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JBL 4311's = system complete... for now.

Brainwashed said:
Well, I saw the foam discs on the auction site, they're asking ~$20 for a pair, which would put them at 10 times the going rate from JBL.
Actually, a couple folks have them starting at $9.95 / $10 a pair or $12 on BIN, making them 2.5-3 times the cost each. The guy for $10 even includes color repos of the 4 page L100 brochure to ease the pain. Shipping is a necessary evil either way...

None the less, my encounter with JBL Customer Service today reminded me of an incident when I was a youngster.
<insert appropriate flashback music here>

I was around 8 years old and out walking in the pastures with my grandfather on his dairy farm up in northern Wisconsin late one summer.
As we came over a rise, I suddenly spotted a bull up on the back of one of the cows.
"What's that?" I asked.
Without batting an eye, my grandfather replied, "Sonny boy, the bull is servicing the cow."

and that's what customer service is all about some days... :D
 
sleddogman said:
Actually, a couple folks have them starting at $9.95 / $10 a pair or $12 on BIN, making them 2.5-3 times the cost each. The guy for $10 even includes color repos of the 4 page L100 brochure to ease the pain. Shipping is a necessary evil either way...

None the less, my encounter with JBL Customer Service today reminded me of an incident when I was a youngster.
<insert appropriate flashback music here>

I was around 8 years old and out walking in the pastures with my grandfather on his dairy farm up in northern Wisconsin late one summer.
As we came over a rise, I suddenly spotted a bull up on the back of one of the cows.
"What's that?" I asked.
Without batting an eye, my grandfather replied, "Sonny boy, the bull is servicing the cow."

and that's what customer service is all about some days... :D
Well, good luck to you either way. Hope you get what you want.

Heck, I hope I get what I want...
 
Zilch said:
Dave is Parts. He'll also likely know the difference between the two types....
Once again good sir, you are Spot On, as the Brits would say. :thmbsp:

Here are the proper numbers straight from Dave:
Tweeter
LE25 - #50402 - $1.97 ea (used in 4311 and older L-100)
LE25-2 - #53363 - $2.04 ea (used in L-100A and other models)
He also had listings for the LE25-1, LE25-4, etc.

I appreciate you steering me (and all of us) in the right direction. Arigatou gozaimasta!
 
Carla's quite nice, actually. You and she were chasing the wrong part number, is all.

She's found stuff for me nobody knew even existed except me and her.

Dave'll stick with it until he gets the right answer, even for a $2 item. Every inquiry is a "quest."

Different strokes.... :thmbsp:
 
Brainwashed said:
Well, crap. I wonder which foam discs are on their way to my house. :tears:
Likely the right ones. I'm thinking you just subconsciously left out a 3 in the part number when you wrote the original message, but let us know if they wind up looking like fuzzy 12" pizzas when they arrive... :yes: :D
 
Success!

So, I sent the 50watt L-pads back to Parts-Express, and they exchanged them without incident, fuss, or hassle. I used the original invoice, which has a return section on it. I sent them out Monday, and they arrived on Wednesday.

I got the 15 watt replacement L-Pads earlier Wednesday afternoon, and quickly got to bringing the crossovers back to their 'original' state.

I rebuilt one, and tested it to see if what I did worked, and it did, so I dismantled the second speaker, and got to work on that one.

All in all, 3 out of the 4 original L-pads were in dire need of replacement. Both of the original caps on the second speaker were leaky, as well as having 2 completely shot L-pads. (Ironically, it's the one in the best cosmetic condition)

Here is the fruit of my labor thus far. The orientation of the caps, and the method I used to affix them to the board along with the wiring may not be the best, advisable, or very well thought out, but it seemed to work out ok.



The speakers sound great to my untrained ears, but there is still cabinet work to be done: I must install the speaker caulk to the woofers and get the foam for the tweeters, rebuild the grills, reattach the foilcals, and perhaps re-finish the cabinets.

Comments and criticisms are greatly welcomed!
 
Brainwashed said:
Comments and criticisms are greatly welcomed!
Nicely done, and Theta bypassed, too! :thmbsp:

I'd gob a bead of silicone or latex caulk on to attach the capacitors to the board and cushion them.

["Gob" in the technical sense here, of course.... ;) ]
 
Good job B-W'ed

Sweet! I can guide you wrt refinishing those cabs to almost new condition after they're sonically up to snuff. PM me for a how-to when you're ready.
 
Brain: great job! And you don't waste time, either. I hope you took some pix so I can witness it blow-by-blow.

Thanks,
Rick
 
Thanks for the comments guys!

Well, I took pics of the individual caps when I bound them together before tinning them together. Other than that I was kinda in a groove, and didn't slow down to take the pics... which happens a lot. I intend to fully document stuff, and while I'm doing it, I don't want to tempt fate and stop...




All-in-all it was a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants operation that was helped along by gonzomeep and zilch helping to ensure that the parts I was going to use would actually work!

Oh, and the foam discs came in for the tweeters. They fit, but they are Part Number 53363 with a Description of 'FOAM RING, LE25-2'. So, I don't really know if they are the proper foam density or whatever they'd change on them between the LE25 and the LE25-2.

I'll be editing some pics into this post as they get uploaded...

EDIT: I forgot to mention the things I learned... I'm just throwing things out there randomly, so you may want to read them all before you think this is a step by step...


I have a Chinese made P.O.S. digital temperature adjustable soldering iron from RadioShack that cost me like $70, it was set to 650 °F. I also had a desoldering braid, a forceps used for a heat sink, rosin core solder, and rosin all from RadioShack. And a couple of Crescent brand little things that were PERFECT for the little work (removing the original cap wires from blobs of molten solder, and wire snipping ect.).



To remove the original cardboard caps, I just wedged something in between them, and twisted it like I was shucking an oyster(which I've never done, but I've seen it on TV), a bit of the board came off, but was pretty much entirely whole gob of glue with both caps.

By the second network, I didn't bother with desoldering any of the wires except the power wires on the little terminal board thingummy, and the common ground for the L-Pads. I just clipped the rest as near to the L-Pad as possible, while leaving a little insulation for later identification (which I referred back to A LOT).

I used new 24 AWG hookup wire for the caps, and the existing wires for the rest of the connections. (Some originals were 1/2" shorter than in the beginning) I suppose you could use all existing wire, if you were careful, but I had the hookup wire available from other projects.

I soldered 2 long leads of 24 AWG hookup wire back into the power wire terminal board thing, and 2 on to the L-Pads. I replaced the L-pads one at a time, resoldering the connections as I went. For some reason I went from the mid to the hi, and it seemed to work out quite well, but whatever. Then, after I had the L-Pads replaced, I glued on the pre-bound, and tinned caps. This left me with four leads, and the caps installed. All I had to do then, was route the wires where I wanted them, cut, strip, tin and solder them to the caps. Making sure to match wire colors! I then finally clipped the ends of the caps off.
 
Hey brainwashed, even I don't intend to modify my 43xx's I really like your effort. I will bookmark this thread for future use. Keep up the good work. :thmbsp:
 
Brainwashed: I was rechecking this thread for proper procedures and pix before I ordered parts for my 4311's. Just noticed the parts list is for 3112's, but the pix are for 4311's. Can you clarify?

Rick
 
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