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Thread: LE-15B Woofer and the L200 hate

  1. #1
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    LE-15B Woofer and the L200 hate

    At what point can everyone stop hating on this woofer? I understand most everyoneÂ’s only experiences with this woofer were in the L200 with the LX16/LX16a crossover, I get it. But itÂ’s a good woofer, it just needs to be freed from the crossover it was matched with.

    - The LE-15B is identical to the rather highly regarded LE-15A, except for the surround. If accordion is so bad then why is it used on the 2216ND?

    - The LX16/LX16a crossover was an absolute crap design and will choke any woofer.

    My experience: I bought some L200As with the cabinets in rough shape. I figured I would restore the cabs and components. When I listened to the L200s, I heard the same as every one else, a very anemic woofer. So I went out and got some of those new 2216NDÂ’s and yes they made a bit of difference but I still planned on redoing the crossovers anyway. I like the simplicity of the crossover being a simple 2nd order, it just looked as though the cap and inductor values were incredibly illogical, especially compared to the L200B and L300.

    Fast forward a couple months:

    I found some very nice L200B cabs for a decent price, the guy who I bought them from seemed to know his stuff and was a fan of the LE-15B. This peaked my interest on giving them another try just as I had posted them on eBay. But I was still waiting on my new crossover componentsÂ…so I figured I would do some experimenting.

    I have spent a lot of time previously with the L100 and experimenting with that crossover and I was aware of what a woofer can do running full range. So I decided to swap the LE-15Bs into the L200B cabs and run them full range, with no crossover and let me tell you these bad boys came to life!

    This is a completely different speaker running the LE15B full range, itÂ’s not as snappy as the 2216ND, but it definitely has me reconsidering since I prefer to keep the system full vintage.

    I just thought I would share my experiences and let everyone know that has L200s what their woofer is truly capable of.

    in the future I will likely experiment with re-adding a cap and inductor with much different values.

    Right now the inductor is 2.4mh which should be cutting this woofer crossover at 800hz and it should be 1100hz based on its capability and the current 6uf capacitor restricting how low the LE85 can play. And the stock woofer capacitor is 13.5uf!

    I plan to rebuild it as: Woofer - 22uf and 1.8mh, Mid - 16uf and 1.0mh with reversed polarity same as Nelson Pass, and UHF 077 - 1uf.

  2. #2
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    I thought you might like this pictoral-collage ( copied and Google-translated ) from a french forum called ( AudioVintage ).

    Name:  JBL LE15B ts.jpg
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  3. #3
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KCjblSound View Post
    At what point can everyone stop hating on this woofer?
    I applaud your enthusiasm... not sure I am going to become a big fan of the LE15B/2216 woofer anytime soon, but I agree that those vintage networks didn't do these woofers any favors.

    That said, if you look at the production history of that woofer, it was pretty short lived. It was available as the 2216 JBL Pro woofer for only 3-4 years and the LE15B consumer version was only used in the L200 for about 4 years and never offered as part of the JBL Component Series.

    The short production history is likely due to the higher cost of its underhung design and the fact that longer excursion woofers became more popular.
    Functionally I don't think the LE15B/2216 offered anything that the 2205 didn't offer at a lower cost.

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  4. #4
    Administrator Robh3606's Avatar
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    Just add it was used in the 4325 monitor also short lived.

    Rob
    "I could be arguing in my spare time"

  5. #5
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Good catch! I forgot about that one.


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