Replacement speakers for '70s JBL L26 loudspeakers?

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Che_Guitarra

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Dec 22, 2012
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I'm the proud beneficiary of a pair of JBL L26 loudspeakers from 1975.  I spent thousands of hours of my youth listening to this pair of speakers -  I would like to refurb them as best I can back to an original spec (or an improvement thereof).

At some point in the '90s both the woofers and tweeters were replaced.  I can find a near copy of the tweeters... but the woofers - I can't find anything seemingly similar to the original 10" Lansing 125A's.  I still have the original grilles, but taken off for the purposes of a photo.


Hifi is not my forte.  Do you guys have any suggestions?



Original L26's:

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Current state of affairs:

ZqAeemj.jpg



 
Tweeter does not look originl.  Woofer is suspiciously looking as well.  Look at the back of woofer and get the number.  Should have spade lugs.  If soldered it’s probably not jbl.  Tweeter looks piezo.
 
Piezo horns. My ears start to feel painful already.  ;D

Replace those tweeters. See how the woofers do. I think it might be wise to replace caps in the filters too. Replacement speakers like these woofers take time to find.
 
cyrano said:
Piezo horns. My ears start to feel painful already.  ;D

Welllllll...

Piezos can be run full-range, and often are, because it is easy. They sound horrible like that, 3k icepicks in the ears.

High-pass them at 10k, and they are pretty sweet. That's what Dalquist did in their well-regarded DQ-10, a favorite of the '70's.

But I agree, replace it, as you won't find any quality 10" that will go up to 10K without getting a testicular hernia.

Gene
 
Gene Pink said:
Welllllll...

Piezos can be run full-range, and often are, because it is easy. They sound horrible like that, 3k icepicks in the ears.

High-pass them at 10k, and they are pretty sweet. That's what Dalquist did in their well-regarded DQ-10, a favorite of the '70's.

Indeed! Highpass those piezos at 10kHz and then all of their rich harmonic products will be at 20kHz and above... pretty much above audibility! You still get the IMD, but hey... who's counting. :)

I agree. Ditch those piezos, and find a proper tweeter. If the original drivers have been discarded, then maybe you have an enclosure for a future project?  Or something to sell at a swap meet? Don't listen to those tweeters. It won't be fun.
 
Monte McGuire said:
Indeed! Highpass those piezos at 10kHz and then all of their rich harmonic products will be at 20kHz and above... pretty much above audibility! You still get the IMD, but hey... who's counting. :)

Good point, that didn't occur to me. They are still nasty, but only dogs and bats can attest to this. Honestly never measured one, what's the point, it's a fargin' piezo.

I agree. Ditch those piezos, and find a proper tweeter. If the original drivers have been discarded, then maybe you have an enclosure for a future project?  Or something to sell at a swap meet? Don't listen to those tweeters. It won't be fun.

Yeah, OP has nice boxes and likely, good crossovers.

To OP, If you are starstruck in love with these speakers, you can scour the internet and ebay for years to find what you need to get back to original, or just buy another pair ready to go.

Gene

PS: I mentioned the dahlquist DQ-10, it is 5-way passive, check out the crossover, it approaches absurdity.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?/topic/9355-dq-10-crossover-rebuild-ready-to-solder-help/
 
Thanks for the replies, guys.  So my only real option in terms of replacement woofers is to lay in wait for some original 125A's to come down the line? 

Oh well - it is what it is.
 
Che_Guitarra said:
Thanks for the replies, guys.  So my only real option in terms of replacement woofers is to lay in wait for some original 125A's to come down the line? 

Probably.

Save that search on ebay, so it keeps looking for those every week
Try to find some old JBL dealer or service shop that still might have some NOS left
 
Whoops said:
Probably.

Save that search on ebay, so it keeps looking for those every week
Try to find some old JBL dealer or service shop that still might have some NOS left
Replacement woofer ref; 116H3 may still be available; it was in a 2012 price list.
 
I got a pair of those (with the original drivers) in the late 90s at a yard sale for $10. Like so many woofers of the era, the foam surround had disintegrated. I spend $160 getting the woofers refoamed and they've been working well ever since. I have other "era" and more recent speakers, I think some more recent tweeters sound a bit better (well, certainly different!), but they're all smaller and don't match the bass nor the efficiency of these.

So yeah, get the whole speakers with original drivers, or just the original drivers new or used, whichever you can find. Then do the refoam or recone of woofers if needed.
 
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