Purchased a JBL Paragon with some blown drivers, LE15A replace or rebuild?

[Delta]

I got a pretty good deal recently on a paragon but I still haven't had a chance to hear them fully, the left channel sounded good but the woofer and tweeter on the right were blown. I can pick up diaphragms for the tweeter so I'm not really worried about them. I've been scouring through the forums looking for possible replacement but most threads I find are pretty old. would it be better to have the le15a reconed/refoamed ( still haven't had a chance to remove them yet to check which it is) or replace it with something newer? and if so what would be a good replacement?

[BMWCCA]

Might be easier for folks with the knowledge to better share it with you had you in your first post on this forum not attempted to be so glib in hiding your location. Many of us have spares, or know someone capable of repairs, but this is a big country—much less a solar system.

Welcome, and congratulations on your acquisition.

I would also be somewhat remiss if I didn't point out: :useless:

[Delta]

Might be easier for folks with the knowledge to better share it with you had you in your first post on this forum not attempted to be so glib in hiding your location. Many of us have spares, or know someone capable of repairs, but this is a big country—much less a solar system.

Welcome, and congratulations on your acquisition.

I would also be somewhat remiss if I didn't point out: :useless:


Fair enough, unfortunately I haven't taken any pictures yet. I don't have room at my house so my father will be the primary enjoyer of them should it meet his approval. My other speakers are JBL L100T, JBL Apollo 001 and Yamaha fx-1 a small collection compared to many on here but I am literally at the limit of my space.

[BMWCCA]

Now you can be flooded with recommendations for member "edgewound" here of Upland Loudspeaker Repair (http://www.repairspeakers.com/)

Lucky you to be so nearby.


You'll fit right in here with your attitude of "there must be room for one more"!

[HCSGuy]

Congrats on your find! When you say blown, I assume you mean nothing whatsoever comes out of the right side - is that correct? LE15A’s originally came with white surrounds on the cone made of Lansalloy, which dries out over time and becomes rock hard, keeping the woofer cone from moving, and cracking if forced. If your surround is dried out, the woofer may put out sound, but there will be no bass. If you are getting no sound, you should bypass the crossover and see if connecting an amplifier directly to the woofer gives you any sound. If it does, you have a problem in the crossover. If you still get no sound, the problem is in the driver. If this is the case, JBL no longer makes recone kits for that driver. You can go to Upland loudspeakers, as he can probably make a kit to old specs, but he will recommend you do both woofers so they match. It may be cheaper to find a replacement pair of woofers on Ebay to listen with, though rebuilding the original woofers would probably help the value more. You will have the same issues with the horn driver, but I would really do some testing - you should also have a 075 ring radiator tweeter on each side as well. For all three drivers to be dead without crossover damage would be pretty much impossible, I think. I suspect you may have a simple problem with the crossover (broken input connector, etc) and all three drivers may be fine. I would open up the enclosure and start connecting drivers from the right side to the left side crossover for testing. Good luck, post some pics, and let us know what you think of the sound when you get it all running!

[Delta]

Congrats on your find! When you say blown, I assume you mean nothing whatsoever comes out of the right side - is that correct? LE15A’s originally came with white surrounds on the cone made of Lansalloy, which dries out over time and becomes rock hard, keeping the woofer cone from moving, and cracking if forced. If your surround is dried out, the woofer may put out sound, but there will be no bass. If you are getting no sound, you should bypass the crossover and see if connecting an amplifier directly to the woofer gives you any sound. If it does, you have a problem in the crossover. If you still get no sound, the problem is in the driver.

Hopefully I can check that out on thursday, the midrange works on the right side, the woofer and tweeter seem to be the only issue. It'd be pretty sweet if it was just surrounds. I planned on having both woofers done at the same time along with a remag weather it needed it or not. if I'm shipping it I'd rather it just get done so I don't have the "what ifs" later. I planned on rebuilding the crossovers aswell, might run it in an active setup till I get that done. can't let my dad borrow all my amps lol.

[Delta]

looks like all the drivers work fine and in fact it is just rock hard foam and crossover corrosion causing my problems. both woofers measure 9.3ohms. I also took a bunch of pictures I have the curved panel stored in safe place until I get it operational. Serial#779/41406. Would anyone happen have a schematic of N7000 and LX5 and perhaps a rebuild guide? or would it be better to send to someone to do?

9046290463904649046590466

[Delta]

Was able to find this, I'm sure its somewhere around here but should someone stumble upon this page in their search well... can't have to many sources.

90471


Source: https://elektrotanya.com/jbl_d-44000-wx_paragon_8-ohm,125w_crossover_sm.pdf/download.html#dl

[Robh3606]

looks like all the drivers work fine and in fact it is just rock hard foam and crossover corrosion causing my problems. both woofers measure 9.3ohms. I also took a bunch of pictures I have the curved panel stored in safe place until I get it operational. Serial#779/41406. Would anyone happen have a schematic of N7000 and LX5 and perhaps a rebuild guide? or would it be better to send to someone to do?


Hello

Nice score!! Depends on your skill set. The only things you would need to do is reflow solder connections if needed and Deox and clean the switches and pots while you have them open. Those switches have a history of getting noisy and intermittent over time same with the potentiometers. Have a listen. I would definitely keep the originals stock but that's me.

Eventually if you want you could change out the caps and resistors. The Inductors should not be replaced as they are unique and you wont find equivalent replacements. Their construction is also bullet proof being wire and cores so it's very unlikely there is anything wrong with them.

If you get them rebuilt don't let the builder change them out especially if they give you some BS line that you should be using upgrade "audiophile" components. The multitap in the LX-5 cannot be simply changed out and the DCR of the Inductors in the N7000 may be higher than average by design.

