JBL L 250 A New Addition To My System

[4-2-7]

I built these stepped diffusers out of birch ply and used Danish oil to stain (hand sanded with 220, followed by gray Scotch Brite pad, brushed on, wiped off and burnished in with same rag). Could I use the Mohawk wipe-on clear over the Danish oil?

NO
I would wash off the Watco/ oil with lacquer thinner and lightly sand before using the Pour-N-Wipe. My L 250s had a factory oil finish that I did the same thing to.

 

[4-2-7]

The difference in bass control between a Yamaha PC2002M (260W/ch) and PC4002M (430w/ch) was noticeable on the 250Ti. That said, it wasn't enough to warrant keeping the 4002's so I'm quite happy with the 2002 running the LE14H-1. The 250Ti is OK with just about anything you want to hook up (I've even tried my little Carver TFM-6C at 65w/ch). But it seems to get better and better the higher up the ladder you go. Better bass, more impact, more control etc.

I'll also echo the need to EQ the bass somewhat unless you have a lot of freedom on room placement and treatments. They can put a *lot* of bass energy into a room.

jblnut

Thanks jblnut,

I was wondering about the serial numbers on the speaker cabinets. Is there a way of knowing time of manufacturing, were they fall in line of unit numbers.

Cabinets serial #
10220
10175

044 both Nov.24th 82 (Gold Color Domes)
LE5-11 both 4/2/82
108-H both Oct. 14th 82

Woofers serial #
10462
10685

With this info my cabinets were assembled some time after 11/24/82

 

[4-2-7]

Outstanding suggestion on the Mohawk product. Thanks!

And the cabs are lookin beautiful. I like that the tweeter trim ring looks a little darker and think a slightly darker base to tie it all together would be trick. Oh wait, we've already gone there.

LOL:scratch2:

 

[4-2-7]

Two MC275's would sound awesome!
I tried a friend's lone MC275 with mine and it sounded great.
You'll most likely be ruined for any other speaker after all of this.

Yes, please dedicate a post to your refinishing process. All of us here could benefit from your experience.

Al. Wise

Panda came up with this calculation

Mcintosh 275: 90WPC, 8ohms x 2 = 180WPC, 360WPC bridged.
JBL L250: 90db, 8ohms, away from walls, listened to 12 feet away.
Produced SPL = 104.3db (107.3db bridged)

 

[kmanusa]

I've tried my 250Tis with McIntosh MC7270, MC275, MC2205, Parasound HCA-3500, Hafler 9505 (single and bridged), and Sunfire 300 amps. Believe it or not, I've come to like using the MC275 best of all!

Yes I know I can get better bass out of the solid state amps, especially the two Hafler 9505 which are 750 wpc each when bridged. But my room isn't that big, I don't like to play it that loud (anymore), and my musical tastes have changed. The bass improvement is less important to me and the tubes sound so right from the lower mids on up! YMMV of course!

Bear in mind that the 044TI tweeters are now 25-30 years old and their internal foam damping is not as effective as it once was (see the LH site for lots of threads on this). Using the tube amp seems to lessen the silvery coloration due to the crumbling foam. BTW, I am in the process of getting a second 275 so I can run 'em bridged for 150-180 wpc.

 

[jblnut]

I will let you all know what a refoam does to the sound of my 044ti's as soon as I get them back. I too use a Mac 275 (on the upper end) for the same reasons, although I think the Dynacos I have used (ST 70 and Mark III') did a better job of mellowing them.
Once I heard the 275 though I couldn't go back.

I don't know about the serial numbers, sorry. Post over at audioheritage.org and maybe you will get lucky with some info.

Jblnut

 

[4-2-7]

I will let you all know what a refoam does to the sound of my 044ti's as soon as I get them back. I too use a Mac 275 (on the upper end) for the same reasons, although I think the Dynacos I have used (ST 70 and Mark III') did a better job of mellowing them.
Once I heard the 275 though I couldn't go back.

I don't know about the serial numbers, sorry. Post over at audioheritage.org and maybe you will get lucky with some info.

Jblnut

I'll be refoaming the woofers tonight, I just finished the second coat on the boxes. Im moving right along and hope to be listening this weekend or earlier

 

[4-2-7]

I've tried my 250Tis with McIntosh MC7270, MC275, MC2205, Parasound HCA-3500, Hafler 9505 (single and bridged), and Sunfire 300 amps. Believe it or not, I've come to like using the MC275 best of all!

Yes I know I can get better bass out of the solid state amps, especially the two Hafler 9505 which are 750 wpc each when bridged. But my room isn't that big, I don't like to play it that loud (anymore), and my musical tastes have changed. The bass improvement is less important to me and the tubes sound so right from the lower mids on up! YMMV of course!

