My $20 JBL L-100

Hey Markshan!

Those are my kind of speakers, bashed to hell and rough as gosh. I would love to get my hands on those enclosures.

First off, I see a lot more damage to those tweeters than just pushed in domey things. I would put an ad up in barter town and see of someone can get you another pair. Sell them, or save them for later. I may have an extra LE-25 laying around. I'll take a look when I get home early this afternoon.

As far as repairing the corner, I have my opinion as to how I would approach it.

Whatever one does with the smashed particle board underneath, the wood veneer portion of the repair is the most critical. Is the existing veneer re-usable? Or is it smashed to tiny bits and will blow away when you sneeze? If it is unusable, a suitable replacement will have to be salvaged from another source and spliced in. GD70 is the master in this respect, and many other aspects as well.

If the veneer can be lightly peeled back to gain access to the failing particle board, do that. You can set a little wedge in there so the veneer is all nice and up, out of the way. Repairs on this corner will have to be done in stages.

With the veneer lifted up, use a little pick/scratching tool to remove loose particle board. Dig around, test portions. If it's hunky, or mostly intact, leave those portions.

What I use and suggest, is a two component epoxy system that at room temperature is a lot like warmish honey (on the thin side). You'll want a pot life of at least an hour, 2 would be awesome. Using a heat-gun (not a hair dryer), gently warm the affected particle so it's nice and toasty. Feed in the mixed epoxy resin. The toasty old particle board will cause the epoxy resin to liquify immediately and soak way down into the nasty areas. This is key to the entire restoration process, a solid foundation.

Once the failing particle board has been taken care of, you can come back with any decent filler material you feel comfortable with. I like epoxies because they do not shrink upon curing. Where you put them is where they end up. You do not need to put layers of filler on, once or twice is good enough. Just make sure you sand/shape the filler before it's fully cured, easier that way.

As far as the logistics of getting all that taken care of, each project varies. Which side first, which side last, how to tilt the enclosure, do I make dams on the sides to hold resins/fillers in place? It's always a little bit different.

I say, jump in and get to work! Or, send them to me.

xo, Biggles
 
drbiggles said:
Hey Markshan!

Those are my kind of speakers, bashed to hell and rough as gosh. I would love to get my hands on those enclosures.

First off, I see a lot more damage to those tweeters than just pushed in domey things. I would put an ad up in barter town and see of someone can get you another pair. Sell them, or save them for later. I may have an extra LE-25 laying around. I'll take a look when I get home early this afternoon.

As far as repairing the corner, I have my opinion as to how I would approach it.

Whatever one does with the smashed particle board underneath, the wood veneer portion of the repair is the most critical. Is the existing veneer re-usable? Or is it smashed to tiny bits and will blow away when you sneeze? If it is unusable, a suitable replacement will have to be salvaged from another source and spliced in. GD70 is the master in this respect, and many other aspects as well.

If the veneer can be lightly peeled back to gain access to the failing particle board, do that. You can set a little wedge in there so the veneer is all nice and up, out of the way. Repairs on this corner will have to be done in stages.

With the veneer lifted up, use a little pick/scratching tool to remove loose particle board. Dig around, test portions. If it's hunky, or mostly intact, leave those portions.

What I use and suggest, is a two component epoxy system that at room temperature is a lot like warmish honey (on the thin side). You'll want a pot life of at least an hour, 2 would be awesome. Using a heat-gun (not a hair dryer), gently warm the affected particle so it's nice and toasty. Feed in the mixed epoxy resin. The toasty old particle board will cause the epoxy resin to liquify immediately and soak way down into the nasty areas. This is key to the entire restoration process, a solid foundation.

Once the failing particle board has been taken care of, you can come back with any decent filler material you feel comfortable with. I like epoxies because they do not shrink upon curing. Where you put them is where they end up. You do not need to put layers of filler on, once or twice is good enough. Just make sure you sand/shape the filler before it's fully cured, easier that way.

As far as the logistics of getting all that taken care of, each project varies. Which side first, which side last, how to tilt the enclosure, do I make dams on the sides to hold resins/fillers in place? It's always a little bit different.

I say, jump in and get to work! Or, send them to me.

xo, Biggles
Click to expand...

Two pronged approach!
Epoxy is the way to go. The one I use id called Z-Poxy. It's watery thin and penetrates damaged particle board well, and it sands very easily. I like the idea of heating the particle board prior to applying the epoxy.

Good luck and keep the pics coming!

Glenn
 
Those binding posts are most likely originals; they're the same as many JBLs of that era, although earlier L100s had a different (tiny spring-loaded button) style.
 
drbiggles said:
First off, I see a lot more damage to those tweeters than just pushed in domey things.
Click to expand...

