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JBL LE14H-1 Replacement

lmfree

lmfree

Active Member
I picked up a pair of JBL 250TI's and the one woofer made noise. I opened them up and found they had been refoamed by a hack. The voice coil of one rubs and makes a raspy noise. I will refoam them and try to get them realigned again but I'm not optimistic that they will be salvadgeable sound wise. I have been looking for JBL replacement speakers and find plenty of JBL LE14A's and JBL LE14C's but no JBL LE14H-1's. If I were to use a pair of A's or C's would the sound quality be silmilar or do I need to hold out for a pair of H-1's
 
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The recone kits for LE14H-1 were still available to Authorized JBL Consumer Service Centers, last time I checked. It's going to cost you as much as $300 apiece to get that done.

Since LE14H-1 is a world-class woofer, and no more new ones are available, it is worth paying the price to do that, assuming the requisite parts are available. The upgrade is LE14H-3, currently used in some of JBL's TOTL Array Series designs, but getting ahold of those, even at $300 apiece, has been a crap shoot for several years.

We need to save/rescue/restore any LE14H-1s we can get our hands on.... :yes:
 
How does one know whether a Recone or Refoam is needed. I originally thought it was only in need of a refoam since the refoam that had been done was separating from the cone. But then I found out it was done backwords. The foam was applied to the front of the cone and not the back. The remnants of the old foam were still on the back of the cone. On the speaker that rubs, the Voil Coil Former Rubs on the Pole Piece at the seam. I ordered a refoam kit and plan on doing it right and shimming it but I am not positive it still won't rub. Is the chalk marking on the back of the cone original JBL or were these reconed at one point? The paper cone itself dosn't look bad but not sure what to look for if there is a problem with the cone.
 
JBL factory does not do refoam, which is why all of the refoams are aftermarket. Their general approach is/was that if the foams were shot, the spider, etc. had deteriorated enough to warrant a complete recone.

I'm saying that LE14H-1 is a world-class woofer that warrants spending whatever is required to make them new again, so long as that continues to be possible. There are no more available, and it's unlikely there will ever be any.....
 
How does one go about getting a JBL Factory Recone done. From the day I hooked up these speakers to my Accuphase I was disappointed and didn't play them much(abut 3 months ago). My thought was, "So this is what the famous JBL 250TI's sound like, I'll take my L300's over these anyday". I guess after discovering this problem just this week, now I know why they sounded like bookshelf speakers. They absolutely had no low end to them.
 
You contact your local JBL Authorized Service center for JBL Consumer products. The variants of LE14 were never available through JBL Pro, but the best of JBL Pro Service are often also authorized for Consumer. The kits are Consumer parts at a premium price. JBL Pro makes them and sells them to consumer division, and thus, there is an additional markup involved in getting this done. There is never a lack of bass in any design using that woofer. It's even used as a subwoofer in some vintage (and H-3 new TOTL) products. When everything is working properly, L250Ti is among the best designs Greg Timbers ever came up with for JBL Consumer....
 
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+10 on that woofer!! Quite possibly one of the best woofers ever made!:yes:
JMO

Check with Performance Audio in SLC as they had a recone kit in stock 4 months ago.
 
I have taken these LE 14's apart and replaced the spiders in them, I have also been VERY careful and removed the voice coil and replaced them. It is very tricky to do with out tearing up the cone where it is epoxied to the former! One can buy the replacement voice coils and spiders ("C" rated I think) getting the cones are unobtainable- short of cuttin down a JBL 15" conee, which I have heard had been done! Would I do it again....probably not- very time consuming and terribly tedious!
DC
 
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With a little more research and prodding from the members. I have come to the conclusion that the LE14H-1's will receive their proper restoration. From help from some knowledgable people I found out that not only were these speakers refoamed by a hack, but they were already reconed by a hack. No wonder these speakers sounded so bad when I first received them. A few Macro photos and my JBL expert was able to show that the voice coils were not original. This reignited my enthusiasm to here these 250TI's in all their glory. I never cared for them because I just didn't like their sound but that really wasn't their fault, but the fault of a hack repair job.
 
lmfree said:
With a little more research and prodding from the members. I have come to the conclusion that the LE14H-1's will receive their proper restoration. From help from some knowledgable people I found out that not only were these speakers refoamed by a hack, but they were already reconed by a hack. No wonder these speakers sounded so bad when I first received them. A few Macro photos and my JBL expert was able to show that the voice coils were not original. This reignited my enthusiasm to here these 250TI's in all their glory. I never cared for them because I just didn't like their sound but that really wasn't their fault, but the fault of a hack repair job.
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Sounds like an excellent plan! Check the wiring when you get them back together, just to make sure the 'hack' didn't install the woofers out of phase.

Sooooooo, do you own all that top-flight Yamaha gear listed in your signature? If so...:jawdrop:
 
dc270 said:
getting the cones are unobtainable- short of cuttin down a JBL 15" conee, which I have heard had been done!
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I'm about to try exactly this process. Got a pair of kits on order, that will require just this procedure. Stay tuned- we're about to see how well it works.

Regards,
Gordon.
 
packrat said:
Sounds like an excellent plan! Check the wiring when you get them back together, just to make sure the 'hack' didn't install the woofers out of phase.

Sooooooo, do you own all that top-flight Yamaha gear listed in your signature? If so...:jawdrop:
Click to expand...

Yes, I do own everything in that list and a bit more. I see you have some Accuphase pieces; I have just crossed the border and ventured into Accuphase land. So far I have a P-500L, M-1000 and C-280L. This vintage stuff is addicting:music:
 
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