JBL Ceiling Speakers #26-CT

gdwrench

gdwrench

Dirtbag
Good evening fellows :wave:. Earlier today I picked up a small gruntload of these units which are basically brand new. I saw what they retailed for by the pair and snagged them up (quick too :yes:). I figured maybe the front room with them and a small sub cause they are only rated down to 75hz.I was thinking of the wifeypoo when I got'em as to have less cabinets around on the floor. Not sure if I will use them or not but couldn't pass up this deal cause I can flip them and win also.

Has any youz guyz used these in your home and got any input on them ?? Thought it'd be nice to try out. :scratch2: :D
 
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I played with them quite a bit when I was in the commercial sound biz as I was competing against them. They're nice speakers for their intended purpose. I don't know if I'd want to use them for a "hifi" system or not but they'd be great for a surround system or for whole-house background music.

As I recall they're poly cones with rubber surrounds so you could probably mount them under a soffit outside as long as you had the grill to keep bugs and beasties out of the ports.
 
Not familiar with those particular speakers, but been running flush mounts in the ceiling for my family room HT rear surrounds quite awhile now, and a great solution. My brother saw what I did, and when putting together an HT of his own, did the same thing.
 
RayW said:
I played with them quite a bit when I was in the commercial sound biz as I was competing against them. They're nice speakers for their intended purpose. I don't know if I'd want to use them for a "hifi" system or not but they'd be great for a surround system or for whole-house background music.

As I recall they're poly cones with rubber surrounds so you could probably mount them under a soffit outside as long as you had the grill to keep bugs and beasties out of the ports.
Click to expand...

Well my main idea was for HT setup in my front room (12' X 16'). Right now I'm only using a couple "white van" speakers on the floor,so I figured it would be nice to throw 4 (I have 5) of these up in the ceiling and run a sub for a changeup.

I have a Sony STR-D790 A/V unit that I will be continuing to use,and the rating is somewhat different for hookup. I see where they have rating of 70V-100V and I have not seen this before. I hope there is no problem with running these convensionally ??

Yes,your description of these is spot on.The grilles are nice and tight with a fine mesh,no beasties allowed !!:no: :D
 
They have transformers on them for the 70v system (paging etc) Bypass the tranny unless it has taps/switch for 8 or 4 ohm operation.
 
I thought the JBLs had an 8ohm setting on the transformer. Could be wrong though, I left that job in '02.
 
If I'm remembering correctly (what are the odds?) there is a flush mounted rotary switch on the baffle with the speaker with settings for 8ohm, 1W, 2W, 4W, etc. If that's right you should only have to pull off the grill. If they've changed, you may have to pull the speaker and bypass the transformer from inside.
 
You gotta completely disconnect the transformer, even physically remove it, as the speakers are probably the proper 8 ohm rating for home audio use. These are obviously commercial PA speakers, and reason for the transformer, is these systems run higher voltages to keep wire gauge size down. They're probably fine for HT rear ceiling surrounds, but wouldn't use them for the fronts. You're normally wanting stand alone fronts aimed toward you at ear level.
 
Ok,here's some shots.Maybe you can zoom in on the dial but it says nothing of ohm's.One side has 70V settings and the other 100V. It reads 16ohm's inside the enclosure,you can probably see it in the pics.
 

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Nope, no 8ohm switch setting. Like I said, it's been a while. :)

Renzor is right, you'll have to wire around the transformer and as you saw you'll be looking at 16ohms.
 
Hmmm,the whole inside of the unit looks like an active crossover to me (a little novice action here :banana:) maybe I should take them all the way apart to see what I'm going to need to do :yes:.Looks easy enough..

Tomorrow,,yeh thats it,,we'll do that tomorrow :D :D
 
gdwrench said:
Hmmm,the whole inside of the unit looks like an active crossover to me
Click to expand...

Nah. The transformer is simply to step down the voltage when using a 70V or 100V system (distributed audio). The cap and coil look like a simple crossover for the coaxial driver. Take out the transformer, leave the crossover and you'll be golden.
 
Thanks for the info,Ray, Rez, Jr ,.......Looking in at thes leads it appers my main concern would be the green & yellow leads... I wonder if I disconect these that our little adjustment dial would still function as an L-pad ?? :scratch2:
 
Results?

gdwrench-
how did this go? were you successful? What mods did you end up making? I salvaged several of these from work and want to use them in my HT setup as the surround speakers. I found this document describing how to bypass the transformer on a JBL 321CT. While not the same, the wiring seem similar. I removed the circuit board and it has 8 wires solder directly to it. It seems that red and black are the input from the amp, and that the yellow and green and the return from the transformer. (the other 4 wires are the pos and neg to the woofer and tweeter) I think that if clip these wires and connect red to yellow and black to green, it would bypass the transformer altogether. does this sound Like sound reasoning to you (or anyone else). I will have to do a little testing with a MM, but I was hoping to get some advice from someone who has done this already. Maybe it will save me some time and headache.
 
newbiebuddha said:
gdwrench-
how did this go? were you successful? What mods did you end up making? I salvaged several of these from work and want to use them in my HT setup as the surround speakers. I found this document describing how to bypass the transformer on a JBL 321CT. While not the same, the wiring seem similar. I removed the circuit board and it has 8 wires solder directly to it. It seems that red and black are the input from the amp, and that the yellow and green and the return from the transformer. (the other 4 wires are the pos and neg to the woofer and tweeter) I think that if clip these wires and connect red to yellow and black to green, it would bypass the transformer altogether. does this sound Like sound reasoning to you (or anyone else). I will have to do a little testing with a MM, but I was hoping to get some advice from someone who has done this already. Maybe it will save me some time and headache.
Click to expand...
Ya know Buddah, I have not attempted anything yet cause I haven't gotten that far. I'm still in the process of amassing all my components but these will be incorporated. Still haven't gotten a deffinitive answer yet on the wiring,but that will come with time.....

Oh, welcome to AK Newb :D Should go up on the board and introduce yerself' :D
 
gdwrench-
I just thought I would let you know that I did install 8 of these. I took one apart and tested it out with a MM and I think my suspicions were correct about the wiring (Although i did it awhile ago and can't remember exactly). I also removed the transformer to save some weight. I hooked them up and they sound pretty good - and look good too. :-)
 
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