Hi Folks, newbe here to the forum (although I have visited many times as a guest) and I need some advice on getting a pair of LE- 8 drivers re-foamed. I just purchased a pair of Lancer 33 speakers and upon carefully removing the grills (they were glued on very well) I appear to have another pair of LE-8 speakers that were completely sprayed black prior to leaving the factory. The grills had never been removed prior to my removal and the complete driver is coated with a light coat of flat black paint. The surrounds are intact (no cracks) but very stiff and the speakers play OK but seeing how these are probably at least 50 + years old, I figure I should get new surrounds. Also, any advice on how to remove the black paint from the metal dust cap would be appreciated (but maybe not necessary since JBL never saw it as a concern ) Anyways, even though I have re-foamed several speakers the past years, I am very reluctant to work on the LE-8s as the cone appears to be very fragile and somewhat brittle. I would much rather commission someone who is an expert at re-foaming this driver. So, can anyone recommend who I might contact and/or where I might send them ? Does anyone know if Bill at MillerSound is familiar with re-foaming LE-8 drivers? I know he is very highly recommended for all things relating to speaker driver repairs - just not sure about LE-8s. Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to find these at a garage sale for $25 or so - I paid a whole lot more than that for them so I do want to make sure that they are handled properly and taken care of.
Also, although we really do not have a lot of choices when trying to repair old vintage drivers, I was wondering if the current foam surrounds change the sound of LE-8s from their original ?
Thanks for hearing me out and I appreciate any comments and suggestions/recommendations.
Dean