• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Reanimating Some JBL L110s That Have Lived a Hard Life. Help?

Cheese Grits

Cheese Grits

Member
I just picked up a pair of L110s from a guy locally, and he didn't care too much for them. The foam surrounds on the bass drivers were totally gone, and one of the dome tweeters has a dent in it. The dust cap on one of the mids is a bit dented as well.

On the up side, the cabinets are not banged up, and the grills and cloth are in good shape. None of the drivers seem to be frozen, and the speakers seem to be functioning. With some elbow grease, they will be pretty nice looking. Pics later tonight or tomorrow.

So, foam surrounds? Where would you guys get them?

Also, for the dented tweeter, I've heard of popping them back out using tape, and I've also heard of using a vacuum. Is there anything I should be wary of here?

Looking forward to my first JBLs. :)
 
Register to hide this ad
You can get them from GordonW here on AK, send him a private message and he should be able to help you out.

If you are careful, you can suck the dome tweeter back into shape with your mouth... it sounds weird, but it works well when a vacuum could pull off the tweeter.
 
Sir.Byrd said:
You can get them from GordonW here on AK, send him a private message and he should be able to help you out.

If you are careful, you can suck the dome tweeter back into shape with your mouth... it sounds weird, but it works well when a vacuum could pull off the tweeter.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I had not thought about using my mouth. I hope nobody walks into the room while I attempt this procedure. :o
 
Cheese Grits said:
Thanks for the info. I had not thought about using my mouth. I hope nobody walks into the room while I attempt this procedure. :o
Click to expand...

yeah...

What material is the dome?
I did this on the soft dome tweeter from a Realistic Minimus 7
but if its not a soft dome, then it may not work.
 
Been there, done that. My L110s were pulled from a friend's garbage.

Foams- Rick Cobb is a popular choice.

Tweet- not a soft dome: phenolic impregnated linen, but possibly repairable. The 033 sometimes shows up on E-Bay. Might want to register at lansingheritage forum and ask around there if anyone's selling one.

Some insight here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=17047

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=4777

Good luck, these are great speakers!

je
 
Sir.Byrd said:
yeah...

What material is the dome?
I did this on the soft dome tweeter from a Realistic Minimus 7
but if its not a soft dome, then it may not work.
Click to expand...

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=20890&highlight=033+tweeter

Apparently it is a hard, brittle substance over linen. I don't know how well it will respond to sucking, but I think it might be worth a try after I get the woofers refoamed. I expect these speakers will put out a deeper bass sound once the surrounds are in place, given that they are front ported.
 
Fred Sanford said:
Been there, done that. My L110s were pulled from a friend's garbage.

Foams- Rick Cobb is a popular choice.

Tweet- not a soft dome, but possibly repairable. The 033 sometimes shows up on E-Bay. Might want to register at lansingheritage forum and ask around there if anyone's selling one.

Some insight here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=17047

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=4777

Good luck, these are great speakers!

je
Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice! I'm looking forward to this project. Perhaps a couple of well-placed "wanted to buy" ads will land me a spare tweeter or two.
 
brutal said:
Rick Cobb aka looneytune2001 on the bay
Click to expand...

After skulking around both here and Lansing Heritage for a bit, I concluded that you are right and I bought from him. The process was a tad confusing at first because each of his auctions relates to surrounds for a number of different drivers, but I finally sorted it out by discovering that the L110 used the LE111A woofer. New surrounds should be arriving shortly. :)
 
Don't play them until the surrounds are on, no matter how tempting that may be. Very tight tolerances for that voice coil, and it's worth being patient to get this right.

We need pics, before and after :thmbsp:

je
 
Cheese Grits said:
After skulking around both here and Lansing Heritage for a bit, I concluded that you are right and I bought from him. The process was a tad confusing at first because each of his auctions relates to surrounds for a number of different drivers, but I finally sorted it out by discovering that the L110 used the LE111A woofer. New surrounds should be arriving shortly. :)
Click to expand...

Rick's approachable by e-mail, and he asks all the right questions. If it's not listed in his auctions, I'll take a look for his address.

je
 
Fred Sanford said:
Don't play them until the surrounds are on, no matter how tempting that may be. Very tight tolerances for that voice coil, and it's worth being patient to get this right.
Click to expand...
I'm tempted too . . . thanks for the warning!

+1 for looneytune2001
I'll be getting LE10H-1 foams from him soon for my new old Delta 96, having already got his 122A-1 & 125A kits.
Lurked around LH forum long enough to have a hunch it's the same VC.

Probably gonna have to try "sucking" some LE5 myself soon too.
Luckily these 066 are straight. For the benefit of search engines, is it 066 or O66 ? (Well, not really for the benefit of searches since I'm off topic...)
 
Fred Sanford said:
Don't play them until the surrounds are on, no matter how tempting that may be. Very tight tolerances for that voice coil, and it's worth being patient to get this right.

We need pics, before and after :thmbsp:

je
Click to expand...

Did not know that. I'm sure that the guy I got them from played them plenty with the surrounds gone, so I'll just have to hope that he didn't hurt them. Thanks for the advice. :)
 
"Before" pics:

L110-1a.jpg


L110-1b.jpg


L110-2a.jpg


L110-2b.jpg
 
Rather than start my own identical thread, I would like to keep this one running.

I could post pics, but they look just like Cheese Grits' pics only slightly worse -- pretty savage, actually. Cabinet tops hosted a lot of party beverages, but otherwise can be cleaned up. I'm not normally one to kiss and tell, but let's just say the pushed in tweeter domes are looking much improved! :smoke: One has a pinhole - we'll see how they sound when the time comes. Woofer surround repair plan is under way.

However, the LE5-10 mids are ugly -- caps pushed in vigorously and cones on both are torn pretty bad. Like from edge to close to caps. Would love to revive these old speakers, but wanna keep the expenses rationale. What makes sense -- JBL lists the C8RLE510 re-cone kits as "available". What's that mean in terms of leadtime? Is it worthwhile to send 'em off to somebody like GordonW? Or should I keep watching for replacements?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom