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Refoaming JBL L112

canuckaudiog

canuckaudiog

On a quest for high fidelity
Hey guys,

When I was over at the seller's place picking up my new-to-me JBL L110s, we got to talking about restoring audio gear and he asked me if I might be able to refoam his JBL L112s. I said I would look into it and get back to him.

Finding the correct foam shouldn't be a problem, more what I am concerned with is the refoam itself. I understand that JBL drivers are trickier as a result, one thing is the surround lip goes under the cone and also the gap is very narrow making centering it difficult.

My question is, I have over a dozen refoams under my belt, and have no problems using the shim method. I typically go by feel or use a 30Hz tone, but I think for a JBL woofer shimming makes the most sense. How difficult do you think this job would be? The only troublesome part I can see is getting the surround lip under the cone, I think that would be the toughest part since I haven't done that before.

Thoughts?
 
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I think it's a PITA to do JBL surrounds, and hard to get clean-looking results, but maybe that's just me. I have started having mine done professionally.
 
I did my 112s using Rick Cobb surrounds and the test tone CD he sends with his kits. They turned out great. I put the foams under the cones and then used a small brush to apply the glue. You just have to be patient and take your time. If I can do it I'm sure most AKers can also. Good luck.
 
canuckaudiog said:
Thoughts?
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I was intimidated by the first ones I did. After doing it, not too bad. If the woofer has a rear vent you can use a stick to push the cone forward and hold it there while you glue. That made it very easy to work. After that the rest was seemed straightforward. Mine (so far) have all lined up without shimming fortunately.
 
I've refoamed about 100 or so drivers and the only one that ended up rubbing was from an L112. The LE14H from a guy's subwoofer and the woofers from L96s and some Paradigms seemed more difficult and intimidating, yet they all turned out fine while one of my L112s rubs.

Of course, I did those toward the beginning of my refoaming experience, but even now I haven't gone back and fixed it. The reason is that while removing rotted foam is a breeze, removing newish foam in great shape is difficult and nervewracking.

I've always used the test tone method. Maybe shimming would be easier.
 
Thanks everyone for your insight.

Part of the trouble too is that he tried to refoam them so the foam is relatively fresh. That could make things pretty difficult.. not knowing what glue he used will make it harder to figure out how to dissolve it. I'll have to do some more research on that.
 
Maybe a hair dryer or heat gun used very carefully would make the glue pliable enough for removal. Remember patience will pay off. Both in removal and install.
 
canuckaudiog said:
Thanks everyone for your insight.

Part of the trouble too is that he tried to refoam them so the foam is relatively fresh. That could make things pretty difficult.. not knowing what glue he used will make it harder to figure out how to dissolve it. I'll have to do some more research on that.
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Now that is a different animal, repairing the repair.
 
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