Hi All
Recently acquired a pair of jbl l110s and they are awesome. The drivers and crossovers are good. The cabinets are junk though, veneer chipped and peeling everywhere, cabinets damaged and lots of swelling with some corrosion on the drivers makes me think the were stored outside at some stage. Grills are also good.
Being handy with tools and liking to tinker - Can I build my own new cabinets using MDF and apply my own veneer, then just transfer everything into the new cabinets? I figure as long as I match the internal dimensions it should work fine? My only problem is I won’t have the front baffle sitting 10mm proud of the new cabinet like they currently are, and this will effectively increase the baffle by 22mm (1 inchish) each way. Will this be much of a problem?
This would also give me a chance to hand/image the design giving me true a left and right pair, and I could add some bracing?
Could I also flush mount the woofer and mid driver or will this mess up time alignment?
Thoughts, improvements, don’t bother?
Sorry for rambling - thanks in advance.
Some progress pics as I tried to resize and lost the links ;
Recently acquired a pair of jbl l110s and they are awesome. The drivers and crossovers are good. The cabinets are junk though, veneer chipped and peeling everywhere, cabinets damaged and lots of swelling with some corrosion on the drivers makes me think the were stored outside at some stage. Grills are also good.
Being handy with tools and liking to tinker - Can I build my own new cabinets using MDF and apply my own veneer, then just transfer everything into the new cabinets? I figure as long as I match the internal dimensions it should work fine? My only problem is I won’t have the front baffle sitting 10mm proud of the new cabinet like they currently are, and this will effectively increase the baffle by 22mm (1 inchish) each way. Will this be much of a problem?
This would also give me a chance to hand/image the design giving me true a left and right pair, and I could add some bracing?
Could I also flush mount the woofer and mid driver or will this mess up time alignment?
Thoughts, improvements, don’t bother?
Sorry for rambling - thanks in advance.
Some progress pics as I tried to resize and lost the links ;
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A better approach with the new cabinet is to add another layer to the front and bring the level of the front baffle flush with the sides. This will also increase stiffness of the cabinet. Since the new front will be thicker, it's important to bevel the back of the woofer hole so the woofer will be better able to breathe. If the old cabinet isn't braced, add one to the new cabinet in the form of a 4-pane window frame, mounted front-to-back and side-to-side between the woofer and the mid range. Finally, be sure and keep the new cabinet volume the same as the original.
Thanks aperiodic, that L112 is a beast! But I have no intentions of upgrading crossovers, and dont have the facility to take driver measurements. 
I may replace caps and resistors, just because I can. But I have a fine sounding speaker, just really bad cabinets. I may also need to replace the L-pads as the plastic covers for one is missing Pictures will be up soon.
Anyone have any objections to me flush mounting the woofer/mid into the front baffle? I see the tweeter already is on the current speaker (and this is a must I read in the speaker build sticky).
I may replace caps and resistors, just because I can. But I have a fine sounding speaker, just really bad cabinets. I may also need to replace the L-pads as the plastic covers for one is missing
Pictures will be up soon. Anyone have any objections to me flush mounting the woofer/mid into the front baffle? I see the tweeter already is on the current speaker (and this is a must I read in the speaker build sticky).
Second that recommendation. Baltic birch 19-20mm would work great. I'd add at least another 9-10mm layer of ply to the front baffle.
This is about building cabinets that look good or much better than the current ones. I will be attempting to flush mount all the drivers. Hopefully it wont change the sound, time will tell. Easy to correct buy making spacer plates later.
Kay Pirinha - I have the designs sketched on grid paper while I have been designing electrical installations for 10 years I am not proficient in CAD (I outsource my cad drawing). I see LOADS of software is available for box design, but all far beyond my abilities. This is mostly because the specifications of the drivers I am using is unknown. Would you be able to recommend software that a simpleton like me could use to create the box design ONLY, i.e. dimensions, volumes, cutouts, ports and bracing?. No need for x-overs, driver specs or complex calculations, as that has already been done by JBL. I know how much this forum loves these things though
Kay Pirinha - I have the designs sketched on grid paper
while I have been designing electrical installations for 10 years I am not proficient in CAD (I outsource my cad drawing). I see LOADS of software is available for box design, but all far beyond my abilities. This is mostly because the specifications of the drivers I am using is unknown. Would you be able to recommend software that a simpleton like me could use to create the box design ONLY, i.e. dimensions, volumes, cutouts, ports and bracing?. No need for x-overs, driver specs or complex calculations, as that has already been done by JBL. I know how much this forum loves these things though
wish me luck flush mounting these drivers without a cnc machine
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
How do you countersink odd shaped drivers? -
Techtalk Speaker Building, Audio, Video Discussion Forum
Goto the end of this post and the archived link is posted
Techtalk Speaker Building, Audio, Video Discussion Forum
Goto the end of this post and the archived link is posted
I am watching this one since I have a near-pair of similar boxes, 4311 and 4311B, in the queue. A torn woofer, dented mid dust caps, yadda cetera.
I hate seeing rusty fasteners. The good stuff can stand the abuse I guess. I started out in the AR camp back in the sixties so I'm late to the JBL party...I'll have to have a party when these are playing.
I hate seeing rusty fasteners. The good stuff can stand the abuse I guess. I started out in the AR camp back in the sixties so I'm late to the JBL party...I'll have to have a party when these are playing.
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Let the games begin.
Strip the old boxes
Cut out the new panels from a sheet of 25mm fire rated MDF. Fire rated?? I got it for the same price as standard because it was all they had.
Not sure how to do bracing, as the crossover can only fit due to port (and be accessible in future) in the same place JBL have it. May be able to do a U shaped brace - watch this space. Excuse my slip up with the router, at least its only the back!
And at last, a mirror image pair coming up
So problems:
Bracing will be tricky with the large crossover board on the back panel. I have an idea. Any bracing's gotta be better than what JBL had, right? -none.
As one of the L-pad covers was missing from the original speakers, I will move them to the rear panel to be out of sight.
Future veneer over the crossover screws. I have a plan for this.
All the drivers have rusty fixings. Easily taken care of. I need new x-over and driver fixings all around as the old ones are now not long enough due to my thicker cabinet.
Will need to get a back-wave chamber for the mids into the new cabinets. At the moment thinking about just cutting the existing ones out and gluing into the new cabinets.
My router sucks ***. But a good tradesman never blames his tools.
Honestly, open to criticisms here as this is my first speaker project and I want to learn the hard way!
Strip the old boxes
Cut out the new panels from a sheet of 25mm fire rated MDF. Fire rated?? I got it for the same price as standard because it was all they had.
Not sure how to do bracing, as the crossover can only fit due to port (and be accessible in future) in the same place JBL have it. May be able to do a U shaped brace - watch this space. Excuse my slip up with the router, at least its only the back!
And at last, a mirror image pair coming up
So problems:
Bracing will be tricky with the large crossover board on the back panel. I have an idea. Any bracing's gotta be better than what JBL had, right? -none.
As one of the L-pad covers was missing from the original speakers, I will move them to the rear panel to be out of sight.
Future veneer over the crossover screws. I have a plan for this.
All the drivers have rusty fixings. Easily taken care of. I need new x-over and driver fixings all around as the old ones are now not long enough due to my thicker cabinet.
Will need to get a back-wave chamber for the mids into the new cabinets. At the moment thinking about just cutting the existing ones out and gluing into the new cabinets.
My router sucks ***. But a good tradesman never blames his tools.
Honestly, open to criticisms here as this is my first speaker project and I want to learn the hard way!
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