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JBL SC99 Athenas in the house tomorrow psyched

barredowl

barredowl

Before and after Science
Well I am finally going to get a chance to hear this west coast sound I keep hearing about here. :) I am going to pick up SC 99 #LX4-1 for 100 dollars which seems like more than a fair price. I am psyched to hear them and compare them to my AR-5s.

I suspect I'll give the surrounds the "brake fluid" treatment to begin with I am little nervous about refoaming JBLs having only refoamed wide gap Advents and ARs before.
 

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barredowl said:
Well I am finally going to get a chance to hear this west coast sound I keep hearing about here. :)
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Not West Coast. Sorry.

barredowl said:
I suspect I'll give the surrounds the "brake fluid" treatment to begin with I am little nervous about refoaming JBLs having only refoamed wide gap Advents and ARs before.
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barredowl said:
BTW how do I apply brake fluid to the surrounds?
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Uhmm, better order the proper surround kit from Rick Cobb and do that, instead.... :yes:
 
Well that's encouraging I just keep hearing about this narrow voice coil gap on JBLs and it makes me nervous. Any opinions on the sound of the S99s? I know the woofers are good, maybe the tweeter not so hot, and recessed mids? Anything else I should know? Will I likely be disappointed in their sound compared to my AR-5s, Nelson Reeds, and Timeframes? I am very curious about JBL. Why do you say not "west coast" Zilch?
 
barredowl said:
Well that's encouraging I just keep hearing about this narrow voice coil gap on JBLs and it makes me nervous. Any opinions on the sound of the S99s? I know the woofers are good, maybe the tweeter not so hot, and recessed mids? Anything else I should know? Will I likely be disappointed in their sound compared to my AR-5s, Nelson Reeds, and Timeframes? I am very curious about JBL. Why do you say not "west coast" Zilch?
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I suppose I made it sound too easy, its still easy to f*ck up, but if you have any doubt at all you should send them to a shop.

barredowl said:
Is the brake fluid fix really that bad an idea?
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Yes.
 
barredowl said:
Is the brake fluid fix really that bad an idea?
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I dunno, I've read over at LHF that some use it to keep the Lansalloy surrounds in shape. IIRC, the procedure is done, judiciously, only a couple of times a year and you need to apply it without getting any on the cone. I've never had any JBL's with that type of surround so can't really say if it's the way to go or not.
From the pictures, it appears the surrounds are in good shape. Perhaps it isn't necesary to treat them for awhile.

For replacing the surrounds, I've used the method described here: Bo Putnam tutorial (courtesy of LHF). If you're at all unsure about your hand dexterity, shims could be used but it's a shame to cut an original dust cap on some of these original woofers.

Good luck with your JBL's, I think you'll like the sound, classified as West coast or not.
 
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barredowl said:
I am very curious about JBL. Why do you say not "west coast" Zilch?
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"West Coast" sound as defined by L100 is boomy bass, forward midrange, and rolled off highs. S99 has the rolled of highs part down, using the same tweeter as early L100s, actually.

I'm saying no more that might prejudice your opinion 'til you get your surrounds replaced and have a listen; then, we'll discuss what you hear. Last count, I have five pair total here. Athena was also the first consumer JBLs I bought, now nearly 40 years ago, so I am well familiar with them.... :yes:
 
So they are a good starter JBL?

As that old Isaac Hays song went god*mn the pusher man...

Should I e-wave them? Does that solve the mid and rolled off highs problem?

Now I really duck. :)
 
barredowl said:
So they are a good starter JBL?

As that old Isaac Hays song went god*mn the pusher man...

Should I e-wave them? Does that solve the mid and rolled off highs problem?

Now I really duck. :)
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Get 'em running to spec, listen, and then we'll talk.... :D
 
StarMover said:
No brake fluid. I would suggest you send these to Gordon W for new surrounds...
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That's gonna cost a bit in shipping. There are local resources:

http://www.jblproservice.com/service/index.html

Again, I suggest getting the kit from Rick Cobb. It comes with an alignment CD to facilitate doing them right, but a pro's going to charge $70 to $100 a pair to refoam them. Let that be a last resort if you can't get them right yourself.

The correct kit's ~$25.... :yes:
 
barredowl said:
Well that's encouraging I just keep hearing about this narrow voice coil gap on JBLs and it makes me nervous.
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Are you sure you don't mean the narrow roll of the surround??? that's a big part of why you need special surrounds. I've done lots of JBLs and haven't had many issues. I did have to shim a 127 once, but that was about it.
 
Both Andyman. My understanding is some JBL speaker have a narrow voice coil gap and it makes aligning the surround very critical. I can probably pull it off though I haven't destroyed any stereo equipment yet repairing it. :)
 
Got them home worked some brake fluid into the somewhat stiff surrounds and holy cow I see what the fuss is about. Playing Diana Krall now and it sounds like I am in a large club room, I haven't had any other speakers that do that before. Lively, full range, and nice timbre.

:music: :banana: :ntwrthy: :ntwrthy: :ntwrthy: :huge: :rockon: :yippy: :music:

And these are the old muddy not well regarded ones?

The only very minor nitpick so far is the sweet spot seems a little smaller than the AR5s, but the soundstage is wider OTOH.

Do you have curves on these Zilch?

Oh and bonus the nice lattice work grill is there, the previous owner nailed speaker cloth to with finishing nails. WTF??!!! Why do people do things like that? BTW should these be run with the grills on or off, so far I am running them with the grills on.

Yes I think I scored for a 100 bucks.
 
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So actually these are the S-99 Lancer and S-1-99 Lancer with the cutout on the back for the JBL amp. I thought they were SCs because of the grill cloth nailed onto the latice.
 
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Aw shucks, I only charged $30 for the pair to refoam when I refoamed the LE14As out of Lancer 101s, too bad you don't live closer.

The bass is MUCH better with new surrounds, trust me on this one dude.
 
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