Swap JBL 034's for 035TIA's ? JBL L100T

[Panamafred]

So the title says it all. After 2 dead tweets in my L100T's and almost 150$ spent on replacements, and my last one arriving DOA I decided to see if there was anything in the basement that would fit.

The 034's slid right in but have a different mounting scheme-OK. They sound alright but I can't do an A-B comparison and I can't find any specs on the 034s, here's what I dug up on the 035TIA's :

Impedance: 4 ohms, Re: 4.0 ohms, Power: 30 watts RMS, 60 watts max, Response: 1700 Hz - 30 kHz, Sensitivity: 96 dB, 1 watt, 1 meter.

I guess I know that these aren't perfect replacements, but for now I'm listening to music in my main rig again. My plan is to wait it out and get a bargain on a used pair (hesitant to try chinese knock-offs) but in the mean time : do I risk damaging the 034's? That would be a real shame. I would love it if someone told me these tweeters were similar enough to leave it as-is but I would appreciate any and all feedback on this arrangement- thanks.

 

[Chris Brown]

I seriously doubt that you will damage them. The biggest issue with the 034 is it's plastic frame. In any speaker that doesn't have a sealed compartment for the tweeter, the whole front plastic frame of the tweeter will vibrate like a passive radiator and make unwanted noise. It's not an issue and you don't really hear it at low volumes, but becomes a big issue quick as the volume increases, especially with bass-heavy content.

The 034 tweeters are very similar to the 033 tweeters used in my L150 speakers and have the same mounting holes so they drop right in. In one piece of JBL documentation they are actually listed as the recommended replacement if the 033 is not available, so when I found a pair of cheap 034s on eBay once I bought them just to try them in my L150s. In my case I thought that they sounded good at low volumes but that is when I found out about the frame vibration issue at higher volumes. The 033 tweeters that come with my L150s have a metal frame unlike the plastic framed 034, obviously for good reason.

 

[Panamafred]

Thank you so much for the detailed thoughtful response. I can confirm that these fit and for now at low volumes I am a happy man.

Am debating whether or not to drill new holes into my L100ts so that these can be fully mounted as the screw pattern is different. Just seems foolish to keep buying tweeters that repeatedly burn out on me

 

[savatage1973]

Perhaps the bigger question is how do you keep blowing the 035 tweeters? I have had them in other JBL models that were run with quite a bit of power and never had one fail.

 

[Panamafred]

Perhaps the bigger question is how do you keep blowing the 035 tweeters? I have had them in other JBL models that were run with quite a bit of power and never had one fail.

Fantastic question I'm sorry I've taken so long to reply. I have lost 2 tweeters in the last year, thats it. Another DOA through the mail. One of the tweets had some serious oxidation on the wires leading to the voice coil. I use a Belles 200 power amp, here's a little write up with some specs:

"High power high current design with peak current of over 85 amps per channel. Max power before clipping is 160 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 260 watts per channel into 4 ohms. Highest quality parts used throughout with van den Hull mono-crystal wiring."

Unfortunatley I do not spend the time with this system that it deserves, 3-5 hours per week spread out over the days. Mostly not cranking it due to the little 11 month old in the house.

Why do I keep I blowing tweeters? I don't know, is there any other information that would be relevant to this discussion? A few weeks on my replacement tweets are still working fine.

I would sincerely appreciate any feedback or ideas on something I could be doing wrong as I love these speakers

 

[RS Steve]

Fantastic question I'm sorry I've taken so long to reply. I have lost 2 tweeters in the last year, thats it. Another DOA through the mail. One of the tweets had some serious oxidation on the wires leading to the voice coil. I use a Belles 200 power amp, here's a little write up with some specs:

"High power high current design with peak current of over 85 amps per channel. Max power before clipping is 160 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 260 watts per channel into 4 ohms. Highest quality parts used throughout with van den Hull mono-crystal wiring."

Unfortunatley I do not spend the time with this system that it deserves, 3-5 hours per week spread out over the days. Mostly not cranking it due to the little 11 month old in the house.

Why do I keep I blowing tweeters? I don't know, is there any other information that would be relevant to this discussion? A few weeks on my replacement tweets are still working fine.

I would sincerely appreciate any feedback or ideas on something I could be doing wrong as I love these speakers

In my experience, blown tweeters usually can be attributed to a few different things. The first and most obvious would be over powered with too much wattage, the second is out of spec crossovers that cause too much low frequency to reach the tweeters. If the crossovers have never been recapped with new capacitors, I would look to replace them. It is a pretty common practice that can improve sound and preserve drivers.

 

[BMWCCA]

In my experience, blown tweeters usually can be attributed to a few different things. The first and most obvious would be over powered with too much wattage, the second is out of spec crossovers that cause too much low frequency to reach the tweeters. If the crossovers have never been recapped with new capacitors, I would look to replace them. It is a pretty common practice that can improve sound and preserve drivers.

It's actually quite common on JBLs to overdrive the amp and damage the tweeters as a result of the distortion. And, of course, 035s are infamous for breaking the leads by simple mishandling of the connectors.

 

[Panamafred]

Looks like it will be a recap. I went through a phase of religious recapping but when I got these I thought they were new enough to skip that. Will be fun to get the soldering iron out. I'm thinking Dayton caps, any strong opinions on that?