JBL C56 Dorian (c. 1964)

The JBL C56 Dorian is a floor-standing, two-way speaker system from the mid-1960s. The surviving record on it is thin. What is documented is this: the cabinet is topped with a slab of Adriatic marble and finished in walnut, and JBL used the marble to add mass and damp cabinet resonance. The internal design is shared with the Lancer 101, but the Dorian's front has a sub-runner (a port or vent arrangement) that the Lancer lacks.

The C56 pairs the well-regarded LE14A woofer with the LE175DLH horn driver, fitted with the "potato masher" lens. Owners on the audioheritage.org forum describe the sound as "fairly loud" and say a recap made a big sonic improvement. The original wax-potted crossover caps, marked "Globe Aerospace," measure fine at 12µF but benefit from replacement. The known weak point is the woofer surround. The original Lansaloy foam deteriorates with age, and JBL's official position has long been that they only sell complete recone kits, not surrounds alone. Aftermarket re-foam kits exist specifically for this model.

Dimensions are 440 × 580 × 300 mm (W×H×D). The original price in Japan was listed at ¥48,000 per unit around 1967. A pair appeared on Craigslist at $1,600, described as walnut with the marble tops intact. No frequency response, impedance, or sensitivity figures have surfaced in the available documentation.

Type: Two-way, reflex floor enclosure
Woofer: LE14A
HF driver: LE175DLH horn with “potato masher” lens
Dimensions: 440 × 580 × 300 mm (W×H×D)
Finish: Walnut with Adriatic marble top
Original price: ¥48,000/unit (c. 1967, Japan)

One caution for buyers: as a forum poster put it, any claim that replacement surrounds are "JBL factory" is an outright fabrication. JBL doesn't sell them.