Who sells the best re-foam kits for JBLs?

pilotputz

pilotputz

Super Member
I just picked up a cool pair of JBL L80Ts that have some serious foam rot. I would like to find a comprehensive re-foam kit that includes the proper foam as well as the correct dust caps and voice coil shims.

I have checked that certain site and none of the kits for sale include dust caps or shims. What gives? Do people not pull the caps with JBL speakers?

Any advise?
Thanks!!!
Pilot
 

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looneytunes2001 on ebay has some nice stuff I've used on a couple sets of classic JBL and Altec drivers I've refoamed.
 
Thanks for the recommendation, Andyman!! I'll look him up and check out his stuff.

I hear what you're saying, Sir.Byrd. I'll certainly take it under advisement.

I've only done two other re-foam jobs--JBL 96s and Genesis II--and I shimmed the VC on both. It certainly does take more time. But there's something to be said about being sure that the job is done right the first time. Which isn't to say that the job couldn't be done right without shims, I'd just hate to have to do the job twice, if you know what I mean!
 
I've done dozens, probably hundreds of refoams and only shimmed 2-3.
Remember, the spider is your first alignment and it does a great job of centering the VC.
One can almost watch where the spider holds the cone when the speaker is facing up and align and refoam based upon that.
 
from doing L-60ts , i'd suggest mounting the generic MAT/bootapest2 surrounds to the
rear of the woofer cone. the size was a bit close ,and the contact cement i used first
swelled the foam a bit out of proportion ,and i decided to seam it .

using a water based glue on the other woofer fixed everything . they both work fine
now.

i'm too much of a chicken to not shim a v-c's gap.
jbls have close v-c gaps.

great speakers.
 
Only use water based glue so that if you ever make a mistake you CAN correct it.

If I can do an LE14a JBL 14" woofer without shims then you can do an L80T woofer easily. (And I'm no pro!)
 
I did a pair of L80Ts recently with kits from Rick Cobb (Loonietunes2001). It was my second purchase from Rick. He asks the right questions before he send you the kits and they are a correct match for the originals. Why use anything else?

Here's my pair, one before and one after re-surround and re-finish. They sound great!

DSC_1402.jpg
 
+1 for Rick Cobb, I've gotten foams from him for six L46s, they've been great. And, he did ask specific questions before the sale to make sure I got the correct foams for my exact drivers.

je
 
I have sourced surrounds from our very own Gordon W for my L127h woofers, as well as a dust cap for one that was damaged. The surrounds were perfect, the dust cap was correct, I used Aileen's tacky glue from Wal Mart, I did not ship the vc gap. However, I did run a 1 khz tone through the woofers to assist with vc alignment while the glue dried.

Good luck with yours!
 
I also bought from Rick Cobb (looneytune2001) when I refoamed my L26s; I now have a set of 12" Infinities to repair, and never considered buying from anyone else.
He supplies a CD with a 30Hz tone so that you can excite the driver as you secure the outer edge of the surround. If there's any voice coil rub, you hear it and can recenter the cone to eliminate the rub.
 
You can use the R. Cobb CD to test for leaks in acoustic suspension systems.

Just need a length of 1/4" tubing or a cheapo stethoscope from the drugstore (remove the bell).

Those with multiples might consider sharing (or duping and sharing) with fellow AKers.... :thmbsp:
 
JBL woofers that have a vented pole piece have a little piece of foam over the opening, under the dustcap. It disintegrates with time and pieces of it can and will get into the vc gap and make it sound like you have a blown speaker.
It's good preventative maintenance to cut the dustcap off and clean that stuff out of there. New dustcaps are cheap, and if you do a good job, no one will ever be able to tell that it was ever off. Shim it!
You should get your parts from an AKer, like GordonW.
 
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