Speaker Safari

[80sKid]

Wow what frustration to see those BP10's go to another home
Def Tech makes great speakers, *especially* the BP tower series.

But you pretty much made up for it with the Leslie speaker find. It may not give you the same enduring pleasure as the BP10's would, but it should put a nice chunk of money in your pocket, and make some organ player happy!

Those MiniDiscs will probably be wanted by some radio station somewhere, that hasn't converted to computer audio yet. Put them on ebay and I bet you'll get some decent money for them.

[SEAWOLF97]

Drug one of these home today ... gotta see if I can figure out some use for it ...else CL fodder.

http://www.pcrecording.com/laylarev.htm

[SEAWOLF97]

. had never heard a pair , expected improved L100's , but they are actually somewhat laid back, like the 250ti's.
PO had pulled the woofs (need refoaming) , 044Ti's need reshaping from rear and mids need dustcaps , but the teak cabs are actually in good condition.
Missing grilles.
I wired the woofs back in (PO had lost the bolts , but I have some spares) , but even in this setup/condition,they show lots of promise.
Think they will turn out nice. That gives me 3/4 of the Ti series.
Had answered the ad at 3 PM and he called during dinner , so we took off for Beaverton. Rather shabby rental house . Some story about them coming from deceased brother , but the price was right (and I got a receipt)
Looks like another project for this winter .

[80sKid]

Nice find! Those are rare, in my experience. They're like a prett-ified version of JBL's studio monitors.

I've never had the pleasure of hearing the famous 250 / 250ti towers myself (but have wanted to for 20 years). Am I right that you characterize them as having a laid-back sonic balance?

[SEAWOLF97]

Nice find! Those are rare, in my experience. They're like a prett-ified version of JBL's studio monitors.

I've never had the pleasure of hearing the famous 250 / 250ti towers myself (but have wanted to for 20 years). Am I right that you characterize them as having a laid-back sonic balance?

It is VERY smooth and balanced sounding , none of the drivers are overpowering. No "West Coast" sound here. The very smooth and capable 044Ti tweet has never been in a studio monitor that I can recall .
At first the 120 seems bass shy, but the catch is ..the bass IS there , but not present unless the program material actually calls for it.

Played my dubbed from LP to MD copy of The Temptations "Papa was a Rolling Stone" last night. Didn't want to get too loud as 1 of the woofer surrounds has a hole/tear . Yes, they are capable of producing tight bass. When I had Jubals , they seemed bass heavy, with poor control , the 120's just are more natural and they get it right. The Jubals, I'm sure would have benefited from being up on stands, but they have built-in pedestals that make it difficult.

the L65's didn't stay around long. Between the sizzling 077 and the bass, I felt they had more value in resale than in my system. Do think I'll keep the 120's tho. As far as I can gather, they seem like the pinnacle of JBL 3-way , 12 inch LF'ed bookshelves (save the rare Century Gold @ $5000 MSRP)

"Cides ...I really like the teak in the TI series.

[SEAWOLF97]

. waiting for the double sided tape to release. last time it was abt 2 hours.

looking at the cabs a little closer , I can see some small edge repairs and there were many small scratches.

So I lightly sanded them , stripped out the drivers and did them up in Mandarin Teak stain. Covered really well.

Even the OL (who is missing her "beautiful speaker appreciation chromosome" ) , came by and remarked "choi oi. those will turn out nice"..

[macaroonie]

Tom ' I'd have thought that you would have special little custom made teak wedges for your 044 op's.

Boxes are looking promising. Nice

[SEAWOLF97]

Tom ' I'd have thought that you would have special little custom made teak wedges for your 044 op's.

Boxes are looking promising. Nice

Thanx Mac ... I got the 044Ti's done last night (reformed & new foam) and reinstalled. My screwdriver pry technique didn't work this time. After 4 hours I gave up and looked up my old thread on this subject for exact location of the tape*. Then I took a knife blade and measured how far under the plinth I could go w/o doing damage. Marked that distance with electrical tape on the blade. Ran it around a couple of times and they released.
Gotta go down to the speaker repair shop today and get some glue so as to start on the woofs.

After further listening (even with poor surrounds) , I've been impressed with them. Really good imaging and separation , suspect that they have very good networks.
Did a forum search on the model and after abt an hours readings, figure that they will be keepers. Giskard/4313B also seems to like them a lot and that reinforces my assessment , tho on subjective topics ... my pleasure is the final arbitrator.

* http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?29325-044Ti-questions-Help-needed


LATER: I started stripping the old original JBL foam from woof #1 (the one with a hole/slash) it was still pretty rubbery. Pulling the lip away from under the cone , it didn't break and I was able to get the entire thing off the cone in 1 piece ... that's a good luck omen ..never had it happen before.

