Does the LE120 use the same type of closed cell foam surrounds as the other drivers?
Crash15
New Member
It looks and feels more like butyl rubber than foam. That's why I'm a bit cautious about the refoam kit, as that kit uses a typical foam surround.
I'll take a picture of it here soon
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I'm not sure why I thought it was butyl rubber at first, I must have forgotten how foam surrounds feel
I'll order the kit and have a go at it. gonna be sweating trying to ensure I get the surround on the backside of the woofer correctly
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Dragging this one up for a new guy to throw in his $0.02. @Crash15, unfortunately it looks more like the surround is torn right at the edge than it does simply coming unglued. I would guess someone stuck a finger in it or pressed too hard possibly trying to grab and remove the grille.
I've had a pair of L7s for.. ummm 17 years or so now and they are in use every day as my main speakers in my 5.1 setup. With two home school kids that love music while they work, they get several hours of use every day daily. The surrounds are still in great shape.
I currently power them with a Carver M1.0t, so they can get a couple hundred watts when I want. I have run them on an Acurus A250, Carver M1.5t, Parasound 2250v2, and even biamped them using the M1.0t on top and M1.5t for the woofer. These things can eat all the power you want to feed them, as long as you keep it clean.
I also ran them on a Dynaco ST70 tube amp for a little while and they did just fine at lower volume levels, but lacked a bit of bass impact.
Of all the above amps, I preferred the sound of the Carver M1.0, so it stayed on task. While they still sounded good with the others, the sound was a bit "dry" or "analytical" with the Acurus and Parasound. Still clear and detailed and they all had the power to rock these speakers, but the Carver just had something in it I preferred (possibly simply a personal bias since I've had the Carvers so long)
At this age- they are at least 30 years old- it would be a good idea to recondition the tweeters. The titanium domes on these speakers have a small foam blob behind them for damping and the tweeters can get harsh when this foam deteriorates. You can purchase kits on the big auction site for roughly $20 per driver.
Hope some of that helps ya.
I've had a pair of L7s for.. ummm 17 years or so now and they are in use every day as my main speakers in my 5.1 setup. With two home school kids that love music while they work, they get several hours of use every day daily. The surrounds are still in great shape.
I currently power them with a Carver M1.0t, so they can get a couple hundred watts when I want. I have run them on an Acurus A250, Carver M1.5t, Parasound 2250v2, and even biamped them using the M1.0t on top and M1.5t for the woofer. These things can eat all the power you want to feed them, as long as you keep it clean.
I also ran them on a Dynaco ST70 tube amp for a little while and they did just fine at lower volume levels, but lacked a bit of bass impact.
Of all the above amps, I preferred the sound of the Carver M1.0, so it stayed on task. While they still sounded good with the others, the sound was a bit "dry" or "analytical" with the Acurus and Parasound. Still clear and detailed and they all had the power to rock these speakers, but the Carver just had something in it I preferred (possibly simply a personal bias since I've had the Carvers so long)
At this age- they are at least 30 years old- it would be a good idea to recondition the tweeters. The titanium domes on these speakers have a small foam blob behind them for damping and the tweeters can get harsh when this foam deteriorates. You can purchase kits on the big auction site for roughly $20 per driver.
Hope some of that helps ya.
So I'm going to bring up this thread because I recently purchased a pair of L7 for little money and I'm wondering if they are worth extra effort to restore?
I don't have the speakers in my possession yet but will be picking them up in the next couple of weeks. From what I know they work well and are not majorly damaged in any way. The cabinets may have some minor scratches and the plastic bases are missing. My plan is to install some outriggers and isolation feet or spikes depending on what the overall costs are.
My question to AK members is should I get the woofers re-foamed by a professional? I know it's a tough question without seeing and hearing the speakers.
Based on the previous post by Matthew_B it seems that the woofer surrounds could still be good if they haven't been abused. If I do decide to re-foam the woofers I won't do it myself because the process is new to me and I don't want wreck the JBL LE120H-1 woofers because from what I understand they are hard to come by and expensive.
If need be, I can replace the foam in the 035ti tweeters because I've done those before and know what to expect and where to be careful.
If someday, I decide to undertake working on re-foaming vintage woofers as a hobby then it won't be a new process of learning on expensive vintage unobtainable JBL woofers....
Appreciate any feedback.....
I don't have the speakers in my possession yet but will be picking them up in the next couple of weeks. From what I know they work well and are not majorly damaged in any way. The cabinets may have some minor scratches and the plastic bases are missing. My plan is to install some outriggers and isolation feet or spikes depending on what the overall costs are.
My question to AK members is should I get the woofers re-foamed by a professional? I know it's a tough question without seeing and hearing the speakers.
Based on the previous post by Matthew_B it seems that the woofer surrounds could still be good if they haven't been abused. If I do decide to re-foam the woofers I won't do it myself because the process is new to me and I don't want wreck the JBL LE120H-1 woofers because from what I understand they are hard to come by and expensive.
If need be, I can replace the foam in the 035ti tweeters because I've done those before and know what to expect and where to be careful.
If someday, I decide to undertake working on re-foaming vintage woofers as a hobby then it won't be a new process of learning on expensive vintage unobtainable JBL woofers....
Appreciate any feedback.....
I have two pairs of L5s, that shares three of its drivers with the L7, and they all still have their original surrounds on all the speakers and they are in like new condition. If you don't see any reason to replace them then I would leave them alone. The one I might consider replacing is the 12" woofer because I believe its surround material might not be as durable as the surrounds in the other two.
Thanks for the response OldJBL, from my understanding the surrounds in the midrange and mid-bass drivers of the L7 are made from a type of rubber compound and they don't deteriorate over time.
It is the LE120H-1, side mounted 12" woofer surround that I am not sure about. From my understanding the surround on the 12" woofer is a foam-rubber compound and it may need replacement at some point in time. I suppose if I listen to the speaker and the low frequencies sound weak and if the surround looks like it is not very pliable while playing and it shows signs of deteriorating then I will pull the 12" woofers and have them professionally re-foamed.
Thanks for the response ernieS, I am looking forward to getting my L7.
I will probably play them for a while before I do anything to them. I'm guessing if they do require any urgent work it will be to re-foam the 12" woofers.
So far I expect to power them with a re-capped and serviced Hafler P-500, if I decide to bi-amp them then I will use the Hafler on the woofers and then connect either a NAD 2700, Chord SPM-800, or a ARC D-115 tube amp to the mid-tweeter section. We will see what the final outcome will be.