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JBL E 140 power handling

#42
@five7

Something must be going wrong here.
I can't find the original posts where you wrote the following words:

↑
Any 15 inch speaker that has a metal dust cover should not be used for bass. It will blow.
↑
When I was a soundman I blew many JBL speakers with metal dust covers, just saying from experience.
 
#43
ThisBass said:
@five7

Something must be going wrong here.
I can't find the original posts where you wrote the following words:

↑
Any 15 inch speaker that has a metal dust cover should not be used for bass. It will blow.
↑
When I was a soundman I blew many JBL speakers with metal dust covers, just saying from experience.
Click to expand...

Perhaps a bit of better judgement came over him?
 
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#45
chadds said:
I played through one recently. It has been decades. What a fine cab. Shame they have the weight of a dwarf star.
Click to expand...
Heaviest in it's class, and gets even heavier when wet ;)

At the time, it was quite an achievement with regards to performance versus cost and in hindsight would have been even better if made from plywood (all the ones I saw used a high grade particle board).
 
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#47
I have two 4625 cabinets purchased in December of 1980 and according to JBL made of "multi-laminate, cross-grain, void-free hardwood". Great sounding cabinets but they weigh a ton. They were powered first by a BGW 750 and later a Crest CA6. I never had to recone them despite years of use. I also owned one of the small monitors from the early 80s made of the same wood. In the late 80s a singer I worked with bought the same monitor and they were making them out of particle board by then, it was a lot lighter enclosure.
 
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#48
Most of the 4700 series was plywood but there were variations of all of these cabinets over the years. There was also the MR series which replaced the Caberets. These too were made in ply and particle board over the years.
 
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#50
Me, unloading my PA onto kerb including JBL equipped homebrew MDF monsters. Rest of band rocks up. Chick singer "what can I take in?" Give her some stands. Drummer grabs box of amp and fx.

Me, at guitard ''where do you think you are going?". Guitard, guitar case in one hand, McDonalds box empty in other hand, ''I need to find a bin for this''. Grrr. Grab box and place on top of JBL. ''Let's go find that bin''.
 
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#52
I could be wrong about this, but I think all of the first Cabaret boxes (46xx, NOT 46xxA) were all plywood. I'm heading out 100 miles on Wednesday to pick up a pair of 4628A's (E-145, 8" cone driver & 2404 compression tweeter) that are in the same-sized enclosure. I'm presuming they're in plywood boxes...I'll be disappointed if they aren't. I don't think of the 4625 as all that heavy. The E-140 is still a stouter driver than a lot of the stuff now out in the retail market.
 
#53
The docs I have show the Cabaret B series as plywood, the MI series was particle board (MI-630 & 634) as well as the 4646, 46710, 4612, the entire EN series, the 4638, 4645B & 4670D.

The rule of thumb is to always verify the material if it's of importance to you.
 
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#54
Ric Vice said:
When exactly did JBL and Altec Lansing get out of the Musical Instrument Speaker Business. I purchased a pair of E-140's locally from Antech Labs around 1982. Wasn't to long before Eminence became the major player. Just curious.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure Altec was ever in the MI business...whatever, they haven't made a driver of any sort in about 25 or 30 years. JBL used to offer their drivers on an OEM basis to whatever manufacturer wanted to pay for them, but only a few did. The products were just standard products from their pro line. They did 'collaborate' with Fender, in that they supplied them with some manufacturing runs of specific drivers that had distinctive, orange-painted frames, but otherwise, they were standard, D-series speakers. JBL has made a few ventures into the lower-end MI market on their own, but haven't had much success. JBL still sells a lot of drivers into the SR and install markets, but their relatively high prices probably attenuate their appeal in the MI segment.
 
#55
ThisBass said:
@five7

Something must be going wrong here.
I can't find the original posts where you wrote the following words:

↑
Any 15 inch speaker that has a metal dust cover should not be used for bass. It will blow.
↑
When I was a soundman I blew many JBL speakers with metal dust covers, just saying from experience.
Click to expand...
Got tired of being attacked over my opinion, I apologize for thinking something different.
 
