JBL summit L300's

[mechanic_miike]

Looks like this is the place to get real advice on quality repairs for my stock/original JBL summit loudspeakers. Whats wrong with them, just the typical woofer foam turned to dust problem. My question/s is:
Is refoaming the woofer cones a viable option for me or is some special tool/jig needed to do it correctly?
Who/where is a trusted repair facility for these woofers?
I want to return them to as close to stock/original as possible (i.e. JBL parts). I live in south Florida and can find no one I can trust locally or who can appreciate the worth and quality of these speakers. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you ahead of time for your replies/wisdom.

[Zilch]

JBL does not supply surrounds, but most authorized factory service centers can install suitable substitutes for you:

http://www.jblproservice.com/service/florida.html

[trueview]

I recently refoamed some woofers on my L166 horizons...
it was my first time doing it and they turned out great!
sourced the new surrounds on Ebay for about $20...glue included

just make sure you glue the surround to the back of the cone:blah:

[mechanic_miike]

Now I have someone telling me I should recone them if I need new surrounds. Is this true? Or is he just looking for money to take from me?

Thanks again.

[mech986]

Hi, if your woofers are in good shape and the spider suspension is not sagging when the woofer is placed cone facing up, and there is no voice coil rubbing or damage already, then you or a competent JBL authorized speaker shop can refoam them, many times without using a voice coil shim.

Search here: http://www.jblproservice.com/service/index.html

If you refoam them, with foams on back of cone, and they work well, then no problems.

If they still don't work properly or can't be refoamed, then a recone with the 2235 kit will be the answer. JBL recommends reconing because that is the best and only way to ENSURE that all of the replaced parts are working at factory spec. With your current drivers, all the moving parts except the foam would still be 30 years old, and possibly (or probably) not at full JBL spec. Note however that the 2235 cone is the best current substitute, the 136 recone kit is NLA as far as I know. It may sound a little different.

Regards,

Bart

[Rolf]

No problem re-coning the 136A/2231A with the 2235 re-coning kit. I got that done with a pair of 4333A (pro version of your L300).

[mechanic_miike]

While installing new surround foam in my 136a woofers I noticed on the back of the cones 2231 was written. The current reconing kits are numbered 2235. Do these numbers ahve any sugnificant meaning? Like maybe the cone is 22 cm deep by 35 cm accross as an example or are they simply arbitrary numbers?

Just trying to make sence of it all.

thanks again for the insight and wisdom,
mechanic_mike

[Rolf]

While installing new surround foam in my 136a woofers I noticed on the back of the cones 2231 was written. The current reconing kits are numbered 2235. Do these numbers ahve any sugnificant meaning? Like maybe the cone is 22 cm deep by 35 cm accross as an example or are they simply arbitrary numbers?

Just trying to make sence of it all.

thanks again for the insight and wisdom,
mechanic_mike

The 136A woofer is the same as the 2231A woofer. These cone kits are no longer available. 2235H is a later model of "the same woofer". The re-cone for kit for your woofers is is the 2235H kits. Fits perfectly, not exactly the same, and some claim to hear a difference, I could not.

[Steve K]

Hi all,
I just want to to pass on information that the newer JBL 2235 recone kits come with larger diameter dust caps now. If anybody is planning on having a recone done, and if 'trueness' to the original as far as appearance is important to you, it might be better to confirm the caps' size. If the caps on the old cones are still intact, you may have them removed and installed on the new recone kits. However, I'm told that audibly there's no difference with the larger caps. This information comes from a techie with Harman Int'l in Japan.
- Steve K

[mm54]

The 136A woofer is the same as the 2231A woofer. These cone kits are no longer available. 2235H is a later model of "the same woofer". The re-cone for kit for your woofers is is the 2235H kits. Fits perfectly, not exactly the same, and some claim to hear a difference, I could not.
thank you Rolf