JBL S312 for $99.00 at BB? (1 Viewer)

[Randy Noel]

The local BB has a pair of S312's on sale for $99.00 each. They are damaged. The damage, as far as I could tell, was damage to the frame of one of the grills, and that the very center of the woofer was partly crushed, but not cracked. How can I tell if these are worth buying? How could I test them in the store? Also, how expensive would it be to replace the woofer in one of these? All I'm lacking for my HT are my fronts, and the rest of my speakers are JBL Studio series (S26 rears & SCenter.)

 

[ColinM]

If you have any bassy music or a test tone, listen for voice coil misalignment on that woofer - no mechanical rub or anything strange like that. You may be able to use a needle to bring out the dust cap, and I've heard of the "vacuum" trick - With the vac off, put the nozzle on the cap, and turn it on for a split second. POP!

Otherwise, if you think they're ok, just buy them and make sure you have some recourse if you decide otherwise later.
Good Luck!

- C

 

[Brian Warren]

what are you replacing up front. do you have s26's there. how do you like the studio series. where in the rear of you room are these s26's and do you get a great surround effect with them??. lastly, how did you mount the rears??????
thanks for the replies in advance
Brian

 

[Randy Noel]

So the center of the speaker (the small dome) is just a dust cap? If that's the case, this may be a steal! So, would trying to pop this cap back out potentially do any damage?

 

[Randy Noel]

Brian,
I'm not replacing anything- I'm just now putting my HT together (Tosh 65HX81, Sherwood Newcastle R-945.) Still trying to figure out how to mount the S26's for my rears. They will go on the side wall, just behind the listening area, facing each other, about 5' high. I'm thinking about building wooden shelves for them to sit on. I was going to go with S36's for the mains, but when I saw this deal on the S312's, it made me decide to try to talk the wife into floorstanding speakers instead!

 

[Jason Wilcox]

Maybe you can get that extended best buy waranty on them. Bring them back the next day and have the woofer fixed?

Also, make sure the tweeter is ok. I saw a pair of s412s for sale at my local best buy but the tweeter was completely destroyed.

 

[Randy Noel]

Well, I missed out! I called to buy the speakers, and they had just sold them! As bad as BB is sometimes, some of these open box and damaged item sales can be pretty good! I'll start checking them out more often. BTW, I said to the salesman "so, I just need to come in and damage a couple more so I can buy them that cheap, right? His answer: "If we don't see you do it, we don't care." !!!!!! (I'm not recommending this, by the way )