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JBL Lancer 66 Thrift Find - Strange Woofer Edging

herbman1975

herbman1975

Well-Known Member
Banned
Today I found a pair of JBL Lancer 66 at the local thrift.

Cabs need some work, but should polish up nice.

Grille cloth has a few small snags, both badges present.

When I pulled away the grille I noticed the woofer surround was made out of some strange material. It is not quite rubber, not quite plastic. I did some searching on Lansing Heritage and read about some stuff called lansolay (I think that was what is was called), it is described as being white, brown, or yellow - this stuff is black. It has tiny, hairline cracks in it.

Can this material be replaced? Would rubber or regular foam be OK to use?

Am I going to have difficulty removing the edging from the woofer frame and paper cone?

I couldn't find much info at the Lansing site, and I spent a pretty good bit of time in there. This was the only catalog pic I could find - from 1962

page22-23.jpg


Anyone else in here have any experiece with these? I assume these would be tube speakers?
 
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Lansaloy

Never seen it black, nor did they ever come stock with black. Yellow is the only stock color Lansaloy was manufactured in to my knowledge. MEK is the choice for Pro's wrt surround removal. It removes everything, so you must take great care with this extremely hazardous solvent, including for your own health. The LE10 has an extremely thin paper cone, so great caution is to be used, as opposed to later, thicker cones. There are replacement surrounds with newer materials. They should work just fine. The LHF has a great step by step surround replacement "how to" by a person named Bo Putnam (sp?). It may be a "sticky" there in DIY. The brass badges are worth a lot of money BTW. Leave them alone, don't try to polish them in any way, unless you plan to keep the 66's for yourself. Super "old school" bookshelf spearkers from a by-gone era. You'll be suprized at just how good a 10" driver/10"PR system can sound! They beg for a nice little tube amp of about 10-40 wpc. Great find. Let us know what you think once you get them up and running. Oh, don't play them until you get them fixed or you might damage the voicecoils. The stiff surrounds are akin to holding the cone with your hand while they're playing---- not good. And secondly, make sure whomever replaces the surrounds puts them on the back of the cone, not the front. Good luck. EDIT Here is the link to the surround replacement there : http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=469
 
Too late... I hooked them up to a Realistic 2WPC mini-integrated amp and listened to a copy of Pink Floyd's Meddle (MFSL) on CD.

I didn't push them at all. The woofers did fine. The cracks are just hairline. I am going to post some pics when I get back to the house.

I thought they sounded pretty good. Definately not the "West Coast" sound I would have expected from JBL. I probably wouldn't reccommend listening to Van Halen on them, but I popped in a copy of Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas and I thought they sounded really good for two-way of that vintage.

I had an old set of two-way alnico speakers once, some Coral BX-14's. I A & B'd them with some New Large Advents and promptly GAVE them away for free to fellow member crackerkorean. I hope he likes them more than I did.

Again, the only catalog photo I could find was from 1962. The JBL corporate website said they were made between 1970-75. I don't think that is the case. I thoroughly searched over there and could not find them in any catalog from those years.

I am going to clean them up and leave them all original. I need to find a source for some white or off-white woven "burlap" to replacece the grille cloth.

Thanks for the link!
 
This adhesive has got to go. This is the stuff that held on the grilles. Anyone know what kind of chemical I can use to remove this stuff? I am going to try and scrape off as much as I can with a razor blade, then replace with a space-age substance known as velcro.

Lancer66adheshive.jpg


Here is some more around the LE20-1 tweeter -

LE20-1Tweeter.jpg


This is a pic of the cracked woofer edge material -

LE10wooferfoamcracked.jpg


:smoke: herbs
 
That's a no-brainer to the experienced eye, they're painted. And I mean no insult at all. The tweeters look suspect, although my self- proclaimed "experienced eye" should know better :yes: I also mistook them for Lancer 75's with the LE10/PR10 too, sorry about that. MEK will take that adhesive off. Be cautious. Goo-Gone or Goof-off is not what you want, no matter what anyone says, those chemical solvents do not evaporate fully, or as fast, or have the same solvent strength. Pretty little guys, those 66's!

