E V Patricians-- JBL Hartsfields- Your choice

Bob,
As you mentioned, the 375 mid driver was great up to 10K and then rolled off. JBL augmented the 375 driver with the 075 in later systems where it was easier to integrate than in the Hartsfield.

The patricians I built used the K horn up to 150 Hz and then I crossed over to the drivers used in the last Patrician 880. The sound was much better than the 800 that used the lethargic 30 inch foam cone woofer.

Ken

JW,

I was traveling for the last few days and had idle time which I put to good use researching on the Lansing Heritage website. I never knew that alnico magnets loose their strength over time, especially 40 or 50 years. They can, however, be re magnetized by a JBL repair facility for about 25 bucks each. That's not too much but the shipping will kill you unless you ship a number of them back via common carrier.

The aluminum diaphrams in the compression drivers also get tired and need to be replaced. New beryllium diaphrams are now available for most compression drivers such as the 375 at about $600 each, new aluminum jobs are about $200.

I learned that the new TAD drivers were designed by the same man that designed the 375. Having said that, the main difference in all of them is the diaphram. Using a different diaphram will enable one to end up with either a 375 which needs a tweeter, or a 376 which does not.

I'm not kidding myself about the sound I'll be hearing after I switch on the music, but who knows. I'm putting these JBL drivers together just for the fun of it and it'll be a lot cheaper than buying an old sports car.

Ken

Well Ken. I red your thoughts. I have been listening to JBL, small ones and big ones ever since the mid 70s, when I also purchased my first Decca London Blue audio cartridge, that I still own and uses from time to time. I have had real high end stuff, but at the present day I am using JBL OlympusS8 system, that I bought some 20-25 years ago.When I listen to opera records,(living stereo,Decca phase4 etc...), I feel that the 375 gives everything, sounds very good on human voice, but again I have been listening to JBL almost all my entire stereo life.My reference speaker have, for many years, been, the Hartsfield, but I have not been able to buy because of high price. Maybe someday I will be able to buy the Hartsfields. Well I suppose I am a devoted JBL fan. They sound so good, no listening fatigue or anything , just sounding good. JBL and tube amps, such as 300B for the 375 is a top match. Sounds exelent. The only thing that probably sounds better than my Olympus is horns. Good luck building.

I would love to read an update by the OP. Hartsfields are now being replicated. Now The OP & we are talking SPEAKERS! I would very much like to hear some.

Hi, I second what Isochronism said, an up-date would be great!, I have 1992 JBL L7 speakers modified with Taralabs omega jumper cables on the bi-amping post, this took these speakers to a whole nother level of sound performance that I did not expect from these speakers, My next mod to these speakers is going to be loosing the still points speaker spikes and tring to get the polycrystal jumbo speaker spikes, 4 on each speaker, I have experience with these resonance control products that are not in production no longer, They made some horn speakers I owned years ago right out magical sounding, Happy Listening.