You want good solder points. The crossover is going to see a lot of vibrations. The last thing you want to do is yank the woofers out and redo the whole crossover.
Good luck!
You want good solder points. The crossover is going to see a lot of vibrations. The last thing you want to do is yank the woofers out and redo the whole crossover.
Good luck!
BTW... those 250VDC rated cap may take a bit of time to break-in. My 630VDC Solen caps took about two weeks of constant play time. 
James F.
Member
I got 'em in and I might be just hearing what I want to hear, but they seem crisper and cleaner.
Yeah, it took me all day to get these things in, I don't want to do it again anytime soon. All my solder points, while fairly ugly on the first one and half-decent on the second seemed to be solid. I have enjoyed this refurbish and appreciate all the help and suggestions.
Yeah, it took me all day to get these things in, I don't want to do it again anytime soon. All my solder points, while fairly ugly on the first one and half-decent on the second seemed to be solid. I have enjoyed this refurbish and appreciate all the help and suggestions.
Fresh caps do make a difference.
Good luck with those great speakers.
Good luck with those great speakers.
Tell me once those speakers break-in --- if you notice cleaner bass transient response, with the air-core chokes versus the OEM iron-core ones.
Thanks!
Thanks!
No, not for the crossovers as much as the speakers. In my experience.
James F.
Member
Sorry, I can not speak to how the air cores stack up to the iron cores, but it sounds good to my ears. After doing a little reading on the iron cores vs air cores, I probably should have spent a little more money on the air cores and got the heavier gauge ones to get the DCR down on them. They sound good though. Drums sound lifelike, sub-bass is a little lacking, maybe that is a result of a high DCR (crossover upgrade later? shrug). All in all the speakers sound sweet, detail is great. Pink Floyds The Division Bell sounds so awesome through these speakers. So much better than the Sony bookshelves I was using before.
May take some more breaking-in. Thicker gauge on the chokes does help bass transients, at least in principle.
James F.
Member
So now that I have listened to them for a while and they seem to have broken in nicely. The bass transients sound nice and clean, if there is any difference between the air cores and iron cores I do not think there is a discernable difference...at least to my ears. Listening to The Endless River album by Pink Floyd reveals beautiful mids and excellent highs. I am very pleased with the new crossovers, I believe they sound probably as good as the old ones did new.
Go Giants
Super Member
I have a pair in my man cave. I've owned mostly east coast speakers. I love them especially my KLH 23's. They sound great with tube amps.
I was looking for speakers with a more west coast sound...was lucky enough to find my L166's. I knew the seller. He is an on-line reviewer of audio equipment and I trust his opinion in gear.
I'm very happy with these...they were just what I was looking for. Not nearly as polite as the KLH's, but in a good way.
I'm running them with my Scott tube gear. At first, they were far too bright for my taste. Then I read of a trick to tame the HF.
I put them on their side....WOW ...major improvement in sound. Go Figure...lol
BTW - the seller told me he preferred the L166's over the L100 by a good margin.
I was looking for speakers with a more west coast sound...was lucky enough to find my L166's. I knew the seller. He is an on-line reviewer of audio equipment and I trust his opinion in gear.
I'm very happy with these...they were just what I was looking for. Not nearly as polite as the KLH's, but in a good way.
I'm running them with my Scott tube gear. At first, they were far too bright for my taste. Then I read of a trick to tame the HF.
I put them on their side....WOW ...major improvement in sound. Go Figure...lol
BTW - the seller told me he preferred the L166's over the L100 by a good margin.
I too, like the L166 over the L100. In my experience, the L166 sound better at low to moderate volumes. Both sound very good to best when played loud.
Last edited:
James F.
Member
It is hard to believe it has been 4 years since my last post on these speakers. This is just a little update. These speakers rock. Wonderful sound stage. Bass is lacking, that may have something to do with the change in cores. I did pair them with subwoofer, so it is ok. Grills are still in awesome shape, the original speakers are still kicking ass. Anyway, that is all I had to say. Thanks again for the all the help back then.
Go Giants
Super Member
Playing mine as I write this. I have lots of speakers, and these are still one of my favorites. Prices keep going up on these....a testament to their quality.
They are very accurate speakers....often used as monitors by audio engineers back in the day. Of course there are more accurate speakers available now, but these still sound pretty damn good.
They are very accurate speakers....often used as monitors by audio engineers back in the day. Of course there are more accurate speakers available now, but these still sound pretty damn good.
The L166 deals can still be found: I bought a pair recently for $200. They need new surrounds so I've sourced the foam kit, glue and also an $80 crossover refurbishing kit with speaker binding posts ready to go from the Bay of E. A JBL speaker badge is missing - I nearly bought one at prices ranging from $25 to $80 before my wife reminded me: we own a Glowforge that she's really good at making designs for and utilizing. Thirty minutes later she hands me a badge cut from silvered black plastic that's for all practical purposes identical to the original.
She's rad. Before we met she owned Quad ESLs paired with a Marantz 2385, so I regard her as a unicorn. When we shop at record stores around the world her acquisitions and patience are legendary, especially when compared to the women in my life prior to her who'd rather do anything else than be in a record store.
She's rad. Before we met she owned Quad ESLs paired with a Marantz 2385, so I regard her as a unicorn. When we shop at record stores around the world her acquisitions and patience are legendary, especially when compared to the women in my life prior to her who'd rather do anything else than be in a record store.