L26 questions

[Wardsweb]

I have a pair of L26's that I started to take apart this evening and noticed a couple things. I think someone has seriously messed with these.

One tweeter is an orange surround LE25 and says so on the JBL label on the back. The other says the same thing but the surround is black like a LE25-2. Is the black tweeter an LE25?

Next I had to pry the drivers out as they were basically glued in with some kind of reddish sealer. Did JBL ever use a latex caulk kind of sealer or just the thin foam rings?

Last the fiberglass batting has black overspray. Could this have been done at the factory or was the batting put in after they were painted?

[Robh3606]

Well I have L25 Primas and the Le-25 were reconned a couple of times over there life. The original had the yellow, turns orange with age, surround. On the recone they came back with black surrounds. One could have been reconned. The woofer where in mine with a gray putty almost like plumbers putty . Needed a prybar to get them loose. I have some overspray in mine. Never seen the red stuff but???? Never know? Post a photo if you can.

Rob

[Wardsweb]

Here ya go

[Robh3606]

Well the grey stuff is there. That didn't happen to me pulled a little partcle board up but nothing like that. Wonder if the woofer were redone?? My last recone for them was about 10 years ago. Just had to refoam them about 2 years ago. I don't think that red stuff should be there. That Sucks!!

Rob

[Wardsweb]

Kind of weird, the foam is totally shot, but it looks like the dust caps have been reglued with some black stuff.

[Wardsweb]

here are the tweets

[Wardsweb]

and the back

[Wardsweb]

and the dust cap

[Robh3606]

Well that's what I got when the tweeters were reconed. Could be whoever did the last foam job went by the shim the Voice Coil method?? Who knows just guessing now?? Hope that particle board isn't that bad. Those are nice 2 ways worth restoring. At least for me I always liked them.

Rob

[GordonW]

Well, the LE25 and LE25-2/LE25-4 list different reconing kits (one for the LE25, another for the '-2 and '-4 models), but I've never tried to install one kit into the other frame. IME, I've never noticed a functional difference, and have seen LE25s, LE25-2s AND LE25-4s ALL installed (apparently from the factory too!) in different pairs of L26 and L36 models. Apparently, they don't make any sonic difference, which version is in there, AFAICT...

Also, you're not alone in having a pair of L26s with one "red surround" and one "black surround LE25. I can vouch, they measure IDENTICALLY, and sound the same. As many of these pairs left the factory, apparently, with one red and one black, it must have been just that JBL had two different fabric suppliers in those days, that just happened to use different colors for the same parts... as they readily used the two as interchangable...

Regards,
Gordon.

[4313B]

Originally posted by Wardsweb
Next I had to pry the drivers out as they were basically glued in with some kind of reddish sealer. Did JBL ever use a latex caulk kind of sealer or just the thin foam rings?

Not that I've ever heard of. The 125A/127A used a thin paper gasket as did the LE25's.

Originally posted by Wardsweb
Last the fiberglass batting has black overspray. Could this have been done at the factory or was the batting put in after they were painted?

Yeah, I've seen black overspray on the fiberglass in many factory fresh enclosures.

[Wardsweb]

Ok here is what I started with. The color is a bit off as the grills are orange.

[Wardsweb]

Here is what I have now after refoaming the drivers, polishing the basket lip and refinishing the cabinets. You can see the actual color of the grills peaking up behind the speakers.

[Wardsweb]

Here is a pic with one of the original tweeters installed. I just taped the DIY foam ring inplace. I'm buying a matched set of tweeters and have factory foam coming for them.

[andresohc]

Sweet, I have a pair in the garage. Ther are in about the same shape as yours came in but unretouched, disintegrated from age. You are getting me motivated to start on these