Going to try to restore these JBL L200s

[TangoMango]

Back in Dec. 2023 my wife and I were on a walk with the dog when we walked past what at first I thought were two very large cardboard boxes (it was dark). When I looked closer, there was a hand-written sign that said, "Free JBLs!" I immediately returned home, jumped in my pickup, and made my wife help me load them up so I could take them home.

Fast-forward to today: I'm finally starting to take a stab at restoring them. They sound pretty great (minus the lenses), but they are in fairly rough shape. The particle board risers are falling apart, and I think the previous owner must have been a traveling DJ or something, because he bolted big casters to the base and screwed handles into each side of the cabs. The tops are pretty scratched up, but most of the damage is pretty surface-level. I plan to rebuild the bases and do a modest refinish of the veneer. The cabs themselves are solid with no gaps or cracks.

Anyway, I wrestled one of them into my basement and started carefully disassembling it. I got the drivers and crossover out OK, but now I'm a bit stuck. The LX-16A crossover is contained in a sealed can with four small rivets. I need to get in there to see if I can retrieve the post, which I think I can hear rattling around in the metal can, and to just generally inspect the crossovers.

This guy started a thread a while back asking about a similar challenge, but abandoned the restoration before his question was fully resolved.

So do I drill out the rivets to get into that crossover? Is that the way?

Thread 'JBL LX16 Crossovers in the Can'

Aug 6, 2012

Just acquired some sort-of rough JBL L-200 speakers. Here's a view of them in the outdoor speaker test area:

And here is why testing came to a quick halt:

As you can see, there's a binding post missing. Initially, there was about 1/8" of machine screw sticking out of that empty hole, but unknown to me, there was nothing holding that screw in place, and it's now fallen inside the crossover. So, I...

• DonQuixote99
• Replies: 8
• Forum: Speakers

 

[Nyjblbob]

Congrats on this Free score!
May I suggest that a moderator move this to the Lancing forum .
There is Just endless threads on Restoring and Modding L-200's.
Many of us started out with them.
Are you looking for a project for flipping them,
or making them L-300 clones for the ultimate listening pleasure?
Bobhorn
as a side note, any mods past a stock rebuild you do to them will rarely get you
any extra money come Resale.
bobhorn

 

[hjames]

Moved your post to the Lansing Legacy area, as NYjblBob suggested.
Lotta fans of L200 - quite a few folks have worked through them, stock or modded ...
And you got them for a great price as well!

Got a modded pair of them myself, stashed away somewhere here!

 

[TangoMango]

Congrats on this Free score!
May I suggest that a moderator move this to the Lancing forum .
There is Just endless threads on Restoring and Modding L-200's.
Many of us started out with them.
Are you looking for a project for flipping them,
or making them L-300 clones for the ultimate listening pleasure?
Bobhorn
as a side note, any mods past a stock rebuild you do to them will rarely get you
any extra money come Resale.
bobhorn

Thanks! It was pretty crazy. If I remember correctly, I think it snowed that night, so I'm lucky I picked them up when I did.

I'm not really looking to resell them. At least not right away. I'd like to listen to them. That said, I don't know that I actually have room for them in my modest-sized home, so they may ultimately end up on the market. I didn't really have a plan to upgrade them to L-300s, though I guess I'm open to that possibility. I just wanted to get them back to close to their original glory, or as close as possible.

If that proves to be too difficult, I might part them out. I'm surprised to see what the woofers and drivers go for.

And thanks for the recommendation on moving the forum. Wasn't sure where to post.

 

[TangoMango]

I went ahead and drilled the rivets. Here are some photos of the first crossover network. I can't tell if the "puddle" of hardened material on the bottom of the can is melted wax or potting material or if it's leaked electrolytes from the capacitors. I don't have enough experience with caps to know for sure, but I suspect it's the former. (I recapped a three-way crossover network on a pair of Marantz Imperial 1s a few years ago, but that is my only experience with caps, and they weren't encased like these.)

