Help! my D130f cuts out..Is it dead?

[CB1988]

Hello all! I come to you looking for advice as it is a sad day for me. I Think that one of my old jbl drivers is about to kick the bucket.

I have a pair D-130fs that I've owned for about a year and until recently both were working great. Then a few weeks ago one of them started mysteriously cutting out. Some days it works without any hint of trouble and other days it has no output at all. I've checked it with my DMM periodically and found sometimes it shows a DCR of 0 (when it has no output)and other days (when its working) it is right where it should be. Something like 8.1 or so.

I have never abused my speakers and have no warning before it cuts out. I'm often listening at normal volume and then all of a sudden it just cuts out. Then if I give at a try the next day it might work great. or might not. When it is working there is no distortion that I can detect. I have rotated it inside the cab twice now and it seemed to help for a short time. I have tinned my speaker wire leads to avoid shorts and of course have the polarity hooked up right (pos to black) As far as I can see the tinsel leads look ok.

Original 21057 cone too.

Any thoughts on this guys? Or do I just need to except the fact that my speaker will be dead soon? Any insight is greatly appreciated!

[edgewound]

Hello all! I come to you looking for advice as it is a sad day for me. I Think that one of my old jbl drivers is about to kick the bucket.

I have a pair D-130fs that I've owned for about a year and until recently both were working great. Then a few weeks ago one of them started mysteriously cutting out. Some days it works without any hint of trouble and other days it has no output at all. I've checked it with my DMM periodically and found sometimes it shows a DCR of 0 (when it has no output)and other days (when its working) it is right where it should be. Something like 8.1 or so.

I have never abused my speakers and have no warning before it cuts out. I'm often listening at normal volume and then all of a sudden it just cuts out. Then if I give at a try the next day it might work great. or might not. When it is working there is no distortion that I can detect. I have rotated it inside the cab twice now and it seemed to help for a short time. I have tinned my speaker wire leads to avoid shorts and of course have the polarity hooked up right (pos to black) As far as I can see the tinsel leads look ok.

Original 21057 cone too.

Any thoughts on this guys? Or do I just need to except the fact that my speaker will be dead soon? Any insight is greatly appreciated!

It will be dead sooner or later. That fine specimen is nearly 50 years old. The expansion and contraction of the aluminum voice coil wire can play funny tricks on you. It might have stress cracks in any number of places along the coil winding that can expand and contract with differing weather conditions/temperature or maybe the solder joints at the cone's voice coil eyelets are failing. Lead wires can be replaced but it's not a simple fix and tin/lead solder wont work. It's an aluminum solder joint.

The best thing to do is recone it with a new E130 recone kit and recharge the magnet. The end result is equivalent to a K130.

[Mike Caldwell]

Take the speaker out of the cabinet, connect it directly to amp and feed it some signal preferably some test tone. While sending the signal move each of the tinsel leads around all the way from the terminal to the cone and see if the moving the leads causes the speaker to cut in and out. The tinsel leads have cloth fiber in the center of them, the copper conductors can break but the fibers will still hold the lead together.
Also check the terminal connection itself make sure the screw is snug that holds the terminal. The problem may also be at the eyelet in the cone where the voice coil leads join the tinsel leads, if that's the case it will be under the black epoxy type glue on the cone that holds the voice coil leads down. The break in the voice coil lead could be under the dust cap as well. All of the above can be repaired with some surgery to the speaker, if it's something intermittent in the actual voice coil windings your most likely looking at a recone job.

Using a test tone signal to trouble shoot with makes it easier to hear some intermittent problems.

Let us know what you fine.
Mike C.

[CB1988]

Thanks for the replies guys! I'll pull it out of the cab tomorrow and take a good look at the areas that you suggested Mike. I'll post my findings.

I am well aware that JBL has produced far better speakers than the D130f But its something about that tone and that make them special so I'll stick with it and see what I can do. It really bums me out that this one is on its way out.

@Edgewound I have heard that reconing will change the sound dramatically, If I decide to get it reconed with an E130 kit will I loose the awesome character?

[subwoof]

remove the speaker, connect a signal source to it while it's face up on a table and gently manipulate the leadwires. Their failure is a very common issue and can be easily repaired by the likes of edgewound and other EXPERIENCED jbl repair centers...

Have done my fair share of them and it's something wonderful about that vaporizing black glue that makes the eyes water..

[grumpy]

That DCR of zero is telling... something is shorting... not going open like a broken tinsel lead.
Might check both terminals relative to the frame...

If it wasn't such a nice/"vintage"/sought-after driver, I'd say crank it until the short smokes itself
or the driver blows. Not sure there's much to be done short of a recone (getting under the spider
to have a peek almost demands the old cone assy comes out). I certainly -hope- you find something
accessible and external to take care of the problem!

[edgewound]

Thanks for the replies guys! I'll pull it out of the cab tomorrow and take a good look at the areas that you suggested Mike. I'll post my findings.

