LE8T-2 (Aquarius IV) recone problem

[Dave G]

That price is fine and fair.

Harman UK should be able to repair these and charge the time allowed in JBL repair costs PDF as available on the JBL pro site. If you had an account with harman you could get these with some sort of discount but perhaps they will be nice to you and not charge for the actual work, just the recone retail cost.

Anyway they should give you a total cost of the work before preceding VAT and all. That is not rocket science for them to do?

Then a authorized repairer on here can say if that is a accurate and fair quote. Doesn't sound expensive to me but JBL is the only speaker worth repairing to me

[Luke_A_P]

John,
that is not a bad idea I will suggest that he considers using them as surround speakers just refoamed if he does not fancy paying to get the new cones.

I think if you tweak the levels a bit they will probably work fine for surrounds speakers once they are refoamed. They wouldn't make a reference home cinema setup but I guess they would do for a normal domestic rig.

Good point about the weight on top, with the way they are constructed excess weight could break the speaker mounting. I'll mention that to him.

Luke

[droh]

Reviving an old thread here, but I'm interested in restoring a pair of Aquarius 4s. Does anyone havbe a tech sheet on this model? It looks like the appropriate recone kit is the C8R2115 - does anyone know if those can still be obtained?

[speakerdave]

Originally posted by droh
It looks like the appropriate recone kit is the C8R2115 - does anyone know if those can still be obtained?

Yes.

http://www.jblproservice.com/pdf/Tra...rts%20List.pdf

[4313B]

Well look at that! Someone must have ordered enough to cause JBL to rethink supporting them! Price went down too!

I wonder if another archealogical dig was made somewhere...

[John Y.]

My AQ4 replacement specs from JBL home show that the LE8 has a foam insert under the dome (provide rigidity for dome loading?).

Anyone familiar with this, and can verify the need?

John Y.

[ian r]

I have just purchased these
http://https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JB.../273123598113?

and havent collected or heard them yet.

so i wonder what i will find and will i need to resuscitate this thread, again

The description states the tweeter are now Bolivar units... that suggests to me the seller may have been the owner or has had occassion to look inside the cabs...

The Bolivar range is unknown here in Scotland so i dont know if its going to be kosher or not but I assume Bolivar are upmarket items from my little knowledge so far.

my first post

[macaroonie]

Hi Ian , welcome to the forum.

Bolivar was an el cheapo range offered approxlate 70's - early 80's

The tweet mentioned is probably a physical and sensitivity match , no more than that.

I had a pair of AQ for years , walnut , they had a good thing going on , good looks and for an 8" a pretty punchy sound.

I'm in Drymen btw

[droh]

Hi Ian,

Welcome to LansingHeritage.

I couldn't get your ebay link to work so wasn't able to read the description or see any pics. I'm not familiar with Bolivar drivers so can't say much about the "upgrade." I'm not sure why someone would upgrade the tweeters, it seems to me that would change the characteristics of the speakers a lot. But maybe the LE20 drivers had a problem and that was the only replacement they could find. But LE20s do show up on ebay a lot so you could revert them back. One big concern I would have is whether the diffusers that fit in front of the tweeters are still there.

The other thing you will want to check out early is the condition of the surrounds, if it's still the original Lansalloy then those are going to need to be replaced, that is one issue that will significantly impact the sound of the speakers.

Let me know if you have any specific problems or questions. I have now done a full restore on four pairs of these, feel like I know them like one of my kids.

Dave

I have just purchased these
http://https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JB.../273123598113?

and havent collected or heard them yet.

so i wonder what i will find and will i need to resuscitate this thread, again

The description states the tweeter are now Bolivar units... that suggests to me the seller may have been the owner or has had occassion to look inside the cabs...

The Bolivar range is unknown here in Scotland so i dont know if its going to be kosher or not but I assume Bolivar are upmarket items from my little knowledge so far.

my first post

[SEAWOLF97]

I'm not familiar with Bolivar drivers so can't say much about the "upgrade."

