L166 Resurrection

[Goldjazz]

Just got these Horizons today from a nice lady who was the original owner. She got them in Sydney in 1980 for $1500 which is a hell of a lot for back then. She says she used to live in a big old house in the country and loved these L166's and would blast them.

Status:

- Drivers All good, even dome tweeters are untouched. Just need to refoam the woofers.
- Cabinets. Not great, stain has faded plenty scratches, but corners are not too banged up. I'm thinking of proceeding with no re-veneering them but restoring the existing veneer. Any thoughts on this?
- Grills, on of the grills may be restored to ok I think, though one of the egg crate shapes is pushed in and I may be able to get it ok, but on the other grill there is at least one hole. Anyone restored these grills or know where any spares can be had?
- X-overs. Will perform a full recap, anyone done this on L166's? Any recommendations?

Looking forward to getting these babies alive again and comparing them to the other JBL's I've owned (4311's, 4343's, L110's, and L65's)

Will try to document the resto as I did with my 4311's...wish me luck :)

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[Triumph Don]

I have had very good results with Watco Danish Oil after a cleaning of the cabinets. Don't know the availability down under though. Looks like a great project-keep us posted please!

[Goldjazz]

I have had very good results with Watco Danish Oil after a cleaning of the cabinets. Don't know the availability down under though. Looks like a great project-keep us posted please!

Thanks, will do. Did you strip back the old stain, or sand at all before applying the Danish oil? Thanks.

[Triumph Don]

Those cabs look like they will need at least a light sand.

[Goldjazz]

Just had a go at one of the cabinets. The light sand and danish oil have generally done the trick, there's a few deep scratches and some dark patches (ink?) that I can't seem to get out but I think I'll just let them be.

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Both 066's are good, though a little tarnished.

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122A's are mint just need a refoam

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One LE5-8 has a hole in the cone unfortunately, the other is perfect. Is it possible to Recone these? If anyone has a fresh one they'd like to sell please let me know.

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[Goldjazz]

Man I'm glad they made the X over attachment screws accesibly from the outside without removing the foilcal (unlike the 4311s I did)

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Will dexoit the pots. I'll source some fresh caps. Anyone recapped the X-over and have any recommendations? Will probably get some decent binding posts as well.

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[4343]

Those cabs looked as bad as the ones I have before you put them through the sand/oil process. Maybe I should schedule them for some of that! Dark patches can sometimes be lightened with diluted bleach, but I know nothing about how to do that, just passing on something I read on the interwebs...

[Goldjazz]

Dark patches can sometimes be lightened with diluted bleach...
Thanks i'll look into this further.

[SEAWOLF97]

I've had 3 pairs ... one L-166 & two 166 A's ... heard no difference.
My grilles were dull & dirty . Shot some STP spray cleaner on them
and they cleaned up and sparkled like new. EZ refoam.

One of my pairs is now in Sydney. Kinda regret selling them.

MUCH preferred over L100's . If the opportunity arose, I'd certainly
grab another pair.

[Goldjazz]

I've had 3 pairs ... one L-166 & two 166 A's ... heard no difference.
My grilles were dull & dirty . Shot some STP spray cleaner on them
and they cleaned up and sparkled like new. EZ refoam.

One of my pairs is now in Sydney. Kinda regret selling them.

MUCH preferred over L100's . If the opportunity arose, I'd certainly
grab another pair.

Thanks for that tip re the grills. yeah I'm looking forward testing them against my 4311's.

[Goldjazz]

My dodgy "spray cabinet"

[/ATTACH]63880

Removing the velcro tabs reveals a little blue string on both cabinets, a marker to center the velcro tab?

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Masking the cabinet....

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[SEAWOLF97]

Thanks for that tip re the grills. yeah I'm looking forward testing them against my 4311's.

this is the stuff I used , maybe something similar down there ?

I had the L166's shortly after selling my 4412's and somebody asked how they compared ...I found them very close, preferring the Horizons 51 of 100 times. Felt they had better bass, where the 4412's have only marginally better HF over the 066 ..which despite being older, is no dud.

The 166's cab\veneer is much better and I enjoyed the grilles.

OK ..google found that post http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?17712-Speaker-Safari&p=192903&viewfull=1#post192903

[Goldjazz]

[QUOTE=SEAWOLF97;369739]this is the stuff I used , maybe something similar down there ?

Thanks, will take a look. Yeah i'm pretty excited to hear them. 4412's are on my list, they do pop up from time to time down here. But this is the only pair of L166s ive seen down here for the past few years.

Yeah I really like the grills. A bit bummed that there are a couple busted egg crate peaks. I cant think how to fix that. I was tempted to make a mould and get some perforated abs sheet and have a go. Will do it if there are a few other that need grills.