Some time ago, I purchased a pair of L100 foam grill inserts from forum member "sonofagun", which I love. Recently, I have noticed two other sellers of new L100 foam grill reproductions on that big auction site - "Foam trends" and "sculpted-foam-inovations". Does anyone know if these are two new companies, or does one of them have any connection to "sonofagun"?
Has anyone purchase the L100 grills from either of these companies and how do thier products rate?
I got a pair of the L100 grills from Lansing member "Indycraft" (ebay ID Foam-trends" - homepage - http://www.foamtrends.com/) and was quite pleased with them - he does the classic colors, and other members here have said good things about them. I opted for a new color of charcoal grey instead of the original Blue/orange/brown colors ...Originally Posted by Ralphh
See -
http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/s...7&postcount=35
as well as
http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/s...0&postcount=38
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460
the seller on ebay has changed his name a few times for whatever reason(s)...
The box below contains the User IDs that this member has used on eBay.
User ID
Effective Date
End Date
sculpted-foam-innovations
Dec-06-08
Present
foam-trends
Aug-17-08
Dec-06-08
jbl-s8r
Jun-28-08
Aug-17-08
americanwoodconcepts
Dec-03-06
Jun-28-08
I need a pair of inserts for my L100s, and I was not sure if I should buy the "Lite" or the "Collector's" series. It is a $75 difference which seems steep for just spraying more paint on them....which they said is the difference. I was not sure how labor intensive it was or if the paint is real $$. Anyone have any experience with the difference between the two?
They had orange foam on there originally, so I would like to return them to their former glory. The speakers are absolutely beautiful.....I just bought them on Saturday, but I am not sure if I am going to keep them or sell them.
If you want them to be as close to original as possible I would go with the "collector series"... I did. If you plan on using them as loudspeakers, i.e. want to really listen to them, I'd take the grilles off.
As for the cost differential? Who knows? I do know from my own experience, this foam sucks up the paint like you wouldn't believe... high quality paint is damned expensive. As for the labor, I don't know how these guys can make them and sell them painted for as inexpensively as they do.
Widget
I think you are right. I have no idea how you can fabricate an OEM product so accurately and sell it for that price...I think it is great, but I was not sure what the real difference was and if it was worth the $75. It sounds like it is.
I did not think about how much paint the foam would soak up...good point.
I just need to know where to find that orange paint so I can paint my L166 grills....hmm
I can personally say that Sculpted Foam Innovations offers a superior product - he is a total JBL enthusiast. He has been out and about lately because of a massive move to Washington state and is a serious JBL guy, enthusiast, listener and collector. He is back up on eBay right now and his products cannot be beat - most of his business is to Japan where they are really serious about their L100s - so much so he sells the grills to a guy who makes them from the ground up.
I was part of the team that helped the guys at Foamtrends develope theirs... they seem to be an exact replica of the original samples we managed to find... I can imagine both being equally excellent, but one clearly superior to the other?
Who here isn't?
Widget
Superior? Based on what measurement?
I can tell you firsthand that he was a complete flake when he wanted to buy my L100A's a few years ago and jerked me around on an already agreed to price, shipping cost and was also slow to communicate. I finally nixed the deal because I didn't feel comfortable dealing with him after all the games.
^ all true and matter of fact ^
-- potential feelings hurt comment deleted --
Does anyone know if Foamtrends has the wood stands back in stock? I contacted them earlier in the year and they said they were out of stock and would need to make another production run. I haven't heard back from them. I'll use them with my 4425's.
Little Known Facts About Sculpted Foam Innovations !!
This guy started into the L100 foam grille market by contacting forum member INDYCRAFT with the claim that he wanted to place a very large order for the foams being offered by Foam Trends. He claimed to have near 100 pairs of L100's and wanted to cut a deal for large numbers. After receiving a small number of pairs at a very discounted price, the guy dissappeared and could not be contacted.
He then copied the Foam Trends product and started selling on ebay. He made repeated claims to INDYCRAFT that he would put Foam Trends out of business. This guy was obviously skipping school during the time lessons were given for common decency, integrity and honesty.
One of his ebay names was Foam-Trends, as noted earlier in this thread. This was an attempt to improve his sales; by stealing a name that many were already familiar with. Foam Trends is a legal corporation registered with this name. It took many weeks and threats of legal action before ebay finally forced him to abandon this name.
I've seen his product and claims that it is superior to all others are false; likely being made by persons who are related to this clown or have not seen others for comparison. I own foams made by all 3 of the guys previously mentioned. I personally feel that the base foam is inferior (with smaller pours) and that he is using cheap paint - my opinion after making direct A/B comparisons.
His claims about hugh sales to the hugh L100 market in Japan are false. There is no big L100 market in Japan and nobody mass producing L100 clones. The L100 is not a big seller there. I have forwarded a few pairs of Foam Trends replacement foams to a friend in Japan but they have been a real slow sell.
As usual - my 2 cents on a subject for free.
Rick
Double Ditto! I tried his as well after buying my first pair from Bart at Foam Trends, there is a huge difference in quality and attitude. I own 4 pairs of Foam Trends grilles and am about to order 3 more!
I have a message in to Bart, I'll ask and post up the info when I hear from him.
Am I the only one that caught this?
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...lles-Available
Bit more melody might help ...
What are you almost saying?
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460
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