L250 -> 250Ti Upgrade and Differences
Hi All,
I've been gone for a while but I'm glad to see the forum is up and running again! Anyway, on to my questions...
I was lucky enough to find someone willing to sell me a pair of L250's about 6 months ago. I've spent a lot of time now getting to know them and I must say they are quite an impressive pair of speakers. Not perfect though and that brings me to the point...
Last week I stumbled across someone selling all the parts to upgrade an L250 to 250Ti on ebay (kinda surprised that I didn't read about it here first). Everything is included - both 044Ti's, both upper mids and both 250TI crossovers complete with the Monster Cable. It didn't reach the reserve but the seller and I reached an agreeable price, so the parts are on the way.
I'm curious to know if:
1) Has anyone here ever gone through this upgrade before ?
or
2) Has anyone heard the L250 and 250Ti and would be willing to comment on the differences ?
I am hoping this upgrade smooths out the upper mids some, and takes care of the volume linearity problem my L250's seem to have. By that I mean that if I get the sound adjusted perfectly for lower volumes (using either the attenutators in the back or an EQ), it doesn't sound right at higher levels (too much highs, not enough lows).
I'm also excited because the newer crossover allows bi-amping/bi-wiring. I was doing this with my XPL140's and it (despite my skeptical anticipations to the contrary) did make a noticable difference in clarity and soundstage.
Anyway, thanks much for any responses. I'll be happy to post my results here if there is any interest.
Craig (aka jblnut)
Re: L250 -> 250Ti Upgrade and Differences
"I was lucky enough to find someone willing to sell me a pair of L250's about 6 months ago."
Lucky you! :)
"1) Has anyone here ever gone through this upgrade before ?"
Yes, a few times.
"2) Has anyone heard the L250 and 250Ti and would be willing to comment on the differences ?"
Yes, I've A/B'd them. The 250Ti not only measures "better", it actually sounds quite a bit better as well. LF seems tighter, midrange a bit cleaner, HF and UHF significantly smoother with greater efficiency and lower power compression. UHF response improves, going from -6 dB at 18 kHz to -6 dB at 27 kHz. BIG difference if you listen to vinyl.
"I'm also excited because the newer crossover allows bi-amping/bi-wiring."
Sounds fishy, no biwire or biamp ability with the N250Ti. Are you sure someone isn't sending you the N250Ti BQ and a pair of 035Ti's instead of the N250Ti's and 044Ti's?
What is the network then ???
Thanks again Giskard !
Now the real mystery - what exactly is that crossover network
and what was it used on ? It looks a lot like the one on my XPL140's, but of course those say "XPL140A" on them. It would certainly appear to be a 4-way crossover and it does say "JBL 250Ti" on it.
Any ideas ? ? ?
If it fits, I think I'm still going to do it. I *love* the high end of my 4410's and now that I just did some research, I realized that's the 035Ti in there. I know the 104H-2 will be an improvement over the paper LE5-11 so the upper mid swap is a no-brainer.
It's just down to the crossover now....
jblnut
Re: What is the network then ???
Well, it's some version of the 250Ti network, I just don't know which one right now.
Parts are here, close but....
Well the parts arrived today. Here's the story...
035TI - simply will not fit gracefully into a L250 cabinet. It's designed to be screwed in from the front but the 044 in there is anchored from the back. No real easy way to make this one fit - damn.
104H - no big deal, easy replacement.
Crossover - not exactly a great fit, but no too far off either. It will fit into the space where the attenuation "bars" are now with about 1/16 to spare on each side (easy fill with some silicone).
So, my dilemna now is - where to get some 044TI's ? No sense swapping everything out and leaving the old 044's in there. Does anybody have leads/prices on what a pair of 044Ti's would run?
Thanks again for all the help !
jblnut
:(