My 044 screens are bent

[jim henderson]

Should I fix, replace or remove them?

[rdgrimes]

Sometimes you can pull them out with a small wire or hook. If they come out you'll have to deal with the o-ring which could come out in pieces. Its near impossible to re-bend them to the original shape, but not hard to give them a decent shape that looks OK.

[BMWCCA]

Remove the o-ring first, with a pick of some kind. It is likely to come out in pieces. The only replacement available from JBL is the black o-ring from the 035ti/044ti tweeter which fits exactly.

Then the screen should simply pull out with only slight resistance due to the attraction of the magnet to the screen. Use a find hook or a bent paper-clip. You then can easily straighten the screen. I lay them down on a resilient surface like a thick towel and work the dents out from the back side using a spoon to work the screen. Just keep working until you have it looking correct then reinstall it and refit the o-ring.

I also believe the only replacement screen available is the black one from the 035ti/044ti. If you find some material the correct diameter and color as the original o-ring, it's not necessary for it to be a continuous ring as long as it fits easily and correctly. I always wondered if there wasn't a common screen spline available that would work but never found anything at my local hardware stores.

[rdgrimes]

^^^
Standard hardware store o-rings can be used, I've forgotten the correct diameter but its easy to suss out.

[bill8888]

Here's some trivia regarding the 044: The 044 was created because there was a reliability problem with the relatively new 033. Speaker systems using the 033 were always tested at the end of the assembly line in a mini test booth just moments before the speaker is put in the shipping carton. But the bump and shock of shipping the speaker to the dealer would often produce a dead 033. The 044 is designed to be more durable, and cosmetically more expensive. The original design had a backplate with spring push terminals like the 066. There was suppose to be a real nice foilcal on the back with the typical punched serial number, and the housing was black powder coated with the bright brushed front. These features were eliminated to save cost. The original design had no screen...that was added at the last minute per the marketing dept's request.

[BMWCCA]

^^^
Standard hardware store o-rings can be used, I've forgotten the correct diameter but its easy to suss out.

Well, that's fine if you don't care about color. But then if black would do for you on the silver 044 you may as well buy the original JBL part number 62664 (retainer) used for the 052ti and 035ti/a which cost 36¢ the last time I bought them. The original "screen gasket" for the 044 is part number 60752 which has not been available for some time.

[BMWCCA]

Here's some trivia regarding the 044: The 044 was created because there was a reliability problem with the relatively new 033. Speaker systems using the 033 were always tested at the end of the assembly line in a mini test booth just moments before the speaker is put in the shipping carton. But the bump and shock of shipping the speaker to the dealer would often produce a dead 033. The 044 is designed to be more durable, and cosmetically more expensive. The original design had a backplate with spring push terminals like the 066. There was suppose to be a real nice foilcal on the back with the typical punched serial number, and the housing was black powder coated with the bright brushed front. These features were eliminated to save cost. The original design had no screen...that was added at the last minute per the marketing dept's request.

Bill, since you seem to be knowledgeable on the 044 history:
I posted on a FB group about the restoration of the 044 in a pair of L150A that I got from the original owner in their original boxes but have kept stored away for about 15-years. When I went to disassemble them to straighten the screens and check the foam damper plug condition, I found the screens were glued in-place with what seemed remarkably similar to the glue used to attach the gaskets to the fronts of the woofers. Some of the glue stuck to the O-ring screen retainer so I had to use a heat gun to get the retainer out then use more intense heat to remove the screen. It wasn't easy. And both were identical. I've opened many 044, 044-1, 044ti, and also 035 and 052 versions with the same screen retainer. Never have I seen one with the screen glued in-place.

Ken Haerr responded on the FB group that mine had obviously been subject to "a second hand repair from an incompetent."
To my subsequent protests he then replied: "they've been worked on before. Guaranteed. The factory fitment for the screen is a white o-ring. Lots of "repair" people pretend to know what they're doing. This isn't one of them. Forensics."
Most of us know this unavailable O-ring is actually grey, but be that as it may.

Now these 044s are some of the latest dated versions I've ever worked on being dated March 1983 which is after the last appearance of the L150A in either the JBL catalogs in the Library or the last date shown on the price lists also posted here. I contend this was a running production change made with no consideration to anyone ever having to take one of these apart for future servicing.

Is there anyone here with actual experience who can speak to the existence of the glued-in screen? It's not an issue of existential importance, but I know what I'm looking at. I did manage to clean the glue after disassembly by soaking the groove in brake-cleaning fluid and working it out with a small screwdriver. All is well now. I'm just one of those people who want to know the cause of a problem. And no telling how many people I've instructed over the decades as to how to remove and straighten these screens who may have also encountered this glue and thought I didn't know what I was talking about!

Amazingly both foam plugs were soft and pliable and the O-rings reusable and aesthetically acceptable. Though I do remember ordering some similar diameter string roll of grey material from Etsy years ago, if I only knew what I did with it!


Yet another tempest in a tea-pot, but I figured I'd see if anyone here can shed any light on the topic.

Happy New Year!

Before:


After:

[Earl K]

Hi Phil,

You refer to a foam-plug inside the tweeter

Is it meant to be touching the back of the diaphragm ( like the way the foam-plugs do in the later Ti variants )??

[BMWCCA]

Hi Phil,

You refer to a foam-plug inside the tweeter

Is it meant to be touching the back of the diaphragm ( like the way the foam-plugs do in the later Ti variants )??

Yes. Most likely same plug. The one with no JBL part number!

[Earl K]

OKay, Very Cool!

Never knew that

THANKS!