My "new" L250's: another back burner project, with style!!

[Doc Mark]

Good Morning, All,

As noted in another thread, a long round-trip drive, and a short, and very pleasant visit with TD, resulted in my now owning more than the basic makings of a set of L250 speakers!! Aside from a few nicks and dings, about which I already knew, the L250 cabinets are stunningly lovely!! Doug made me an offer I could not refuse, yesterday, and thanks to his kind and generous offer, I also picked up the (2) crossovers, in excellent condition; (2) 108H mid-bass drivers, in excellent condition; (2) LE5-11 drivers, in very good condition;, and (2) 044-1 HF drivers, with their mounting housings, also in very good condition, one with a dinged dome. I could not believe my good fortune, and was very happy to accept TD's wonderful offer, and became the new owner of what will eventually be a nice, working pair of L250's!! Thanks, Doug, and it was great to see you yesterday, brief though it was, and SB and I wish you guys every happiness in your new digs, once the dust settles after your move!!

So, all that remains for me to acquire are a nice pair of LE14H-1, or LE14H-3 woofers, and this system will once again do what it was originally designed to do!! I do realize that, finding such a pair of woofers is not going to be a quick and easy task, and I'm well prepared to wait patiently until those woofers come my way. In the meantime, I have a question: Though I know that the voice coil on the older LE14A woofer is shorter than those on the later variations of this great woofer, I am wondering if, until the proper LE14H-1/3's come to hand, a temporary solution would be to re-foam a pair of LE14A's, and, and use them in this system? I seem to recall reading that the older woofer rolls off a bit sooner, and therefore there may well be "holes" in the bandwidth between woofer, and mid-bass drivers. But, other than that, how would the older pair of LE14A's work in this manner? The older 14's seem to be everywhere, and for OK prices, though re-foaming them would add to the original acquisition costs. I may well have an LE14A single driver, depending on how a coin toss comes out! (More on that, later!! ). Be that as it may, what could I expect, if I used a pair of re-foamed LE14A woofers in the L250's, until a good pair of proper LE14H-1, or LE14H-3's came to hand? Thanks, very much, for your comments, suggestions, and information, Folks, as always!! Until I can get these up and running, right now, I'm just enjoying LOOKING at them!! Thanks, too, to my wonderful wife, who also loves our JBL systems, and is willing to put up with "just one more" in our home!! Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc (still smiling after yesterday's trip to see TD)!!

P.S. I will not be working on this L250 project, until the 4-way system that's been in the works for so many years, is totally completed. Nice to have another fun project on the "back burner", though!

[BMWCCA]

P.S. I will not be working on this L250 project, until the 4-way system that's been in the works for so many years, is totally completed. Nice to have another fun project on the "back burner", though!

Hah! I know what you mean. My "new" 250tis are still in the van awaiting a place in the house for them. Sad but true!

Good for T-dome finding them a good home.

[Doc Mark]

HI, BMWCC,

Thanks, Phil! Mine will have to come inside fairly quickly, as I don't want Winter to set in and still have them in the truck!! I have a place for them, and just need to do a little "shuffling" to make it ready. Then, we'll just enjoy looking at the L250s, with the drivers I got from TD, until I can source a good pair of woofers to complete the system! Are you planning to use yours as an alternative to the great 4345's you have, or in another part of the house? Or, have you gotten that far, just yet? Thanks for the shout, and congrats on getting your L250Ti's! Have fun with them, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[BMWCCA]

Are you planning to use yours as an alternative to the great 4345's you have, or in another part of the house?

The 4345s dominate their room. Nothing else can exist in there and still be claimed to have a purpose!

The 250tis will go into the "spare" bedroom which acts as my demo area and currently houses everything else like two pair of L7, an L5, L3, L1, 4412A, L96, Pro-III Plus, L80T/3, etc. The original L112s are in their bedroom where they've spent their entire lives hooked to a Mac C20 and a Crown D150. The L20Ts are hooked up to the Craig's List Kyocera system, and my daughter's room has another Soundcraftsmen system with a free Kyocera CD deck and a pile of Crown D45s with JBL LX22s. My original 030s are in storage and the "new" C35s I got for them are in a friend's basement. Another sad story is the L150As are still in storage needing re-surrounds, after several years.