#56
five7 said:
Got tired of being attacked over my opinion, I apologize for thinking something different.
Click to expand...
If you had looked back at those posts, you stated them clearly as fact rather than opinion. Since factually what you posted was not accurate, specific examples were given that absolutely contradicted your statements so the corrections were earned.

I was a JBL service center and certified reconer during the time that we saw a lot of this era JBL drivers as well as working for OEMs that used these very products. I designed a few commercial cabinets that used the E-140 which is why I was so familiar with the specifics of that driver.

There are guys who are trying hard to learn about this technology, and when inaccurate information gets stated as fact it is disrespectful to those who are here to expand their knowledge with accurate information.

Respectfully, I hope this helps you understand why you got the response you did from some of the forum members.
 
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#57
Redbrangus said:
I'm not so sure Altec was ever in the MI business...whatever, they haven't made a driver of any sort in about 25 or 30 years. JBL used to offer their drivers on an OEM basis to whatever manufacturer wanted to pay for them, but only a few did. The products were just standard products from their pro line. They did 'collaborate' with Fender, in that they supplied them with some manufacturing runs of specific drivers that had distinctive, orange-painted frames, but otherwise, they were standard, D-series speakers. JBL has made a few ventures into the lower-end MI market on their own, but haven't had much success. JBL still sells a lot of drivers into the SR and install markets, but their relatively high prices probably attenuate their appeal in the MI segment.
Click to expand...

Altec did supply bass drivers to the MI industry but they were much better known for supplying to the cinema industry (both drivers and especially finished systems). Altec isn't even the same company today, just a marketing name.

The 421 bass driver is the best known example: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

JBL did sell a lot of drivers into the OEM MI industry, all of their standard drivers of course, but also some drivers in the M series (or MI series). The D-130 "F" series were a modification of the original D-130/130A but with a few thousandths added to the gap width to reduce the number of failures due to drifting tolerances under temperature. Combining this with Kapton later on in production made them much more reliable.

Yes, they are expensive drivers but they are also well built and up until recently they were made in the US too. I believe they are now mostly manufactured in Mexico, and with the purchase of Selenium, Brazil now manufacturers some of this product too.
 
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#59
agedhorse said:
Altec did supply bass drivers to the MI industry but they were much better known for supplying to the cinema industry (both drivers and especially finished systems). Altec isn't even the same company today, just a marketing name.

The 421 bass driver is the best known example: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

JBL did sell a lot of drivers into the OEM MI industry, all of their standard drivers of course, but also some drivers in the M series (or MI series). The D-130 "F" series were a modification of the original D-130/130A but with a few thousandths added to the gap width to reduce the number of failures due to drifting tolerances under temperature. Combining this with Kapton later on in production made them much more reliable.

Yes, they are expensive drivers but they are also well built and up until recently they were made in the US too. I believe they are now mostly manufactured in Mexico, and with the purchase of Selenium, Brazil now manufacturers some of this product too.
Click to expand...

I'm familiar enough with the Altec 421; my first sound system after I moved out of the Vocal Master stage was built around a quartet of used A-7's in which 421's were substituted for the original drivers. I POUNDED those things...too much power and way too loud for way, way long. Never had a 421 fail, and only a few diaphragms for the 808 compression drivers, either...for 5 years of really rugged use. The shortcomings of that speaker system were mostly in the area of the horns, in both the LF and HF sections--benchmark designs in an earlier era, but pretty outdated by the time I was using them in the early 70's.

I never saw an Altec driver in an OEM situation, but I'll take your word that they did it. A friend has a silver-faced Twin Reverb with Altec 12's, similar looking to the 421, in it. He has no idea how the Altec's came to be in it, but dang, that thing sounds good. Maybe even better than with JBL's, which is a hard thing for me to admit. It's also heavier than any 2x12 combo I've ever picked up. Also, I never saw anything JBL other than the D-series in MI apps, i.e., I've never seen a K or E-series speaker in another manufacturer's enclosure, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised that it happened. You've pointed out to me already about the MI-series speakers that were available as upgrades in the Crate amps, among others, which was a revelation to me.
 

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