4341 - Back To Life

[Audiobeer]

Outstanding.....GORGEOUIS!

[saeman]

Dang it,

Heard a virgin pair in 76 Sez I ,

You do realize I will be comin all the way over like a dang moth to day light to hear em,

Ian: You're welcome anytime and I'll even furnish the "Fosters" ice cold or warm if you prefer. A trip "up over" would do you some good.

[saeman]

Are all those pics of the same cabinet? Is the other mirror imaged, or do they only allow for changing the position of the HF?

John

Hi John - Baffle layout is the same on both with the option to move the 2405 to the left or right.

[scott fitlin]

Very nice work, enjoy!

[Tom Loizeaux]

Rick,
Great job! It's great to see another pair of JBL classic monitors "come back to life". Since I've restored three pairs of JBLs, I know the satisfaction you'll get when you sit back and let these swamp you in geat audio.
Again, a beautiful job!

Tom

P.S. I'm curious about the slightly smaller cabinet with the same tuning. If this cabinet will support them, you might want to consider, at some point, changing the woofers to 2231s or 2235Hs.

[saeman]

I'm back to my 4341 restoration project for a while and wanted to post some pics of the walnut veneer I bought for this project. Since veneer has been discussed quite a bit lately here on the forum, some of you guys who are contemplating a veneer project might learn something from a big mistake I recently made.

I started my 4341 restoration project a few months ago, doing the first cabinet. I ordered walnut veneer from a supplier that has always provided good quality. When the veneer arrived it looked kind of "Plain Jane" and lacked good grain contrast. It was also a bit darker than I would prefer. I was a bit dissappointed but decided not to hold the project up and I cut and applied it to the first cabinet. Installed and sanded it looked decent so I cut and installed the beveled face trim.

After finish sanding the veneer with 220 and 320 I started oiling the cabinet. That's when everything turned to Sh_ttttttt. The attached pics tell the story. I was immediately disenchanted and let the 4341 project sit while going on to other JBL adventures. I pondered leaving it as is or stripping it off and starting over.

After a couple of months of crying about it I decided I would never be happy leaving it the way it was. I started the gruesome task of stripping off the veneer, face trim and old glue. Seems like it took forever but I got it done. I ordered new veneer, AA Premium Walnut Flat Cut like JBL used, and recently got the first cabinet back to where it was when the disaster occurred.

The pics show spots in the veneer where the veneer's wood layer was so thin that the paper backing shows thru. There is little to nothing you can do about this other than try to do some paint touchup. Had this been the only problem I might have left it alone. The quality of the veneer was poor, dark dark in color with no contrast and spongy and soft. The supplier offered me no remedy other than to give me a few bucks off on my next order (which I'll never place).

My advise is to buy from a known quality supplier and "carefully inspect the veneer" before you cut and install it; which I didn't do in this instance. I was in too big a hurry. It cost me a ton of grief and even more labor time to recover from it. With the new veneer the cabinet now looks like a million bucks, the way it should have looked the first time. Pics later.

- Rick

[Titanium Dome]

Gonna post some new pics for our enlightenment? We'd like to see the new finish.

[saeman]

TD - A few new pics. Not too good - I never get results with flash and it's dark here. Still an improvement over the first veneer job. I guess I need to get humping on the second cabinet so I have a pair. Rick

[Rolf]

Very good job! Looks great!

Rolf