Bear in mind that the 044TI tweeters are now 25-30 years old and their internal foam damping is not as effective as it once was (see the LH site for lots of threads on this). Using the tube amp seems to lessen the silvery coloration due to the crumbling foam. BTW, I am in the process of getting a second 275 so I can run 'em bridged for 150-180 wpc.

Thanks for the input kmanusa, I have the first L 250s no Ti. I did find a place for the 044 if need be but I haven't listen to these yet. I did test to see if the drivers worked but thats it. It was so sweet even with rotted woofer foam.

Im running 2 MC 275 Mk VI mono blocked. I know with my other speakers when I added the second 275 it turned the speakers into a whole different beast.

Go for the second 275 it's worth it:thmbsp:

 

[kmanusa]

Thanks for the input kmanusa, I have the first L 250s no Ti. I did find a place for the 044 if need be but I haven't listen to these yet. I did test to see if the drivers worked but thats it. It was so sweet even with rotted woofer foam.

Im running 2 MC 275 Mk VI mono blocked. I know with my other speakers when I added the second 275 it turned the speakers into a whole different beast.

Go for the second 275 it's worth it:thmbsp:

Roger that, will do!

 

[Rykerdude]

SWEET!!! Congrats on your find! Picking up a set of JBL XPL 200's tomorrow hopefully. Only wants $150.00 for them! Can't go get them til late morning...hope I don't get beat to the punch!!

 

[kmanusa]

I will let you all know what a refoam does to the sound of my 044ti's as soon as I get them back. I too use a Mac 275 (on the upper end) for the same reasons, although I think the Dynacos I have used (ST 70 and Mark III') did a better job of mellowing them.
Once I heard the 275 though I couldn't go back.

I don't know about the serial numbers, sorry. Post over at audioheritage.org and maybe you will get lucky with some info.

Jblnut

I'd love to have the bi-amp ready version of the 250TI for that reason, my "originals" can't be bi-amped without surgery. I'll be greatly interested in your impressions of the refoamed tweeters.

 

[Pandovski]

SWEET!!! Congrats on your find! Picking up a set of JBL XPL 200's tomorrow hopefully. Only wants $150.00 for them! Can't go get them til late morning...hope I don't get beat to the punch!!

:ntwrthy::ntwrthy::ntwrthy:

 

[4-2-7]

Last night I rubbed back the first coat of Pour-N-Wipe using a red scotch bright pad. I applied a second coat and it's looking nicely built up now. This product is a wipe on Polly so it's very resistant to dampness/water. I can keep adding coats for further build up normally I do 3-4. In the following photos Im trying to show the build up.

 

[Pandovski]

That is so pretty. They are now honey blondes, just like Pussy Galore.

 

[4-2-7]

I also had time and the mind set to tackle the woofer repair. Starting with the preparation.

No sense in stopping now right?

Two completed Woofers ready for service

 

[Pandovski]

Finally!!!

 

[4-2-7]

That is so pretty. They are now honey blondes, just like Pussy Galore.

Thanks Panda
Im getting there

Tonight I will clean all speaker contacts with a little deox-it on a touch-up brush. A/B each speaker separately with there respective crossover. I'll see if I can detect any differences or other issues. If everything is good I'll be assembling Thursday night

These landed on my porch 10/3/13 so not even a week to get them to this point. :thmbsp:

I just looked at the original eBay photos that I started this post with. Wow what a difference.

 

[jblnut]

I'd love to have the bi-amp ready version of the 250TI for that reason, my "originals" can't be bi-amped without surgery. I'll be greatly interested in your impressions of the refoamed tweeters.

You can actually do what I'm doing without any major surgery, if you were interested in pursuing this path. You can disconnect the LE14H-1 from the internal xover - now your upper 3 drivers are separate. You can take your second preamp out (assuming you have this capability) and feed that into an active xover to provide low-pass filtering, and then send that signal into a beefy SS amp connected directly to the LE14H-1. I also added an EQ after the xover and before the amp for a little more control over the bass.

It's easy

jblnut

 

[4-2-7]

You can actually do what I'm doing without any major surgery, if you were interested in pursuing this path. You can disconnect the LE14H-1 from the internal xover - now your upper 3 drivers are separate. You can take your second preamp out (assuming you have this capability) and feed that into an active xover to provide low-pass filtering, and then send that signal into a beefy SS amp connected directly to the LE14H-1. I also added an EQ after the xover and before the amp for a little more control over the bass.

It's easy

jblnut

I might be trying this as well. My McIntosh C100 Preamp has no tone controls what so ever. But first I need to try what I have and then take it from there.

I might even stop my finishing work because they look fine now and it will leave room to finalize the finish after testing. I know I will at some point be replacing the caps. And if I separate the woofers I'll add binding post. :thmbsp:

 

[tomlinmgt]

Damn dude, you absolutely FLEW through that! How many hours do you have in all the repair/refurb so far?