Ariel photos of jupitar

[horseshead]

I have two JBL D120 reproductions built from original '70's D120F orange baskets/alnico magets that l would like to sell, but have a little problem - when I took them out of the speaker cabinet they have what looks like glue on the dust cap covers. For me to sell the speakers, I need to know what this is, what it means and if it's possible how or if it can be removed.
Picture attached

Thanks

[johnaec]

'Looks like someone barfed through the grille. :barf: It's likely water soluble, but how you'd get it off without risking denting the domes is beyound me...

John

[Robh3606]

You have a soft brush like women use for facial make-up?? You may be able to just gently brush it off.

Rob:)

[horseshead]

LOL! That speaker was actually the one on the bottom of the cabinet which made it in reach of the cat! I'm going to now remove the top speaker and see if the cone has this same stuff on it or not.

[horseshead]

The top speaker dome is still in emmaculate condition as both speakers' domes looked when I bought the pair two years ago. And there are no signs of anything on the outside or the inside of the grill cloth directly in front of the speaker with the dirty speaker dome, therefore, this must be a coincidence and not cat barf, but some other substance. If it were barf, then why is it only on the dome and not on the paper around the dome? The thing is, it sounds as it should.

[Zilch]

There's no telling how that lovely (rare, and also quite valuable) patina got on the dome during its use in the last original Greatful Dead tour.... ;)

[horseshead]

Seriously folks, no one in this forum has even an inkling what this could be? Maybe I got it right the first time calling it something from the planet jupitar.

[johnaec]

I was serious!

'Looks like someone barfed through the grille. :barf:They may have cleaned it off the grille, but not the speaker.

John

[horseshead]

Technically speaking? I still don't get it. It sounds like
you're suggesting that a mysterious cleaning man helped himself through the door to clean my speaker grill and afterward removed the speaker and cleaned the inside of the grill, replaced the speaker and then quietly let himself out. Because besides myself, there is no one living with me who would have any reason to clean my grill and when I question them about it, not admit it. Whatever.

[grumpy]

looks like muddy water to me. maybe the water soaked in to the cone and the dried
stuff stuck to the dome and shook off the cone for some reason (during play). have you
tried a light mist of plain water and dabbing kleenex to see if your gunk is soluable without
resorting to harsher chemicals or scrubbing?

-grumpy

[horseshead]

Nothing happened to the speaker while I owned it. I bought it reconed from a former JBL employee whose job was to build these speakers in the JBL factory. It looked to be brand new when I bought it a year and a half ago, both the paper and the dome. Is it possible, you are saying, that the former/magnet assembly under the dome had muddy waters in it? (not the guitarist, the actual muddy water)

[grumpy]

Is it possible, you are saying, that the former/magnet assembly under the dome had muddy waters in it? (not the guitarist, the actual muddy water)

yeah, not "Muddy Waters" :)

The dome's aluminum and it's unlikely that stuff would just grow on it and run down the
front of just the dome. That does appear to remain a mystery. Then again, I don't have
experience playing in very humid environs... dried fungus or mold?

The gunk does appear to simply reside on the dome surface... I was trying to slide the
conversation into what can be done about it, assuming you're interested in attempting to
clean it up w/o damaging it. You could also consider having a qualified reconer just replace the dome if it's troubling.

Someone else can ask you to smell or taste it (purely in the interest of science).

-grumpy

[John W]

LOL! That speaker was actually the one on the bottom of the cabinet which made it in reach of the cat! I'm going to now remove the top speaker and see if the cone has this same stuff on it or not.

My guess is the cat was spraying the cabinet. The urine soaked into the cone but dried up on the cap. What does it smell like?

[Steve Schell]

Horsehead, I agree with John W that it looks like the cat hosed it down. Whatever it is was liquid, and left the solids when it dried. The liquid ran to the lower right (probably 6 o'clock when you had it installed), and there is evidence on the cone in the lower right also.

I would attempt to clean the dome with Q-tips moistened with water and the excess blotted off. The dome is only 2 or 3 mil thick, so move the Q-tip very gently back and forth. Multiple passes will work better than downward pressure, and give the encrusted areas time to dissolve. After a half hour so of fiddly work you should have a clean dome.

[Zilch]

O.K., O.K., DON'T listen to the Zilchster, then.... :p

http://cgi.ebay.com/J-ERRY-GARCIA-S-SPEAKER-CABINET-JBL-GRATEFUL-DEAD_W0QQitemZ130036483742QQihZ003QQcategoryZ12116 5QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Titanium Dome]

If a cat marked that and left solids that heavy, it would have stained the grille cloth, too. Cats tend to spray corners, edges, and objects that they can "get their legs over." These speakers don't fit that description. Plus that cat's got some awfully thick fluid there. Not saying it's impossible, but seems improbable.

OTOH, I'm wondering if the speakers ever went from a cold to a warm, humid environment at any time. If so, some rapid condensation on the cold metal, collecting and running down a dusty driver could produce that pattern.

As an alternative, someone could've just spilled some water or other liquid and it spattered through the grille cloth and hit the metal cap, disturbing and redistributing a fine coating of dust there. The cloth dried out, but the spill pattern remained on the dome.

[audition]

That IS cat spray....and the grills dont always show any evidence... (especialy if the grills are made of synthetic material) the urine has reacted with the aluminum... seen it many times in the past.... now the question would be.... DO YOU HAVE CATS? or was it ever anywhere a cat could have gotten near it? by the way in the first pic I can see where it ran down the cone and dried.... On a hard surface when urine dries you are left with uric acid crystals.

