Restoring 4320's / LE85 diaphram issue
Hello all,
I am in the slow process of restoring a pair of 4320's that belonged to my parents for many years, and have hit a wall with one of the LE85's. Once I got the woofers up to snuff, I hooked the pair of speakers to test, and was disappointed to find that one of the horns was buzzing. I removed it and took it Freeman-Tuell in Dallas to get it serviced. The tech took it directly to his bench and hooked it to a signal generator (sweep generator?) and confirmed what I thought, which was that it needed a new diaphragm. He said it would take a couple of weeks, and would cost about $200. That was months ago. The first report was that the replacement diaphragm didn't fit as it should have, and that JBL was looking into a supply problem. Next report was that the new diaphragms were designed for horns made after XXXX year, or XXXXX serial number, and that the work-around was to have JBL machine the groove in the magnet to allow the wider coil of the diaphragm. Next update was that JBL is no longer offering the machining service for the magnets, and that they (Freeman-Tuell) were looking into alternatives. I've had to call them for each update, and I haven't bothered in a couple of months. I assume my horn is sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I have considered just buying a horn on e-bay, but would prefer to buy a matched, close serial #'d pair. That's an expensive (and slightly risky) alternative. I have also considered gambling a much smaller sum of money one of the non-OEM diaphragms. I have also considered just giving up on the project altogether and selling the parts.
Is this a familiar problem with LE85's? Is there anyone else out there who has experienced the same thing and can provide some information about how to resolve this issue? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Regards,
David
