JBL 2105H

Name: JBL 2105H
Brand: JBL

A 5-inch midrange that JBL's own service literature lists as the pro equivalent of the LE5H. It is also one of the least-documented transducers in the 2100 series.

Overview

Most of what circulates about the JBL 2105H comes from the people selling them, not the people who built them. The driver appears in JBL's 2100 series cone-transducer listing as a "5" mid 40 W, similar to 5" in 4311, 4411 monitors". That is a single line in a service document, and about the fullest factory description anyone has turned up. The same document's consumer-to-professional cross-reference pairs the LE5H with the 2105H, which is the closest thing to an official statement of what this driver actually is.

In practice, that means a 5-inch midrange built in the United States, sold as a professional-series component, and now discontinued. Sellers call it a "midrange speaker," a "full/mid range driver," and a high-frequency compression driver. The last one is almost certainly a category error inherited from a reseller listing, because a 5-inch cone transducer is not a compression driver no matter how the paperwork was filed. Treat "midrange" as the working description and discount the compression-driver label.

The rest of the identity is just as thin. No production years are confirmed anywhere in the record, no original price survives, and no manufacturer datasheet has surfaced. Even the relationship between the 2105H and the plain "2105" is unresolved. Both designations turn up in the wild, and no source found says whether they are the same driver, two impedance variants, or two different generations. The parts listings don't always distinguish between them either.

Key Features

5-Inch Cone Midrange in the 2100 Series

The 2105H sits in JBL's 2100 series of cone transducers, and the factory listing rates it at 40 W. That is modest next to the 10-inch and 12-inch midrange drivers in the same catalog, which run to 75 W and beyond. The 40 W figure is the one genuinely authoritative spec in the whole file, and it says what the driver is for: midrange duty in a multi-way system, not bass, not high power. The 5-inch cone size is consistent across seller listings and the factory document alike, though one retail page muddles it with a "3-3/4 inch polyplas driver" description that appears to have been pasted in from a different product.

Edgewound Voice Coil and Alnico Magnet

Owners and JBL specialists report that the 2105 and 2105H both use edgewound voice coils, the ribbon-wound construction JBL favored for efficiency and thermal behavior in this era. The voice coil is a 1-inch unit, and the magnet is generally described as alnico. At least one forum poster has questioned whether the H version might have moved to ceramic while the plain 2105 stayed alnico. That is unresolved in the available material, so treat the magnet type as "reportedly alnico" rather than settled. The aftermarket replacement diaphragm is the one part of this driver that is easy to find. It is specified as a 1-inch voice coil with an aluminum diaphragm, and it is sold as a common fitment across the LE5 family.

H Suffix and the 8-Ohm Convention

The H suffix on JBL drivers of this period commonly denoted the 8-ohm version of a given model, and the 2105H is consistently listed at 8 ohms nominal across every source that bothers to state it. Factory documentation doesn't confirm that the convention holds here, but nothing in the record contradicts it. Parts listings frequently lump the 2105H together with the LE5-2, LE5-8, LE5-9, LE5-10, and LE5-12, and recone kits are sold on exactly that grouping. That's useful, but "fits" and "is correct" are not the same claim.

Surround and Condition

The one failure mode that shows up in owner accounts is surround damage. A seller offering a used pair described both midranges as performing like new, with the exception of slight damage to one surround. That kind of wear is cosmetic until it isn't, so inspect the surrounds closely on any pair that comes up for sale. Replacement diaphragms are available. Surrounds and recone work are a different question, and no service documentation for this specific driver has surfaced.

Historical Context

The 2105H's paper trail runs through the LE5 family. JBL specialists describe the LE5-5 as "a later one in the series," and recone kits group the 2105H with the LE5-2 through LE5-12, which places it in the lineage that supplied midrange drivers to a long run of JBL monitor systems. The most specific system association in the record comes from JBL's Professional Systems Reference Chart, which lists the 2105H as the high-frequency driver in the 4315B. That one is backed by factory literature, not just seller listings.

At least one owner has described running a system built around a 2225H woofer, a 2105H midrange, and a 2403H high-frequency driver. That is a sensible three-way arrangement for the era and fits the driver's 40 W rating. Beyond that, the historical record is sparse: no production span, no original price, and no factory datasheet. Contemporary trade coverage of the era's driver market, such as Mix (November 1980, p.63), shows how midrange and driver specifications were presented to professional buyers at the time.

Collectibility & Value

Prices for the 2105H cluster in the low-to-mid hundreds. Recent listings include a tested pair at $175, a single unused old-stock unit described as a 4315B midrange at $258, and a single in its original box at $175. A recone kit covering the 2105H and the LE5 series runs about $62. One retail site quotes a range of roughly $175 to $499 depending on condition and quantity, and a private seller was asking $150 shipped for like-new-in-box drivers. Overseas listings for single units in original boxes sit in the tens of thousands of rubles, which sounds dramatic until you do the conversion.

None of these prices are dated, which is the usual caveat with eBay-derived figures. If you're buying, confirm which variant you're getting, because the parts listings blur 2105 and 2105H, and inspect the surround before anything else. Owner sentiment is split. One listener calls the 2105s "dreamy," while another, working through a system build, worried that the 2105H was the weak point in an otherwise strong lineup.

eBay Listings

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