L200 Restore

[Pyromarty]

Hi to everyone, I just joined over the weekend and have been looking through 100's of postings about
some beautiful speaker systems! I have a set of L200 JBL they have the twin ports, and there's some
light damage to the veneer. I'll post some pictures later this evening but from what i've been reading
there's several ways to re-finish these.. Stain with a sealer, oil rubbed, and oil with a wax? once i get pics up
i'm sure someone will have an answer as what to do, also one drive got damaged during my last move and
the cone is ripped, Parts Express said they can re-cone it. are they fit to do the job? i think they are the LE15B drivers.
thanks!

[Mr. Widget]

Welcome to the forum.

I've never heard of anyone using Parts Express to repair a speaker, but if they are JBL factory authorized, then expect to pay well over $200 for the proper recone kit with labor. There are cheaper aftermarket kits, but I would stay away from them.


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[hjames]

Hi to everyone, I just joined over the weekend and have been looking through 100's of postings about
some beautiful speaker systems! I have a set of L200 JBL they have the twin ports, and there's some
light damage to the veneer. I'll post some pictures later this evening but from what i've been reading
there's several ways to re-finish these.. Stain with a sealer, oil rubbed, and oil with a wax? once i get pics up i'm sure someone will have an answer as what to do, also one drive got damaged during my last move and
the cone is ripped, Parts Express said they can re-cone it. are they fit to do the job? i think they are the LE15B drivers.
thanks!

I'll have to check the basement at home, but my L200s came with the original LE15 (or LE15B - not sure) drivers. I replaced them with the 2234 drivers and put the old drivers in boxes beside my workbench.
The previous Owner in Philly (where I got them from) had used a Philly shop to redo the surrounds on the LE15s ... I can check them tonight and post pix if you want to buy them as a matched pair. I'm at work and I'm not sure if they are LE15s or LE15Bs ...

[Mr. Widget]

I'll have to check the basement at home, but my L200s came with the original LE15 (or LE15B - not sure) drivers. I replaced them with the 2234 drivers and put the old drivers in boxes beside my workbench.
The previous Owner in Philly (where I got them from) had used a Philly shop to redo the surrounds on the LE15s ... I can check them tonight and post pix if you want to buy them as a matched pair. I'm at work and I'm not sure if they are LE15s or LE15Bs ...L200s never came with LE15s or LE15As. They originally came with the fabric surrounded LE15B and then the later L200B came with the 136A woofers.


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[Pyromarty]

I've talked to the guys at PE and they have done several of the LE15B woffers ( he said )
Hjames, i would be interested in looking at your drivers you took out, do send pics or post them that would be great!
my day did not go as planed so i'll have to get my pics up tmmr, truck broke down and had a sick kid today :(
repair cost on the drivers the guy said would be around $140us ea
Either buying some from a member would be great, and i'm not opposed to repairing also! i might just like having a second set. (might score a set of cabs!)

[hjames]

L200s never came with LE15s or LE15As. They originally came with the fabric surrounded LE15B and then the later L200B came with the 136A woofers.

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These came in the 4320s I got in Philly back in 2005 - they migrated with the LE85s into the first set of L200 Cabs I got, then came out when I swapped the 2234s in their place when I first changed them to 3-ways with the 2405 slots and Giskard's 4333 crossover ...
Busy night with the election and other issues - I'll have to check them out tonight and get the exact part number!

[Mr. Widget]

I've talked to the guys at PE and they have done several of the LE15B woffers ( he said )

repair cost on the drivers the guy said would be around $140us ea You should ask them if that is the price for an aftermarket or JBL kit. The price seems too low for a genuine JBL kit. If it is a genuine JBL kit that comes with a warranty, then you should go for it. That is a very good price.


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[Pyromarty]

heres the pics

[Pyromarty]

Other pictures of the L200, The driver looks to be hit with something and tore the cone :)
I'll check with PE tmmr about the re-coning and see what they say, if it's not factory where can i get it done
correctly?
thanks!

[hjames]

Ouch - that looks like my first pair of L200 Cabinets ... they had apparently gotten wet at some point and, I think,
had been been in unheated storage and frozen. The MDF had split on some of the edges and separated -
some of the hardwood edging was coming loose too.
The cure was finding a better pair of empty cabinets later on ...

