Voenix Rising

A pleasant surprise arrived in the form of Friday’s paycheck: a yearly raise and—since it was the third paycheck of the month—no withdrawal for benefits.

I thought briefly about getting a rug like we have in the living room for my study. But since that’s the direct route out of the house for the dogs in the morning and I can’t tell you how many times the dam has proverbially burst before I got the back door open, I didn’t relish the thought of a urine-soaked carpet. Nah, we’ll just live with the polished concrete until such time as we can also buy a carpet cleaner.

Friday evening I was scrolling through my Instagram as I am wont to do, and I ran across this:

While the Horizon L166 is not my first choice for classic JBL loudspeakers of the late 70s (that would be the Century L100), they are a close second. The L100 Century—both original incarnation (used) and especially the retro reissue (new and currently in production) from last year—are way out of my price range, and I was certain these Horizons would be the same.

For shits-n-giggles I DMed the guy and asked if they were still available and how much he wanted, fully expecting to be told they were already gone or quoted a couple grand for the pair.

Not even close. They were still available and easily within my budget, and while both the rug for my study and these loudspeakers were considered “a want not a need,” I have been wanting to retire my Infinitys for years now but didn’t know what to replace them with—so I found it very easy to justify dropping some of that unexpected coin on them. And hey—it’s been over two years since I bought any stereo equipment. I’m allowed.

The seller was upfront and told me the pair (with sequential serial numbers, no less) weren’t perfect: one of the grilles had a chipped corner and some minor damage by the JBL logo, but the cabinets and the drivers themselves were pristine and worked perfectly. He sent followup photos, and after seeing the damage I decided I could live with it; Lord knows the speakers were still in better condition than my Infinitys even though they’re both the same age.

Because all this sounded too good to be true, before transferring any money, I checked the online reviews for the store and they were uniformly positive, so after texting back and forth with the seller, I sent payment.

I also needed a pair of stands, since there was no way I was going to drill holes in the bottom of these beauties to transfer the IKEA cabinet stands I’d attached to my Infinitys. (For some reason, after being ignored by the dogs for years they had become pee-magnets.) I found suitable stands on eBay, and placed the order. Everything should be arriving late next week.