New forum member- couple questions on setup

[Jason Thomas]

I am knew to this forum and home theater setups in general aside from buying HTIB and hooking it up so apologies in advance for any silly questions. I have what at best can be described as a random assortment of speakers that form up my 5.1 surround system. The fronts/center/subwoofer were all from my dad's system that I got after he passed away. I have JBL LC312-1 for front speakers with a sony ss-cn495h for a center speaker and a sony sa-wm40 subwoofer. For surrounds I have added Sony SSCS5 bookshelf speakers. These are all ran with a yamaha rx v377 receiver. All of these are low end/budget line of equipment basically calibrated with a sound meter app from my android phone.

My question is that the JBLs woofers have dry rot around the surround material. Some has already fallen off. I am aware of replacement methods but I was wondering if it would just be better to replace the woofer itself with something like this-

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dc300-8-12-classic-woofer--295-320

And I know this next part is subjective but I recently found a pair of technics sb-k476 speakers in my basement. I have no idea how these got there but they seem to be physically in good shape. I am wondering if anyone has ever listened to these speakers before or know of their quality? Would I just be better off throwing those up front instead of fixing the JBLs? This setup is used for all purpose movies, music, gaming, etc. though movies and music are far more important than the gaming part.

Here is a link to the front/center/subwoofer speaker manuals as these are all 10+ years old (probably closer to 15 or 20)
http://www.nodevice.com/manual/newmans/jblharman/LC312-1_tspdf/get47065.html
https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=SSCN495H
https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=SAWM40

 

[tyhjaarpa]

For the surrounds you need recone the woofers, get exact same replacement woofer or buy new speakers. Replacing the woofers with random woofer of same size will just mess up your sound experience. As for using your existing speakers, try out and see if you like the sound of them?

 

[j_garcia]

I'd actually contact Parts Express directly as they can repair the drivers for you, though that requires sending them in. If they are otherwise working, I'd re-foam them rather than trying to replace them with a driver that may not suit the speaker's design.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd also look into re-foaming the JBL drivers' surrounds (and agree don't just throw another 12" driver in there). I couldn't locate a diy kit particularly for that driver (JBL 75020 per the manual); contacting parts-express.com would be a good idea. Good luck!

 

[MrBoat]

I've repaired a fair amount of speaker drivers. This might be the foam you need as your woofers surrounds look to be reverse mount. Some measurements of the cone/frame diameter, a cross section of what foam you have left should get you close. Reverse mounts can be tricky but some pretty much self center/self form on the cone side. Few practice dry runs should get you a feel for it if you are the least bit crafty. At this point, you really don't have anything to lose, if for some reason the other suggestions here can't be met.

Here's a youtube video shows how to refoam a JBL rear mount.

Also, some towns/cities will have speaker exchange/repair outlets that will do it for you.

 

[Jason Thomas]

Thanks for the advice from everyone. I am going to check out the video.

While I work on the jbl's I am going to hook up the technics and see how they sound. It's still a mystery where they came from.