[roads31]

Greetings,

I agree with Seniorita James, maybe look for a better pair of cabinets. I have done a fiar amount of cabinet touch-ups and light repair and have found that the separation issue could be problemattic and the extensive staining that can be seen in your pics is going to be impossible to remove. There are several ways to lessen it but not remove it, in my opinion. You could consider keeping the cabinets as long as they are structually sound and settle on a painted finish, the studio versions had a painted finish.

My 2 cents, have fun.

[toddalin]

My cabinets were much worse. Lots of glue, wood filler, and several coats of paint. Then came the modifications to add the long horn, more height, and internal volume. I did new grills and dyed the side panels to match. The front trim/lip was so bad (and even busted out and missing on the lower portion of one cabinet), that I had to make a new piece, fill in the gap, and round out the edges.
http://www.largescaleonline.com/eimages/lsolpics/Team_Member_Pics/toddalin/New_Revised_L200.jpg

http://www.largescaleonline.com/eimages/lsolpics/Team_Member_Pics/toddalin/Concrete_Rocks/JBL_001.jpg

[Pyromarty]

Those look pretty darn good Toddalin, i'm going to try to re-finish what's there and if that fails then i'll have to go some route like you did,
where did you get your Grille fabric from?

[toddalin]

Those look pretty darn good Toddalin, i'm going to try to re-finish what's there and if that fails then i'll have to go some route like you did,
where did you get your Grille fabric from?

Thanks. IIRC, the grill cloth came from Orvac Electronics.

http://www.orvac.com/

[Pyromarty]

Ok so after a few busy weeks i was able to sit down and talk to the repair guys at Parts-express, They informed me that
what they use is an aftermarket re-cone kit, also stating that they have done dozens of LE15b recones. I looked on the net
for a re-cone kit that is JBL OEM but i haven't had any luck and speaker exchange website http://reconingspeakers.com/products-page/brands/jbl-le15b-15-aftermarket-recone-kit/ says the JBL oem is no longer available..
i've asked for before and after pictures of the LE15b repairs they have done and i am just waiting for the email.
what do you guys think about it? for 100$ i'm pretty willing to take the plunge.

[hjames]

Aftermarket refoam kit for a pair of JBL 2235 (another common 15 inch woofer) is $30 from Rick Cobb - a reputable known vendor.
I have to wonder what you are getting if the whole aftermarket cone is $100 ... I'm guessing that is each ...
Is that the parts cost for the $140 recone job you mentioned earlier? Which would be $280/pr for aftermarket refurbs.
Plus shipping - and hoping they pack them well.

That's getting near real money ...




Ok so after a few busy weeks i was able to sit down and talk to the repair guys at Parts-express, They informed me that
what they use is an aftermarket re-cone kit, also stating that they have done dozens of LE15b recones. I looked on the net
for a re-cone kit that is JBL OEM but i haven't had any luck and speaker exchange website http://reconingspeakers.com/products-page/brands/jbl-le15b-15-aftermarket-recone-kit/ says the JBL oem is no longer available..
i've asked for before and after pictures of the LE15b repairs they have done and i am just waiting for the email.
what do you guys think about it? for 100$ i'm pretty willing to take the plunge.

[Earl K]

> Given some recent comments from Edgewound , I'd send the pair out to him .

> The problem with the Le15B ( 2216 ) is that it's a transducer that JBL was so embarrassed about, that they refused to acknowledge it's mere existence & include it in any of their TS publications ( & that suggests a whole lot to me about it's deficiencies ).

> IOW, I'd want a ultra-savvy reconer who would suggest a way to improve upon the stock performance of the LE15B ( & then build up from there ).
> Maybe the 2215A parameters would be useful ? .



:)

[Pyromarty]

Yes from parts-express it's 105$ each they said, the 140 original was for a different model (before i knew what mine was)
so should i bag the LE15b drivers and find a better driver? or just see what happens? :)

[hjames]

Yes from parts-express it's 105$ each they said, the 140 original was for a different model (before i knew what mine was)
so should i bag the LE15b drivers and find a better driver? or just see what happens? :)

Have you asked Edgewound what HE would suggest??
I'd do that first, then figure what your options are from there ...

I bumped mine to the 2234H drivers, cause I had a spare pair - so my opinions are colored ...