Have had a couple pairs of Bolivars . Mac is right, they were cheapos. coffee colored vinyl on chipboard,stamped frames on LF's ... were like a L36 copy. AFAICR they had a 10 incher or 8..

Seems they were produced in Bolivar, Tenn. ???

https://www.google.com/search?q=boli...ih=526&dpr=1.5

[ian r]

Hi Ian , welcome to the forum.

Bolivar was an el cheapo range offered approxlate 70's - early 80's

The tweet mentioned is probably a physical and sensitivity match , no more than that.

I had a pair of AQ for years , walnut , they had a good thing going on , good looks and for an 8" a pretty punchy sound.

I'm in Drymen btw

in the age of Aquarius i lived in Boquhan and Killearn...stirling Uni..

great to hear

Im in wilds of east ayrshire near Glenbuck growing trees!

[ian r]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JBL-Aquar.../273123598113?


i have hopefully got a working link now.

EDIT

from the sellers ebay

"S109 Aquarius 4 Speakers. A pair of classic floor standing speakers in fair condition for their age (circa 1974). Would benefit from some restoration. The speakers comprise of two drive units, the tweeter unit housed in the top cabinet and the bass unit housed in a lower ported enclosure. Note the tweeters are not original JBL units (believed to be Bolivar). Also includes two glass tops."


Thanks for the welcoming remarks, lovely.

I have researched all the Aq4 and LET8h threads and i have used the dreaded Wembleyrecone
firm mentioned early on when restoring Mark 1 Linn Isobariks.

I agree they used a one shot suits all needs approach which I felt reflects the fact they were PA specialists not hifi buffs.

so I have restored some monsters in my time. These JBLs are for my wifes studio flat if they prove viable. I expect she will mostly use speakers for background music and films and radio. Ideal omni land ....AND will have light artwork on top of them in no time...

As you can now see hopefully from the photos the diffusers are present and generally the rest are said to be in good order except for white veneer lift on the edge which some heat, glue and filler followed by spraying should fix.

I learnt recently that rosewood veneer is no longer legal <CITIES?> to harvest so its just as well they are white

I will enquire on pick up as to why the tweeters were changed.

I have not found much on the xovers on the forum except that they have been found melted ...in some cases here....ho la fun ahead

I have see the recone kits mentioned here AND located ONE JBL recone kit for the LET! It may also suffer from foam rot given its age..

I hope this project wont take long as im also moving house soon! Thanks for the encouragement

[macaroonie]

If you buy existing RW veneer stock in the UK and do not plan on exporting then you are OK

However this guy has some veneers you may find interesting

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/maruwoodven...p2047675.l2563



He has Santos in sizes that would suit but do ferret around in his shop , loads of tasty stuff.

That's white ebony BTW.

[ian r]

If you buy existing RW veneer stock in the UK and do not plan on exporting then you are OK

However this guy has some veneers you may find interesting

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/maruwoodven...p2047675.l2563

He has Santos in sizes that would suit but do ferret around in his shop , loads of tasty stuff.

That's white ebony BTW.

wow, quite a find and thanks for clarification re rosewood

[ian r]

Home after the 500 mile trip to pick em up....

You wont believe it

The seller was a retired elctrical engineer whose family firm was the agent for JBL.... he has reconed the LET8 himself ...which was his speciality in his firm which was called Coast Electronics, based in Conwy and I think he said another shop in Bangor- both in Wales UK.

so they are in much better nick than the photos suggested, in his desire to be candid he took the most critical photos possible of the very slight veneer lift

They have been in his possession since the 1970's when a customer never picked them up after a the tweeters were replaced ...with an economic option ....bolivar tweeters...

however the firm were also agents for Tandberg, Sonab, JBL ...i think he said AR and a range of pro PA speakers.... suffice to say they were no fools

Later i will get them out of the car and share the manufacturing numbers etc

AND

plug em in.

Thanks be.