Awesome JBL Summit attic find and restoration

[saabracer23]

Found these guys that were in rough shape. The original owner deemed them too large put them in the attic (there are stairs) and they sat there unused for a little over 20 years. All the drivers work. There is a walnut trim piece missing which I’ll need to fabricate and it’s missing the lenses for the midranges. Grills and glass are in good shape. No scratches on the veneer but they got wet so there are runs. They will need to be refinished. I removed the mid and tweeter from the one cabinet hoping they’d be easier to carry, but wasn’t worth it. They’ll get the full restoration, so far 100 bones into them so plenty of wiggle room.

Dan

 

[hjames]

Tough break - those poor Summit speakers

 

[fredgarvin]

What a lucky find! I always liked the looks of those babies.

 

[absolve2525]

Awesome!

 

[MCM_Fan]

Wow, just wow!

 

[mars_volta]

Oh yeah!

 

[Drugolf]

Saweetness wrapped up in one tight little bill! Plenty of room left to put more into them as needed.

 

[damacman]

JUST WOW!!

 

[hugo454]

 

[jeb98]

Wow what a score!! A lot of really nice JBL finds here lately. They look like they'll clean up nicely. I'm hanging out with the wrong people apparently because I'm not finding speakers like this.

 

[toddalin]

Nice score!

 

[Justgotohm]

Dude, that is awesome!

 

[gdmoore28]

I'm hanging out with the wrong people apparently because I'm not finding speakers like this.

I hear 'ya.

My area (Little Rock) has never had enough interest in stereo to support more than one good hifi store, which is now long gone. (There are still a few home theater outlets, but gee . . . .) As a result, very few nice components were ever even on the market here. About the only salvation we've had over the years was the equipment brought into the area by service members at the Little Rock Air Force Base. It's not at all uncommon to find something worth having and discover the serviceman's serial number scribed into the unit. (Of course, out there somewhere is some very nice hifi gear with my number inscribed, as well. What was I thinking in selling it?)

Anyway, congrats on the great find. At least the rest of us can live vicariously thru you!

GeeDeeEmm

 

[faber12]

Excellent! Put some work into those, and you can enjoy them for years to come. If you can, please take some pictures of the way the grills are constructed for us.

Congratulations!

 

[Justgotohm]

I hear 'ya.

My area (Little Rock) has never had enough interest in stereo to support more than one good hifi store, which is now long gone. (There are still a few home theater outlets, but gee . . . .) As a result, very few nice components were ever even on the market here. About the only salvation we've had over the years was the equipment brought into the area by service members at the Little Rock Air Force Base. It's not at all uncommon to find something worth having and discover the serviceman's serial number scribed into the unit. (Of course, out there somewhere is some very nice hifi gear with my number inscribed, as well. What was I thinking in selling it?)

Anyway, congrats on the great find. At least the rest of us can live vicariously thru you!

GeeDeeEmm

Well I can tell you this, there is a serious Kiss fan in Little Rock. I was out there with my wife at the time who was graduating from UA, while she was doing her thing I would go to salvage yards looking for older European car parts. In one salvage yard right next to a Masaratti Quattroport was a 80's black BMW 524td that had been meticulously airbrushed in full Kiss regalia complete with a portrait of the band on the hood. I wanted that hood so bad, no enough room to get it home. I'm assuming it was some hair bangers tribute to the BMW Art cars.

 

[damacman]

I hear 'ya.

My area (Little Rock) has never had enough interest in stereo to support more than one good hifi store, which is now long gone. (There are still a few home theater outlets, but gee . . . .) As a result, very few nice components were ever even on the market here. About the only salvation we've had over the years was the equipment brought into the area by service members at the Little Rock Air Force Base. It's not at all uncommon to find something worth having and discover the serviceman's serial number scribed into the unit. (Of course, out there somewhere is some very nice hifi gear with my number inscribed, as well. What was I thinking in selling it?)

Anyway, congrats on the great find. At least the rest of us can live vicariously thru you!

GeeDeeEmm

Oh I don't know about that ... I bought and sold a lot of high end gear in the used market in Little Rock from '90 - '97 when I lived there. I found a Marantz 7C, at least two MC240s, an MC275, numerous MX110s, a Western Electric 124, EV30W, a pair of mint Altec 19s, and on and on and on. My favorite score from LR was the MC2300 out of The Wrangler night club when ownership changed - still the only Gold/Black faced one I've ever seen. I sure wish I still had it ...

Custom Audio, Leisure Electronics, Audio World, etc. were all going strong. I ran Audiotronics on the northbound feeder of Hwy 67 from '95 - '97. My buddy Mike still lives in Cabot and is a huge McIntosh and Klipsch nut.

 

[Goldjazz]

Scroe! Nice one

 

[zebra03]

wow !

 

[mech986]

Fantastic score!!! I knew something looked familiar when I saw the bottoms, and then the curved edges of the tops. The speakers become a lot easier to move if you take out the 136A or H drivers (especially the H with the ferrite magnets), and of course with the compression drivers taken out. Let me know if you need the acoustic lenses, I have some in various conditions. That is an awesome find, and please, tell us the backstory on how you heard about them - CL listing for some old speakers????

When you're ready, we can certainly help you with a restoration thread, looking forward to your additional pics showing all the components, interior, and veneer/grilles.

Again, Congrats!!

 

[mech986]

Oh, be sure you bag up all the screws in separate bags and label them as to what they go to - also mark on the inside of the rear access panel which way was up and down and which speaker it went to. Even though these were made closely, there are tolerances and sometimes they just go in one way into one speaker. While you're inside the speakers, check for any varmints, vermin, rat droppings or other materials that don't belong there and clean accordingly, especially if they sat where critters or kids could get to them.

If ok, then check underneath the fiberglass linings to see if there is any paperwork or build sheets inside. You may also consider unbolting the crossover from the base so you can go through that - but be sure to label all the wiring for placement to the woofer, midrange, and tweeter and for the controls - be very cautious about taking the controls out since the foilcal has to be taken off and that is never easy - needs a heat gun, a flat scraping implement, and a lot of patience to remove without damage, rippling, or bending the aluminum foilcal so you can access the screws holding the control mounting board.

Make sure you order the correct narrow roll surrounds from Rick Cobb, save the original neoprene foam front gaskets when you take off the old surround so they can be reapplied for that nice JBL OEM look.