[SEAWOLF97]

.
so the second woof wasn't such a piece of cake. Some PO had refoamed 1 driver only and had used a lot of glue. Didn't come off as easy and foams broke instead of stretching when trying to get them off in big chunks.
glue was really hard and I spent a good 2 hours of heavy duty scraping to get it clean enough for the lip to lay flat.
The PO prior to me thought that he'd refoam them (he could barely spell J-B-L) and so he'd pulled off and destroyed 1 of the 4 sections of the rubberish foam that covers the surround lip on the basket top.
I had another dead JBL 12 incher with 4 good pieces (what do you call those ?) , so I carefully removed them and did them a good cleanup. These are the kind with center hole for the mounting bolts, where the originals had the bolt holes at the ends where they join. Doubt that anyone will notice different styles on the 2 speakers.
The baskets also have exposed raised edges about 1/4 inch wide around the outer edge. They were grungy and discolored , so I scraped them down and buffed too.

Anyhoo , glue is drying overnight and I'll reinstall tomorrow. haven't yet heard them as they should be, but it's been fun getting dirty hands again.

worked on : HFs, MFs , LFs & cabs , but not sure if I want to fab grilles.

[jblnut]

I have 120Ti grilles gathering dust...no reasonable offer refused :-)

jblnut

[SEAWOLF97]

Wow what frustration to see those BP10's go to another home
Def Tech makes great speakers, *especially* the BP tower series.

But you pretty much made up for it with the Leslie speaker find. It may not give you the same enduring pleasure as the BP10's would, but it should put a nice chunk of money in your pocket, and make some organ player happy!

Those MiniDiscs will probably be wanted by some radio station somewhere, that hasn't converted to computer audio yet. Put them on ebay and I bet you'll get some decent money for them.

I read the STEREO REVIEW Julian's writeup of the BP12 and always wanted to actually hear a pair. But the 120ti's may make up for it ..
The Leslies weren't here.
Have sold some of the MD's, tho I'm not trying very hard. There are other dedicated users that may appreciate them more than a casual audio buff ..scattered around...just gotta make contact.

I have 120Ti grilles gathering dust...no reasonable offer refused :-)

jblnut

sent an email ,,thanx for reply.

[80sKid]

Thanks Seawolf for sharing your thoughts on the JBL 250 I always enjoy reading your adventures here.

[SEAWOLF97]

Thanks Seawolf for sharing your thoughts on the JBL 250 I always enjoy reading your adventures here.

I retired 13 years ago at 52 and now am an avid bike rider. Here in Portland, the important things seem to be craft beers, exotic coffees, bikes & records (and by extension ,,, stereo systems). My bikes get used 365, and I usually hit thrift stores and garage sales.

I acquire so much, that a lot needs to get recycled through CL. And so I get a lot of experience with gear passing through my hands. Because of that , too many pairs of speakers came my way. Learning woofer refoaming even sped up the acquisitions. Was going through so many surrounds that we went to the factory in Asia and filled up my suitcases with rings. They are like 20 cents each over there.

oh yes, the 120's....bought them Sunday and today , Friday they are done and playing right now , definitely keepers. I may even have some grilles on the way , thanx to a generous forum member.

here is final picture. (yeah, not final location yet)

[hjames]

They really look fine Tom - you do great work!

[SEAWOLF97]

They really look fine Tom - you do great work!

thanx, I didn't mention the big issue in the rehab.

The Ti domes were both crushed in. I have opened and straightened those before. The first one got reformed with no problems. Figured smooth sailing on the second too. Nope.

The interior foam plug had turned sticky , and it stuck hard to the pole piece and to the dented dome. When I carefully lifted the HF plinth off ..it made a bad sound. The Ti got pulled down by the foam and made a crack. I re-rounded it from the backside, but there was about 1/8th inch where the crack was that I could now see light through it. F*ck.

Not too much problem. i have 2 extra 044ti's and put them away in a secure location. Went
to where I remembered that to be ...NOPE. Tried 4 or 5 alternates...No Joy. Yeah, I have 2 spares , but can't find them. Too secure.
That morning I had been reading bike tips on the web. They said that if you get a tire cut and don't want to leave it open , drop a little Superglue into it.
Hmmm... so I put a drop on the inside of the dome where the light passed and a drop on the outside of same location. figured that it may get me by until I can locate the spares.

Well, heck ...it works pretty well. Tried today at higher gain and it still held up. No, it's not the permanent fix , but will get it done till the replacements present themselves.

As you know ... ya gotta pick your battles (rehabs). I'm not going to put 10 minutes of work into bose's or JBL Radiance's. But these 120ti's had a great driver load and gorgeous cabs. Even having never heard them , it was a good bet to put 4 days work into these. I've been asked if these are for flipping/reselling ? Nope. Even if the better half gives me crap, they are staying here ..plus I got her to emotionally invest a little as she accompanied me on the purchase and knows what their starting condition was ...