Old Speakers

[Jac Hawk]

I was given a pair of JBL LX500's a few months back by a mate, he has an obscene amount of gear and these JBL's had seen better days, but I thought if they were any good I could use them in my sub £100 system for the "cheap as chips challenge".

To start with the bass cones needed re-foaming and then there was the overall condition, deep scratches, grill fabric missing, dust caps pushed in etc. the sort of condition that would only attract a DIYer.

Anyway 1st things 1st was to find out a bit about them, if they were a good speaker and worth fixing up or just some old junk fit for the skip, so i did some digging on the net and found out nothing, apparently there are 2 slightly different LX500's, 8ohm ones which have a triangular shaped offset tweeter and are made in the USA, and these ones I have which are 4ohm, have a round tweeter mounted directly above the midrange and are made in Denmark. So I was still left with no clue as to the sonic quality of them, but since my mate gave me them, and he was bound to ask about them in the future, i decided to fix em up.

So the main job was to re-foam the woofers, which as it turned out was very straight forward, and then replace the pushed in dust caps, which you can get off ebay. So all the drives refurbished, it was time to test them, and as I had never played them before, I didn't know if there was anything else wrong. Well what a smile they put on my old boat race, sweet sounding, with good stereo separation and plenty of bass, are they keepers? yes they are, so the next job is to do the cabs up so they will look as good as they sound. :)

[Macca]

You can't fault JBLs I don't think they ever made a bad speaker

[Welder]

Always interesting a bit of a speaker project :)

JBL have made some excellent drivers over the years. I don’t know the model you refer to.
I’m in a similar position atm. I’ve got an emigrating friend with some very battered Mordant Short Signifiers languishing unloved in his loft which he is trying to persuade me to take off his hands. Trouble is once one acquires such things they have a horrible habit of eating cash and time and I really only need one pair of speakers.

[Jac Hawk]

Yes but a pair of Signifiers John, is your mate looking for you to buy um or is he going to give em to you? either way, as long as the drives only need re-foaming and you don't have to look for any replacement drivers, that would only leave the crossovers to recap and the cabs to tart up, then you have a very very nice pair of speakers

[Beobloke]

I’ve got an emigrating friend with some very battered Mordant Short Signifiers languishing unloved in his loft which he is trying to persuade me to take off his hands.

"Trying to persuade you"?? I'd be battering his door down to grab them.

Hell, In fact, I'll take 'em if you don't want them! ;)

[DSJR]

Well, they've got to be better than those Leak sub-sat speakers you're using :lol:

I rather liked the Signifers - the whole being rather better than the individual parts I think...

[Rare Bird]

Don'y just tak about it John.. I have a spare pair of 'DSB 208' Bass units for those speakers

[Rare Bird]

Don'y just talk about it John.. I have a spare pair of 'DSB 208' Bass units for those speakers

[Beobloke]

Well, they've got to be better than those Leak sub-sat speakers you're using :lol:


:punch::chainsaw:

Sadly my Leaks reside mostly in the garage as they're far too big for my listening room... :(

[DSJR]

Have you seen the thread about them on HDD? :D

Trouble is, you've sort of answered the reason why squeakerettes rule these days....

[Welder]

I think he's going to take them with him now.
I offered to do the surrounds for him and sort the crossover out. He can make them look pretty later.
From what i can recall from the last time i heard them my Volts made them sound broken, and maybe they were :eyebrows:

[Beobloke]

Have you seen the thread about them on HDD? :D


No I haven't. What's HDD and where do I find it? :scratch: