JBL D130 Re-Cone Suggestions

[angelaudio]

Hello Fellow Ak’ers!

I have a pair of D130’s that need to be re-comes and I wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions as to what recone kit I should use. And go figure, while writing this post I peeked inside the cabs and one D130 is 16ohm and one is 8 ohm and I thought they were both 8 ohm. Have I been damaging my amps running these at the 8ohm tap? Had no idea this was the case as I bought these from someone who didn’t know much about them. I had only gone into the 8ohm cabinet since the previous EV-T35 tweeter blew out and I had to replace it with a klipsch K-77. They are crossed over with an Electro Voice X36 crossover. I don’t have much, if any, experience working on speakers so if you all could throw some suggestions out there it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[angelaudio]

 

[BMWCCA]

I think experts will tell you there is really no difference between a D130 labeled 16-ohms and one labeled 8. Something about they worked better when hooked up to 16-ohm taps on some older equipment. It also may be a matter of build date. Mine are so old all three are labeled 16. If you check the JBL literature over at Audioheritage.org, it would appear they called them 16-ohm up until approximately 1967 from which point they were referred to as 8-ohm.

What's wrong with the cones? I don't think you can get replacements that are true to the originals these days, though some may favor some over others.

Have you run an Ohm meter across the terminals of both to see if they read similar values?

 

[angelaudio]

I think experts will tell you there is really no difference between a D130 labeled 16-ohms and one labeled 8. Something about they worked better when hooked up to 16-ohm taps on some older equipment. It also may be a matter of build date. Mine are so old all three are labeled 16. If you check the JBL literature over at Audioheritage.org, it would appear they called them 16-ohm up until approximately 1967 from which point they were referred to as 8-ohm.

What's wrong with the cones? I don't think you can get replacements that are true to the originals these days, though some may favor some over others.

Have you run an Ohm meter across the terminals of both to see if they read similar values?

Thanks for the history insight BMWCCA! I have not but now that you mention it I will. I had them hooked up to a marantz 170dc and they sounded just fine so I’m guessing what you’re referring to about being labeled 16 but actually being 8 ohm might be the case with these.

 

[toddalin]

I had them hooked up to a marantz 170dc and they sounded just fine so I’m guessing what you’re referring to about being labeled 16 but actually being 8 ohm might be the case with these.

I run 16 ohm Altecs on Marantz 170DCs and they sound fine. Do the ohm meter on the leads and see if the dc resistances are close.

Of course if they are to be reconed, this is a moot point.

 

[angelaudio]

I run 16 ohm Altecs on Marantz 170DCs and they sound fine. Do the ohm meter on the leads and see if the dc resistances are close.

Of course if they are to be reconed, this is a moot point.

You bi-amp?

 

[toddalin]

You bi-amp?

Tri-amp with an 1180DC and two 170DCs.

 

[angelaudio]

Tri-amp with an 1180DC and two 170DCs.

Talk about power! I can only imagine the bottom end you're getting out of those custom cabs! They are custom right? By the way, is that top driver from a pioneer speaker? It looks almost exactly like the one on my cs-901a's

 

[toddalin]

Talk about power! I can only imagine the bottom end you're getting out of those custom cabs! They are custom right? By the way, is that top driver from a pioneer speaker? It looks almost exactly like the one on my cs-901a's

One-off, AudioTechniques, Altec 604E2 Super Big Reds most probably made by The Mastering Labs. These included a custom-made one-off electronic crossover and a pair of one-off passive eq units that go between the horns and their amp. I think they were done by The Mastering Labs because when I look at the passive eq networks between the power amp and horn:

And I look at The Mastering Labs passive crossovers I see the same frequencies being addressed except that the eq units offer more options for adjustment:

 

[GordonW]

I think experts will tell you there is really no difference between a D130 labeled 16-ohms and one labeled 8. Something about they worked better when hooked up to 16-ohm taps on some older equipment. It also may be a matter of build date. Mine are so old all three are labeled 16. If you check the JBL literature over at Audioheritage.org, it would appear they called them 16-ohm up until approximately 1967 from which point they were referred to as 8-ohm.

What's wrong with the cones? I don't think you can get replacements that are true to the originals these days, though some may favor some over others.

Have you run an Ohm meter across the terminals of both to see if they read similar values?

If there's any question- just put an ohm meter across the terminals of both. If they read within 20% of each other, they're the same impedance.

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[angelaudio]

If there's any question- just put an ohm meter across the terminals of both. If they read within 20% of each other, they're the same impedance.

Regards,
Gordon.

Thanks Gordon!