JBL L100 find...

[NealinNevada]

Yesterday afternoon I walked into the local Salvation Army and sitting among the piles of Thrusters :thumbsdn: (and their ilk) was a set of JBL L100 speakers with all original drivers :thmbsp: (I gently pulled the grills back to check them out). I asked the man in charge what he wanted for the "old, beat up, no-name speakers" (the grills and badges were long gone). He shouts, "Give us $25?" Done! Anyway I am looking for sources for parts I will need in their restoration...any ideas? I need:

2 - foam grills
2 - JBL grill badges
2 - tweeter foam surrounds (weird little foam that goes around the outside of the tweeters)-DONE!
8 - speaker grill stand-offs
2 - sets of binding posts

I'd like to stay as original as possible and the cabs are in pretty nice shape after I cleaned them up. Any help will be most appreciated :yes:.

 

[stereofanboy]

There are regulars on E-bay with the tweeter rings and the very expensive foam grills. You can get binding posts at Parts Express. Good luck on the other stuff.

 

[Axcel]

before pics???

 

[bakes]

Get the tweeter rings directly from JBL - they're less expensive than getting them from Ebay. The foam grille reproductions are not cheap, but if you want the original look...

The badges were on the mid and high frequency level controls on the cabinet. If these foilcals are gone, I do not know of a replacement source.

Fine score!

 

[NealinNevada]

Thank you guys, for your input...Well, I made the tweeter foam surrounds (4" OD x 2" ID) myself after trying to obtain the same from a few sources (too dang expensive). Anyway they came out great, if I may say so myself. I used some speaker grill open cell foam I had left over from an EPI 200 restoration I did a while back.

Axcel, sorry I did not take any before pictures...I immediately started restoring them (my wife is getting frustrated with a house & barn full of speakers that I am restoring (I'll be finishing a set of Bozak Symphony's as soon as the grill cloth material gets here...).

bakes, I am now leaning toward just replacing the grills with the same foam I used for the EPI restore I mentioned earlier...they want too much $ for the reproductions. I did look at a number of pictures of JBL L100 century speakers and they did have a grill badge in the lower corner (see attached image). I guess these will be auction site acquisitions. The badges on the front of the speakers (under the grills) are mint on these speakers.

I tested all the drivers last night and they all work and they sound good. One of the MF driver had a v-shaped small rip in it (under 1/4") and I am thinking of just glueing the rip closed, any thoughts? I pulled the four screws that hold the LF driver and that bugger is in there tight. Does anyone know if there is something else holding the LF drivers in and what is the best way to get them out? Maybe pull the midrange and reach into the cabinet and push the LF driver out? I need to get into there to replace the caps and install new binding posts (the originals were shot and previous owner had soldered speaker wires to the stubs of the posts. Any suggestions on replacement posts from Parts Express? I found five original grill attachment posts...just need three more. Anyone know a source for the black nylon-like cloth that was stretched across the speaker frames underneath the original foam grills?

 

[Zilch]

You'll not get in through the midrange as there's a subenclosure behind it.

Loosen the woofer screws ~1/8" and drop the speaker face down a couple of inches on carpet. The woofer will pop loose.... :yes:

 

[NealinNevada]

You'll not get in through the midrange as there's a subenclosure behind it.

Loosen the woofer screws ~1/8" and drop the speaker face down a couple of inches on carpet. The woofer will pop loose.... :yes:

Thank you sir :thmbsp:!

 

[bobschneider]

You should also plan on replacing the caps in the crossover - as I recall there are two per speaker, but I don't recall the values.

 

[Zilch]

You should also plan on replacing the caps in the crossover - as I recall there are two per speaker, but I don't recall the values.

Perhaps not, if it requires lifting the mint foilcals to get at the screws to remove the crossovers.

Despite their appearance, there are quality mylars sealed inside those cardboard tubes, damped with sand. Leave 'em be unless there's a problem.... :yes:

 

[Steve O]

You'll not get in through the midrange as there's a subenclosure behind it.

Loosen the woofer screws ~1/8" and drop the speaker face down a couple of inches on carpet. The woofer will pop loose.... :yes:

But only after you've removed the LE5 and LE25. Experience (bad) speaking here.

 

[NealinNevada]

But only after you've removed the LE5 and LE25. Experience (bad) speaking here.

Thanks Steve O, I would have just done it without removing them and then I would have the same :tears: experience you have...thanks to you, I save damaging the drivers :thmbsp: and I learned something at no cost!

 

[NealinNevada]

Perhaps not, if it requires lifting the mint foilcals to get at the screws to remove the crossovers.

They sound just fine, so I won't cap them yet...thanks :yes: Zilch!

 

[Zilch]

I neglected to mention the padded 2X4 under the HF end, sorry.

That's Southern California sand, no doubt. Think how many bikini-clad babes may have walked on it first....

 

[basicblues]

Get the tweeter rings directly from JBL - they're less expensive than getting them from Ebay.

These may now be discontinued. I called Harman Pro last Thursday and they're now saying the foam tweeter rings [part# 50402] are discontinued with no future plans to restock. I've ordered several sets of these directly from JBL in the past so I initally thought I just got someone who didn't want to bother with a small order. I called back again and talked to a different person and they said the same thing. Surely, someone will re-pop these if JBL truely has ceased production.

 

[mech986]

These may now be a discontinued. I called Harman Pro last Thursday and they're now saying the foam tweeter rings [part# 50402] are discontinued with no future plans to restock. I've ordered several sets of these directly from JBL in the past so I initally thought I just got someone who didn't want to bother with a small order. I called back again and talked to a different person and they said the same thing. Surely, someone will re-pop these if JBL truely has ceased production.

Completely agree, JBL Pro Parts said the supplier no longer makes that particular type of foam and can't/won't supply them. I think low demand makes it unlikely JBL will spend the time and $$$ to seek out and certify a new supplier.

Probably have to buy them from the Ebay sellers who bought up all the stock and selling for 5-10x what they originally cost. However, that's about par for NLA NOS stock.

 

[NealinNevada]

Probably have to buy them from the Ebay sellers who bought up all the stock and selling for 5-10x what they originally cost. However, that's about par for NLA NOS stock.

No way am I going to pay $10 for those foam rings...too cheap. I made a set the other day from some open cell foam I had. No one but a JBL aficionado would be able to tell the difference. The OD is 4" (I used a water glass for a template to cut around with a razor) and the ID is 2" (I used an aspirin bottle cap as the template to cut out the ID). I'm waiting for my binding posts to get here :thmbsp:.

 

[BMWCCA]

Glad it worked out for you. I'd never pay $10 for them, either. The heavier black-foam ones for my L26 LE25-2s cost me $1.36 each from JBL and they were happy to supply them. At that time the correct ones for the L100's LE25s were $1.90.

 

[WarrGo]

I just picked up a pair for 35. I have a damaged tweeter and the binding posts are shot. Let me know the link to the posts that are correct.