I am well aware that JBL has produced far better speakers than the D130f But its something about that tone and that make them special so I'll stick with it and see what I can do. It really bums me out that this one is on its way out.

@Edgewound I have heard that reconing will change the sound dramatically, If I decide to get it reconed with an E130 kit will I loose the awesome character?

You're welcome.

It really becomes a matter of taste, what you're after, what you're using it for. In most all cases the sound is an improvement because it's more controllable and a bit warmer and cleaner without being shrill. The cloth surround gives a bit more excursion for better bottom end and also a bit less cone break up...not to mention way more power handling. But in all...it's a matter of taste.

If you're using it for guitar with a tube amp, the amp will have more tonal control while still maintaining the character of a JBL. It's more workable from clean to dirty and all points in between.

I have yet to hear anyone say that tone was ruined by reconing a D130F with an E130 kit. Just the opposite as a matter of fact. Pedal steel players love these because of the tonal control. For guitar, they can be as sweet and smooth as honey or downright in-your-face Godzilla ripping. You tell it what to do and it does it.

Hope that helps.

[Mike Caldwell]

I guess I was assuming his 0 DCR was his way of saying no measurment as in open. A complete dead short O ohms that's intermittent would be kind of odd, maybe the bushings on the terminals are cut through to the frame, tinsel leads touch together or the frame at the same time. A major voice coil rub could short it out but I think you would be hearing it when it was working.

[grumpy]

Could be... If so, ignore (almost) all I said

[CB1988]

You're welcome.

It really becomes a matter of taste, what you're after, what you're using it for. In most all cases the sound is an improvement because it's more controllable and a bit warmer and cleaner without being shrill. The cloth surround gives a bit more excursion for better bottom end and also a bit less cone break up...not to mention way more power handling. But in all...it's a matter of taste.

If you're using it for guitar with a tube amp, the amp will have more tonal control while still maintaining the character of a JBL. It's more workable from clean to dirty and all points in between.

I have yet to hear anyone say that tone was ruined by reconing a D130F with an E130 kit. Just the opposite as a matter of fact. Pedal steel players love these because of the tonal control. For guitar, they can be as sweet and smooth as honey or downright in-your-face Godzilla ripping. You tell it what to do and it does it.

Hope that helps.

It might sound a little odd since they are "technically" guitar speakers. But I've been using mine for home audio. I went for the F's over the standard D130s for their slightly better power handling. I have been running them full range up until just recently. I'm experimenting with an Ewave setup AK style to tame the ringing at the top end. Well I'll look around tomorrow and see what I can find out. Will keep ya posted.

Thanks again guys! Heck this is like my third or fourth post and I feel like I belong here. Awesome community of knowledgeable folks

[edgewound]

It might sound a little odd since they are "technically" guitar speakers. But I've been using mine for home audio. I went for the F's over the standard D130s for their slightly better power handling. I have been running them full range up until just recently. I'm experimenting with an Ewave setup AK style to tame the ringing at the top end. Well I'll look around tomorrow and see what I can find out. Will keep ya posted.

Thanks again guys! Heck this is like my third or fourth post and I feel like I belong here. Awesome community of knowledgeable folks

Well....I hope you can save your vintage treasures.

Just be assured that if they need a recone, they will be substantially improved with the updated E130 recone kit. Your Zilch E-Wave project would be a great beneficiary.

[CB1988]

Update: Sorry for the late update, I was goofing around yesterday and didn't get a chance to mess with the speak. I did have some time to look around today and here's what happened:

I'm happy to report that my D130f lives! Out of curiosity I decided to check the DCR before pulling the speaker out of the cab. negative DMM lead in ok. Positive lead in and then SPIN! It seems the terminal was loose from the frame! I guess in previous trial and error it was just tight enough to make a connection. This time however the weight of the DMM lead was too much and the terminal broke loose enough to spin. I can't believe I didn't catch this earlier! Funny how the simplest things can cause the biggest problems! Got it torqued down and it is good to go, Just have to pop it back in the cab and listen to some tunes. Sure glad it wasn't anything serious.

Thanks for everything guys!

[Eaulive]

Have done my fair share of them and it's something wonderful about that vaporizing black glue that makes the eyes water..

Oh yeah!
Freaking terrible.

[edgewound]

Update: Sorry for the late update, I was goofing around yesterday and didn't get a chance to mess with the speak. I did have some time to look around today and here's what happened:

I'm happy to report that my D130f lives! Out of curiosity I decided to check the DCR before pulling the speaker out of the cab. negative DMM lead in ok. Positive lead in and then SPIN! It seems the terminal was loose from the frame! I guess in previous trial and error it was just tight enough to make a connection. This time however the weight of the DMM lead was too much and the terminal broke loose enough to spin. I can't believe I didn't catch this earlier! Funny how the simplest things can cause the biggest problems! Got it torqued down and it is good to go, Just have to pop it back in the cab and listen to some tunes. Sure glad it wasn't anything serious.

Thanks for everything guys!

Hey....nice job!

Glad they're ok.