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Quick and easy solution for JBL L-100 Grille Replacement

Oerets

Oerets

AK Subscriber
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Having a pair of Century L-100's with the long gone Orange Blue .... foam grille is all to common. Buying even in the day replacements was an ordeal. Most went to the cloth insert I have been told.

Then fast forward to today and the sources for quality replacements when found are very expensive. Plus the longevity has come into question of the newer replacements.

Being someone who looked for another solution to dress up a great pair of speakers. Came up with a very quick and easy inexpensive solution I think.

I purchased readily available at home centers AC black foam air filter material. Not expensive so buy a few extra, some of the packages when open the foam had bad places. So inspect for flaws. Only 3/16" thick so will not effect sound in the least.

I cleaned up the frames, get as smooth as possible then paint flat black the solid portion leaving the cloth untouched. Should of painted the sides to cover up the old Orange shadow left behind.

Then I applied a coat of Simply Speakers clear glue. I wanted a non water soluble clear drying glue. It was available and worked out very well. Make sure to get the two spots over the drivers where the old glue was. Just to hold the foam from flapping with the music.

Now set a corner and follow the two edges pushing down and smoothing it out wrinkle free. I made a styrofoam insert to help, but was not really needed. Next use a new razor blade to cut the excess foam away. Follow the edge of the frame and go slow. Pushing the foam into position.

Run you hand over the finished installation smoothing it out and trim excess if need be.

Insert badges and reinstall onto your speakers and enjoy!:thmbsp:



Barney
 

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Thanks! Yea they were looking pretty shabby before with the remnants of old orange foam here and there.



Barney
 
I might have to try that out. You could always spray paint them (with care) to the color of your choice. I did that with my JR149 grills.
 
Looks like the same filter material I used. Nice job!

Black is fine with me, would of preferred Chocolate. But painting them now I will not do.

I have used the foam on other projects and it seems to hold up well.

Barney
 
Very clever and well done. I bought the original looking foam inserts for my L100s. They do look good but had I thought of what you did I would have been just as satisfied and at a much lower price. :thmbsp:
 
The flash colors the actual effect somewhat. When in normal lighting you unable to see the drivers like the flash shows the reflection. A even texture and color is what you see. No loss in sound quality between on or off with the grille installed with the foam.

Barney
 
This was perfect timing. I asked a question very similar to this last night. I just acquired a pretty beat up pair of 100's, no frames, 2 different tweeters, voice coil fried on one woofer driver, etc. I'm in the process of restoring them. So I now have frames, but I was having a problem with what I was going to do about the grille foam. You're idea is brilliant! It looks great! You saved my bacon Barney, thank you!
 
Using the filter foam is a very good, attractive idea. I don't have JBLs, but I might use that idea on some other projects. It's so acoustically transparent that I'll bet one could create designs by gluing up layers.

The JBL grills on ebay are up to $300 plus shipping now, but if I was a dedicated JBL fan who needed them I wouldn't grudge the price. This vendor doesn't have a "corner" on the foam supply. According to his web site, each grill is custom cut from sheet foam. That's a lot of labor, even if he uses fixtures to do the cutting. Having tried to do some customized foam cutting in the past, I can guarantee you that he's earning his money!

GeeDeeEmm
 
I have used the filter foam before and these are MY impressions-

It is very thin and shows everything behind it- frame, velcro tabs,etc.

It tends to sag easily unless well supported.

you don't get much for about 2 bucks!
(or you get a lot depending on your point of view.)
 
gdmoore, you may be right. I can see using solid colored foam, and some sort of hot wire, with a type of coating, that will not leave burn marks. If he's doing that, he probably made a jig for this. Any other way, wouldn't be efficient enough.

moebuster, I can see that also. I bought a 2 pack, that had 2 foams in each pack. I've been flattening out the creases before trying it. But now, I'm thinking of joining these foams together, so, it's double thick, and can hide as it should. Running a home made coat hanger type hotwire, with a coating, as to not leave burn marks, creating a waffle pattern.

Either way, the way I see it, I give a boatload of thanks to Oerets.

Plus the guy is a VW Enthusiast. Loves Karmann Ghia's like me, and as vintage aircooled VW fans, we've had to improvise, and overcome! LOL.
 
By the way guys, I may try this Hot Wire idea I'm thinking about. Anyone have a suggestion, as to what I could use as a coating on the wire, before lowering it into the foam, without leaving burn marks? Possibly a type of wire besides a coat hanger? Piano wire is something I use often, when building servo control rods, in my Radio Controlled Airplanes. Maybe I'll experiment. I'm thinking some 3M 77 spray glue lightly applied to one side of each. Let it set up for about 4 mins, then join them. Then onto the hot wire options.
 
buy lots of foam so you can try different things. like try burning it for example, what are the limits for temp things like that, how low can you go with out burning
 
A few years back I bought a pair of L100s to see what all the fuss was about. Since the factory foam "grills" were long gone,
I bought sculpted foams from a vendor (no longer in service) and used their recommendation:
silicon bathtub calk (AKA RTV sealer) to put dabs of "glue" on the L100 grill frames to attach the foams.
Its readily available from places like Home Depot ...

I had my grills in a grey carved foam -
Your black filter foam looks great!
 
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