And they look even worse in person than on the photos. I didn't mean to give the impression that the domes were the only issue, they are just the only cheap issue. Both are torn, one is crushed. Yet (astounding to me) they still seem to be fully functional.
 
drbiggles said:
Whatever one does with the smashed particle board underneath, the wood veneer portion of the repair is the most critical. Is the existing veneer re-usable? Or is it smashed to tiny bits and will blow away when you sneeze? If it is unusable, a suitable replacement will have to be salvaged from another source and spliced in. GD70 is the master in this respect, and many other aspects as well.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that two patches will need to be cut. I've done body work on cars, so I've worked with filler, but never on speakers. I have no idea even what kind of wood the existing veneer is or how to source replacement pieces. Guidance here would be most appreciated.

I'm sure that I don't want to reveneer the entire cabinets when 90% of the existing veneer is fine. I'm all about keeping costs low.
 
faber12 said:
My L300's had those posts originally, so they are factory. Do all the drivers work?
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Yep, they sound great even in my poor sounding basement. I think that when I move them to the listening area I may fall in love. :tresbon:
 
markshan said:
Yep, they sound great even in my poor sounding basement. I think that when I move them to the listening area I may fall in love. :tresbon:
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I think you will. Mine sound great in my living room, but not upstairs, so you may need to play around with placement.
 
markshan said:
I just Googled this. Looks very interesting. How much of a difference did you find that it made?
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The L-100's are noted for being upper midrange prominent, the Murphy crossover smooths this out. The balance from the highs down to the upper bass is near seamless. These JBL's are vintage speakers and do not have the resolution and imaging of modern speakers. They will however kick ass with anything within their price range (this includes the high cost of mint pairs), when fitted with a Murphy crossover. With a starting point of $20.00 you cannot go wrong. IMHO do not be nerves about spending extra money towards a quality rebuild. When finished and up and running you'll want them out of corners and on 1 ft. sturdy stands. I built stands out off 3 x 3 fir based on these designs http://soundanchors.com/products/2043/3-post-stands

With the original build quality and classic looks, you will get decades of enjoyment.

I had/have to many loudspeakers, sold my JBL L-100's after updating and refinishing .................... regretted their leaving to this day.
 
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Nice. I won't relate my heartbreak to an almost score this past weekend at goodwill. Short of it is. Came across immaculate pair of HPM 60's and when I went to get a cart to grab them I came back and someone had snagged them and were already at the checkout counter. After reading all of your guys posts about scoring I can honestly say I'm a believer now.
 
markshan said:
I'm sure that two patches will need to be cut. I've done body work on cars, so I've worked with filler, but never on speakers. I have no idea even what kind of wood the existing veneer is or how to source replacement pieces. Guidance here would be most appreciated.

I'm sure that I don't want to reveneer the entire cabinets when 90% of the existing veneer is fine. I'm all about keeping costs low.
Click to expand...

Like I said, read through my threads, and some of Biggles's threads on how to repair the corner and patch in veneer.

The veneer on your JBL's is most likely Walnut, used by many speaker builders.
You can buy some from various suppliers or keep an eye out for some trashed speakers cheap and harvest the veneer off them.

Glenn
 
jn229 said:
The L-100's are noted for being upper midrange prominent, the Murphy crossover smooths this out. The balance from the highs down to the upper bass is near seamless. These JBL's are vintage speakers and do not have the resolution and imaging of modern speakers. They will however kick ass with anything within their price range (this includes the high cost of mint pairs), when fitted with a Murphy crossover. With a starting point of $20.00 you cannot go wrong. IMHO do not be nerves about spending extra money towards a quality rebuild. When finished and up and running you'll want them out of corners and on 1 ft. sturdy stands. I built stands out off 3 x 3 fir based on these designs http://soundanchors.com/products/2043/3-post-stands

With the original build quality and classic looks, you will get decades of enjoyment.

I had/have to many loudspeakers, sold my JBL L-100's after updating and refinishing .................... regretted their leaving to this day.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Great stuff to ponder.
 
mdev said:
Nice. I won't relate my heartbreak to an almost score this past weekend at goodwill. Short of it is. Came across immaculate pair of HPM 60's and when I went to get a cart to grab them I came back and someone had snagged them and were already at the checkout counter. After reading all of your guys posts about scoring I can honestly say I'm a believer now.
Click to expand...

For future reference, if you see something like that and don't have a cart, take the tag off of it and carry it with you when you go get your cart. As you now know, scores move fast.
 
The surrounds on those drivers look to be cloth surrounds with a butyl coating. You should not need to redo the surrounds. The surrounds look fine from your pics. You got one heck of a deal. I have the L36 Decades and have really enjoyed them.
 
They are cloth surrounds, some goop may have seeped out of them, but they should still be good.
 
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