JBL L-100 speakers (1 Viewer)

[Robert Posey]

Hey, this is a question for anybody who remembers the L-100. Remember that 12" woofer with the rubber coated cloth accordion surround? Those speakers not only sounded great but with that type of surround they were almost "bullet proof". I'm sure there are some being used in HT & music systems today.
My question is, why does no one use the cloth accordion surround anymore? You see a lot of rubber surrounds on new speakers and some are made of foam, but no cloth. I don't know about the rubber surround, but the foam has a limited lifespan. I have had 2 pair of speakers with foam surrounds that needed to be replaced after five years or so.
The only driver manufacturer that uses the cloth surround (as far as I know) is eminence (www.eminence.com). I think all their drivers are made for pa systems or for club music systems.
This is just a question that I have not seen here in the forum before. Maybe someone can shed some light on this.
Thanks for a great forum!

 

[Ron Shaw]

They are still used by many manufacturers (mainly in their pro line of loudspeakers). Not only Eminence, but Selenium, P Audio, JBL, Altec, Electrovoice, and others. The foam is used more for consumer equipment. Its cheaper to mold and stamp them out than the accordian edge surrounds. Also, the foam and rubber surrounds allow for greater cone excursion, something demanded by consumers. The accordian surrounds do last almost forever.

 

[DonnyD]

I am an owner and long time fan of the JBL L100's. Yes I well know about how well they are made and also how great they sound. I bought mine in 1978 and they are the mains in my HT system.

I've used them in every system I have owned through the years and they are still just absolutely amazing how dynamic they sound. They drive so easy with small wattage but love it when you put some serious wattage through them.

Don't know much about the driver cone construction you mentioned.... only that mine are still as good as they were new although the foam around the tweet and the grills have long since rotted away. Rebuilt the grilles and have new foam for the tweets on order. I do know that the older JBL such as the L100, 4311 and a few more have the alnico magnets on the drivers. For that reason, you never send these off anywhere for service... you just may not get the magnets back!!!

I keep the black walnut cabinets oiled with Gillespies wood finish and they just keep pumping. I've bought a lot of speakers over the past several years but nothing has come close to these old JBLs... Roll on..........