I've done some searching but haven't really come up with good answers yet. I have a pair of L250s that I really like. I've had them since they were new. The foam rotted on the woofers (old story, I know) and I reconed them as LE14H-1 (could get the cone kits and I'm a JBL reconer...I've never much liked refoaming drivers from a labor standpoint though I've done it).
So, on a recent JBL parts order, I decided to get some LE14H-3 recone kits to put on the shelf for the day that the foam rots away again so I could put in the rubber version and be done with it. By all reports, the LE14H-3 sounds near identical to the LE14H-1 save 1dB of sensitivity, which I can live with (and correct for). I would appear that JBL just discontinued the kits because though they took the order with an 8-week lead time, the canceled that line item and pulled the C8RLE14-3 part number.
The C8RLE14-4 still shows as active. So my questions are:
1) what are the big differences between the LE14H-3 and LE14H-4? I hear it is mostly the mass of the cone that probably will make it more efficient but probably also more prone to break up (can't beat a good stiff cone, it was a flaw of the Altec 515-8G over its predecessors, yeah, it was more efficient but the cone was flimsy and it didn't necessarily sound as good as earlier 515s or GPA's 515-LFs).
Is there any general feeling on the LE14H-4? Is it a worthy successor to the prior models? When the time comes, should I just refoam them with whatever foam kits are available at the time? Is there a rubber kit, I wonder for the LE14H series? Or would my plan of just reconing them as a later version still be a good plan.
Though I don't know how JBL is nowadays...in the past I did see cone kits go and come back (the LE14H-1, as an example...that one went away but came back for a brief period). The 2245H went away and it is gone for good, I'm sure. We did a mess of them, back in the day.
If this ground has been covered before, please send me a link. Thus far, my searches haven't turned up anything though.