JBL Recones

Duane Dunard · Post by **Duane Dunard** » 23 Mar 2004 12:03 pm

I mentioned in a previous post that my old Sho-Bud amp had not sounded as good after I had it reconed. The repair was done by one of the best, highly recomended shops around, who used official JBL parts. It's just my bad luck, but somebody on the Forum mentioned "a break-in period." That's news to me. A fact or fiction?

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 23 Mar 2004 12:14 pm

Fact! The break-in period can be from several days to several months, depending on how loud you play. With continued playing, the suspension ring of the cone gets more and more flexible, and this enhances the transient response as well as the overall frequency response. Some afficianados hook a transformer to their speakers and let 60-cycle hum do the job for them (but I wouldn't advise doing this unless you are well-versed in electronic theory).

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 23 Mar 2004 12:16 pm

Fact, Duane. Speakers, in general, not JBL specific.

.....most speakers are a little tight when new due to the stiffness of the cone surround and spider. After several hours of playing at high levels, they begin to loosen up and have more overall body and sound projection

This is an excerpt from a Q & A section on Weber's website---
http://www.webervst.com/sptalk.html

I have seen an improvement in several new speakers after a few hours of gig-level playing. I'm not talking night & day differences, though--I wouldn't count on a really poor sounding speaker magically becoming great. [This message was edited by Jon Light on 23 March 2004 at 12:16 PM.]

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 23 Mar 2004 1:21 pm

Yea Duane, I've found that with almost any new speaker but especially full range instrument speakers. Not only will the surround soften up, but the paper cone itself needs to have some musical vibrations run thru it for it to take on its real tone. I like put an amp with it's new speaker in the basement, cover it with a blanket to quiet it down, and run some music or pink noise or tone sweeps thru it. Not too loud but loud enough to get it workin. Maybe find a steel CD with a tune that's steel only and put the player on repeat. After a few days, the new cone will really warm up and come to life. New cones are always hard and cold sounding at first. If you gig often enough, you'll hear it after a dozen or so performances. You may be very pleasantly surprised. Dont give up hope on that sweet Sho-Bud amp.

Brad Sarno

John Floyd · Post by **John Floyd** » 23 Mar 2004 2:00 pm

I know that Horn Drivers in a pair of PA System speakers wiil sound Drastically Different when you replace the Diaphram in one speaker only. A new one will sound much brighter than one that has seen a lot of hours. I blew one out of a pair of Peavey Sp-5's and the only thing I could do to get a balanced sound out of the Pair of speakers was buy another Diaphram kit and replace the Diaphram in the speaker that hadn't blown also.

My theory is that voice coils have to cook in for a period and they are constantly changing with added use from the heat factor in the voice coil itself. A voice coil that has seen a lot of use will be discolored from the heat build up and no doubt the inductance value has changed from that use and heat build up. I believe the cone theory, but I believe the Voice Coil theory is just as important. New or reconed speakers are always brighter and they will mellow out with rigorous use. I have observed that in many years of experience with Sound equipment, but I never associated it with the voice coil thing until about 5 years ago with that pair of Peavey horn drivers.[This message was edited by John Floyd on 23 March 2004 at 02:12 PM.]

Jack Francis · Post by **Jack Francis** » 23 Mar 2004 2:14 pm

Mark Johnson of MJ Guitars (The Mirage guitar) told me after building me my favorite guitar, "It's only wood and it still thinks that it's a tree,,,keep playing and it'll learn to be a guitar."

Maybe the paper cone is going through the same learning curve.

Duane Dunard · Post by **Duane Dunard** » 24 Mar 2004 4:28 am

Thanks guys. Maybe there is still hope. I only had about two jobs played before I retired it. Without the old familure Sho-Bud "growl", I lost interest in it.

John Floyd · Post by **John Floyd** » 25 Mar 2004 7:39 am

Duane
Plug a CD player or Tape player in it and Exercise it that way for a day or so. Should be fine by the time you have to use it on a gig. I have two Peavey PX 300's, One blew after the first week and it was replaced by the dealer. They each had a different sound with the newer one being brighter. I did this with a CD player and used them for a Stereo for a couple of days and they evened out with exercising them this way.

Now they sound great and evenly matched with my Walker Stereo Steel preamp.[This message was edited by John Floyd on 25 March 2004 at 07:45 AM.]

Ron Sodos · Post by **Ron Sodos** » 25 Mar 2004 8:40 am

I reconed some JBL's years ago and the amp never sounded the same. I would suggest getting new speakers. I actually got rid of the amp. In my opinion reconing never sounds the same......

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 25 Mar 2004 12:14 pm

Duane, the other option is to find yourself a good old D-130 with it's original cone in good condition. Since you need an 8 ohm model for that Sho-Bud amp, it should be pretty findable. You might try Mike Teppe at Acme Guitars. They're out there if you look.

Brad

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 25 Mar 2004 3:36 pm

For JBL original parts...try Orange County Speaker repair and speak to Gary Or Sharon Sunda.

Try this
www.speakerrepair.com

Tyler Macy · Post by **Tyler Macy** » 27 Mar 2004 4:28 pm

Assuming the speaker is a D130(F)?

Breaking the cone in is not your problem. There are no more recone kits for D130s available. If they say "authentic JBL parts" they are simply reconing it with an E-130 kit unless they have some NOS D series kits (highly unlikely). The recone will never sound the same. Get yourself an original greyback D130(F) and take good care of it.

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 30 Mar 2004 3:36 pm

Original cones on ANY speaker sounds better than ANY recone ....I use to kill 2 birds with one stone year's ago..A couple of time's, and I mean only a couple of time's, back in the day I was forutnate enough to have a new speaker for my amp AND a new acoustic guitar at the same time !!!... This was back in my younger days when I was more broke than I am now !!...I would hook up my stereo to mono and play the music until my neighbor's would call the cop's, and face the speaker into the sound hole of my new acoustic guitar ...My new speaker would be giving my new acoustic guitar a workout , while I was going deaf listening to Iron Butterfly ..Inagoddadavida !!!....Ahhh
Those were the good old days !!....Funny how I got to know all the police in my area on a first name basis !!....Jim