JBL Vintage Speaker Restoration Done Right by Simply Speakers

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admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
There is an old axiom I love to live by, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Just because your speakers are old, doesn’t mean they can’t still perform as good and sometimes better than the models that replace them from the very same company. When I noticed my JBL Pro III speakers weren’t sounded as good as I remembered, I realized it was time to take some action. My beloved little speakers fell victim of aging so I elected the services of a company called Simply Speakers to restore them to their original working condition. Not only did they oblige, but they took it to the next level by doing a first rate job while also offering a modification to improve their performance. They proved to me that it’s hip to be vintage. If you’ve got some old speakers lying around that you’re fond of in need of a little TLC, I highly recommend Simply Speakers as your #1 choice for the task.


Discuss " JBL Vintage Speaker Restoration Done Right by Simply Speakers" here. Read the article.
 
A

aarond

Full Audioholic
$15.00! Is that the good buddy x employ discount! I don't know of anyone in the Los Angeles area that will even look at a loudspeaker for $15.00. I have a pair of jbl L65's and a pair of L110's. I think that the least amout I ever paid was $75.00 per speaker for refoam and that was 7 years ago.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
$15.00! Is that the good buddy x employ discount! I don't know of anyone in the Los Angeles area that will even look at a loudspeaker for $15.00. I have a pair of jbl L65's and a pair of L110's. I think that the least amout I ever paid was $75.00 per speaker for refoam and that was 7 years ago.
Where did you come up with $15? The service they did on my speakers was slightly under $90 for everything.

L65s are a classic. I haven't seen those in quite some time. I bet they are quite good performers.

Emailed them for inquiries but got no response.
Try emailing Sean the owner at: info@simplyspeakers.com

He is usually very responsive from my experience.
 
A

aarond

Full Audioholic
L65s are a classic. I haven't seen those in quite some time. I bet they are quite good performers.
these are part of my vinyl listening system along with a Technics SL-1200MK2 and a Kenwood C1/M1 combo
 
G

gholt

Full Audioholic
I have an old set of Boston Acoustics A-150s. The bass was sounding weak, and I called them to see if they still had parts for the speaker. For $30 each side I got new woofers still in paper cone. Not sure if the mids are still working, maybe they should be sent to the speaker company for help.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Hi Gene,

It's been eons since I was last there, but doesn't http://www.speakerex.com/ on Hillsborough Ave do the same type work as well?

cheers,

AJ
I've heard of them but I never had any dealings. I am sure they do similar work as Simply Speakers. Its cool to see Vintage stuff being reconditioned. Sometimes "they don't build it like they used to" is very applicable with successor speaker lines from the same company.
 
E

E-Lab

Audiophyte
I just sent my JBL 4408 woofers to the factory to be reconed about 6 months ago. They probably only needed to be refoamed, but I figure with a new slinky, cone, surround and spider that they will be good to go for another 19 years. I think the bill was close to $250 or more, but I can't find any cracker jack speakers to beat them for that. Good enough for Christmas music...that's all the action they get.

They are probably due for a cap. swap too.

It looks like that one photo of their shop shows the 2-way Altec Lancing speakers from the late 80's or early 90's. I thought they looked neat when I was in college...I hope I don't become a speaker pack rat.


Thanks for the tip!
 
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AJinFLA

AJinFLA

Banned
I've heard of them but I never had any dealings. I am sure they do similar work as Simply Speakers.
My dealings with them were all positive. But that was a long time ago.
Its cool to see Vintage stuff being reconditioned. Sometimes "they don't build it like they used to" is very applicable with successor speaker lines from the same company.
True, but that is not always a bad thing, especially when it comes to electrolytic caps, foam surrounds, etc.
Actually, with abundant PC power now available, they can use free software to improve the 20+ yr old XO's at little cost, so better than new is possible. Unless one yearns for the nostalgia of a hump, dip, etc. that contributes to that "vintage" sound :).
If you ever decide to have another audio gathering in the area, it would be interesting to hear some of the older vs newer sound, to see if anything has changed much at all ;).

cheers,

AJ
 
ozmedia

ozmedia

Audioholic
Rbh??

