Has anyone ever refurbished a woofer before?

I have a JBL L100 and the woofer foam or whatever it is, is all torn up. I don’t know what you call it, but it is the ring of material that the cone is surrounded by. It is like dry-rotted or something…

The other woofer is fine so I don’t know if this is just a fluke or what. When I touch anywhere on the bad one the rubber stuff just disintegrates in my hand.

Anyway, I guess I can get just that replaced at a repair shop – but someone told me you could refurbish the whole thing yourself with all new parts. Has anyone done this? I know it is cheap but I don’t want to screw this woofer up.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&User_ID=13321943&St=8870&St2=-59853637&St3=-87866887&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=5872&DID=7

Originally posted by Old Scout
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&User_ID=13321943&St=8870&St2=-59853637&St3=-87866887&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=5872&DID=7

what would a Part Sex Press have anything to do with speakers?

Originally posted by TexasBlakeWFO


what would a Part Sex Press have anything to do with speakers?

its nice to have musics when youre using the sex press, duh

Originally posted by Old Scout
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&User_ID=13321943&St=8870&St2=-59853637&St3=-87866887&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=5872&DID=7

Well, I know it can be done...

I was hoping someone had done it and could say whether it was worth the risk. I don't want to tear the cone on a 260 dollar woofer because I was trying to save a few bucks and do something myself.

If it is one of those - "no big deal" things then I could try it myself.

Originally posted by TexasBlakeWFO


what would a Part Sex Press have anything to do with speakers?

If you don't know, then I am not telling you.

There is a place up here in Portland, OR that does really good work. I think its called Jamac or something like that. I've had them rebuild a few old crunch 12's and they turned out great.

Jamac Products Co, 503-252-2929, 8600 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR, 97220

No website but here is the info.

It's worth it to send it off to a rebuilder. They'll re-surround it for you, prolly cost in the neighborhood of $40, plus shipping.

Re-surrounding requires maticulous removal of the old surround, gasket, and the dustcap, shimming the voice coil beneath, gluing the new surround in place, and regluing the dust cap. It's not difficult, but can be time consuming...

If you misalign the diaphragm, the coil will rub in the motor gap, and have to start over. This is why i suggest sending to a recone outfit. Worth the $$.

Niel's Speakers in Sacramento is my go to place.

Originally posted by Entropy
Has anyone ever refurbished a woofer before?

I have a JBL L100 and the woofer foam or whatever it is, is all torn up. I don’t know what you call it, but it is the ring of material that the cone is surrounded by. It is like dry-rotted or something…


It is called the surround. When you get it replaced use Butyl instead of the foam. Its coefficent of elasticity is slightly smaller than foam which means it takes more power to drive it but makes it sound more punchy. Also, when the get rebuilt they really don't replace it with factory parts so to speak but with good quality generic parts.

I still stand firm on the view that the sound a system creates is based on 10%-speaker quality, 20%-component quality, and 70% crossover and speaker selection.

Originally posted by trampas

If you misalign the diaphragm, the coil will rub in the motor gap, and have to start over. This is why i suggest sending to a recone outfit. Worth the $$.

Niel's Speakers in Sacramento is my go to place.

I would only have it reconed. Every shimmed voicecoil I've ever heard rubs on the magnet and doesn't last long. The only thing I'd save is the basket and magnet assembly.

Originally posted by FlatBroke1




I still stand firm on the view that the sound a system creates is based on 10%-speaker quality, 20%-component quality, and 70% crossover and speaker selection.

I'd like to bump that quotient to 25%. :D

If you decide to send them out, there's a shop down here in Skokie that does this. A block from my pen, errr, office.

Note that I have NOT done business with them. Looks like the right kind of mom&pop outfit, though. I'll dig out the business card tonight when I get home.

ChiXJeff

Originally posted by FlatBroke1


I would only have it reconed. Every shimmed voicecoil I've ever heard rubs on the magnet and doesn't last long. The only thing I'd save is the basket and magnet assembly.

I've done several over the years, and never had a problem... but i've always only bothered with the best of quality woofers to begin with. Now i just send them out. Reconing is often not necessary, unless it's a professional reinforcement soundstage type of loudspeaker, that has undergone physical and electrical stress, and reeks of age also.

Originally posted by ChiXJeff
If you decide to send them out, there's a shop down here in Skokie that does this. A block from my pen, errr, office.

Note that I have NOT done business with them. Looks like the right kind of mom&pop outfit, though. I'll dig out the business card tonight when I get home.

ChiXJeff

Let me know... I just called a place in Mt Prospect and he is supposed to call me back about it. I don't know what he is looking up, but he had to find something out he said.

I also heard that I should do both at the same time so they are matched so I will probably just have both done.

Originally posted by trampas


I've done several over the years, and never had a problem... but i've always only bothered with the best of quality woofers to begin with. Now i just send them out. Reconing is often not necessary, unless it's a professional reinforcement soundstage type of loudspeaker, that has undergone physical and electrical stress, and reeks of age also.

The rest of the woofer (actually the other speakers too for that matter) look and sound to be in excellent condition. If I can help it, I would prefer to have them leave everything else alone. The surround replacement sounds like it is minimally intrusive but all that cone replacement stuff sounds like it is iffy.

