L110 Questions

[Klube]

I'm brand new to the forum. I've learned a lot already & looking forward to learning more.

I have a pair of L110s that I bought new in 1978. I knew they were coming due for another pair of woofer surrounds, but imagine my surprise the day I pulled a grill cloth & all the foam fell on the floor - none left in the gap. So they had been being played like that for a while. However these speakers have never ever even really had to breathe hard, let alone were they ever abused. I have a 75 w Nakamichi and it has rarely been played above the # 2 volume marker & at that with the variable Loudness control rolled off. So my question is - would the lack of surround cause a problem with the woofers? They certainly look fine and are not making any unusual noises. Can I just go ahead & do a surround kit?

I also have a question regarding the crossover network. I have read every post on the forum that comes up for a L110 search. But I’m still confused.

1) Is it advisable to modify the the crossover by adding the bypass capacitors if the woofer doesn’t get changed up to the L110A woofer?

2) If not adding the bypass capacitors, is it advisable to re cap the crossover in the original format? Opinions seem divided with some folks saying “leave it alone.”

OK, thanks. Great forum - lots of informed & helpful folks. Lots of love for a great product line.

[DavidF]

I'm brand new to the forum. I've learned a lot already & looking forward to learning more.

I have a pair of L110s that I bought new in 1978. I knew they were coming due for another pair of woofer surrounds, but imagine my surprise the day I pulled a grill cloth & all the foam fell on the floor - none left in the gap. So they had been being played like that for a while. However these speakers have never ever even really had to breathe hard, let alone were they ever abused. I have a 75 w Nakamichi and it has rarely been played above the # 2 volume marker & at that with the variable Loudness control rolled off. So my question is - would the lack of surround cause a problem with the woofers? They certainly look fine and are not making any unusual noises. Can I just go ahead & do a surround kit?

I also have a question regarding the crossover network. I have read every post on the forum that comes up for a L110 search. But I’m still confused.

1) Is it advisable to modify the the crossover by adding the bypass capacitors if the woofer doesn’t get changed up to the L110A woofer?

2) If not adding the bypass capacitors, is it advisable to re cap the crossover in the original format? Opinions seem divided with some folks saying “leave it alone.”

OK, thanks. Great forum - lots of informed & helpful folks. Lots of love for a great product line.

Oh, yeah. You need surrounds. No question. You should be shocked at the sudden appearance of bass response when surrounds are installed.

As to the crossover there are some old caps in place there. I could see changing them out with new parts.

[Klube]

Hi David,

Thanks. No question about replacing the surrounds - do you think the woofers (cones / vc) are OK? How can I check or measure?

Regarding the caps, I guess I still don't understand if I should add the bypass caps since I'm staying with the original L110 woofer.

Thanks again.
Cheers,
Jim

[LRBacon]

Hi David,

Thanks. No question about replacing the surrounds - do you think the woofers (cones / vc) are OK? How can I check or measure?

Regarding the caps, I guess I still don't understand if I should add the bypass caps since I'm staying with the original L110 woofer.

Thanks again.
Cheers,
Jim

Jim, if you heard no noise, such as the voice coil rubbing in gap for magnet pole piece, when playing them they may be OK. You could check the nominal direct current resistance across the terminals when disconnected from the crossover network by using a volt/ohm meter. Should be 5.7 ohms + or - 10%. If it less than that, the voice coil may have been damaged. The spyder will sometimes keep the voice coil aligned enough so the rubbing does not occur. Which it did in my original pair of L110As when the surrounds disintegrated.
As far as using bypass caps on the original N110 network, you may not hear an audible difference. I have compared the original L110 with the L110A and was hard pressed to hear much difference in the midrange and tweeter ranges which the bypass caps would influence with the exception of the woofers response. The differences if any may be subtle or not audible to me. I did recap a pair of L110s (orginal N110 network)with Jantzen Z-Standard caps from Parts Express. Was it worth the expense? Probably not, but it was fun doing the job.
You can find out more information about the L110 and its two networks (N110 and N110A) by using the search feature of the forum.

