L100T's Thanks to Heather (hjames)!

[svollmer]

You know, participating in a forum such as this is really cool because of all the technical information one can gleen and all the great ideas that are passed around. But what's really neat is how you can meet some really great people who can make your day.

Case in point is Heather (Hjames). As you can see in another post, a group of us met in Tyson's Corner yesterday to check out the Harman traveling demo truck. I had been meaning to email the group over the past few weeks to let them know I'm in the market for a pair of L80T or L100T as a "fixer upper" project for me and my oldest son, Liam. When making the preparations to meet via email, Heather told me about a pair of L100T's she was thinking of getting. I told her that if she decided to not purchase them, or if she wanted to resell them later (at market value), I'd be happy to grab them.

We discussed it a little more when we all met in Tyson's. Later in the afternoon, Heather called me and mulled it over and offered to let me buy them directly from the seller because she thought the father/son fixer upper idea was cool. Of course, I jumped at the chance.

Oh yeah, I didn't tell you the price. Only $100!!!!!!!

Well, the seller was only about 12 miles from my house. I just got back from picking them up and they are really nice and are going to be a great project pair of speakers. Here's the skinny:

Woofers: Both are in fine mechanical shape, but need new foam and a little cleaning. No biggie, a Rick Cobb special will be ordered ASAP.

Mids: Both are in very good shape; just need a little cleaning.

Tweeters: One is working and is in good shape. One is not working, but I haven't had a chance to see if it's blown or if there's some other reason.

Cabinets: They have some small chips on them and a couple scratches and water stains, but hey, these are project speakers! We might build new ones out of MDF with more bracing or we might re-veneer them. Liam would like them to be black ash. If anyone knows how to do a proper black finish to ash, please let me know.

Grills: One grill has a few broken pegs. If we make new cabinets of different dimensions, this will be a moot point. But Liam had a great idea that we'll try if we just we reveneer the cabinets. Since the grills are just lightweight plastic, he suggested we cut off all the grill pegs and glue on magnets. Then we could put the opposite magnets under the new veneer! Cool idea!

JBL Decals: I'll post pictures below, but you'll note that the JBL decals on the backs are different from each other. One is a darker black, is textured, and has the serial number printed on it. The other is smooth, lighter black, and has no serial number. There's a white paper sticker on the input terminal with what I think is the serial number for that speaker. So, they're either a miss-matched pair from different manufacturing runs, or maybe one is a Chinese knock-off?

Crossovers: I'm thinking of upgrading them to T3 status. At a minimum, I'll replace all the caps with better quality ones. And, I'll improve the internal wiring just because it will be easy and inexpensive.

If anybody has any cool ideas, please let them flow!

And a GREAT BIG thanks to Heather from me and Liam.
!

[svollmer]

[hjames]

What a grin on Liam's face - great!
That's the whole point - glad to see it works out so well ...

Those cool Revel in-wall speakers we saw had Magnet grills - Liam's got a great idea!

Any other ideas - yep!
Move the ports to the front! Rear ports mean the have to stand proud of the wall - and take up more room than they need to!
I haven't done that to my L100T/T3s yet, but it was a nice improvement to the L60Ts I had a couple years back! With them, I matched front port placement to my L20T speakers. If you use a drill saw, you can glue the plug you get from drilling the front to fill the old hole in the back!

[svollmer]

Those cool Revel in-wall speakers we saw had Magnet grills - Liam's got a great idea!

Any other ideas - yep!
Move the ports to the front! Rear ports mean the have to stand proud of the wall - and take up more room than they need to!
I haven't done that to my L100T/T3s yet, but it was a nice improvement to the L60Ts I had a couple years back! With them, I matched front port placement to my L20T speakers. If you use a drill saw, you can glue the plug you get from drilling the front to fill the old hole in the back!

Yes, he said he got the idea from the Revel speakers yesterday.

And I like the idea of moving the ports to the front as they will be in his bedroom replacing some Large Advents and the real estate is a little tight.

They'll be powered by a vintage Pioneer SX-950 receiver. The system is pretty good right now, but with these L100T's, it's going to be awesome! Can you imagine having such a cool system when you were 13? My parents would have kicked me outta the house for cracking the drywall.

Me: Dad: Mom:

[Uncle Paul]

Great father-son project! I like the idea about moving the port as well as the clever usage of the left over plug.

[BMWCCA]

I like the idea about moving the port as well as the clever usage of the left over plug.

Just like our Heather; give, give, give!

I'd repair the system as stock (with respect to the port position) and see what you think of it. The rear port on my L7s and L5s doesn't really pose a problem even when they're only inches from the rear wall, especially when angled. I somehow doubt the woofer in the L100T will be the least bit challenged in your son's bedroom! The rear port becomes an issue when you cram the bookshelf speakers into an actual bookshelf—probably why the L20T is front-ported—and on the L60T (like Heather's) simply because its woofer might need all the help it can get.

[svollmer]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

We're still mulling over how to finish them. We're now thinking that if he wants them black, we might just patch the dings in the existing walnut finish, sand them smooth and refinish black without re-veneering them first. If so, I'll probably leave the port in the back. If, however, we decided to re-veneer them, we're open to much more options and will look seriously at moving the port.

Anyone have a suggestion on how to get a nice black finish? We're not shooting for mirror black gloss. Just a nice black, probably semi-gloss. And I don't think it would hurt if grain showed through either.

BTW: Rick Cobb kits are on order!

Also, I pulled the 035Ti apart and the VC is shorted. The foam behind the dome is gooky too as others have experienced. I'll search for a used 035Ti or a beat-up pair of monitors with donor 035Ti's.