Originally posted by Entropy


The rest of the woofer (actually the other speakers too for that matter) look and sound to be in excellent condition. If I can help it, I would prefer to have them leave everything else alone. The surround replacement sounds like it is minimally intrusive but all that cone replacement stuff sounds like it is iffy.

Well yes the surround replacement is minimally intrusive, but the entire recone process is not really iffy at all. The only bummer about replacing diaphragms on OE woofers is, the cone rigidity and density are compromised somewhat by installing modern materials, most likely. The manufacturer intended the frame strength, coil flux, magnet weight and composition, suspension spider and surround, to work well with that particular cone material, and in THAT particular enclosure in which the driver was originally installed as well.

I like speaker talk. :D

I have 4 large Advent speakers that are about 30 years old. First time the foam went I had it done, cost a bundle, got smart after that and bought the kits for $20 each from http://www.newfoam.com/
Easy to do, spend the extra 5 bucks for the complete kit.

Originally posted by trampas


Well yes the surround replacement is minimally intrusive, but the entire recone process is not really iffy at all. The only bummer about replacing diaphragms on OE woofers is, the cone rigidity and density are compromised somewhat by installing modern materials, most likely. The manufacturer intended the frame strength, coil flux, magnet weight and composition, suspension spider and surround, to work well with that particular cone material, and in THAT particular enclosure in which the driver was originally installed as well.


TRU DAT!!

QUOTE]Originally posted by trampas

I like speaker talk. :D [/QUOTE]

You speak it well :P

Originally posted by landuseorc
I have 4 large Advent speakers that are about 30 years old. First time the foam went I had it done, cost a bundle, got smart after that and bought the kits for $20 each from http://www.newfoam.com/
Easy to do, spend the extra 5 bucks for the complete kit.

Actually, it doesn't seem that expensive.

I just talked to a local shop that is a recommended JBL service center and they said they get the L series in quite a bit because they go back to the seventies or something and people really like the sound?

Anyway – he said 25 bucks a speaker for the surround only. I had someone tell me that it was around that, but it didn’t seem like it was very likely since I figured anything in home audio that is worth a crap is usually expensive as hell.

I’ll pay 25 bucks so that I don’t have to replace them no problem - he said that some speakers require re-coning when they do that, and if that was the case it would be 50 bucks plus parts?

Here is the speaker Info: Specs (http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.asp?ProdId=L100T3OAK&CheckProduct=Y) Parts (http://www.jbl.com/home/product_support/jblparts.asp?prodId=L100T3OAK)

Originally posted by FlatBroke1


TRU DAT!!


You speak it well :P

Thanks bro. :) You obviously know what you're talking about also.

Originally posted by Entropy


Actually, it doesn't seem that expensive.

I just talked to a local shop that is a recommended JBL service center and they said they get the L series in quite a bit because they go back to the seventies or something and people really like the sound?

Anyway – he said 25 bucks a speaker for the surround only. I had someone tell me that it was around that, but it didn’t seem like it was very likely since I figured anything in home audio that is worth a crap is usually expensive as hell.

I’ll pay 25 bucks so that I don’t have to replace them no problem - he said that some speakers require re-coning when they do that, and if that was the case it would be 50 bucks plus parts?




Loudspeaker repair is cheaper than most would think.

It's why i don't do it myself anymore.

Being a bass player, i've damaged more expensive drivers than i care to mention. Once i threw the VC piston of an 18" driver right through the diaphragm, and it continued to play! :eek: As i was playing an outdoor gig (where 18's are well suited) - it didn't help much that i was running a 2000wrms bass amp into a 375wrms low frequency driver in a folded enclosure. :rasta:

Originally posted by trampas


Loudspeaker repair is cheaper than most would think.

It's why i don't do it myself anymore.

Being a bass player, i've damaged more expensive drivers than i care to mention. Once i threw the VC piston of an 18" driver right through the diaphragm, and it continued to play! :eek: As i was playing an outdoor gig (where 18's are well suited) - it didn't help much that i was running a 2000wrms bass amp into a 375wrms low frequency driver in a folded enclosure. :rasta:

"...it's a speaker so big that it blows women's clothes right off!"

Originally posted by Entropy


"...it's a speaker so big that it blows women's clothes right off!"

LOL. It was a wedding in August at the ranch, so yeah...... there were a few skirts about. :D

Originally posted by Entropy


Let me know... I just called a place in Mt Prospect and he is supposed to call me back about it. I don't know what he is looking up, but he had to find something out he said.

I also heard that I should do both at the same time so they are matched so I will probably just have both done.

Universal Electronics, Inc.
4917 W. Oakton
Skokie, IL 60077-2903
800-533-3350
847-673-5885
847-673-8239 (fax)
Universal Electronics (http://www.uespeakers.com)

ChiXJeff

Originally posted by ChiXJeff


Universal Electronics, Inc.
4917 W. Oakton
Skokie, IL 60077-2903
800-533-3350
847-673-5885
847-673-8239 (fax)
Universal Electronics (http://www.uespeakers.com)

ChiXJeff

Thanks, I will call them tomorrow and see what they say.