JBL L-100A Century crossover options/help

[jobrewer1983]

Hi All,

Big fan of JBL, have a few sets in the collection.

So today I landed a set of L-100A from a buddy of mine. I’ve had L-100s in the past and liked them, but I always tend to let them go after a while. They are usually a quick clean up, and maybe some new caps. The last set I had I swapped the 2 caps with some Dayton’s. This was years ago. I’m not a big fan of Dayton caps. I’ve since rebuilt many different JBL crossovers, I usually use Jantzen Z-Caps and shunts. I have never played with different crossovers for the L-100s but I know there are different designs floating around the internet. Would love to see what others have done.

I have all the tooling needed to build a nice set of crossovers for the set, wondering if anyone can share some schematics of what you have done? I’d like to try a different crossover set up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.





They are barn fresh but ready to be restored.







XO for my 4301b ^^


Going to have to find new foam repayments for the grills, new foam for the LE25s have been ordered.

 

[SaturationPt]

L100A (not late), nice.

The foam most of us prefer for the grille is from Sculpted Foam Innovations, I recommend his grilles.

The foam ring for the tweeters is best from Simply Speakers, the guy on ebay who claims (untruthfully) that he is buying from the OEM is selling foam with the wrong ID, it is too small and will stick to the actual speaker surround where the correct ones from SS stick to the flat plate.

Fun project, you've got a great start!

 

[Mr Boochie]

I replace the stock caps with ERSE Pulse-X ones. Kept the OEM chokes and L-pads. Seems to work fine.

https://www.erseaudio.com/Products/PulseX

 

[jobrewer1983]

L100A (not late), nice.

The foam most of us prefer for the grille is from Sculpted Foam Innovations, I recommend his grilles.

The foam ring for the tweeters is best from Simply Speakers, the guy on ebay who claims (untruthfully) that he is buying from the OEM is selling foam with the wrong ID, it is too small and will stick to the actual speaker surround where the correct ones from SS stick to the flat plate.

Fun project, you've got a great start!

I’ve cleaned up a good 10 or so sets of the LE25 and LE26s

Thanks for the info on the grills, I will look them up. I know I was going to do the foam ones, not sure if I want orange or blue yet.

I should be able to start some of the cabinet work this Thurs/Friday, still doing some research on the crossover design.

 

[SaturationPt]

I chose blue for my nicer pair kind of a JBL thing. When I ordered I was told that orange is the most popular, followed closely by blue. Hard to choose when they look great in either.

 

[jobrewer1983]

I chose blue for my nicer pair kind of a JBL thing. When I ordered I was told that orange is the most popular, followed closely by blue. Hard to choose when they look great in either.

I’d like to do black, but I haven’t seen them in black online just brown, orange and blue. I’m excited for this set, can’t wait to bust out the JBL Sessions LP to put them to the test.

 

[jobrewer1983]

I replace the stock caps with ERSE Pulse-X ones. Kept the OEM chokes and L-pads. Seems to work fine.

https://www.erseaudio.com/Products/PulseX

View attachment 2201448

I’m considering doing some nice Jantzen Silver or Mundorf evo oil caps, I’m still researching my crossover options.

I’ve had good luck with Jantzen and JBL drivers, they seem to play well together. My go to is the Jantzen Z-Cap standard (blue ones), with a AudioCap Theata .01uf bypass cap, the combo just seems to sparkle. I may try the superior, but I’ve read a lot on the Silvers, they have great reviews.

 

[Mr Boochie]

I’m considering doing some nice Jantzen Silver or Mundorf evo oil caps, I’m still researching my crossover options.

I’ve had good luck with Jantzen and JBL drivers, they seem to play well together. My go to is the Jantzen Z-Cap standard (blue ones), with a AudioCap Theata .01uf bypass cap, the combo just seems to sparkle. I may try the superior, but I’ve read a lot on the Silvers, they have great reviews.

I replaced the caps in my DIY sub and redone L166 with Solen PPE caps. Very, very nice! Takes a little longer than the ERSE to break-in, prolly due to the higher voltage ratings of the Solen caps.

 

[jobrewer1983]

I replaced the caps in my DIY sub and redone L166 with Solen PPE caps. Very, very nice! Takes a little longer than the ERSE to break-in, prolly due to the higher voltage ratings of the Solen caps.


View attachment 2201801


View attachment 2201798

I’ve used Solan caps in a few JBL builds, used some in a set of 4301b I had a few years ago. The 2nd set of 4301b I restored I used the Jantzen caps and I really liked the sound stage. The Solan caps were nice but slightly flat or sterile compared to the Jantzen caps. I pulled them in that set and used Jantzen z-caps. I gave the Solans to a fellow AKer for one of his builds I’ve used the Ayden caps too, they sound pretty good.



Some L-19A XOs



L-16s



I always try to be at exact value ^^



That was the 1st set of the 4301b, both XOs were the exact value to have a balanced matched pair.



