Originally Posted by
HCSGuy
Quick recap - you are in the UK and your speakers are a “few” years old. First, what is the JBL warranty for the UK - you may have to call the UK importer of JBL to find out. Second, as Widget said, the JBL warranty starts from when a current model speaker is invoiced to the final user - it does not matter if the speaker was used as a dealer demo for 2-3yrs. I am sure, however, that JBL would balk at a warranty repair on a speaker that has been out of production for quite some time, e.g. a speaker that was discontinued 10yrs ago cannot reasonably still be under warranty, just as JBL can’t still be held responsible for the speakers my father bought in the 60’s that had their old “Lifetime” warranty. The worst case in this scenario is that your dealer did not sell you Demo speakers, but instead resold you speakers he had bought back from someone else towards an upgrade - either originally purchased from him, or elsewhere. Either way, he can pursue a warranty claim on your speakers until it is rejected by JBL. I think you have much further to go on pursuing your claim here.
How do you know the problem is the driver? First, you need to carefully re-assemble your driver and listen to it. If that speaker still sounds off, make sure the alignment of the driver to the horn does not have any way to be shifted off, then swap just the 476mg from that speaker to the other speaker, then listen to them both again - did the bad sound follow the suspect driver (Driver is bad), or did it stay with the original (crossover may have a problem). Above all, as Widget said, DO NOT pull the diaphragm out of the good driver. If the bad sound stays with the driver, and you exhaust your efforts with JBL, then I would talk to Guido or find a really good speaker tech in UK or EU to send both drivers to, and have them test the bad driver and see if the diaphragm to driver fitment can be improved. If all that fails, which it shouldn’t, PM me about a replacement pair of drivers.