Bolivar Model 64 help

kbott

kbott

Addicted Member
Bolivar Model 64

A while back I picked up a pair of Bolivar Model 64's at a thrift. It turns out that some previous owner replaced the 10" woofer with crapola RS drivers. Seems that original drivers for these bad boys are few and far between but the cabinet construction is solid and the quality of the mids and tweets suggest that these will likely produce a quality sound if they're fixed.

I already have too much into these to drop big bucks into them but could someone suggest a suitable and affordable replacement 10" driver for these or better yet does anyone have the real things?
 
i have a pair of 64's. with the recesses for the speaker and needing 4 ohm you will find very few speakers that fit. My buddy fried my woofers pushing them too hard. i was uneducated about speaker repair and he bought replacements for them and i (cough, cough) threw the original woofers away. i now own 2 more pair of 18's and have the same issue, rotted sourrounds.
partsexpress or even go with subwoofers. i have some Dayton Quatro4 speakers in my 18's, just so i can play them.
 
I have a set of those. They are a JBL spin off. The woofer is almost identical to the 125 woofers, like in the L-26 and L-36....
 
If someone is serious about wanting woofers for one of these, you can probably find a pair of baskets for the 125A or 127H (L26/L36/L40 woofers), and have them reconed as 4 ohm drivers.

I have done quite a few recones of these drivers... fortunately, a very close match to the factory cone is available (ie, it looks and sounds IDENTICAL). It's just a matter of matching the correct voice coil weight and type in 4 ohms (which can easily be done)...

This won't be especially cheap, but it will definitely work.

Regards,
Gordon.
 
Hi,

Bolivar Speaker Works was a division of JBL and hails from Bolivar, TN. A lower cost line for JBL. Excellent quality drivers and well made. A good honest speaker at a fair price. Not heavily advertised in the day. We hillbillies loved them. I need to start a thread about Tennessee Loudspeaker makers.
 
Anyone wanting some history should search Bolivar here as well as Google. I found a pair (might have been 64s) several years back and did some research on them. Their plan was to cut a few corners to reduce costs while putting quality into the right places for a great sounding speaker at less than JBL prices. Unfortunately they couldn't cut the costs enough to compete with "cheaper" speakers and it never took off. Some uncommon but good heavy vintage stuff is Bolivar's legacy.
 
Thanks for all the respones They're sitting in my to do pile until suitable replacements come along
 
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my first eBay purchase They should be shipping tomorrow. Following Gordon's advise I was looking through eBay a couple days ago and saw JBL 127H drivers from an L-80T at a buy it now for $25 I couldnt do anything until today so that posting expired So yesterday I did a search of JBL and saw these. Talked to the seller and arranged a Buy It Now All I need now is a refoam vs a recone

Sweet :banana:
 
I got my woofers yesteday. Hopefully I can get them refoamed in the next day or so. I have 10" foams but I need one that's angled. I'm looking forward to getting them going I had pretty much given up on these as I couldn't find the woofers and from Gordon's post JBL replacements could make the cost not worth it, but these could possibly be a poor man's L-80T which Gordon raves about and if my L-100T's are any indication they should be sweet indeed. What's funny is before I started this post I had a garage sale and couldn't even give these away for $20 (thanks for stopping by TWAntiques).

My ultimate intent is to reveneer these and make them my main office speaker

Ken

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Wished those were 8" drivers- I could have helped you out. They are darn nice woofers for stamped steel frames types- little wonder people in the know love them. I refoamed and tested mine a few months back and they were very impressive for the size!
DC
 
I think the Model 18 is the 8" driver. No matter, I got these for a $25 dollar buy it now plus shipping which lets me stay in a reasonable budget. I have a couple pairs of speakers that I'm going to practice reveering on before I tackle these. The vinyl veneer is in overall decent shape aside from minor peeling at the edges so they're still presentable

Don't you just love that tweed grill cloth though :no:
 
i found this searching on bolivar and noticed the last post mentioning the grill cloth.

i don't think the grill cloth is original.
of all the bolivars i've seen 20-30 pair (5 pr in my home right now) they all have a regular thin cloth grill of tan or brown or in the case of my 64's the grill has a pattern where brown cots on the tan cloth get bigger as they go down the grill till they are the background and the background becomes tan dots. kind of like an illusion. this pattern i've never seen again on bolivars
 
Bolivar Mishap 2

I just bought a set of Model 18. Ironically, the original woofers were also replaced with a RS dual voice coil, so the impedance could remain at 4ohm. The model 18 had an 8" driver. What is the closest JBL mate?
 
Hi!
I have a pair of speakers Bolivar model 64. Someone know about some of it please show me. By the way combined with amplifiers to ask how they fit
Thank you very much
 
The foam surround for the JBL 116A/116H should fit just fine on the Bolivar 8" woofer. IIRC, they use exactly the same cone, just in a different (stamped steel, instead of the cast aluminum of the JBL woofers) frame...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
Bolivar 64 tweeter surrounds

Is there an issue with the orange surrounds on these tweeters being a somewhat rotted/shabby? Do they act like surrounds for a woofer? I don't think so - maybe do some damping. Any help is appreciated.

Tom
 
i believe they help with the dispersion on the tweeter jbl has similar on some of they're older tweeters and those foams are readily available on eBay. The 64's were decent speakers I ended up selling them and then ended up buying a pair of model 18's for my stepson for his college dorm
 
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Have owned my 64's for about 8 months now and after adjusting the midrange control for the room I am loving them. They can be driven hard (Marantz 2252b) or not. Nice low end. Crisp highs without being harsh. Nice warm mids. This is a nice do-it-all speaker.
 
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