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View Full Version : my old jbl L96. question pls. read



danechristian
09-02-2003, 07:24 PM
hi i am new here.

i love this speakers, they were my dads favorite. he bought those speakers at around 1981 or 82. i also used them up to year 1999. in the early 2000 they sounded really bad up to a point they weren't in a good shape(bad sound reproduction, tweeter is burned up i think, the midrange produces a bad hissing or distorted sound, and the low freq driver doesnt produce good bass unlike when i first heard them). out of curiosity, i tried other speakers and put them in my reciever and they were working great. so what i did was put back the jbls but this time put the phasing of the wires in the opposite sides ( i know it is a bad thing to do, but what can u expect if a person is curious) after connecting them. tweeter produces the same bad sound as well and midrange still the same problem, but the low freq drives sounded really great.

question is what is the problem? and what causes the low freq driver to produce a superb sound even though the phases of the wires are in the opposite.

what steps shall i do? and if ever the drivers are needed to be replaced where can i puchase some?

ohh im driving the jbls with a marantz reciever old sr 1980's model gold finish

scott fitlin
09-02-2003, 07:43 PM
You should take them to a good JBL authorized speaker repair shop!

Several things may be at work here.

1. Your woofers suspensions are fatigued! reconing will work wonders here!

2. Your midrange driver is blown, the nasty sound you hear! Or an element in the passive crossover network is bad! Again, JBL authorized repair can fix this!

3. Tweeter is burnt out? You get no highs at all? If so, repair can fix this too!

You need to find a speaker repair shop that is JBL service authorized and has a GOOD reputation for quality work!

boputnam
09-02-2003, 08:36 PM
Hey, dane...

Those are great speakers, and once refurbished should/will sound stunning.

Are you handy, at all? And with a computer and digital camera? You might post some pics here, of the front of the cabinet without the grill cloths - that could help us determine if the woofer surrounds (foam suspension around the cone) are needing repair (very likely, simply due to age).

I wouldn't reverse the wiring from the amp to the cabinet, and have no idea why it sounds "better". But, skip that anyway.

Can you tell us more about the Marantz? "1980]s Gold Finish" is not too helpful, but that may not matter either. Is there a model number on the face of the Marantz? My point is, with the woofer surrounds "gone", the entire speaker can sound tortured if you are trying to compensate for the loss of bass.

Back to being handy - if you can determine the woofer suspension is gone, you can get it resurround (not so hard nor expensive) and then once that's done, retest the sound.

Scott's right - get all the work done JBL authorized. Accept no substitution, and be patient going one step at a time. There may be very little "wrong", after all.

This can and will be a very rewarding project!! :D
Keep the questions and pics coming! :yes:

4313B
09-02-2003, 08:47 PM
"Those are great speakers, and once refurbished should/will sound stunning."

I've had my pair for about twenty years. They're keepers. I've got two more pair that I rescued from destruction and have been thinking about parting out for about a year now. I keep oscillating between building a 5 channel system with five of them or just keeping my two originals and parting out the rest.

boputnam
09-02-2003, 08:56 PM
"...building a 5 channel system with five of them..."

I'll bring the DVD's, popcorn and Heinekens! :D

scott fitlin
09-02-2003, 09:08 PM
Bo, you bring the Heinees, Ill bring a couple of buckets of KFC, regular and EXTRA crispy! :D

GordonW
09-02-2003, 10:04 PM
Before carting them off to repair, I'd check out the level controls! Try cycling the controls up and down, to see if the tweeters come back on. I've seen MANY JBLs of this vintage, just have crud in the control wipers, which prevented them from passing sound... a few twists of the control knob, and things come back on. Same goes for the mids- if one of the controls is intermittent, you can get all sorts of gnarly sounding effects.

Also, if the level controls are set weirdly, it will sound proportionally weird. Make sure that the controls start out, set somewhere near the center ('0') position. Once you've verified everything is working, it's fine to make small adjustments to taste... but it's good to start with them flat, to get a handle on things...

As for the polarity thing- it sounds like possibly someone has plugged in one of the woofers backwards, inside the cabinet. Easy to do, if you're not paying attention. I'd make sure both of them are the same... unbolt the woofers, and check where the green and black wires are going- they should be matching in each cabinet...

Regards,
Gordon.

GordonW
09-02-2003, 10:11 PM
Originally posted by Giskard
"Those are great speakers, and once refurbished should/will sound stunning."

I've had my pair for about twenty years. They're keepers. I've got two more pair that I rescued from destruction and have been thinking about parting out for about a year now. I keep oscillating between building a 5 channel system with five of them or just keeping my two originals and parting out the rest.

Shoot, dood, I'd be periodically checking out the thrift stores, and see if another one pops up here and ther- that'd let you do the HT with 5, plus keep your original 2 for stereo use!

I've seen single L110s, and a single trashed 240Ti, and a pair of rebuildable L166s around here before... and have bought restorable pairs of L26s, L88s, L77s and Viscount C-36s, as well as other goodies such as a pair of vintage Marantz DS930s, AR-2As, EPI M150s and such, all from Goodwill and other thrift stores. They're out there, if you look!

Regards,
Gordon.
anything to keep them out of the landfill or from being annihilated by kids who don't know any better yet...

danechristian
09-03-2003, 01:09 AM
ty to all of your replies.

i tried to tweak the controls at the front but still dont work. so i guess those speakers are worn out. the low freq. driver's surround is in a good condition.
i cant post a photo because i dont have a digital camera, and the brochure is not in here. i left it in the philippines. but i promise to post some pics of the L96 as soon as i found the 2 channel set up picture that i took when they were still in the philippines

the speakers were in good condition physically, but the sound reproduction is the problem.

ohh the stereo reciever is a marantz sr 8200 dc.

its a 1980's model.

i wanted to fix it because i want my dad to be surprised. ( those were his first set of speakers). wanted to make him happy.

im going to call jbl about this and let them fix it.

anyway, does the new line of jbls sound good? ive seen and tested the studio seriesII, but didn't like their sound reproduction (not an audiophile speaker). what about the performace series and the tik series are they good? i havent heard them thats why.

if my dad have enough money. im sure he will buy one of those k2 speakers. lol