acquired a pair of JBL Olympus with S8R kit

[frank23]

Today I bought a set of feeler blades, 0,01mm thick as used when adjusting car engine valves. If these cannot go between the gasket and the wood plate, nothing can. But the drivers seem to not give way, the force needed to insert the blades is so that the builder must have put glue between the gaskets and plate, otherwise how can they be so stuck?

So I have a few possibilities:
- leave them as they are and sell them on with the "unable to dismantle" message
- whack the drivers out risking damaging them, but being able to use the cabinet
- whack the cabinet and maybe end up with some pieces of wood stuck to the drivers, but being able to reach them a little better

I think I'll investigate that. I can always build in a new baffle piece.

- or, be patient, and do it 0,01mm at a time, only I am not that patient, I think...

[frank23]

Ok, I did it the patient way. And it worked, despite some blood from my finger, but ok. There wasn't any glue, they had just overtightened the chassis somewhat into the wood at the mounting points it seems. Knowing this, the other chassis will be easier to get out I think. I now know what to work at.

So the first LE15 is out, and it looks fine. Apart from the very hard surround.

[mech986]

Ok, I did it the patient way. And it worked, despite some blood from my finger, but ok. There wasn't any glue, they had just overtightened the chassis somewhat into the wood at the mounting points it seems. Knowing this, the other chassis will be easier to get out I think. I now know what to work at.

So the first LE15 is out, and it looks fine. Apart from the very hard surround.

Great, when I read your post, I figured no one would glue the speakers in, that would just be nuts. The metal ring still doesn't make much sense unless the person might have been considering an 18" driver and wanted a template or something.

If there is any damage to the cork gasket, new ones are available from ebay, and maybe JBL Pro parts (2215 woofer I think). As for the surround, yeah, they'll be pretty much stiff. If you plan to recoup, then leave them as is for the collectors.

With the woofers and passive out, maybe now you can look inside out in the grille to see how its attached, and unattached! Good Luck!

[frank23]

Double good news! Yesterday I finally managed to take the speaker apart. It turned out the baffle could be removed as a whole by tilting it backwards. So now I can reach everything and clean it, and see how I can modify it to be able to handle it easier in the future. I'll probably make a new baffle as the old one is delaminating a little.

But now to the very nice news. Today I found the following in the mail, sent to me by the family that I bought the speakers from:


A letter dating from october 1968 with an offer by Ad. Auriema, Inc. from New York for delivering two JBL Olympus with the S7R kit to Suriname stating they were "pleased to read that the buyer enjoyed the JBL Olympus speakers so much during his stay in Amsterdam". The prospective buyer had mailed JBL and JBL had forwarded the inquiry to Ad. Auriema. The cost including an amp would have been 1999 US$. Furthermore there are several brochures in one of which all S8R components are marked out.

Eventually the buyer selected the S8R kit and had the cabinets built in Suriname after the JBL drawings you can see (5 A2 size leaflets). As the S8R kit was substantially more expensive than the S7R kit, maybe having the cabinets built was a way of saving a little? The family moved to the Netherlands in 1974 I think I was told (as Suriname used to be a Dutch colony). The speakers probably came with them.

I haven't seen documentation like this on the website before, so if there is any interest in adding this to the library I'll be happy to see if I can have it scanned whole.

[ivica]

ps., I found the PDF with the N7000 circuit on this forum, but I can't find the LX5 circuit. There is something strange with the search engine as it does not give any results for "lx5" and a combination with "circuit" "pdf" or "schematics" does not give me the result I need either. But someone has thanked Giskard for the circuits once, so the LX5 circuits must be here somewhere!

May be helpful.
Regards
Ivica

[frank23]

Thanks, schematic 1 and 3 are the ones I was looking for. 2 and 4 are of a different LX5, a speaker so it seems, not the LX5 crossover.

I am now pondering over how to get my 2235's in neatly as I want to leave the LE15's as they are for now (with the hardened surround), but stil would like to have them play, just to hear them.

[frank23]

Time flies… It has been over a year since I got these. And still haven't got to getting them to play. My daily E145/2123/2420/2344 combo for me is just too good to contemplate another setup. So should anyone like a complete S8R kit, send me a PM :-) .

[martin2395]

Hey Frank,
Nice to see another JBL freak from the Netherlands!

Why not trade the Olympus for a studio monitor?
In Japan they can sell for such crazy prices that you could probably be able to buy a 4344 or even a 4345 for.

If cou can't dismantle the drivers just leave them as they are, I think that collectors would prefer them in untouched condition.

[rford]

Hey frank, Can you tell me how to remove the backs on the Olympus speakers. Thanks

[frank23]

The backs of factory JBL Olympus cannot be removed I think. You have to take off the front grille and then remove the drivers from the front. These cabinets I have were made to order in Suriname at the end of the 1960's for the original owner.