JBL 4410 restoration

D

Dagis

Guest
For reasons uninteresting to dwell by,I am able to dispose the days just about as I feel.
For a while.
So my days start with a slow breakfast-boiled eggs,smoked trout an freshly ground coffee.
Then I take a trip to the "Re-use" shop to look for interesting cd`s,
or possibly furniture/audio projects.
Something to fill my days while I wait for a solution,
after a total collapse in my job,health and economy.

Then I return and it is time for more coffee-and a look at www.finn.no
the norwegian website for buy&sell everything.
Equivalent to craigslist?

Some big old speakers caught my attention:
"Highest offer above 500,-" fast pickup".
Which is about 60 $.

These are very rare around here,
so I jumped at it,and sms`ed an offer considerably higher.
Three hours later I received an answer-"Ok,you can have them"

The afternoon came and I showed up at the agreed time,
but had forgotten what house number.
I called the seller to get it.
No answer.
Sent an sms.
Again no answer.
Okay.
Waited for fifteen minutes and then turned and drove back to the city.

Then came an sms with the seller saying she would be home thirty minutes later.
I am actually not happy with people waysting my time,
especially when they won`t even bother sending a message BEFORE not showing up to a meeting.

So I did`t reply,just kept on driving home while I was considering if I still wanted the studiomonitors.
Well,the seller came back to me twenty minutes later and offered to deliver the speakers.
Couldn`t let that pass though,
and two hours later I had new speakers :)
 

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Taking a closer look it is obvious that they need some attention,
but all in all they are a quite easy prosject.I think.
Have not hooked them to an amp yet,
will wait till I have those woofer surrounds replaced.
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The day after I received the speakers I called a friend who also is into audio,
and he had 10" foam surrounds laying around.
Okay then-let`s get to it:
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Working to loosen the wires from the woofer,
this guy came jumping up at me from right side of the x-over.
Made me jump back at first,
but it was only moving because I accidentally pulled the webstrings.
It was dead.
Have never seen one like that before.
Makes me think of "????-the eight passenger"DSC02247.JPG
 
I also found a coin that went out of circulation fiteen years ago.

Back to the woofer:
Using a tapestry-knive to separate that thick foam from the basket-wall,
and then a flat screwdriver along the outer ring of the membrane,
to strip away the old foam.
Always careful when cleaning the back of the membrane itself,
using only fingers in order not to soften/bend the membrane itself.

What`s loose will come off-what`s not will be left as it is.DSC02251.JPG DSC02253.JPG DSC02255.JPG
 
Time for a coofee break.

In only ten days I have aquired some interesting stuff,
Revel speakers and a Pioneer pd-s06 cdp.

A short listen with the Revels hooked up to the Pioneer and a Beomaster 5000
have already told me that the Revels are very good speakers indeed,
and beeing so small they will probably fit my next living-room very good.
Sonicallly speaking.
But JBL studiomonitors with a 10" woofer and a titanium tweeter...that might be competition!DSC02252.JPG DSC02250.JPG
 
Looking at the at the second speaker I found that the woofer surround is okay
-and have decided to leave it as it is.
I wonder if sunlight has rotted the other woofers surround,
while this one has been out of harms light.

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Good on you, Dagis. Hope things improve for you in the job, health, and economy realms.

I don't know what it looks like in person, but the first pic of the second woofer seems to show a cracking section of the foam surround. But, honestly, if they were mine I wouldn't think of replacing the foam on only one woofer. It goes without saying that - especially with an unknown replacement surround - the sound and TS parameters on the repaired woofer is going to change. So, I'd replace the second woofer surround, too, just to make absolutely sure that they both sound and spec out the same. (I'm not normally a stickler with these sort of things, but in this case it seems the prudent thing to do.)
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As for the spider, I'm no expert, but isn't that a Brown Recluse? We have them here, too, and they seem to love dark, secluded areas like that. I've even found them between the sheets of folded newspapers. My dad was bitten by one and darn near lost his arm.
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Welcome to AK, by the way. Look forward to seeing your progress on these.

GeeDeeEmm
 
Well...I agree ref doing both woofers to keep them alike,
problem is to get the old foam off the membrane where it isn`t rotted.
That is the reason for possibly not doing that woofer.

Mocking about to much with the membrane will soften it,
reduced stiffness will in turn alternate it`s performance I think?
Leaving old foam where it is and gluing the next surround onto that..
-I am not to sure about that either.
Will see where it goes.

The speakers came to me without front covers,
and I see no point in making new ones,
as they can look just as good without.
But then I should remove the plastic...what do you call it-that are embedded into the baffle with purpose of connecting the grill/front cover?
Remove them,fill in the holes and go for a smooth front.

Then all must be tipp-topp,
woofers must look like new,with the extra foam that goes on top of the sourround,
and new dustcaps to replace the mistreated old ones.

When it comes to the cabinet I am contemplating wether to just clean it,rub it and oil it,
or possibly darken it a bit to go with my 1920`s furniture-and give it a shiny lacquer finnish.
 
