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Please help me decide what speakers to keep/sell/give away

D

droggo

Member
Hello,

I'm about to relocate to a different state and I really don't want to bring all my speakers with me, which I've obtained for free over the last year. If you would, please help me decide which are worth keeping and which ones are better off left behind. I just don't know enough to make the right decision. I wouldn't mind rebuilding or getting some fixed if they're worth the repair costs. Looking foward to hearing what you guys think! Thanks in advance!


JBL 4311b control monitors - one speaker stopped working all of a sudden. I might have blown it by dropping the needle on a record with the volume turned up too much. other speaker has bad wood damage. these were my dad's and they used to sound great!!

Infinity Qb's - the emit tweeters don't seem to be working and the fuses seem to be OK. have read good things though

The Fisher XP-7k's - older sounding speaker but unique in a good way. one of the speakers has a slight rattle. i can't remember if it's a woofer of mid-range that makes the rattle.

Sony U45's - very light weight and seem kinda cheap but tweeter looks and sounds decent. maybe use the tweeter in anothe speaker?
 
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Get rid of all of them and start fresh in your new digs. I'm partial to the JBL's you have, but they have two problems, and you're moving. If you can fix the technical problem, maybe worth it to hang on to the JBL's for truly outstanding garage or shop speakers, where the wood damage isn't such a big deal.
 
Thanks Michael - I was also considering that route. I have no idea if the JBL's are salvageable but maybe it's worth looking into. Also, they're somewhat sentimental to me.

Anybody else have an opinion?
 
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Sell, dump, whatever and start fresh. Do as I say not as I do, stored in my shop I have Dynaco A-50, Maggies IIc, JBL L-100 and Yamaha NS-225. All except the JBLs have been rebuilt and updated. Note I said stored, as in collecting dust, they are simply possessions.

So unless there is a pair in there, your going to make room for in your system, or your attached to...........................time to let go.

P.S.

I have two pair of gutted vintage cabinets/projects stored in the garage for a year now, er, two years, well the one pair has been three years, course the other pair were in the storage room for two years before they were moved to the garage, come to think of it.........................where was I........... oh ya; I have these three turntables that have been stored for
 
Sounds like it's time to say goodbye to most of these. I should probably keep one pair since it might be some time before I find the next best thing. The question is which pair. I'm leaning towards the fisher's for that vintage sound. That rattle mentioned above is negligible. But the old jbl's.... And are the qb's worth fixing....?
 
The JBLs and the Qbs are worth fixing, but EMIT tweeters are not super cheap, and the JBL drivers won't be cheap either. Don't throw them in the trash, though. Also, it seems very unlikely that you wrecked all the drivers in the JBL without a full-on fire, so there may be a cheap fix there. Wood is just wood - you can always fix wood.
 
If your Infinitys have an adjustment switch on the back for sound or whatever...spray some Dioxit into it and cycle the switch back and forth 50-100 times. That MAY solve the problem, works on Sansuis. No need to use a lot of Dioxit spray. Guys have done that and the dead speakers lit right up, sometimes. Corrosion in the switch.

Rattling is maybe a blowing 'voice coil'. Fisher? Maybe no parts so you would have to find a replacement woofer on eBay which may not be easy being so rare or old. I'm going through the same thing right now on a pair of Very Rare 1970-1972 Sansui AS-300s. Rattling woofer which blew and no parts availiable. It will take 5-10 years to find a used replacement woofer I'm sure. Hope it's tomorrow (keep dreaming)!!!

I agree, if all the Infinitys speakers do not work after dioxit, get new speakers at your new digs.

(If the JBLs are a cost effective project to tackle, and you do want to do the job right away...salvage em. It's worth checking out. If not, remove the componets that you know do work and sell them on ebay. Don't throw away JBL parts that work!! Sell them. Or give them to the JBL guys here on AK.)
 
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Thanks for the advice! I will try the dioxit spray and see how lucky I am. Is dioxit something I can buy at walmart or a local hardware store?
 
I would drop the Fisher's and the Sony's and then repair the JBL's nd the Infinity's. As was pointed out wood can be repaired as can the drivers in some cases. Good luck either way!!
DC
 
thanks, DC. So, in the case of the jbl's where one speaker stopped working after dropping the needle on a record with the volume turned up too loud, do you think I would need to replace all of the drivers (ie the woofer, mid, and tweeter)? Where do you recommend finding replacements? Or is there something else inside that needs to be repaired? speaker noob here. Thanks!
 
Part them out and use the $$ to buy something when you arrive at your new location. Those JBL woofers and mids are always in demand, even the tweeters too.
The rest not so much, but the Infinity's are interesting.
Donate the Fishers and Sonys as they would only bring the most modest of offers...
 
You mention that the JBLs were your Dad's. I say keep those as there is a possibility you may regret parting with them at some point. The others will be but a blip on your radar screen.
 
yeah, i like the idea of turning the jbl's into a project. i don't know much about speakers at this point so maybe it would be a good learning exp. to tear into them. Any advice on trouble shooting them?
 
The JBL's might be a fun little project. I don't know much about speakers at this point either, so it will help in familiarizing myself with the various inner-workings. any suggestions for trouble shooting it? Any suggestions as to where I should look for replacement parts? Thanks again!
 
markshan said:
Open em up and stick a meter on each driver. That is where to start.
Click to expand...

so just place the multimeter terminals on the speakers terminals and see if there is a voltage? any idea what that voltage should be? if there is no voltage, what does that tell me? i apologize for my ignorance. gotta start somewhere!
 
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