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Thread: LE15 repair/restoration

  1. #1
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    LE15 repair/restoration

    A while back I acquired a pair of 4320 in need of restoration. With it I got 3 15 inch woofers, all a little bit different.

    I got 1 LE15A that works, 1 LE15B that measures open, and one empty basket. With it I also got 3 aftermarket Sound Speaker Repair LE15A recone kits.
    I'm trying to figure out my best option is here. The LE15B doesn't crunch or scratch, cone moves freely, so I'm wondering if perhaps a wire has come loose, and it could be repaired, as I would like to keep it all JBL OEM stock parts if possible. Then theres the issue of the A vs B, as far as I can tell, the different between the A and B is the foam vs cloth surround. Would it be possible to remove the cloth and replace it with foam, so I will then have another LE15A? Assuming the coil can be repaired of course.

    The other option to me is to remove the LE15B cone and replace it with an aftermarket kit, then recone the empty basket also with an aftermarket kit. I want to avoid this, as I know that the aftermarket parts are substandard. But since the genuine JBL LE15A kit is no longer available, I don't see any other option to me. I would then be left with a single original LE15A. I have found elsewhere in the UK a single 2215B that has been reconed with a genuine 2215H kit, so I could potentially have a pair of working original LE15, but its not cheap and I've ran out of money for this project.

    I had planned on getting the drivers regaussed if I were reconing them. I'm in the UK so its not easy to get things regaussed, I've found one guy who wants to charge £40 per driver. I found someone else who said they could do it much cheaper but they're still in the process of setting up their machine so I would have to wait on that. I've just opened a music studio and would like to get these monitors up and running in the next month, so I'm unsure on what approach would be best.

    The working LE15A looks decent, someone replaced the foam at one point it seems. LE15B also looks good, so it would pain me to scrap what seems to be a good condition LE15 cone. Also the working LE15A is labelled as 8 ohms, but measure more like 16, so not quite sure whats going on there.

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  2. #2
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    here are the recone kits
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  3. #3
    Member ompdiburi's Avatar
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    For the open LE15B it could be the lead wires from cone to binding posts, check direct on the cone at coil exit.
    If you are lucky is possible to repair, had the same issue years ago on a beyma.
    At that point you can decide, you have one working LE15A and one working LE15B, so you need to recone the basket according to your decision.
    Good luck!
    Giuliano

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    I’d put the aftermarket kit in the empty basket and compare the performance with your working LE15A. Ideally you would have both the LE15A and reconed woofers remagnetized so that variable is out of the mix. By comparing the two woofers you can decide how to proceed. I wouldn’t spend heroic efforts on the LE15B. In my opinion they are not as good a driver as the A version.


    Widget

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    Senior Member 1audiohack's Avatar
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    Mr Widget captured my thoughts exactly.

    There is every possibility that a quality aftermarket cone kit could out perform a 40+ year old “proper” cone kit anyway.

    Barry.
    If we knew what the hell we were doing, we wouldn't call it research would we.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    I’d put the aftermarket kit in the empty basket and compare the performance with your working LE15A. Ideally you would have both the LE15A and reconed woofers remagnetized so that variable is out of the mix. By comparing the two woofers you can decide how to proceed. I wouldn’t spend heroic efforts on the LE15B. In my opinion they are not as good a driver as the A version.
    I was under the impression that you needed to get things remagged before reconing, some more reading on this site and I see thats not the case, so i'll try the aftermarket kits and compare to the original. It may be that they sound fine, then I could sell the original one for a collectors amount of money...

    The LE15B is a bit of a mystery to me, as far as I can see the only difference is the cloth surround. How would that impact its performance?

    Quote Originally Posted by 1audiohack View Post
    There is every possibility that a quality aftermarket cone kit could out perform a 40+ year old “proper” cone kit anyway.
    I had thought that myself when I got these parts, but then talking to a few old school JBL certified guys, they said the LE15 coil is pretty much impossible to find and wouldn't trust aftermarket parts...but I'm 20 years too late to find a genuine kit now. I'll have to let my ears be the judge!

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by budney View Post
    The LE15B is a bit of a mystery to me, as far as I can see the only difference is the cloth surround. How would that impact its performance?
    The two woofers have substantially different TS parameters and even very different impedances. There are many differences beyond the visually obvious surround type.


    Widget

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    Dang. Amateur speakerdave's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by budney View Post
    . . . . I had thought that myself when I got these parts, but then talking to a few old school JBL certified guys, they said the LE15 coil is pretty much impossible to find and wouldn't trust aftermarket parts...but I'm 20 years too late to find a genuine kit now. I'll have to let my ears be the judge!
    I don't know exactly when the real kits were discontinued, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been twenty years-- more like five. Point being NOS kits do show up once in awhile, and it might be worthwhile keeping an eye to the various markets for such things. At the same time you could be looking for a single LE15A or 2215B.
    "Audio is filled with dangerous amateurs." --- Tim de Paravicini

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    The working LE15A looks decent, someone replaced the foam at one point it seems. LE15B also looks good, so it would pain me to scrap what seems to be a good condition LE15 cone. Also the working LE15A is labelled as 8 ohms, but measure more like 16, so not quite sure whats going on there.



