Proper steps to refoam JBL LE14A woofers

kwingylee

kwingylee

Well-Known Member
To those of you guys that have done this. What is in your experience the best way to attach new foam surrounds on these while keeping the VC centered in the gap.
Normally you glue the foam ring onto the cone, apply a 60Hz test tone and gently apply glue on the frame and secure. I have done this many times.

The frame of the LE14A has around 1/16" space to apply the glue.
The cone sits well below the frame to allow the foam ring to be securely glued. The edge of the frame is too high to enable the new foam to be glued onto the cone.

I got the foam rings from Rick Cobb before he retired. He does not seem to be responding to emails now.

Any help is appreciated. I am in CHICAGO, aka Chiraq
 
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Something is wrong here, maybe some pictures will help.

Originally they are centered using a shim, new JBL cone kits came with the shim. You will need to remove the dust cap if you decide to go this route.

But pictures, something isn’t right if there’s that much misalignment between the surround and the frame.
 
I gather you wish to attempt this task yourself, and not seek a professional?

I'll likely be correct to say the best way is to remove the Dust Cap, Shim the Coil, install surrounds, then install a new Dust Cap.

I seen re-foam vids and whanot on some vintage JBLs, and there sometimes was some deteriorated "Caca" inside dependent upon model driver. Hard to say what all looks like (condition) when a Dust Cap is in the way.

Kaspar (or his partner) at Stereo Rehab on 5800 N Western Ave does everything on these all day long. In fact last time I was in his back shop he had a pair of LE14A on the bench that had just been refoamed. They looked beautiful, like new. Love at first sight! :-)

They know what they're doing, open Fri-Sat 12-8pm, only walk ins. On the spot, you know what will be done, and how much. If your Foams from Rick are good and correct, they might use them, sure, why not. You pay for labor is all.

You would likely be able to get correct size dustcaps from Simply Speakers if you ever needed them.
 
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markd51 said:
I gather you wish to attempt this task yourself, and not seek a professional?

I'll likely be correct to say the best way is to remove the Dust Cap, Shim the Coil, install surrounds, then install a new Dust Cap.

I seen re-foam vids and whanot on some vintage JBLs, and there sometimes was some deteriorated "Caca" inside dependent upon model driver. Hard to say what all looks like (condition) when a Dust Cap is in the way.

Kaspar (or his partner) at Stereo Rehab on 5800 N Western Ave does everything on these all day long. In fact last time I was in his back shop he had a pair of LE14A on the bench that had just been refoamed. They looked beautiful, like new. Love at first sight! :-)

They know what they're doing, open Fri-Sat 12-8pm, only walk ins. On the spot, you know what will be done, and how much. If your Foams from Rick are good and correct, they might use them, sure, why not. You pay for labor is all.

You would likely be able to get correct size dustcaps from Simply Speakers if you ever needed them.
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I used Casper to refoam a pair of 2235H woofers and 110 midranges earlier this year. I can bring him these.... He charges around $160 per woofer.
 
I don't have any of those here anymore, but I seem to remember a hard vinyl molding around the outer edge of the recess where the foam is glued. You remove that and then you have a bit wider metal lip to glue to. But it's hard to do, the glue is stronger than the molding, and so the molding will tear if you just pull on it. It needs to removed by putting a thin metal scraper behind and prying it away slowly.
 
yes, that rubber trim on the perimeter needs to be removed carefully. Also, cover the magnet and foilcal to prevent the finish from getting scuffed and scraped while the work is being done
 
I just glued the surrounds on the back and the narrow ring almost self centers. You should be able to remove the rubber ring holding the edge of the surround, take off the old surround and clean every thing up. Then just do a dry fit and it should be OK. I have used his surrounds twice for Le-14's and the worked OK. The test tone centers the coil. I have never had to cut a dust cap doing JBL re-foams,

What does the spider look like has it sunk? Should be level.

Do you have yellow Lansaloy used on the early woofers or foam?

Rob :)
 
I use a AA battery. It holds the cone either in or out depending on polarity and keeps it centered. JBL woofers are the toughest to refoam I’ve done, but still not all that bad.
 
BmWr75 said:
I use a AA battery. It holds the cone either in or out depending on polarity and keeps it centered. JBL woofers are the toughest to refoam I’ve done, but still not all that bad.
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My method also BMW. Out of 6 woofers I've done with JBL's I've only had to recenter 1. Metallic ping, but it was own fault I tried it after a 12 hr shift.
 
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