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The Most Abused L300s - A Restoration Thread

wafflesole

wafflesole

Active Member
Hey guys!

I stumbled upon a pair of JBL L300 speakers. They were posted as a "curb alert" on a local Facebook group. I offered the poster some money to purchase them and hold them for pickup, but they insisted the speakers were trash. I came to get the beasts, and they have definitely seen better days, as seen in the photos below. I'm undertaking these as a full restoration project to get them looking good as new. Thankfully the components all work and sound wonderful, with the exception of the woofers that need new surrounds. I have new surrounds in transport currently. I look forward to sharing the progress with y'all.

Before photos HERE.
 
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And I look forward to seeing it. Good luck!

For the record, my beloved Epicure Model 20's were in that bad of a shape, and to boot, the drivers had a layer of actual bacon and chicken grease, where they had sat next to a stove in a trailer for decades. EWWWWW.

Fully restored, and sounding great.
 
WOW, nice find. Getting them fired up and playing music again should give you even more inspiration.

I met someone that owns a pair and has had access to a ton of gear over the years. He always has plenty of higher end stuff for sale. The L300 was possibly the only thing he wasn't willing to part with. Unfortunately they were not set up at the time and I didn't get a chance to hear them.
 
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Wow! Good for you rescuing those poor beasts. Looking forward to your restoration story, bet they will be beautiful when you're done.
 
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:lurk: Pass the butter. This will take a while but well worth it. The cabinets look very restorable aside from missing the side top wood inlays and glass and the typical failure of the particle board base stands. Can’t quite see all the veneer edges but the few gouges can be repaired. I suspect a first and second pass dust wipe and some light almond or Orange oil will give you a very good idea of how JBL veneer will respond to a full repair, sanding and then refinish. Assuming no seam splits, the front and rear baffles will clean up well with a good sanding, remark and repaint.

Best to pull all drivers, controls, crossovers, and examine the fiberglass inside to be sure there’s no critters or droppings inside. Caution regarding the foilcal/ label removal as it’s quite fragile. Wear gloves and masks to be sure you don’t get contaminated while removing the drivers. Do this outside and have a vacuum handy just in case.

Nice that you have the grilles which apart from one break down low look remarkably intact.

Search for Zonker92 and his thread on restoring a pair of cabinets I sold to him. That will give you lots of ideas. Good luck!!

Crazy what people will toss without doing some research on them.
 
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Score of the year!

You got grills, lenses, bases, and even woofers! Those are totally repairable.
 
Waffle. I bought a pair of the 4333As' back a few years ago. They had become a mouse house. Probably stored in a shed. Two huge holes gouged in the back to hang them sometime in their past. I'm on stage 2 of the restoration. Replacing the mid-horn diaphragms and upgrading the crossover networks with Zonker92 crossover networks. The person I bought them from had replaced the woofer surrounds. Both tweeter diaphragms were burned out + the series caps were open... must have been quite a firewater night or two. Your voyage won't be cheep, but you will be rewarded with great sound and a very collectable pair of speakers!
 
Wow! I wish you well and applaud your effort; definitely a doable job, if you take your time.

Your biggest difficulty may be repairing or replacing the veneer, because it's flush with the hardwood corners. I suppose you could wrap the new veneer all the way over the corners, though.
 
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Zonk, I think the wrapover veneer sections are in pretty good shape, no evidence of gap from the sides to the top curved section. Seems to me if one is able to find a nice pair of reasonably close (or contrasting) walnut hardwood strips to fit the missing top segments or veneer a set to match, wafflesole would be set. Most importantly it appears there is minimal moisture damage save for the top and front baffle paint, and the base.

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Looks like the right one had a lot more environmental exposure than the left one. Looks like the port tube will need replacing too.
 
Worst case scenario...sand off the crud and give them a couple coats of Durtatex. But I think you aree going to do much better than worst case.
 
Thanks for all the comments, guys! Totally excited to dig into this. Tomorrow I plan on going over to a local glass shop and having them recut smoked glass in the same size and thickness for the top. I have the original wood that the felt was attached to, but the felt is long-gone. I am sure I can track down something similar. As far as exterior restoration goes, I think we can get this done. Had a furniture restoration friend come by and give me some tips. I plan to start working on them next week. I am disabled and unable to move them much, so I will do as much of the cosmetics as I can before I have my professional friend step in.
 
Having owned L-65's, the sheet under the glass top was actually more like a foam attached to a sheet of thick paper material.
After some years, this foam deteriorated and crumbled.

I wasn't so concerned of getting it exact again, considering that time again would take its toll.

So what I did, I was able to save the paper sheeting, and manually removed this foam. I then applied-glued black Felt Sheeting, then cut to fit. The felt sheeting accomplished acting as the proper thickness spacer so that the glass tops did sit properly flush.

And the material looked very good under the glass.

Was no problem cutting the material to again properly fit the metal JBL Logos on each piece.

Best of luck with your restoration. Yes, heartbreaking to see someone not properly care for them, but the potential is there for a proper and perfect resto bringing them back to their former glory. And yeah, I'd say whatever money is spent is worth it!
 
Definitely restorable! You have 'great fortune' to obtain these.
Suggestion: if the woofs need work, consider replacing them with 2216NDs (from M2 and 4367) and bi-amping them.
They should just drop right in.
See Alobar's and my threads about replacing our vintage woofs with ND-1s - just astounding results.
Best wishes on the repairs - if I were closer, I'd volunteer to help out in a minute!!
 
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