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JBL 216 with RadioShack/Realistic woofers?

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bwhitso

New Member
I got a pair of used JBL 216 bookshelf speakers that looked to be in really good shape. One woofer wasn't working when I first connected everything, so I pulled it apart to measure the coil's resistance. When I pulled the woofer out I saw that it was made by Realistic. I didn't expect to see that in a JBL cabinet. I pulled the woofer in the other speaker out to see if it was the same. The second woofer is a RadioShack part.

I'm assuming these woofers are not original to the JBL cabinets and that a previous owner installed them? Or at some point did JBL start using these cheap woofers in their speakers?


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bwhitso said:
I got a pair of used JBL 216 bookshelf speakers .. I pulled the woofer out I saw that it was made by Realistic. ... I pulled the woofer in the other speaker ... The second woofer is a RadioShack part.

I'm assuming these woofers are not original to the JBL cabinets...
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That's a shame! you assumed correctly they are not original to the JBL's
 
The original JBL woofers weren't great, but they had cloth surrounds (at least the 325 did, a higher model in the same series) so I'm not sure why they'd replace them unless they were blown. At least they're the same woofer (don't worry about one being Radio Shack and one Realistic; it's just that one is newer than the other). How do they sound with the replaced woofers?
 
I would check parts express and see what 6.5" woofers they have that match the efficiency spec and are 8 ohms. If the crossover is simple the existing should work ok. Another option is to redesign the low end crossover to match the new woofer. I would check out the Visation and the Dayton Classic 6.5 inch woofers and see how they will work with that cabinet volume and the cutout size.
 
Tim64 said:
I would check parts express and see what 6.5" woofers they have that match the efficiency spec and are 8 ohms. If the crossover is simple the existing should work ok. Another option is to redesign the low end crossover to match the new woofer. I would check out the Visation and the Dayton Classic 6.5 inch woofers and see how they will work with that cabinet volume and the cutout size.
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Tim64, thanks for the advice. I found the service manual for the J216 and pasted a snip about the low frequency driver below. Does this mean I should be looking for a 4 ohm woofer instead of 8 ohm?


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swechsler said:
The original JBL woofers weren't great, but they had cloth surrounds (at least the 325 did, a higher model in the same series) so I'm not sure why they'd replace them unless they were blown. At least they're the same woofer (don't worry about one being Radio Shack and one Realistic; it's just that one is newer than the other). How do they sound with the replaced woofers?
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I'm assuming the original woofers were blown, but who knows the real history. Bass sounds thin, harsh, and laggy (I'm still learning how to describe what I hear, bare with me). Anyway, they don't sound great! I just got a set of Boston Acoustic A60 Series II speakers and they blow this JBL/Radioshack frankenstein set out of the water.
 
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bwhitso said:
Tim64, thanks for the advice. I found the service manual for the J216 and pasted a snip about the low frequency driver below. Does this mean I should be looking for a 4 ohm woofer instead of 8 ohm?


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Yes you should source a 4 ohm woofer unless you want to start messing with the crossover that can be a new can of worms to play with.
 
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