As for the spider, I'm no expert, but isn't that a Brown Recluse? We have them here, too, and they seem to love dark, secluded areas like that. I've even found them between the sheets of folded newspapers. My dad was bitten by one and darn near lost his arm.
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GeeDeeEmm

Ouch! Tough little bastards.Sounds rather painful.
Up here in the arctic Norway we don`t have any insects needing special attention,
so I am leaning towards that this guy might have crawled into the cab. back in US,
and then followed the JBL over the Atlantic.
 
I have looked into buying a recone-set from simplyspeakers,
getting surrounds,dustcaps and those rubberrings that go on top.
But they will be at 280$ before I have them in my hand,
and thats just to much.

So I picked up the surrounds from my buddy today,
and put one on to have a look.
Perfect fit.
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After a gentle pushing on both woofers-one untouched and the other with a (loose) new surround,
I realize that rigidity and other parameters can be more different than I am willing to go with,
so yes-I will have to do both woofers.
The cabinets will be cleaned,sanded and then:
1-oiled.
or
2-stained and lacquered to a shiny dark finnish.
Something alike to this 100 year old tabletop I am working on,
and other furniture I have in the same style/finnish/period.
 

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Excellent job on the re-foaming, Dagis! Really a neat, goop-free operation. The woofer looks nice. Keep those pics and updates coming.

GeeDeeEmm
 
As much as I would like to take credit for job well done,
the last pcitures where with the new surround only put in place-not yet glued.
But they were such a perfect fit that they looked like glued!

Now,I haven`t heard any JBL studiomonitors before.
I have had several pairs of L20T`s,
and with the Titanium tweeter I am perhaps expecting the 4410`s to sound similar.
But with more bass,bigger sound picture and a lot more dynamic.
Not sure what kind of amp they would like,
but being 8 omhs and 90db they should go well (regarding power) with almost anything.

If they sound as fun as I think they will,
those woofers will get alot of excersize,
so I went looking for a stronger glue than the waterbased one I have used before.
I also wanted the glue to set faster.

Decided to go for a small tube with some smelly transparent glue,
in a package that came with the right warings-Fire Hazard,may cause diziness etc.
Yeah,that will do.
Earlier I have used small brushes to add the glue to the surfaces,
but it is very time consuming.
This time around I simply squeezed the tube while turning the whole speaker around it`s own center.

Using a fastsetting glue and this technique demands that you do it right in one go,
or things (and fingers) might get very messy,
and the glue might set before you have time to get the membrane/cone centered.
And then the whole operation fails.

Came off quite well,I think.Happy with the result.

After leaving them to set over night I now really would like to hear them play!
I don`t even know if the tweeters an x-overs are functioning.
In the background Beovox Redline that I did last week.
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Temptation got to big,so I put the woofers back in the cabinets and hooked them up.
They sing!
Transparent and detailed,with a sober bass and good imaging.
And most important-they play with musicality.

A bit hot in the top,but that`s to be expected in a room with concrete all round.
I`d be happy to hear what amps you folks are using with your studiomonitors...?
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Temptation got to big,so I put the woofers back in the cabinets and hooked them up.
They sing!
Transparent and detailed,with a sober bass and good imaging.
And most important-they play with musicality.

A bit hot in the top,but that`s to be expected in a room with concrete all round.
I`d be happy to hear what amps you folks are using with your studiomonitors...?
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Good job! They look great and I'm sure they sound awesome.

If you find the top end too bright, simply dial it back a little using the L-pads until it sounds right to you. That's what they are there for. I run my L36 Decades in a room with hardwood floors and mostly wood furniture. I had to dial back both the mids and the high on mine.

I don't have my little 4301b Control Monitors up and running yet, but drive my L36 Decades with Yamaha A-1000 integrated amp and am very pleased with how it sounds. The A-1000 was Yamaha's top of the line integrated amp from the early to mid-1980s with a hybrid Class A design and an excellent phono section.
 
Aha!So that`s what you guys are calling L-pads!
Had me wondering about that one.
Are you doing any recording or are those JBL`s for home use?
 
The cabs are quite good,although tapping the wood veneer with my finger I can hear that it has loosened some places.
It is also dirty and missing a chip or two.
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The veneer itself is quite thin and things can easily go bad when I start working on it.
I have therefore obtained a little Tandberg speaker for practise purpose.
It will be cleaned,sanded and then have one side oiled and another lacquered
to get an idea of which direction I wanna take the 4410`s.
Cleaning definetely removed something from that old veneer:

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Now let`s sit back and listen to those JBL`s while I wait for the veneer to dry,
before sanding it.
 
Aha!So that`s what you guys are calling L-pads!
Had me wondering about that one.
Are you doing any recording or are those JBL`s for home use?

Strictly home use. Here's a couple photos of my L36 Decades in their native environment:

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Once I've finished restoring my 4301Bs, they will go in the master bedroom system.
 
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