4310 or L110

[Shammyh]

I've been lucky enough to inherit two sets of speakers. A mint condition pair of JBL 4310's and a good condition pair JBL L110's. The L110's are actually in pretty good condition except the surrounds that need to be replaced on the woofers.

While I wouldn't consider myself anything close to an audiophile, I've spent a good bit of time looking into both of these speakers, and understand them both to be pretty good monitors. I plan on keeping one pair, and selling or otherwise giving away the other. I will use the speakers exclusively for music (not tv, dvds, etc) and I listen to a wide variety of genres. My question is, in the opinion of the people around here, which pair is better to keep?

Thanks!

[Don C]

L110.

[SMKSoundPro]

L110!

They work very well in my workshop office driven by a Yamaha m-2 amp. Also very nicely by my Fisher 800b!

I found mine missing the woofs in a Portland resale store, and I just happened to have a pair of LE111h woofs hanging around in need of something to do!

Clean them up and love them. They can become your favorites in a relatively small space. Be very careful not to pop the tweets, though! Seems very hard to come by 033's. One of my tweets was bum, and I was able to find the break in the vc winding and re-solder it, and it worked! WOo-HOo!

Good Luck!
Scott.

[oznob]

The L110 gets my vote also! I wonder which speaker LRBacon would recommend?:hmm:

[boputnam]

Not sure how many out here have actually compared both.

These are not equivalents. No one has articulated the differences, which are material - I'll try.

I normally side with the 43xx series (when there are equivalents involved), but in this situation the L110 is a clear winner.

The L110 is the consumer equivalent (or nearly so) of the venerable 4313(B), one of the best JBL cabinets of that vintage (and many other vintages, too...). That 10-in woof and it's equivalents have great bass response (and extension) and superb tonality - they surpass most all 12-in woofs of their vintage. The crossover network offers very smooth transition between the elements, and most importantly, the mid-range is the LE5-10, and not the LE5-2 with it's problematic rising response. And, I mentioned nothing about the tweet - fragile as it is, the 033 is a gem of engineering ingenuity of it's day.

If you get a chance to "upgrade" to the 4313B, you should do it. Otherwise, in this case, the L110 would be the better choice.

:)

4313B (nee Giskard :wave: ) long-ago provided this matrix, which compares the series. And, I've appended the L110ts for your library.

.

[Shammyh]

Well, thank you all for the responses. Looks like i asked in the right place. L110 it is then.

Cheers all!

[boputnam]

The L110's are actually in pretty good condition except the surrounds that need to be replaced on the woofers.You should consider a recone instead of just a re-surround. Always a better option if the OEM kit is available.

[Shammyh]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference and how would I go about doing either?

[Mr. Widget]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference and how would I go about doing either?Refoam is simply peeling off the old foam rubber surround and replacing it with a similar one. A recone is the much costlier but preferred route where you get a new cone, surround, spider and voice coil assembly directly from JBL and have the whole works replaced.

Either recone or refoam should be done by a trained professional in my opinion. The recone must be done by a JBL factory authorized service center... send PMs to some of our British members for a local recommendation.


Widget

BTW: I agree with those above. The L110 is a smoother sounding and more tonally accurate system... it was developed years later than the 4310.

[boputnam]

Refoam is simply peeling off the old foam rubber surround and replacing it with a similar one...There is a picture diary on this in the Resurround Step-by-step thread.

Try to find a JBL reconer - you'll put another +10-yrs life on those cabinets!

[SMKSoundPro]

Try this:
http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Transducers%20Parts%20List/Transducer%20Parts%20List.pdf

and here it is:

LE111A $196.00 C8RLE111A 31385 21813 M 1-B-6 Wt 3

This is exactly what it cost for my LE111 kits. I only needed one recone kit as the other woof was fine.

Contact your local JBL service professional for more info or jingle forumite, "edgewound" for help.

Happy New Year!!!
My mom's in London right now visiting friends, and on to Edinburgh for New year's Eve partys with the troops. (That just came out wrong!)

Scott.

[Doctor_Electron]

BOTH!
I would consider that there will be a use for the 4310's somewhere around the house.
Anyway, I regret not keeping all the JBL & Altec speakers I've hadover the years, particularly the old stuff.
Regards, "dOc"

[LRBacon]

I would go with the L110's. I am not biased or anything. ;) I would definately have the woofers reconed. Replacing the surrounds is a just a fix. It will get them up and working but not like a recone. I have found that none of the replacement surrounds I have used have any where near the compliance of the OEM surrounds on a fresh recone. The spyders can also stiffen up with age which doesn't help with compliance.
Shammyh, have you figured out whether you have L110's or L110A's? If they are L110A's they should have a couple of letters die stamped to the right of the serial number. The ports will also be curved. The L110 uses a straight port.

Larry

[jay]

For an alternative, how about selling both pairs and stepping up to either L96s or L112's depending on your room size?

Being the "next generation", either would be superior to the 110's or 4310s, imo.

[brutal]

For an alternative, how about selling both pairs and stepping up to either L96s or L112's depending on your room size?

Being the "next generation", either would be superior to the 110's or 4310s, imo.

You'd get no argument from me there! :applaud:L112's kick serious butt.

[Shammyh]

Well the L110's are in London and the 4310's are in Boston, so not actually getting rid of either of them yet, and perhaps I'll hang on to them both. I'll take a looksee when I'm back home later tonight and see if they are L110's or L110A's. I assume the L110A is only better because of the improved network?

Oh and thanks to SMKSoundPro for the info about the recone. My impression is that for a few extra bucks, i'll not only make them sound better but extend the life a bit more, so seems the best way to go. Also if anyone has any hints on good JBL service locations in the Boston area, I'm all ears. I could get them done in London, but not only will it be more expensive I'm sure, but they are a pain to transport.

Thanks again for all the input.

[SMKSoundPro]

Dear Shammyh,

Here is the link to the JBL service centers for the state of Mass.

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

I have no idea if any of these shops are close to you, but indeed, they must be! Since MA is such a tiny little state! (Alaskan joke. sorry)

At the reconer I worked at for 17 years, we encouraged people to remove the offending drivers themselves. We had limited room for everyone's big speaker cabs all over. You may choose to contact your local JBL shop and ask their policy.

FWIW: I sitting listening to me L110's right now as I write this. Playing the windows media player from my laptop out to a creative audigy pcm card , and wait for it... straight into a Crown D60 I just from a seller on the bay! It sounds GreAT!!!! rEALLY ENJOYABLE.

(someone has got to figure out a way to move the caps lock key! Always hit it with my ring ringer because my pinky is gone!)

Good luck with your project!

Scotty.