Some Pioneer SX4G I upgraded.

I’m a big fan of the Jantzen caps, if you haven’t used them I say give them a try to see how you like them. I’ve had good luck with Solan caps, but my ears favor the Jantzen

 

[Mr Boochie]

Solen caps working well in my L166. But needed a lot of time to break-in. Started sounding very nice around second month. Very clean, tight bass.

 

[jobrewer1983]

Solen caps working well in my L166. But needed a lot of time to break-in. Started sounding very nice around second month. Very clean, tight bass.

I have a box full of new parts for my L-166As but I’ve yet to build the crossovers for them. I need to but I don’t run the 166s often. The L-100s will be done prior to the 166s. I don’t use them because the drivers were not properly foamed. I had to fix someone’s mistake...



The glue caused a little damage to the paper cone on the 122A-1s, the guy also didn’t have them centered correctly. I had to fix them. They look ugly to me so I’ve been hunting for another set of 122A-1s to reform. They are dead center now but the guy who didn’t know what he was doing really shouldn’t have tried his hands at such pricy drivers. If I don’t find a set to reform in good cond I may just buy a aftermarket re-cone kit just to get them looking new. The 166As use the 122A1s, super hard to find drivers.

 

[Mr Boochie]

I have a box full of new parts for my L-166As but I’ve yet to build the crossovers for them. I need to but I don’t run the 166s often. The L-100s will be done prior to the 166s. I don’t use them because the drivers were not properly foamed. I had to fix someone’s mistake...

View attachment 2202228 View attachment 2202231

The glue caused a little damage to the paper cone on the 122A-1s, the guy also didn’t have them centered correctly. I had to fix them. They look ugly to me so I’ve been hunting for another set of 122A-1s to reform. They are dead center now but the guy who didn’t know what he was doing really shouldn’t have tried his hands at such pricy drivers. If I don’t find a set to reform in good cond I may just buy a aftermarket re-cone kit just to get them looking new. The 166As use the 122A1s, super hard to find drivers.

Guy must have used the same tech or maybe it was the same previous owner. My L166 next to my old L100. Prior to my fix of the 122A.



Redone 122A, by Speaker Repair Pros. Bao, the tech, had to add Aquaplas to the front of the new cones.

 

[SaturationPt]

I understand because I'm obsessive, but the L166 had IMO the most attractive grilles of any JBL produced, so I'd be running them.

As far as the cones, I'd keep a watch for a great pair of replacement woofs (or dare I say, cone kits?), but there probably are methods for making that pulp lay down well, adding a little something to smooth the surface, and make it look perfect from 6' away. Maybe someone like @edgewound or one of the others who repair speakers have a method, and if not I'd buy a pair of speakers that you can damage and experiment with to develop your own method.

When I wanted to try a refoam, I bought a pair of Bose speakers to experiment on, knowing that I'd never actually use them, just wanted the drivers to learn on and then get rid of them. Worth the time and effort IMO.

 

[jobrewer1983]

I understand because I'm obsessive, but the L166 had IMO the most attractive grilles of any JBL produced, so I'd be running them.

As far as the cones, I'd keep a watch for a great pair of replacement woofs (or dare I say, cone kits?), but there probably are methods for making that pulp lay down well, adding a little something to smooth the surface, and make it look perfect from 6' away. Maybe someone like @edgewound or one of the others who repair speakers have a method, and if not I'd buy a pair of speakers that you can damage and experiment with to develop your own method.

When I wanted to try a refoam, I bought a pair of Bose speakers to experiment on, knowing that I'd never actually use them, just wanted the drivers to learn on and then get rid of them. Worth the time and effort IMO.

I’ve probably reformed a good 20-30 sets of JBL drivers, I lost count on other speakers. drives me crazy to see the foam mounted to the front of the cone. I am holding out for a nice set to reform again, but I need the 122A-1’s to match the 166A’s and they are hard to find. I’ve been hunting for 2 years now.



I think the Sinus 44f just for fun ^^

 

[SaturationPt]

By "reform" I presume you mean refoam?

 

[edgewound]

By "reform" I presume you mean refoam?

Autocorrect/autospell does that all the time. Drives me crazy.

 

[jobrewer1983]

By "reform" I presume you mean refoam?

I do, using my cellphone to key all that in, auto correct. Clearly you got the idea...

 

[SaturationPt]

The ones he sold me do not fit, and advertising as OE and "made by JBL" isn't exactly true nor legal. I don't buy from hacks when I can avoid it.

So what it shte characterization that is not true? Is he actually buying from JBL?

 

[jobrewer1983]

Hi
If we're talking the same guy that's been there like forever your characterization of him and his foam is not true
I use them all the time, they're fine
Kenny

They work for me, the gray color seems slightly lighter than usual but I’ve been using this guy for years and they are always a nice fit for me.

 

[Mr Boochie]

My eBay foam fix.