[horseshead]

Yeah, sorry it took so long to write back -
I'll have pics up soon of same speaker/dome after I cleaned it. I didn't spend a half hour, only about 10 minutes and it still doesn't look very good but it is improved. I will spend more time using the same method - a q-tip and water. Yes, I have a cat and yes he sprays, but even after the speaker getting sprayed, he means so much more to me than the speaker. My feeling toward him was that he is so cute for doing this. I'll also post pics of Augie, the perpetrator soon. Take care, gotta go to work.
Bye

[horseshead]

Horsehead, I agree with John W that it looks like the cat hosed it down. Whatever it is was liquid, and left the solids when it dried. The liquid ran to the lower right (probably 6 o'clock when you had it installed), and there is evidence on the cone in the lower right also.

I would attempt to clean the dome with Q-tips moistened with water and the excess blotted off. The dome is only 2 or 3 mil thick, so move the Q-tip very gently back and forth. Multiple passes will work better than downward pressure, and give the encrusted areas time to dissolve. After a half hour so of fiddly work you should have a clean dome.

The speaker doesn't have any smell whatsoever. I even confirmed this with my bloodhound nosed wife. I tried to resize another picture of the speaker dome after I only half successfully cleaned it with a q-tip wetted with water for five to ten minutes but couldn't find a program that would do this in a format that the forum will allow. I will continue for the half hour that was recommended and see what happens.

[edgewound]

Spray some Windex on a folded over Kleenex, several layers of toilet paper, or a soft paper towel...carefully wipe down the dome.

If you have a "Lazy Susan", set the speaker on it and rotate holding the Windexed tissue to the dome lightly to the surface, to not dent the dome.

It should clean up nicely.

You could also try rubbing alcohol.

[horseshead]

Spray some Windex on a folded over Kleenex, several layers of toilet paper, or a soft paper towel...carefully wipe down the dome.

If you have a "Lazy Susan", set the speaker on it and rotate holding the Windexed tissue to the dome lightly to the surface, to not dent the dome.

It should clean up nicely.

You could also try rubbing alcohol.

Thank you. The windex made the dome shiny and took off some smeared gunk but not the little circular looking stains. I tried rubbing alcohol (70%) and that didn't quite do it either. Any other suggestions? I'll try to post the new pictures again.

[horseshead]

On second thought, how about trying De-Solv-it? It contains 100% active solution is 100% organic, contains no water, is a thin liquid, a citrus solution made to dissolve adhesives, crayon, gum, grease, oil, soap scum, cosmetics, tar, etc..It says safe on skin and hair, washable fabric and hard surfaces. It must however be wiped clean with water after applying for 20 to 30 seconds, according to the directions. It's ingredients read: essential citrus oils, aloe vera and lanolin and as I have stated, contains no water.

[edgewound]

On second thought, how about trying De-Solv-it? It contains 100% active solution is 100% organic, contains no water, is a thin liquid, a citrus solution made to dissolve adhesives, crayon, gum, grease, oil, soap scum, cosmetics, tar, etc..It says safe on skin and hair, washable fabric and hard surfaces. It must however be wiped clean with water after applying for 20 to 30 seconds, according to the directions. It's ingredients read: essential citrus oils, aloe vera and lanolin and as I have stated, contains no water.

I would't use De-Solv-it. It could soften up the cone and that would be bad.

Keep cleaning with the Windex till the streaks are gone.

Another alternative is to use Acetone sparingly just like the Windex application. Acetone evaporates quickly.

[audition]

Use your Q-tip method.... use sparingly and you will have a new shiny dome, be carefull to not get any on the cone. in this link scroll down to the "Mothers Mag & aluminum polish" - you can find it at almost any automotive parts store. After some time cat urine stops smelling untill there is a big temperature change. Heat will make it smell again, in some cases cold will do the same. Mark

http://http://www.mothers.com/products/productcatalog/wheelprod.html

[mech986]

Yeah, sorry it took so long to write back -
I'll have pics up soon of same speaker/dome after I cleaned it. I didn't spend a half hour, only about 10 minutes and it still doesn't look very good but it is improved. I will spend more time using the same method - a q-tip and water. Yes, I have a cat and yes he sprays, but even after the speaker getting sprayed, he means so much more to me than the speaker. My feeling toward him was that he is so cute for doing this. I'll also post pics of Augie, the perpetrator soon. Take care, gotta go to work.
Bye

Lucky for you this is only a small area and since you didn't smell anything, it still may be possible that the cat didn't do it, although it looks awfully suspect. I've got 3 cats, all mostly lovable and adorable. But they (one or more) had completely destroyed my downstairs carpet with spray and other stuff. So much so that I replaced the entire 1500 sq. ft. with laminate flooring, much easier to clean and keep that way.

So far, they only attacked the one grille on one L300 and damaged its back base support which will be replaced. They seem to leave the other speakers alone for the moment. Yes, they are adorable, but occasionally I do want to consider some severe punishment. Especially when they decided to attack the upstairs carpeting, especially in my bathroom!!

Sigh, that fat IRS refund may have to go for new flooring upstairs instead of another JBL purchase someday.

For cleaning, if you found that quite a bit came off with the water, you might use a dome shaped bit of cloth (or circular) that is smaller than the circumference of the dome, wet it and lay it on top of the dome. Then add a few drops of water or whatever you will use so it sits in contact with the dome for an extended period of time. That would help to dissolve the gunk over time without you having to touch the dome longer.

If it really won't come off, you can always have someone re-Aluminum dome the unit, the best reconers/repair shop could make it look factory again.

If you have trouble resizing the photos of the complete cone and dome, PM me and I can resize for you.

Regards,

Bart

[indycraft]

I believe urine will light up under a black light. :o: