Camp JBL 4411 was a one day opportunity for me and my son on the screened in porch. Campers learned the fine art of speaker re-foaming along with attention to detail, a little bit about low frequency response, the physics of electromagnetic induction, and the craftsmanship of those who built speakers 30 years ago.
Two weeks ago my son and I refoamed four dry rotted 128h's to restore the 4411's that we've been lugging around for a while, much to my wife's chagrin. My son started them on Friday night by taking out the four 128's and rubbing the old gasket off the backs of the cones with his finger, then using a toothpick (laid flat) where necessary to lightly scrape some areas. On Saturday we took them all out to the screened in porch for restoration, starting around 9:00 am and had them all finished by late afternoon.
We waited the proverbial 24 hours and then let 'em rip. Holy Cow! I'm sure there are better speakers, but all in this home are now VERY satisfied with the tremendously tight bass that comes out of four of these. The opening sequence from TOP GUN was the clincher when the four JBL 4411's shook the center channel speaker off the stand and promptly bounced it on the floor. We all smiled at the power of the bass.
For anybody tentative about taking on such a project my newbie comment is "go for it." I had never done this before, but my 12 year old actually did his own pair of MCS's last fall when I started researching this project for the 4411's and he had perfect success without any help from me. These JBL's went even easier thanks to Rick Cobb's kit (it still amazes me how perfectly they fit) and the 30 hz tone method for re-centering which eliminates the effort of removng and gluing a new dust cap.
The thrill of hearing this much heart pounding bass coupled with the knowledge that we did it ourselves makes it very satisfying. And the wife who had previousy taken the position of a flat out NO has now started trying to figure out how to incoporate them into the new living room design. I've coupled them with two 4311b's in the rear for the start of the combined home theatre and listening room.
Thanks to everybody on the forumn for offering advice, answering questions and keeping this discussion alive so the late comers can get in on the legacy.
Next up is matching new verneers to whatever ends up being the decor in the living room.
Photo's attached
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Originally Posted by MikeBrewster77