Larry

[Klube]

Jim, if you heard no noise, such as the voice coil rubbing in gap for magnet pole piece, when playing them they may be OK. You could check the nominal direct current resistance across the terminals when disconnected from the crossover network by using a volt/ohm meter. Should be 5.7 ohms + or - 10%. If it less than that, the voice coil may have been damaged. The spyder will sometimes keep the voice coil aligned enough so the rubbing does not occur. Which it did in my original pair of L110As when the surrounds disintegrated.
As far as using bypass caps on the original N110 network, you may not hear an audible difference. I have compared the original L110 with the L110A and was hard pressed to hear much difference in the midrange and tweeter ranges which the bypass caps would influence with the exception of the woofers response. The differences if any may be subtle or not audible to me. I did recap a pair of L110s (orginal N110 network)with Jantzen Z-Standard caps from Parts Express. Was it worth the expense? Probably not, but it was fun doing the job.
You can find out more information about the L110 and its two networks (N110 and N110A) by using the search feature of the forum.

Larry

Thanks Larry. I'll measure the resistance when I pull the woofers before I start the surround replacement. I've read pretty much everything I could bring up on a search and I was still a little unclear about the crossover caps. Couldn't seem to understand if they should be replaced just because they're old. As I mentioned, I have a Nakamichi receiver that's about 10 years younger than the L110s - same issue - re cap just because of age? The combination still sounds damn good - especially considering the price points to start with and what there is currently for comparison.

[LRBacon]

Jim, I still have my original L110As that bought 30 years ago. They were both demo models at the store I bought them from and had been in use for a year or so. They weren't in very pristine condition, if I remember correctly both of the LE5-10s had dented dust caps. They have never been recapped and neither has the other pair that I have. I suppose I should pull the woofers once every year or so and check the capacitors for any leakage. Both pairs sound fine. The woofers in all of them have been re-coned of course. I purchased re-coned woofers from forum member 4313B. I originally replaced the surrounds when they fell apart with Simply Speakers surround kits around 1990. They're instructions said it would be OK to glue the surrounds to the front of the cones using contact cement. It worked OK but looked like crap and heaven forbid if you didn't get them in the right place the first time because there wasn't a second.
At one time I had at least 5 or 6 pairs of L110s.

Larry

[Klube]

Jim, I still have my original L110As that bought 30 years ago. They were both demo models at the store I bought them from and had been in use for a year or so. They weren't in very pristine condition, if I remember correctly both of the LE5-10s had dented dust caps. They have never been recapped and neither has the other pair that I have. I suppose I should pull the woofers once every year or so and check the capacitors for any leakage. Both pairs sound fine. The woofers in all of them have been re-coned of course. I purchased re-coned woofers from forum member 4313B. I originally replaced the surrounds when they fell apart with Simply Speakers surround kits around 1990. They're instructions said it would be OK to glue the surrounds to the front of the cones using contact cement. It worked OK but looked like crap and heaven forbid if you didn't get them in the right place the first time because there wasn't a second.
At one time I had at least 5 or 6 pairs of L110s.

Larry

Larry,

Did you recone your woofers because they were damaged in some way? I've had these since late 1978. Refoamed once in 1994 by Midwest Speaker in Minneapolis. Like I said, they've never even been worked out, let alone abused, so unless I get an out of spec resistance reading, I'm inclined to believe they'll be fine with new surrounds. I can't afford a recone right now regardless...

Jim

[LRBacon]

Jim, they still worked but were ugly. One woofer had a dent in the dust cap and one some slight damage to the frame around a mounting hole from trying to remove a stubborn mounting bolt. I had never seen or heard re-coned woofers and was very surprised at how compliant they were compared to the ones that had only the surrounds replaced. A re-coned woofer is like getting a brand new woofer. The re-cone kits are spendy, though.
I hope the re-coned woofer surrounds last longer than the original ones did.


Larry

[Klube]

Jim, they still worked but were ugly. One woofer had a dent in the dust cap and one some slight damage to the frame around a mounting hole from trying to remove a stubborn mounting bolt. I had never seen or heard re-coned woofers and was very surprised at how compliant they were compared to the ones that had only the surrounds replaced. A re-coned woofer is like getting a brand new woofer. The re-cone kits are spendy, though.
I hope the re-coned woofer surrounds last longer than the original ones did.


Larry

I hope they do too. Thanks again Larry.

Cheers,
Jim