JBL-4311B’s

[Gooshe]

Have a chance to pickup a pair of the JBL-4311-b’s with one of them having a tear in the woofer and the tweeter, the other one seems ok all on drivers, both mids seem ok too. They have the grey cabinets and come with grills. Have been sitting in the garage for many years and are in aged but not destroyed condition cosmetically.
I am a bit worried about having to repair one woofer and one tweeter at least. Looked online and parts seem available although a good woofer is not cheap. I can refinish the cabinets and pry open the drivers no problem as i’ve done that before on some speakers that needed some time/care to unseal the drivers for safe removal.
Do you guys think it’s worth the effort to get these going?
I’m currently in Japan and so getting parts delivered here is also a cause for delay/concern with some import fees and such to consider.
Appreciate your feedback.
No pictures to show for now but when I go to see and hear them, will post pictures of them.

 

[malden]

A tear in the woofer (2213H), since you have access to both sides of the cone, can be repaired if there is no material missing. A tear in the tweeter cone may be more difficult to repair.

Without photos, it's just a guess.

Make sure both woofer cones move freely in and out without rubbing, a common problem with the 2213H, JBL used a foam filter in the vent behind the voice coil. This foam can disintegrate and get lodged in the voice-coil gap.

 

[Gooshe]

Thanks for the reply, however; it looks like I misrepresented the dime size tear with missing material from the woofer. Not sure if the tear in the tweeter will be audible at low levels that I will be listening to them for now, but definitely would want to repair/replace them. Seems like there are new production replacements for them which obviously would affect their resale value but that is not a concern for me since I’m not looking to sell them, if I get them.

I will definitely check the woofers by pushing them in gently and listening for anything un-normal (rubs and such), assuming that if they both have an issue with what you mentioned was a weak point, then they won’t be worth getting?

 

[malden]

They would be worth getting if you enjoy restoring vintage JBL's. There are plenty of parts on the used market.

 

[z-adamson]

Thanks for the reply, however; it looks like I misrepresented the dime size tear with missing material from the woofer. Not sure if the tear in the tweeter will be audible at low levels that I will be listening to them for now, but definitely would want to repair/replace them. Seems like there are new production replacements for them which obviously would affect their resale value but that is not a concern for me since I’m not looking to sell them, if I get them.

I will definitely check the woofers by pushing them in gently and listening for anything un-normal (rubs and such), assuming that if they both have an issue with what you mentioned was a weak point, then they won’t be worth getting?

There are good recone kits available for that woofer by the way. Even if it is SHOT, it can be made very close to OEM.

 

[Gooshe]

Just had them delivered (for free) to my place, which by itself is worth a lot here in the middle of Tokyo, not having transportation myself, and they don’t look as bad as i thought. The cabinets need help but that is expected from being in a garage with all the moisture here. The back trim is a bit puffed up. Repairing and painting them to look like the original color and texture won’t be a problem for me.
One of the speaker terminals has been changed, the other is original. Might replace the original one too since those terminals are pretty cheesy/difficult to use.
One woofer as mentioned has a hole, although it seems the material is all there, so most likely i can repair it for now. One tweeter has a hole but the voice coil still looks ok. The other tweeter and one midrange have pushed in dust caps which i will probably just leave them as is for now or try to carefully vacuum them out.
Will hook them up to my only amp here at the time which is a Luxman A-2500 Tube amp, but since I won’t be able to turn up the volume too much, it should be plenty of power to listen to them for now.
Any further feedback or comment or opinion is greatly appreciated as to how to restore these babies.

 

[malden]

They're not that bad except for that tweeter. LE25-2 tweeters come up on ebay regularly.

 

[Gooshe]

Ok, thank you. Will research to learn how to repair the woofer since i’ve never done it before. I’ve re-doped surrounds but never touched a cone. There is always something new to learn in life.

 

[Gooshe]

Cleaned them up a bit, lubed the controls, straightened out the dent in the woofer and tweeter as much as possible and they are singing now. As mentioned, on low to mid volume, I’m not pushing any of the drivers to any movement so for the time being they are going to do just fine until I can order a pair of tweeters and get that one woofer repaired.

here is a short video of them playing recorded with a cheap phone microphone.