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Thread: Restoring JBL Fiberglass Horns

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    Senior Member maxwedge's Avatar
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    Restoring JBL Fiberglass Horns

    Reference thread: http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...s-and-brackets
    Pictures before and after in order, and beware there's a lot of elbow grease involved. I tried some mild paint removers but it was damaging the fiberglass. Ended up wet sanding with 320, 400, 600 and 1500 and then polishing with some Meguiars polish for plastic headlights. Later I'll fix the corners, sand with finer paper and use a fiberglass specific product (check out boating restoring supply web sites). I happy, so instead of looking like trashed horns they look like taken care of JBL horns!


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    Senior Member maxwedge's Avatar
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    Senior Member maxwedge's Avatar
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    After Sanding




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    Senior Member maxwedge's Avatar
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    Polishing






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    Puts a whole new spin on "That'll buff out"

    Nice job.

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    Senior Member richluvsound's Avatar
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    They have come out really nice ...

    Rich

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    Senior Member maxwedge's Avatar
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    Thanks.
    You know when your past the paint and into the fiberglass when wet sanding because you can smell the resin. For some crazy reason I've always liked that smell!

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by maxwedge View Post
    Thanks.
    You know when your past the paint and into the fiberglass when wet sanding because you can smell the resin. For some crazy reason I've always liked that smell!
    Makes me itch just thinking about it.

    They did turn out nice... how do they sound? You might want to mass load the rear of the horns to dampen the resonance of the fiberglass.


    Widget

  9. #9
    RE: Member when? subwoof's Avatar
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    coax tweet

    I buffed out a pair of 2352's way back when and made a thin steel bracket across the face and put a 2404 tweeter centered on it. Behind the tweet magnet I added a foam cone ( tapered ) to diminish the mid reflections and *think* the crossover was about 5K but sadly the notes and pics went with the customer...

    Each bass cabinet was a quad 15 ( 8" cardboard tube vents! ) with 2225H's powered by a crown delta2000...biamped with a 5235 at 800HZ and a crown PS400 for the HF.

    MAN that was fun to listen to...

    Nice job on the fiberglas - next time I play with those horns I will take them to a corvette body shop....


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    Administrator Wardsweb's Avatar
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    Great job! Thanks for the picture progress. I never thought of using plastic polish before, good tip.

    Now the 2405's need some sprucing up. Here is my post on refurbing mine.

    http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...IY-2405-refurb

  11. #11
    Senior Member maxwedge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    Makes me itch just thinking about it.

    They did turn out nice... how do they sound?


    Widget
    I'm really happy with the sound and comparing to my past horns, the 2352 does a very good job in the vertical plane. My listening position is only about 12 feet away from these and whether I stand up or sit down there's not much difference. With the others there was some loss one way or the other. The 2447's with Be diaphragms helps too


    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    You might want to mass load the rear of the horns to dampen the resonance of the fiberglass.
    You mean wrap the horns with something? I suppose I could build a box and fill it with sand? I'm going to need to redesign and build new boxes anyway coming up, I hope by next year.

  12. #12
    Senior Member maxwedge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by subwoof View Post
    I buffed out a pair of 2352's way back when and made a thin steel bracket across the face and put a 2404 tweeter centered on it. Behind the tweet magnet I added a foam cone ( tapered ) to diminish the mid reflections and *think* the crossover was about 5K but sadly the notes and pics went with the customer...

    Each bass cabinet was a quad 15 ( 8" cardboard tube vents! ) with 2225H's powered by a crown delta2000...biamped with a 5235 at 800HZ and a crown PS400 for the HF.

    MAN that was fun to listen to...

    Nice job on the fiberglas - next time I play with those horns I will take them to a corvette body shop....

    I had been toying with the idea of making a cone shaped cover to go on the back of the slots, like a 60's racing mirror. I'm still in ghetto mode so foam or a rag will have to do. I need the slots low because of my nearness to the seating position. Your system sounds like it was killer. I still have 4 2225's from the late 70's that sound really good.

    Thanks

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    Senior Member maxwedge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wardsweb View Post
    Great job! Thanks for the picture progress. I never thought of using plastic polish before, good tip.

    Now the 2405's need some sprucing up. Here is my post on refurbing mine.

    http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...IY-2405-refurb
    Thank you. You know, I think you can use regular auto wax on these fiberglass horns and that's all the boat guys do, although there's marine versions of the wax and I'm not sure what the difference is.
    Yeah, my slots need work. I remember your thread and I was very impressed.

  14. #14
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by maxwedge View Post
    You mean wrap the horns with something? I suppose I could build a box and fill it with sand? I'm going to need to redesign and build new boxes anyway coming up, I hope by next year.
    That would work, but sand can be very messy. I would pack modeling clay or something like that on the rear surfaces.


    Widget

  15. #15
    Senior Member grumpy's Avatar
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    Received a pair today, well packed and in expected condition.
    I can only hope these turn out as well as yours.

    Thanks again for the pointer (and to the seller), as well as documenting your
    refurb choices and steps.

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