[pathfindermwd]

Looking good! I also added stainless steel screws to mine!

Glad to hear you went with the T3 crossovers from Duanage!

[duaneage]

Here is a tip for the screws ....

I use gun blue to blacken screws. It gives a great durable finish that is dark enough. Won't work on stainless or zinc. Great restoration on the cabinets, it's more prideful to restore the wood than reach for the black paint. I admit to being veneer challenged a bit, I used vinyl on the last pair I built.

[hjames]

If its stainless - you could try a black sharpie - it may be enough,or just shoot some black krylon spray paint into a cap and use a Q tip to apply it ... !

Here is a tip for the screws ....

I use gun blue to blacken screws. It gives a great durable finish that is dark enough. Won't work on stainless or zinc. Great restoration on the cabinets, it's more prideful to restore the wood than reach for the black paint. I admit to being veneer challenged a bit, I used vinyl on the last pair I built.

[svollmer]

JBL Decals: I'll post pictures below, but you'll note that the JBL decals on the backs are different from each other. One is a darker black, is textured, and has the serial number printed on it. The other is smooth, lighter black, and has no serial number. There's a white paper sticker on the input terminal with what I think is the serial number for that speaker. So, they're either a miss-matched pair from different manufacturing runs, or maybe one is a Chinese knock-off?

The drivers, grill guides, little plastic footers, and input terminals are removed. The 2214H woofers have what appear to be two different date stamps, so this might explain why the decals are different. The internal wires are also a little different; all of the negative wires have black stripes on them. I guess they are from different production runs. One woofer has " 090586 " and the other has " 060387 ".

We checked the continuity of the non-working 035Ti and we got zippo. So, I guess I'll hunt down a diaphram or replacement tweeter. Other than that, all looks well.

[wu6fiend]

Congrats on scoring a pair of L100Ts for such a fair price ($100)

I'll be watching this thread with interest. My L100Ts are among my most prized possessions, and I enjoy listening to them at least 1-2 hours each day.

With regard to the different JBL labels/white serial number label etc, I think you have a pair made up of early & later L100Ts. Strange. I own two sets of L80Ts also, and one pair has the JBL label with the serial number, and wooden base, while the other pair has the white serial number label, JBL label without serial number, and a plastic base.

With regard to the damaged grills, some owners have resorted to reattaching them with magnets or velcro, or you could do what I did, find a nice pair of original grills for sale on eBay (I think I paid $30 for them).

[svollmer]

Thanks wu6fiend. I probably won't be doing anything too extravagent, but I will document the rebuild in case it's of any help to any current or future members. And thanks for the idea on the grill. I do like the original ones and would like to keep the original look. But when I've been searching for "JBL L100T" or "JBL L100T3" on eBay, not much has been coming up. But these things come and go in waves, so I'll keep on looking.

Steve

[pathfindermwd]

Congratulations on the L100T find! I love these speakers! I have 2 sets, one with L100T3 crossovers, and another with modified L100T to T3 crossovers with L-Pads added. Duanage here did the mod. I refinished my first L100T's. The veneer was in pretty good shape, with the usual watermarks on the top from being used as plant stands , and of course the bikini tan from the grills. I decided to refinish mine with stain, here's the post with some pics: http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...ers&highlight=

Painting them black should be no problem. I would wipe them down a few times with mineral spirits to remove any furniture wax or oil from handling. Give them a quick sanding with 180 grit by hand, and patch any chipped areas with wood filler, and block them smooth with 100 grit then lightly with 180 (or similar). Wipe down again, prime them with a aerosol can of Kilz, or some other stain blocker, not more than 2 coats, and do another quick sanding with 220 or similar. Paint them by brush with an interior semi-gloss oil-based paint. Oil-based paint dries very slowly so your brush marks shouldn't be too obvious, but they will have a good luster and show most of the grain (and possibly some patches depending on how big they are). Since the paint dries slowly you want to make sure they do not get dust blown on them while they are drying. If you don't like the finish you can always wait until they are cured to sand them down again and move on to the more involved heavy primer, blocking, and spraying, which is what a body shop would probably do. But I really think you would like the look brushed semi-gloss would give you, and they are wood veneer, so it fits well. If you are opposed to brush marks you could use a mohair roller, which will make the work alot faster, but also take more paint, it should offer a sprayed look ( less some sheen) without the hassle of spraying - since oil based paint dries so slowly it lays down nicely.

I wouldn't personally go for the super-smooth "gloss" option with gloss black because though they might look cool for awhile, they are hard to keep clean, and scratches show so easily. If you really want to go that direction I would suggest a different color. White hides everything, and can be pretty dirty without showing it. Or how about Ferrari Red?

Or, how about a carbon fiber look? You can find it at a local fiberglass supply store, or use a vinyl veneer:
http://store.ijdmtoy.com/Glossy-Blac...FQd6gwodFnQvLw

There is so many ways you could personalize them. Whatever you choose, they are great speakers. Hope it's a fun project! Post back some pics for us when you are done!

[lgvenable]

It's easy to fix the chips. look at a good hardware store for the filler made with walnut dust. Use this to fill the chips, troweling the edges from each direction to make a clean edge. Follow by being patient and allowing to dry completely and sand until the surface is finished flush to the veneer. Follow by using a # 2 pencil or dark brown coloring pencil to create grain lines. You want to get a stainable filler, so that if needed use a light walnut or pecan stain to match the walnut color.

Once matched, use Watco walnut finish and enjoy your new as mint spaghetti finished wood board, but finished correctly they'll look brand new....that's my 2 cents.

I did it on the small chips in two pairs of L100T's, BTW $100 is a world beater price.