I’ve been told JBL fans lurk around here. I was in another JBL group. They all had portable battery powered speakers. I prefer ones made from wood myself. I’ve been restoring JBL for 15 years or so. Many other brands, but their my fav.
For your viewing pleasure. A few more restores I’ve done.
Cheers
Finally put the Audio Research team back together again. My steady n ready D400 amplifier. She’s the best audio piece I’ve ever purchased. 200 wpc @ 8 ohm, 400 wpc @ 4 ohm. What gives one pause is the mind altering amount of stored energy, 270,000 UF. You will never drain those rails.
And my Audio Research SP9 hybrid tube preamp. I picked it up in a trade. One channel out. Phono section not working. Put my name in the queue for AR Service. Eventually, she was sent back and fully rebuilt/restored to like-new condition for $780.
Such a clean sound on the Princess C5000.
I’ve been lucky with finding fixer uppers. I’ve a white R3 and a fab 107/2. I gutted it, rebuilt it from the ground up. Recapped the EQ unit. Never sell. I’ve also restored two 104/2, C80 and C95. I want to find a 103/2. Looking.
I had the opportunity to grab a beautiful pair of R300 with very well made stands for $1k. I’ve been so very surprised/pleased at how wonderful they sound. I think i may like em a bit more than a pair of L3 & B&W 805. Could be my
Upgraded electronics. Still have my 107/2. Their not to shabby.
It finally showed up from Florida. A total moron packed it. Never saw a worse job. Glad it survived. It’s a Hafler 9500. Jim Strickland designed. Running on my 945 preamp for now.
This amp has a snoot full of current.
Specification
Hafler 9500
Power
250 W/ch into 8 ohm
370 W/ch into 4 ohm
592 W/ch into 2 ohm
Bridged
750 W into 8Ω
Output devices
8 MOSFETs/channel
THD
0.03% @ full power, 20Hz–20kHz
Full-power bandwidth
0.15 Hz–300 kHz
Input sensitivity
1.8 V
Input impedance
47 kΩ
S/N
>100 dB specified
Weight
50 lb
Original price
$1,900 black / $2,000 silver
Transnova circuit—“TRANSconductance NOdal Voltage Amplifier.” Instead of using the MOSFET output stage primarily as a current-gain follower, Hafler’s topology obtains substantial voltage and current gain from the output stage itself. That allowed Strickland to build the amplifier around only three basic gain stages and run the front end/driver circuitry from a separate low-voltage supply.
And the power supply is substantial. There are separate transformer secondary windings for the two channels’ high-voltage supplies and 20,000 µF per rail per channel, with the big electrolytics bypassed by 4.7-µF polypropylene capacitors. That’s 80,000 µF of main reservoir capacitance total.
My Princess and Audience 70. Both using the Dynaudio drivers. Man they look anemic. I’m used to my JBL drivers. I did a deep dive on their design. They are engineered to perfection. Incredible.
Picked up a beautiful pair this last week. They are the Duntech Princess C5000. I’ve placed them on my Belles Signature dual mono (2025) preamp and a massive ARC D400 amplifier. At 4 ohm, it’s pushing 400 wpc.
I had the four Dynaudio 9” woofers refoamed. The cabinets are mint. I restreched new fabric on the grill frames. The crossovers are really complex.
The image they throw is incredible. The low end ranks up with my Kef 107/2. Really amazing sound.