    What do you mean by the words that I've underlined?

    Is that "16" an actual DCR reading from a meter that you trust?

    A healthy Le15a will have a DCR measurement in the neighborhood of 8 to 10 ohms.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    The two woofers have substantially different TS parameters and even very different impedances. There are many differences beyond the visually obvious surround type.
    Okay, definitely not worth trying to swap the surround. I just don’t feel right about scrapping what looks to be a good condition cone, but there’s not much else I can do...

    Quote Originally Posted by Earl K View Post

    What do you mean by the words that I've underlined?


    Is that "16" an actual DCR reading from a meter that you trust?

    A healthy Le15a will have a DCR measurement in the neighborhood of 8 to 10 ohms.

    It worried me, as the cone kits I have are definitely 8 ohms, so if it were 16 then I wouldn’t be able to compare them. I went back and checked again, turns out the terminals are corroded and throwing off the value. Direct on the lead wires I get a solid 9 ohms

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    Member ompdiburi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by budney View Post
    Okay, definitely not worth trying to swap the surround. I just don’t feel right about scrapping what looks to be a good condition cone, but there’s not much else I can do...



    It worried me, as the cone kits I have are definitely 8 ohms, so if it were 16 then I wouldn’t be able to compare them. I went back and checked again, turns out the terminals are corroded and throwing off the value. Direct on the lead wires I get a solid 9 ohms
    Did you get the 9 ohms on both or only the LE15A?

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    Quote Originally Posted by ompdiburi View Post
    Did you get the 9 ohms on both or only the LE15A?
    Only on the LE15A. I currently only have 1 working driver, and that’s around 9 ohms. I had thought about repairing the LE15B but it’s not worth it

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    Quote Originally Posted by budney View Post
    Only on the LE15A. I currently only have 1 working driver, and that’s around 9 ohms. I had thought about repairing the LE15B but it’s not worth it
    If the Le15B is repairable then it is also sellable ( mostly to the Japanese from what I've seen over the last 15 years ).

    The braided lead-in wires ( from terminals down into the VC leadouts ) do corrode and can break at the solder joint hidden underneath black glue line ( as seen below , down by the dustcap ).



    Fixing that is a job for a top-tier pro reconer.

    You might also want to simply try selling that le15B into the Asian market ( on a "for Parts" basis ) .

    Japan has the type of speaker repair shops that could do this job.

    The following pic shows the web-address of one such master repair shop ( which is why I suggest focusing resale efforts into countries where they will do everything to save the original parts of these Legacy drivers.





    What's clear to these eyes is that the master tech ( doing the work in the above pics ) removes the complete cone assembly ( while saving most of the parts ) and then re-assembles /re-centers without disturbing the existing cone/coil/dustcap assembly. That's true art!

    <> Earl

    PS; If you do get the le15B reconnected the DCR should read somewhere between 4.5 to 6 ohms ( if I remember correctly it's surprisingly low ) .

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    Quote Originally Posted by Earl K View Post
    If the Le15B is repairable then it is also sellable ( mostly to the Japanese from what I've seen over the last 15 years ).

    The braided lead-in wires ( from terminals down into the VC leadouts ) do corrode and can break at the solder joint hidden underneath black glue line ( as seen below , down by the dustcap ).

    Fixing that is a job for a top-tier pro reconer.

    You might also want to simply try selling that le15B into the Asian market ( on a "for Parts" basis ) .

    Japan has the type of speaker repair shops that could do this job.
    Selling it was on my mind, but then I would be left with one original and one aftermarket driver, and I can't see them being close enough to be used as a pair. A different thought I had was to sell the working LE15A, as it would probably bring more money, and just recone the B and basket with the aftermarket cones.

    I had thought that it may be possible to extract the B cone assembly as complete as I can, and then try and sell that to the asian market for parts, but I'm not sure how to remove it so it remains mostly intact. As you say its a job for a real pro who has been doing this for years.

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    Quote Originally Posted by budney View Post
    Selling it was on my mind, but then I would be left with one original and one aftermarket driver, and I can't see them being close enough to be used as a pair. A different thought I had was to sell the working LE15A, as it would probably bring more money, and just recone the B and basket with the aftermarket cones.

    I had thought that it may be possible to extract the B cone assembly as complete as I can, and then try and sell that to the asian market for parts, but I'm not sure how to remove it so it remains mostly intact. As you say its a job for a real pro who has been doing this for years.
    All that seems like a good plan ( but why not recone the empty basket first before doing anything else just to see just how close to the recone sounds to an actual le15a ).

    Cone Removal ( complete ):

    Are you allowed to purchase ( by EU/UK rules ) MEK ( Methyl Ethyl Ketone ).

    It's commonly used by reconers to loosen up hardened/aged glue.

    It's highly volatile ( brain damaging even ) and must be used in a well ventilated area ( outdoors with a slight breeze is best ).

    I believe the next best might be Acetone.


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