LE14H-1 recone options and other L250 help needed

[grey]

Hello to everyone!

I purchased a pair or L250 speakers over the winter and have been very satisfied with them, although they need a little help. The woofers have been re-foamed improperly. The foam is resting on top of the cone. What are my current options to do these right?

There is a slight rattle out of one. I pulled one and there is no gasket. I believe that will correct the problem. What is a good source for gasket material or original gaskets? I'm assuming that the 108H will need new gaskets as well and one has a small tear in the cone that was "touched up".

My ultimate goal over the next winter is to take them down completely. Here is the plan:
Sand and oil cabinets
Install the Ti spec drivers(have them)
Build charge coupled outboard networks(do not have the components yet)
New gaskets
New wire

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[rdgrimes]

Cereal boxes make decent driver gaskets. ;) Obviously, the 14" driver is too big for the average cereal box. Generally, these drivers fit pretty tight without a gasket, so I have to expect that your rattle is due to a voice coil rub. That said, it's also true that the L250 XOs are a rattle waiting to happen, so if it's a cabinet rattle look at the XO. LF sweep tones are great for finding cabinet rattles.

If the LE14s are otherwise performing OK, I'd leave the surrounds as they are.

Recones HERE (http://www.speakerrepair.com/ocsrepairprice.html) are $175 each.

[Woody Banks]

Welcome to the Forum

Parts Express carries two gasket products that would both work in your case. The more expensive item is a foam tape http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=260-542 (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=260-542)
and the cheapest is a caulk ribbon. The caulk works great if you are not planning on pulling the drivers any time soon.
Correcting the bad foam job can be a real challenge and end up as an ass burner. The foam will sometimes not separate from the cone properly and will take a chunk of the coating with it.
The JBL LE14H-1 kits are $195 plus $40 labor here in Oregon. It appears that you have several options:

Leave them as is!
DIY foam job!
Have them refoamed!
Have them reconed! (More bang for your bucks!):D

Woody

[cosmos]

I agree completely with RDGrimes and Woody.

1. Isolate the source of the rattle. If it isn't the woofers, I'd leave them alone. I doubt that's even possible to test the difference of which side the foam is on, much less hear it.

The L250 are very nice speakers. Once you eliminate the rattle, you're going to love them.

[rdgrimes]

I had a nasty rattle in one of mine that only appeared on sweep tones, 20-200Hz. But I'm sure it was there with music too, just couldn't hear it. Anyhow, the XO is built on a 2-board sandwich with all sorts of rattle-friendly wires and parts between the 2 boards. Finally fixed it just by jamming my fat fingers between the 2 boards till I got the right wire bent back. It was a pretty loud, scary rattle. The XO boards really resonate. As I recall, the board resonated somewhere around 150Hz.

[JeffW]

Recones HERE (http://www.speakerrepair.com/ocsrepairprice.html) are $175 each.

Unless I missed it, all they show is aftermarket kits for that driver.

[grey]

Thanks for all of the responses. I love to hear free solutions!

Looked at a most of these things mentioned. The crossover boards do seem to be a little loose and flexible. I had to throw it back together quickly as it was laying across the doorway. I did some tests at ~150Hz and now the television rattles more than any part of the speakers. Tried a song where I first noticed this as well. The rattle seems to be gone now :dont-know: At least it's not a major problem it seems. I will add the foam tape to my wish list. That's what I was looking for.

This brings me to another question. I noticed that the baffle area below the woofer was flexing quite a bit at low frequency tests. Is this where the additional bracing was placed on the later 250Ti?

[grey]

I found all of the parts I need for the crossover build. I had no idea there were so many options for air core inductors. I did some reading on it for a couple of hours and still not sure what I should choose. I'm building the network listed here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?289-L250-gt-250Ti-Upgrade-and-Differences&p=2306&viewfull=1#post2306

Is there a specific wire gauge that I should be looking at for each of these?

2.0 mh
.4 mh
.75 mh
.16 mh

[Jakob]

Hi and congrats on your find. They are truly amazing speakers.
If you decide to build and use the 250ti CC networks be aware that the 250ti uses the 104H midrange and not the LE5-11 as the L250 does.

Regards, Jakob

[4313B]

Is there a specific wire gauge that I should be looking at for each of these?

2.0 mh
.4 mh
.75 mh
.16 mhGreg usually designs for 0.6 ohms or less DCR in all the inductors. In the case of the smaller inductors you would go for the smallest gauge wire possible. For example, Solen has several gauges of 0.16mH inductors and you would choose the smallest gauge with the highest DCR (still well under 0.6 ohms).

Note that there are a few inductors (invariably shunt inductors) that have a DCR of 7.5 ohms but if I remember correctly that doesn't apply in your case. Examples would be the 3.5 mH 7.5 ohm shunt inductor across the LE5 in systems like the L96, L112, L150, 4313, L212, etc. and the 1.0 mH 7.5 ohm shunt inductor across the 066 in the L212.

[grey]

Hi and congrats on your find. They are truly amazing speakers.
If you decide to build and use the 250ti CC networks be aware that the 250ti uses the 104H midrange and not the LE5-11 as the L250 does.

Regards, Jakob
Thanks! I agree.....they are a total work of art. I was very fortunate to aquire the 104H and 044ti drivers in good shape.


Greg usually designs for 0.6 ohms or less DCR in all the inductors. In the case of the smaller inductors you would go for the smallest gauge wire possible. For example, Solen has several gauges of 0.16mH inductors and you would choose the smallest gauge with the highest DCR (still well under 0.6 ohms).

Note that there are a few inductors (invariably shunt inductors) that have a DCR of 7.5 ohms but if I remember correctly that doesn't apply in your case. Examples would be the 3.5 mH 7.5 ohm shunt inductor across the LE5 in systems like the L96, L112, L150, 4313, L212, etc. and the 1.0 mH 7.5 ohm shunt inductor across the 066 in the L212.

Thanks for the response! With the info you provided, this is what I found to be the closest from Solen.

2.0mH 16awg, 0.48ohms DCR
0.39mH 20awg, 0.42ohms DCR
0.75mH 20awg, 0.60ohms DCR
0.16mH 20awg, 0.16ohms DCR

The schematic does specify a 1.0 mH 7.5ohm. The closest I was able to find is 1mh at ~7ohm.

Everything look good to you guys?

[DavidF]

Thanks! I agree.....they are a total work of art. I was very fortunate to aquire the 104H and 044ti drivers in good shape.



Thanks for the response! With the info you provided, this is what I found to be the closest from Solen.

2.0mH 16awg, 0.48ohms DCR
0.39mH 20awg, 0.42ohms DCR
0.75mH 20awg, 0.60ohms DCR
0.16mH 20awg, 0.16ohms DCR

The schematic does specify a 1.0 mH 7.5ohm. The closest I was able to find is 1mh at ~7ohm.

Everything look good to you guys?

Pretty darn close. You could tweak the 1.0 and the 0.16 coils with a 0.5 ohm resistor in series to bring up the total circuit resistance.