The LE-15's ??? The cone kits are gone and you can replace the Lansaloy with a foam surround but it's not easy getting it off the cone. I would definitely talk to Edgewound about your options if you feel you are not up for it. You could also look for the foam surround version on Ebay for a spare pair.

Rob :)

[Delta]

are there any other recommended refoam shops, I looked through some reviews online including the facebook page of upland and it looks as though some people have waited quite a while with no response and no return of product sent in. Scares me a little bit.

[Robh3606]

are there any other recommended refoam shops, I looked through some reviews online including the facebook page of upland and it looks as though some people have waited quite a while with no response and no return of product sent in. Scares me a little bit.

I am on the opposite coast so I don't know your local situation. I would look for authorized JBL Repair in your area and talk to them and then do a search on them to see what the deal is. The easiest thing to do would be to cut the lansaloy/surround off the cone flush to cone the edge, clean off the basket and glue the new foam to the front of the cone. This would be incorrect but would work fine. The repair shop may actually strip of the lansaloy/surround off the back of the cone and install the foam from the back the way it should be.

I would talk to the repair shop and find out exactly what he plans to do before you agree to the repair. I would not re-cone with an aftermarket cone kit if it comes up.

Best of luck!

Rob :)

[Earl K]

Try out Speaker Repair Pros (http://www.speakerrepairpros.com/about.html) if you're nervous about giving work to Upland.

:)

[HCSGuy]

are there any other recommended refoam shops, I looked through some reviews online including the facebook page of upland and it looks as though some people have waited quite a while with no response and no return of product sent in. Scares me a little bit.

In general, audio repair of any kind doesn’t pay well, and attracts people who do it for the passion rather than the money, and they don’t always have the best business sense. I have used Audivex in Berkeley quite a few times, though not in the last 6yrs since I moved to Oregon. I have been very happy with Daniel’s work, though you have to be very proactive in your dealings - call first, tell him what you have, and see if he has the foams in stock. if not, wait for him to get the foams, set up a date to drop off the speakers, with a firm date and price agreed on when you will be picking them up “If I bring them in Monday, can I pick them up the following Monday?”. He’s a little quirky, as am I, and we have always got along great, but I’m sure there are people out there who didn’t. Your job is pretty easy and well defined, though I would make sure to tell him you want the foam on the back of the cone (I’ve never had this issue with him, but it never hurts to say). The worst project for any servicer is someone who drops off an item, doesn’t know what’s wrong, and wants an estimate before they agree on repairs - any repair shop is full of these projects that get put on the back burner for easier projects with defined scope and timelines - do your best to keep things well defined. I’m sure if you dropped off your crossovers and said “See what you can do with these and get back to me when you can” you’d be calling in 6mos wondering where your crossovers are.

I used Audivex because I could drive them in - it’s very hard to make the case for packing and shipping a woofer to someone for refoaming- it’s probably $50 freight each way, plus $40 or so to pack it well (at least it is for me to do it my way). Driving is vastly preferred, and also insures you can go and get the woofer back. Prior to Audivex I used A Brown Sound in San Rafael, but they’ve closed up, and you also had to make sure they wrote down to foam to the back of the woofer, as they didn’t really care which side it was on. I have also made trips for bulk work - We went to Salt Lake City to look at a University with my daughter for a week, and I put together a deal with Matt at Utah Reconing to bring about 20 woofers in for him to work on, for which he had already ordered foams, dustcaps, etc, and he fixed all of them in the 5 days we were there, and we picked them up on the way out of down. Hard to justify that for one pair of LE15A’s…

Good luck, and let us know who you end up using.

[grumpy]

Crossovers: look like one LX5 might have been worked on or was just assembled on a different line/different time... just an observation, not a concern (worth checking values/connections, and cleaning up the switches/joints as already mentioned).

Re surrounds:

There's the somewhat known commodity $36 (rcobb) set (I've not used them on LE15s, but have certainly been happy with other surrounds from him on 10" and 12" JBL drivers that were foam originally). This is the path I'm likely to take with an LE15 pair in a similar state.

Then there's the less known $83 (white surrounds), which I'll admit I am curious about from an aesthetic POV only. I recall some conversations here about white LE-8 surrounds, and perhaps some darker butyl surrounds but don't remember anyone's experience with 15" white surrounds, let alone from this particular ebay vendor, and the description is ... slim. If anyone has popped for this and had a good (or bad) experience, I'd be interested in hearing about it :)

If they were mine, I would really think hard before attempting the DOT brake fluid "fix". If you haven't already looked up "lansalloy" and "DOT 3", you'll get a lot of opinions/experiences (success stories and cautionary tales).

Curious what direction you take regarding diaphragms (You'll find lots of opinions there too).

What a fun project and find!

[Delta]

If they were mine, I would really think hard before attempting the DOT brake fluid "fix". If you haven't already looked up "lansalloy" and "DOT 3", you'll get a lot of opinions/experiences (success stories and cautionary tales).

Curious what direction you take regarding diaphragms (You'll find lots of opinions there too).

What a fun project and find!


Thanks! seems like a good thing to try, have nothing to lose. diaphragms work, pretty sure the corrosion in one of the crossovers is the culprit. I ordered replacement caps and resistors today perhaps I'll have them running in the next week or so.

[Delta]

the DOT3 brake fluid trick worked, my caps and resistors showed up, went with clarity csa for low range and Jantzen superior-z for mids/highs. hopefully get those done next weekend fingers crossed, wanted to do it last weekend but the powers at be well... they said no.