250ti Maintenance Questions

[villastrangiato]

I have a pair of 250ti limiteds (original owner) and was wondering what the current availability of 035tia diaphrams, 104H and LE14H-1 recone kits is? A few years ago, I had a power surge mishap that wiped out the tweeters and a couple years before that, I had to recone/refoam the woofers. Finding a decent service company in New England proved to be an exercise in futility and frustration. A company in Weymouth, Mass. totally botched the woofers after they tried to fix the mess New England Speaker (Stoneham, Mass.) made of them. Eight months later, the fine folks at Brandywine Electronics in Maryland reconed the woofers - making them actually work for a change (the dopes in Weymouth, Ma. sent me back a woofer with the voice coil clearly audibly rubbing against the pole piece!) But I distinctly remember Brandywine having trouble locating the LE14H-1 recone kits - like there was only one left in the country at the time (on backorder). Is availability of parts for this flagship speaker still a problem? One of the reasons I was originally attracted to JBL stuff 30 years ago was first rate service and support from a nationwide network of trusted, experienced dealers - my have things changed! I was also hoping to locate a source for the 104H midrange recone as it appears on one of the drivers the cone is starting to lift from the surround edge in one spot - maybe this should just be glued back.
Also, in my travels to find 035tia recone kits, I errantly picked up a few 035ti recone kits from a JBL service guy in New York who was going out of business. Still have one of these new in the original box that I'll be selling on ebay unless someone here buys it first.

[rdgrimes]

Orange Co Speaker is a good source for proper kits and service. You can buy 035ti tweeter and 104H mids on the Bay for pretty cheap. The LE14H-1 re-foam kits from Orange Co are an exact fit and easy to install if done properly. There's no reason to re-cone any of these drivers unless the coils are FUBAR. If you don't mind spending a tad more, PM "Edgewound" on this forum and he can do the work for you also.

As an alternative, you can ship the 250ti to me and I will do all this myself. I'll be sure to send you a thank-you card too!

[villastrangiato]

After comparing the job Brandywine did reconing versus the previous two fools' "refoaming" jobs, I've become convinced that reconing is really the best way to service these. Since my Kenwood KR8050 died many years ago, I've been driving the 250's with a new Crown MA2400. The current capability of that amp is phenomenal and with the subsonic filter on the PL-2 preamp deactivated, on some older close miked recordings that have been transferred to CD - the woofers look like they're going to bust out of their baskets. I've been told by Bruce at Brandywine and have learned through hard experience that coil/spyder/surround alignment of the LE14H-1 is critical - especially given the excursions the driver is capable of. Besides, the way I see it, although the spyders are more durable than the surrounds, it's nice to be able to restore them to original at the same time. I've also heard that one advantage this unit has over the older Alnico designs (like my old L19's) is that at rebuild time - you can re-energize the ferrite magnet - thus with a recone and magnetic charge up - you essentially have a completely renewed unit at or near original factory specs. I didn't buy these second hand. I paid top dollar for them in the early 90's and am willing to pay a good price to continue maintaining them as I still believe there is nothing sonically superior out there at any price. I've compared these to everything from B&W to Mirage to Martin Logan. Everything else, while providing comparable tonal and imaging capabilities, has suffered in a very important and overlooked respect - compression. After nearly 20 years of ownership, I have still not found a single speaker system that is superior in overall tonal balance AND dynamics - most compress the signal noticeably - particularly close miked stringed instruments, woodwinds, and voices. The only speaker line I haven't heard yet is Revel - although from what I've been told - those are JBL products dressed up in fancy clothes for people with more money than brains.

[opimax]

Have you looked into 14-3 woofers? Rubber surrounds! Approved by the designer of the speaker as a drop in . I have them. Look into Charge coupling the Xover also

Mark

[villastrangiato]

Yup Mark,

I read elsewhere in the forums that the 250 enclosures will accept the LE14H-3 so I suppose that will be an option when the time comes - too bad though - if the vital dimensions are similar (cone, voice coil, spyder sizing) it would make sense to build a recone kit that fits all LE14H units. But alas, what do I know - I don't own a huge multinational spitting out new components and product lines every two years that will become obsolete the following year. I'm sure Harman has done a lot of good for companies like Crown, JBL, and Infinity. But I just wish it would respect what made these companies special institutions in the field of sound reenforcement/reproduction - durable, well made products backed up by equally long lasting and competent service. If the trend towards product line proliferation and obsolescence continues - I'll be putting my 250's up for sale on ebay - replacing them with B&W 801's sooner than later.

Anyways, does the charge coupling really make that much of a noticeable difference? How much work is involved? Does anyone have a kit set up with instructions for those willing to take a soldering iron to the crossover?

[JeffW]

The strange thing about the 250ti

In the Engineering Standard, it lists the 033ti as the tweeter.

In the Technical Manual, it lists it as an 044ti.

Looks like they changed the tweeter somewhere along the line. I popped the backs off my cabs to see which I had, they are the 044ti. You say you've replaced yours, so you would know what's in them, I guess I'm just posting to point out to other 250ti owners that they might have a different tweeter than they think they do.