BTW, It is not because of the cracks that I suggest that you not play them, it is because of the lack of surround compliance. That Lasaloy is too stiff. The woofer is fighting to move back and forth, being held in an un-natural position, very close to stationary. Think about that. Put some new poly-ether surrounds on 'em and you're good to go. You might consider having the AlNiCo magnets re-charged too. They do lose their magnetic strength over the course many "power/ work cycles".
 
gonzomeep said:
That's a no-brainer to the experienced eye, they're painted. And I mean no insult at all. The tweeters look suspect, although my self- proclaimed "experienced eye" should know better :yes: I also mistook them for Lancer 75's with the LE10/PR10 too, sorry about that. MEK will take that adhesive off. Be cautious. Goo-Gone or Goof-off is not what you want, no matter what anyone says, those chemical solvents do not evaporate fully, or as fast, or have the same solvent strength. Pretty little guys, those 66's!

BTW, It is not because of the cracks that I suggest that you not play them, it is because of the lack of surround compliance. That Lasaloy is too stiff. The woofer is fighting to move back and forth, being held in an un-natural position, very close to stationary. Think about that. Put some new poly-ether surrounds on 'em and you're good to go. You might consider having the AlNiCo magnets re-charged too. They do lose their magnetic strength over the course many "power/ work cycles".
Click to expand...

I won't be playing them anymore until they are furb'd.

I thought they may have been painted as well, but in the pic you can see where the glue left a ring around the dustcap. I figured paint would have covered that up.?.?.?

I did some checking around for re-magnetizing once and was unable to find a source for this service. The woofers in my L40's sound great as is, but, they were made in the late 70's/early 80's, not back in 62 (?) like these Lancers.

This MEK is readily available?

Many thanks...
 
Mek

Methyl Ethyl Ketone. Home Depot, paints stores, LOWE's. Hey, you could spray BIN shellac vis aerosol can over the glue-goop, then apply flat black paint and DEFT brand satin lacquer over the top and they would just about disappear completely. Those restored 66's make my heart race!! GORGEOUS JOB!!
 
gonzomeep said:
Methyl Ethyl Ketone. Home Depot, paints stores, LOWE's. Hey, you could spray BIN shellac vis aerosol can over the glue-goop, then apply flat black paint and DEFT brand satin lacquer over the top and they would just about disappear completely. Those restored 66's make my heart race!! GORGEOUS JOB!!
Click to expand...

Go ahead and use MEK but be aware that you need to take appropriate precautions and you are good to go. See here for examples of how to work with it http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/mek/working_mek.html
 
I disagree with using ANY solvents while reconing or re-surrounding a vintage speaker. I cut and scape carefully and even use 100 grit sandpaper to get the cone edges ruffed up and free of old glue. Paper gets brittle and will disintegrate with solvents that would nomally work on newer paper.These surrounds look like my Tannoy's did in the 70's.
I used a paint on repair that I got from Tannoy and it lasted until 2005.
The voice coil and original cone make up the distinct sound of the older speakers. Solvents and treatments that penetrate the paper do not completly
evaporate and will affect the condition adversely. If you must use a solvent,
use grain alchohol with the least water content you can find.
 
Solvents

Tronhead said:
I disagree with using ANY solvents while reconing or re-surrounding a vintage speaker. I cut and scape carefully and even use 100 grit sandpaper to get the cone edges ruffed up and free of old glue. Paper gets brittle and will disintegrate with solvents that would nomally work on newer paper.These surrounds look like my Tannoy's did in the 70's.
I used a paint on repair that I got from Tannoy and it lasted until 2005.
The voice coil and original cone make up the distinct sound of the older speakers. Solvents and treatments that penetrate the paper do not completly
evaporate and will affect the condition adversely. If you must use a solvent,
use grain alchohol with the least water content you can find.
Click to expand...
Interesting recommendation. It would seem that if the paper is already dried out beyond normal (brittle), anything would be dangerous, good point. Be extra careful with that #100 grit too. :yes:
 
I appreciate the encouragement. I currently have three pairs of JBL's that are in need of repair.

L36 Decades - Perfect cabs, replacement drivers should be arriving soon from VA.

L40's - need a re-foam, but I am scared to start because there is a fiberglass shell behind them I am really not sure how to deal with.

and of course, the Lancer 66's with the infamous 'Lansalloy'...
 
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