There's always a project waiting somewhere. Today's a vacation day and I'm not tackling any large projects!

Oh yeah, there are also plumbing repairs I'm putting off . . .

[opimax]

Phil,

Where is your van parked? just curious....

Mark

[BMWCCA]

Where is your van parked? just curious....

Not in DC . . . at least last time I looked!

Want me to leave the keys in it for you?

At least it's a different van than the one that carried the 4345s down from Connecticut, though that one's still here, too.
No speakers in it but most likely enough stuff to send a teenager to college! It's scheduled for donation to NPR.

[hjames]

Phil,

Where is your van parked? just curious....

Mark

In the woods ... down by the river ...

[grumpy]

...next to the shed with the chainsaws and the creepy guy?

[Doc Mark]

Howdy, All,

I've been talking to Edgewound, and a few other of our forum Mates, about the woofers needed to complete these L250's and get them into action. However, as mentioned, I'm not going to jump on anything, right away, as I have other commitments for my next discretionary income. After that, I will decide what to do about woofers. In the meantime, I did come upon a solution that would allow me to listen to the L250's a bit sooner. I have thought about biamping the L300's crossed at 400HZ to the L250's, and using the internal crossover in the 250's to do the rest. That would work, and the L300/L250's would look great together, though most certainly not a permanent solution. I also have the old 4333 cabinets that Grumpy so kindly sent my way a few years ago, right before we chanced upon our L300's, in fact. I'd already decided to turn them into bass cabinets, with a spare set of 2235's, for some smaller cabinets, like 4408's, L19's, or an outboard 3-way of various components. So, they could easily be used with the L250's to add some bottom end, until I suss out the proper woofers for them.

I have options, at least, which is always a good thing. Right now, I'm reading, and learning, and asking more questions about all this! Thanks, one and all, for your help, and comments. Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[Doc Mark]

Greetings, All,

It looks like I may well have found some perfect woofers for my L250, and plan on acquiring them at year's end. But, in the meantime, I had asked a question about using LE14A woofers in the L250s, after refoaming them. I know the TS parameters are different for the 14A, but wonder if anyone has actually tried a pair of refoamed LE14A's in an L250 system? If so, what did you find and how did they function? I am eager to acquire the LE14H-3's that I have been offered, but wanted to play around with this other combo, in the interim. I'm guessing the transition from woofer to mid-bass is not going to be as smooth as it should be, and unless the cabs are retuned for the LE14A, the bass won't be that great, either. Probably not worth the trouble, but thought I'd ask, anyway, for information's sake. Thanks, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[macaroonie]

Someone beat you to it Doc Bottom of page

http://www.k-i-t.jp/~soundgallery/body05_03.html

[macaroonie]

Someone beat you to it Doc , Bottom of page

http://www.k-i-t.jp/~soundgallery/body05_03.html

just another thought , why not graft in your spare 2235's. ? They might just fit and since you are Bi amping ......

[Doc Mark]

Hey, Macaroonie,

Thanks for the link. Looks a bit "out of place", almost, at least to my eye. I wonder how those sounded with the LE14A, and the lans-alloy surround? I'm guessing, not much bass. I did give passing thought to seeing if a 2235H would fit into the L250 cabinet, but really would prefer to use them as they were originally designed, without mucking about with the cabs too much. TD and Grumpy already did a bit of retrofit on the cabs, to add different drivers, for their PT250 experiment, and I'd prefer not to drill any more holes than are already in the enclosures. We'll see how it all turns out. But, I did think it might be fun to see what the LE14A sounded like, with a new Rick Cobb surround, in the L250's. I talked to Edgewound, and if I wanted to go for a recone, turning the LE14A's into LE14H-1's he can do the work. But, the price, in the end would be similar to buying a set of factory made LE14H-3's, I believe. Thanks for your comments and suggestions, Mac. Much appreciated! Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[tomee]

Hey Doc,
Any pics of these? Curious to see what sort of condition these are in.

[SEAWOLF97]

Doc

whats your guess on how much the L250's will cost by the time you are done ?