Newbie with water damaged JBL L65

Hi! I was told to that y'all were the ones to talk to about my find.

Long story short, someone sold me a pair of L65s for 200 dollars off craigslist. Told me there was some light water damage to the bottom of one of the cabinets and the woofers had been replaced.Well, I jumped at it, of course, but upon getting there I realized something horrible. The "water damage" was from years of being sprayed by a cat. The fabric of the damaged one was so rank, I ripped the cover off and threw it away before taking them inside. So what do I do? (Pretend the smell isn't an issue, I'm getting a little success with odor removers)

I'm thinking my options are: build a new base for the damaged one and accept the cosmetic damage, try to sand down the face of the damaged one and repaint it, or somehow replace the whole front.
What's the best course of action? Only one of them is damaged, the other is basically pristine, both have unscratched glass, gorgeous veneers, etc. Someone took really good care of these before the cat got to one of them.

Also, I know the woofers are super clumsily replaced. If anyone recognizes them (unlikely, I know) that'd be cool. they're in with machine screws, and I don't relish the idea of taking them out unless y'all think there will be a definite improvement from putting better ones in. The bass doesn't sound bad, just a little... hollow maybe? Muddy?


Thank you so much for any assistance.

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It's been awhile since I had my L65's, so I don't remember exactly what a JBL 122 looks like, but I think your woofers may have just been refoamed and somebody cowboyed the proper fasteners. Pull one, or both, and look at the back of it.

The grille cloths and frames from the L65 and L55, which are the same, come on the market pretty regularly.

However, unless you are really into arts and crafts it's going to be a lot of work fixing that cabinet, and though I'm not fond of parting out JBL's, I think you've a clear candidate for that. The odor you mentioned may never really completely go away, and it's not . . . it's not going to help the atmosphere of your home and could be a real mood spoiler.

Financially, you've done very well.

L65's are favorite targets of the dismantlers thanks to the coveted tweeters, so if you're not in a hurry you can probably find decent cabinets and grilles for cheap. Test and refurb the drivers as needed, place into some parted cabinets with good cosmetics, and you've got yourself a set of classics for 1/3 or less the market price.

That does not look so hard to fix up. Remove both bases and build new ones , generally they are 1.5 - 2" so dressed timber cut to size and screwed in place . Paint black.
You have some damage at the bottom right corner but it doesn't seem to have swollen so make sure it is dry and fill any little gaps with bondo , sand back to flat and a dusting of Krylon matt black. Mask the wood veneer while doing this.

A good wash over with naptha should clear out the smell and will also clean the wood , then a light sand with 320 - 400 grit , then a moist cloth with naptha again to lift the dust.

The finish is oil , I think there is a product in the US called Howards something that does a great job here.

I would remove all the drivers and at the same time check that the polarity is correct on all the units. The wire with the black stripe should go to the black terminal in each case. Willing to bet that one of the bass units is the wrong way round.

I'm with dave , looks like a poor re foam job.

You will need to get creative with the grille or buy replacements.

Lots of good close up pic's helps the folks in the gallery see whats up , then the good advice will come ( Field of Dreams )



Good luck