JBL C61 Sovereign II (1967)
The JBL C61 Sovereign II is an enclosure - a speaker cabinet - released in 1967 and priced at ¥178,000 per unit in the Japanese market. It was designed specifically for the Sovereign II system, and JBL noted that its internal structure was identical to that of the C51 Apollo. The exterior had a carved design with a cloth grille across the front.
The C61 wasn't sold with a fixed set of drivers. It was an enclosure meant to take any of nine driver and network combinations, listed in period Japanese documentation. The simplest is a two-way setup (Model 002: D123 woofer with 075 tweeter and N2600 network). The more elaborate ones are three-way (Model S7: LE15A woofer, LE85+HL91 midrange, LX5 network). Some are full-range configurations using paired LE12C or LE14C drivers. Several of these needed adapter kits (A7, A26, A28, A29, A38) to mount the drivers properly.
The cabinet measured 670 mm wide by 670 mm high by 510 mm deep.
Surviving documentation on the C61 is thin. A forum user who acquired a pair noted that there is "a great wealth of information on the C60 Sovereign, but nothing on the C61's" - and that still largely holds. No frequency response, impedance, sensitivity, or power handling figures have surfaced, and no weight is recorded. The variant configurations are the most complete part of the record. They show a flexible cabinet that let buyers build up a Sovereign system according to budget and taste.
Listings for the C61 have appeared on the secondary market. One on Craigslist in Cleveland (March 2026) offered empty cabinets with no components. A Moscow listing touted a pair in "excellent condition" with consecutive serial numbers, described as the only such offer in Russia.
Known variant configurations (per period Japanese documentation):
- Model 001: 130A woofer, 175DLH midrange, N1200 high-range, A29 network
- Model 002: D123 woofer, 075 tweeter, N2600 network
- Model 030: D130 woofer, 075 tweeter, N2400 network
- Model 032: D123 woofer, LE20 tweeter, LX2 network, A28 adapter
- Model S1: LE14A woofer, LE175DLH midrange, LX10 network, A7 adapter
- Model S7: LE15A woofer, LE85+HL91 midrange, LX5 network, A7 adapter
- Model S12: LE14A woofer, LE20 tweeter, LX11 network
- Model LE12C: Dual LE12C, A38 adapter
- Model LE14C: Dual LE14C, LX2-1 network, A26 and A7 adapters
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