Where did you come up with $15? The service they did on my speakers was slightly under $90 for everything.

L65s are a classic. I haven't seen those in quite some time. I bet they are quite good performers.



Try emailing Sean the owner at: info@simplyspeakers.com

He is usually very responsive from my experience.
Gene, you know RBH about as well as I do, judging by the build dates of the L65, would you say that was when RBH was their OEM designer ? I've always been interested in finding specific builds they did for others. The guys I have asked around RBH haven't really been around long enough to know, I suppose I could track down Roger Hassing, he may remember.

As for refoaming, I have two clients that refoam speakers, I got a set of vintage ScanDyna's done by the guy/shop I bought them from but they did a pretty poor job of it. One of his former techs now works at a better store so he cut me a great deal for the butyl rubber surrounds instead. They sound the same but will last a lot longer.
 
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lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
Great post. I look forward to building a vintage system someday.
 
C

corey

Senior Audioholic
Sigh....

I wish I could/would have done this when the foam went out on my large Advents, but that was about 15 years ago.
 
davidtwotrees

davidtwotrees

Audioholic General
I owned some L65 Jubals myslef. They were sweet sounding............The sad reality of the vintage set is that they get parted out because shipping is expensive for big speaks. I was fortunate to sell mine locally..........They were pieces of art that sounded really good, too. I always lusted after some L300's myself..........
 
C

camaraderie

Audiophyte
Jbl Pro III rebuild

Thanks for that article Gene. I still have a set which is in great shape that I use as utility speakers and have loved for probably close to two decades now.
They are a great example of well done, affordable engineering that provided better sound than anything else similar at the price point. I have recommended Control I's to several others for similar reasons...but you are right about them not being the same.
Anyway...good to know where I can go to have mine re-furbed when they finally give up the ghost...so thanks for that!
 
T

tintasbarnes

Audiophyte
Great article! I also have some of these sweet boxes. Sadly one of my speakers has his paper pretty much worn out.

Question: where can I buy some swap speakers?

On ebay I didn't find any. I was searching after similarities and I've found this:

GW5028S Shielded Magnet Woofer
T/S Parameters

Z:8 ohms
Re:7.1 Ohms
Fs:80.1 Hz
Qms:3.9
Qes:1.2
Qts:0.9
Vas:4.2 Ltr
Sens:85 dB

Do you think it will do it?

(I'm not allowed to paste the link of the speaker since I'm new to this forum)

Thanks!
 
mattsk8

mattsk8

Full Audioholic
I've never had good luck w/ rebuilt woofers. It always seems like they loose bass responce after they're rebuilt. I've had 3 pair done. Some MA Pro 8" woofers (just had the foam surround replaced), some Cerwin Vega 8" woofers (blew one and had it rebuilt), and some Kickers. To me they never sounded as good after they were rebuilt. Could this just be a poor job or wrong material? I kinda gave up on speaker repair but maybe I just need a better shop??

This is a 2 year old thread BTW :eek:!
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
I've never had good luck w/ rebuilt woofers. It always seems like they loose bass responce after they're rebuilt. I've had 3 pair done. Some MA Pro 8" woofers (just had the foam surround replaced), some Cerwin Vega 8" woofers (blew one and had it rebuilt), and some Kickers. To me they never sounded as good after they were rebuilt. Could this just be a poor job or wrong material? I kinda gave up on speaker repair but maybe I just need a better shop??

This is a 2 year old thread BTW :eek:!
I have had excellent luck with repairs; I have used Millersound.

If the wrong materials are used (e.g., improper size of surround, etc.), or if they do it wrong, then it could adversely affect the performance of a speaker. Done right, it restores them to like new performance.
 
sawzalot

sawzalot

Audioholic Samurai
This is a 2 year old thread BTW :eek:!
Old Thread - Old Speakers, All Vintage and as always- All Good :)

I too regret parting out/ tossing out older vintage speakers in my early HT days but I had no Idea :eek:.
 
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