L200B retro help

[moray james]

I just today got a set of JBL L200 B. These are in need of some TLC. The woofers are 136A and the foam surrounds are gone. I have found the cost for new foam kits at around $75.00 plus postage. I have not yet found the cost of a full recone kit. I am wondering if there are options possible where I can recone with a better cone/suspension and effect an upgrade all in one fell swoop. So my first to do is to find out what are the possible options and get the woofers up and running. Next on the list will be fresh capacitors and cabinet brace work. I am also curious to experiment with some Karlson K-Tubes in place of the horns and lens. Thanks in advance for suggestions and any and all information or direction. Best regards Moray James.

PS: these are the first pair of JBL that I have owned so I am very excited about this project.
PPS: I am willing to re foam but I would very much prefer not to have foam surrounds so my request for re build/upgrade to a whole new cone with an accordion suspension. just don't know if one is available for the 136A of if I would need to find new drivers.

[hjames]

I just today got a set of JBL L200 B. These are in need of some TLC. The woofers are 136A and the foam surrounds are gone. I have found the cost for new foam kits at around $75.00 plus postage. I have not yet found the cost of a full recone kit. I am wondering if there are options possible where I can recone with a better cone/suspension and effect an upgrade all in one fell swoop. So my first to do is to find out what are the possible options and get the woofers up and running. Next on the list will be fresh capacitors and cabinet brace work. I am also curious to experiment with some Karlson K-Tubes in place of the horns and lens. Thanks in advance for suggestions and any and all information or direction. Best regards Moray James.

PS: these are the first pair of JBL that I have owned so I am very excited about this project.

Sounds kind of steep for surround prices - for a bit over half that you should be able to get a pair from Rick Cobb -
[email protected]
([email protected])
A number of folks on the Lansing list recommended him highly - Since then I've gotten a number of surround kits from him over the last 8 or so years and I'll recommend him as well!

My main JBLs are a heavily tweaked pair of L200s 2234 woofers, 2441 mids on the smith horns and a pair of 2405 slots on top -

Good luck with your project!

[moray james]

Sounds kind of steep for surround prices - for a bit over half that you should be able to get a pair from Rick Cobb -
[email protected]
([email protected])
A number of folks on the Lansing list recommended him highly - Since then I've gotten a number of surround kits from him over the last 8 or so years and I'll recommend him as well!

My main JBLs are a heavily tweaked pair of L200s 2234 woofers, 2441 mids on the smith horns and a pair of 2405 slots on top -

Good luck with your project!

Thanks Heather I have contacted Rick an I am awaiting his reply. Best regards Moray James.

[moray james]

I will get the ne foam kit and refoam the 136A. in the mean time just for kicks I dropped a pair of 2226J into the cabinets. After about 3 hours of swings in the sound quality things kind of stabilized, its been many years since these 35 -40 year old speakers were built and fiv4e or more since they were even played. I have to say that the tweeter horn and driver are excellent and even with ancient crossover parts they still extract so much detail I am mucho impressed with these drivers. I am still thinking that I would like to have a woofer with an accordion suspension and not have to deal with foam surrounds. What would be the best choice for a substitute woofer then? I am guessing that the 2235 would be on the list? Which woofer will yield the lowest bass extension and which will sound the best at crossover? Just what to know what my options are and would also like to know what is going to be the average cost of these drivers? Thanks for the input. Best regards Moray James.

PS: just wondering if any of the tuner guys here could tell me what tuning I am getting with the 2226J in the L200B cabinet and also how much lower the 16 ohm driver shifts the crossover point?

[DavidF]

I just today got a set of JBL L200 B. These are in need of some TLC. The woofers are 136A and the foam surrounds are gone. I have found the cost for new foam kits at around $75.00 plus postage. I have not yet found the cost of a full recone kit. I am wondering if there are options possible where I can recone with a better cone/suspension and effect an upgrade all in one fell swoop. So my first to do is to find out what are the possible options and get the woofers up and running. Next on the list will be fresh capacitors and cabinet brace work. I am also curious to experiment with some Karlson K-Tubes in place of the horns and lens. Thanks in advance for suggestions and any and all information or direction. Best regards Moray James.

PS: these are the first pair of JBL that I have owned so I am very excited about this project.
PPS: I am willing to re foam but I would very much prefer not to have foam surrounds so my request for re build/upgrade to a whole new cone with an accordion suspension. just don't know if one is available for the 136A of if I would need to find new drivers.

Moray, sticking with the confounded foam surrounds may be the best all 'round recommendation. The enclosure and network tuning are set for that woofer. Generally speaking the JBL accordion suspension models are used in the higher-efficiency pro or musical instrument applications. Not to say you couldn't adapt such a model but it would more than a drop-in sort of solution. So then you may look to non JBL but you will face the same concerns about the L200 spec'd to a specific woofer.

The 2235H is likely the closest to the 136 in terms of sensitivity and acoustic frequency response. More so since that is the recommended replacement model per JBL. Still a foam surround however.

I know that the L200 enclosure has been a common target for alternate designs so you may find some searching on the topic worthwhile. Adding an ultra high tweeter (2405) and rigging in a L300 network is a good start. Some still prefer the two-way approach and just avoid the inference caused by the different length of the wave paths between the mid and short tweeter horns.

If you haven't looked around the prices of the typical JBL drivers and replacement diaphragms you may be a bit surprised, at first.

Were the slanted horn lens included with the systems?

[moray james]

David: thanks for the information. I had gotten confused and had myself under the impression that the 2235 was an accordion suspension so since it is not you are absolutely right re foaming the 136A is the best option the cones look perfect. I would like to see the 136A back to new and have the opportunity to listen to the L200B with all Alnico drivers.
I am curious which of the high efficiency 15 inch woofers which will run to an 800 Hz crossover point and has a low end as low or lower than the 2226J I am using at the moment? I lengthened the L200B vent to about 9 inches and the bass sounds better now. I know that asking for a woofer this size to run out to 800 Hz and down into the 30's is a tall order I would like to know which drivers come the closest. Are there any similar woofers but with accordion surrounds (other than the 2226) that would be similar to the 136A in balance? I think that if I were going to ad a tweeter I would be considering one of the magnesium Fostex units.
Yes the L91 lenses were with the speakers and they are in perfect condition. I listened to them facing down and facing up. I raised the speakers to get the horns at my seated ear level. I can't say that I much like what the L91 do to the sound and much prefer listening to the horns without the lenses. Thanks so much for the Post Davis. I expect that I am in for an eye opening (more than I expected) with respect to the build and design quality of these fine components, I find the LE85 to be a sweet open tuneful involving tweeter that is very easy to listen to. Best regards Moray James.