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General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Re: JBL L96 repair question

Yes, they are probably worth repairing. I have a pair of older L36 which a similar predecessor (cone tweeter) and use them for movie-watching duties. Very nice, punchy and clean.

I recomend an authorized JBL repair shop, and specifically using genuine replacement parts. Yes, I know it will cost at least twice as much as generic parts! But I have seen instances where the generic replacement surround - sold as an "exact replacement" for the particular speaker model - doubled the speaker's resonance frequency because it was four times as stiff as the original. "Exact" apparently meant it was exactly the same size, not that it would work properly. That's really bad, and will seriously mess up (kill) the bass. A properly trained technician will also check for linearity of the spider and uniformity of the gap. Gaps on JBL woofers are tighter and more precise than most, so this is important. You may be forced to re-cone just to get a new surround, but I would still recommend it.

Repair kits for older JBL drivers are sometimes only sporadically available, so if you are told the parts are out of production, you don't necessarily need to believe it. Note that JBL has separate pro and consumer web sites, but often the same drivers were used under different model numbers. Lots of information there, and at the Lansing Heritage site and forums. A pro repair shop might have more resources than the neighborhood JBL dealer ... :^)


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