This network is much simpler, but I'm not sure how to test or make sense of whether these caps (there are only two, as far as I can tell) are any good. My multimeters don't measure capacitance. I figure since they're more than 50 years old, I might as well replace them.

I'm not sure about the best way to remove the old caps from their enclosures. I'm assuming the enclosures are glued to the back of the can, and then the caps are placed into the enclosures, and then filled with potting compound to protect them (that's probably what melted over time and leaked out). I'll try some light heat and see if that softens the material enough to remove them.

Finally, does anyone have a recommendation on which caps I should replace them with? I'm having trouble locating a 13.5 uF cap.

I found these on ebay, but for some reason I'm a little suspicious of their quality: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116826188576

I've read good things about these Dayton caps, but they don't appear to come in a 13.5 uF. Can I solder a 12 uF and a 1.5 uF in parallel?

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DMPC-15-15uF-250V-Polypropylene-Capacitor-027-432?quantity=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20348422537&utm_content=165130735808&gadid=692309125438&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20348422537&gbraid=0AAAAAD_wpb0oYAYIi3pzLXMAhPv6cSHBL&gclid=Cj0KCQjw94bTBhDQARIsAN3vv0x2152hf5CCCAf6rHaM8ro3SvwmzvtSbNvOkkkeyN1yuwk3g0pUVtAaApq-EALw_wcB

 

[Nyjblbob]

I know I've posted my opinion about the Really Bad Lx16's several times,
So here I go again.
Don't waste any more time and effort on that piece of crap!
Re-capping them is a waste of time!~. Just get other JBL -X overs
The worst part is the Inductors in them. "They JBL" tried to tone down a Nasty impedance peak
in the much beaten down LE15B's
But also cutting their available massive Bass output.
Use LX-10's, N-1200's Lx-80's, or even Altec 800 cps X-overs.
Have fun. If you do restore the LX16's, Make sure you remove all of the rivets and replace them with screws
or they will buzz very badly.

 

[ernieS]

Very nice find. I get misty with old JBL. It’s a righteous gig restoring such works of art. I can’t count how many I’ve restored over the years. It’s audio history.

The veneer is heavier on old models. I’ve been able to remove a ton of surface scratches by sanding with MaHoneys walnut oil and 3” disks. Best of luck to you.

 

[TangoMango]

Just a little update...

At this stage, I've removed the casters and MDF bases, plugged the holes from the caster screws, sanded the bases and started sanding the veneer. I think the veneer is in better shape than I initially thought. I'll have to patch it in a few places along the outside edges, but it's in pretty decent shape, all things considered. And to ernieS's point, the veneer also seems pretty thick, so a heavy sand in certain spots might be ok. I wiped it down with mineral oil after sanding, and it looks beautiful.

I'm rebuilding the bases with Baltic birch plywood I had on hand. I ordered the caps and banana plugs for the crossovers. (Sorry, Nyjblbob, I'm going to just rebuild the original crossovers!). I'm holding off a bit on ordering new foam grilles and 3D printed lenses until I recap the crossovers and get everything put back together and see how they sound. I'll save myself another $300-$400 if they just don't turn out, but I'm pretty optimistic.

Probably sanding, painting and finishing for the next week or so and hope to have them reassembled within the next two weeks.

I've read a lot of mixed reviews on these speakers, but for "Free JBLs" I'm pretty excited about them. Right now, I've got a few hours of elbow grease and maybe $100 in materials and tools (most of which I'll use for other projects for years), so whatever I end up with will be worth the money.

I don't know what the hell I'll do with them once they're finished, since I don't really have room for them in my house, but I'll figure something out. Maybe the bookshelves will just have to go!

 

[powerman]

The L200 and L200A consumer version of the 4325 professional series are unique being the LE 15B / 2216 woofer is more of a 6 ohm woofer. The DCR on these run 3.1 to 4.1 ohms. Using other JBL crossovers will not yield optimal results. The original capacitors were sand filled and wax topped to act as a buffer from vibration as the internal wrapping is not as tight as modern ones. Nice find and make sure you put the fiber washers back in the binding post holes or it will short out