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JBL L26

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I did the crossover that he did on what is essentially the L36 to one of my L36’s and there is (in my opinion) a noted improvement. It helped smooth out the mid and hi. But who knows how much the speaker would have been helped out if I had just replaced the original caps. I could just do it to my other speaker, but I like Troels mod well enough.
 
Thanks for the input. I'm going to go for it, I hope it will bring out the best of the speakers and not hurt the character that makes them what they are. I will report back.
 
showett said:
I just got my hands on a nice set of L26 and love the way they sound with my McIntosh set up. I was wondering if anyone has done the Troels Gravesen upgrades. I saw several threads mention them but didn't see that anyone had actually built the crossover.

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/JBL-L26.htm
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I restored my set a few months back, I've not messed with the crossovers yet, but I did pick up some Mundorf MCap EVO Oil caps. My issue is the set of 26's I picked up are the early set, and the crossovers are glued to the inner wall of the cabinet. I will need to use a hot putty knife to pull them off... Kind of hard to do in a small apartment.

26's sound pretty good don't they? :)
 
My L26 crossovers came right off after I unscrewed them, I guess they forgot my epoxy.

They did sound pretty good, but I think the tweeter is unfairly burdened with too much midrange info. They started sounding scratchy. I ended up swapping out my L26 with a pair of Nova 7b. Same kind of high frequency, but they had deeper bass, but weren't nearly as efficient as the JBLs.

For what its worth, the original caps in the JBLs still tested in spec, but I suppose there is room for improvement.
 
Gazdatronik said:
My L26 crossovers came right off after I unscrewed them, I guess they forgot my epoxy.

They did sound pretty good, but I think the tweeter is unfairly burdened with too much midrange info. They started sounding scratchy. I ended up swapping out my L26 with a pair of Nova 7b. Same kind of high frequency, but they had deeper bass, but weren't nearly as efficient as the JBLs.

For what its worth, the original caps in the JBLs still tested in spec, but I suppose there is room for improvement.
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Yea the later sets of 26's started to have the crossovers screw mounted, the early sets they used the hot epoxy to mount them...

I'm sure with some good work you will get the sound out of them that you are looking for, they are great speakers. :)
 
jobrewer1983 said:
Yea the later sets of 26's started to have the crossovers screw mounted, the early sets they used the hot epoxy to mount them...

I'm sure with some good work you will get the sound out of them that you are looking for, they are great speakers. :)
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I sold them off a while back. I they were good at what they did, but the bottom end starts to roll off at 80hz, and the top end rolls off at 12k.

There's nothing that can be done about that, its just what it is. Everything inbetween those two frequencies was really nice, and they could sound great with my 20 watt Marantz.

I have DCM timeframe 600's now, doing well from 40hz-17k, and thats when my ears stop working. They need MUCH more power than 20 watts though.

I've always wondered what a larger cabinet, a proper midrange, and the addition of one of their Ti series tweeters would do for it, but at that point I'm just making a new speaker.
 
I really like how they sound as is but after reading about the mods I want to see if good can get better. I have always been a fan of JBL. I currently have L46's in my garage that sound great, I had 4311's that I liked but had to sell years ago. I plan to seek out a nice set of L96 or 112 to use in place of the L26 and move them to the TV room, they are keepers for me but would like to go to the next level for my main rig.
 
Gazdatronik said:
I sold them off a while back. I they were good at what they did, but the bottom end starts to roll off at 80hz, and the top end rolls off at 12k.

There's nothing that can be done about that, its just what it is. Everything inbetween those two frequencies was really nice, and they could sound great with my 20 watt Marantz.

I have DCM timeframe 600's now, doing well from 40hz-17k, and thats when my ears stop working. They need MUCH more power than 20 watts though.

I've always wondered what a larger cabinet, a proper midrange, and the addition of one of their Ti series tweeters would do for it, but at that point I'm just making a new speaker.
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With ya there, they do well for what they are. I run many different sets of speakers often. I like to change them up every now and than, and I do sit and listen for a good 4-6 hours a day. Have had many sets of JBL as well, the 26's are one of the sets I've kept. Was rid of some L100's, L110's, 110A's, L150's, L166's, 4401's, and a few sets of the LE8T-H's and D280's and D208's. To me, the 26's are the perfect size for my small space, the 4401's were also fantastic, but I swapped the set out with a fellow AKer who had some B&W DM12's I had long wanted.

I did order some 4301B's they arrive today, and also some Decade 16's and L19's. All 3 use the same or similar drivers, the cabinets and crossovers are different. I ordered new caps for the 4301B's, should be a fun build. :)
 
Good read and nice work, I'm glad to hear the best qualities of them will remain which was my biggest concern, I would rather have the lively, engaging sound rather than a little more accuracy if forced to choose. I will get the parts ordered asap now. Thanks
 
I liked my 26s but always disappointed with the bass roloff. Great for jazz and classical. That was back in the day when dedicated subs for home uses were not heard off. Today I would stack them on subs and call it good.
 
Reviving this thread rather than start a new one, essentially want to know what I'm looking at from a local listing. These have the Los Angeles JBL address on the plate, and the "Decade" name. But am I wrong in thinking that those woofers have been redone with later Jensens? Not sure how much work these will entail, as I have no experience with restoring or modding speakers, hoping someone can tell me if a $50 price for these is good. How much work will they need? Thanks in advance from a total novice.
 

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The cabinets and the tweeters are original those "225 watts Jensen Pro" woofers are not original they look like they were designed for subwoofer, car or possibly DJ service.

So in essence they're not a real pair of JBL L26's

If you really want these exact speakers as they were meant to be then you could always try to track down an original pair of used OEM woofers but that will cost you in the 3 figure range
 
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JBL 125a woofers come up often; 127a are similar but with concave caps.

Its a pretty easy fix for a very good speaker.

You could join AK and put a Want To Buy ad on Bartertown.
 
@ThePeteMan , I would certainly pay $50 for those and use them to experiment with some current production drivers

this woofer has similar specs to the original and may sound just as good...

www.parts-express.com

Visaton W250-8 10" Woofer 8 Ohm

Visaton W250-8 10" Woofer 8 OhmVisaton's 9067 W250 10" woofer is designed to be a high performance replacement speaker at a budget price point. A foam surround and ribbed, treated paper cone offer longevity while capturing that classic sound from the golden era of loudspeakers. A healthy 3 mm of...
www.parts-express.com

and this tweeter may sound better than the original...

www.parts-express.com

Visaton DT94-8 0.8" Polycarbonate Dome Tweeter 8 Ohm

Visaton DT94-8 0.8" Polycarbonate Dome Tweeter 8 OhmVisaton's 9004 DT94 8 ohm, 20 mm polycarbonate HiFi dome tweeter features smooth frequency response, high power handling (due to the ferrofluid cooled voice coil), and great dispersion characteristics that are a result of the integrated phase plug.
www.parts-express.com
 
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