do miss the big "thump" of the bass in the 150As ever once in awhile. Good luck!