[Vintage Pete]

Originally Posted by Giovanni68

Hello Pete,

I am resurrecting this now old thread as I just finally got a pair of L220 home, I hope they will soon take the place which has been held by the 4311B I bought when I was a teen (and am not in that league since over three decades).

The L220 used to belong to a single owner whose son is a friend of mine, he put his dad's stuff on sale and I helped him with selling some of the gear and got some myself but the L220 seemed too big and expensive for my space and budget not to mention they got old and sitting unused since a while but, hey, things change...

I got them since two weeks, at a first quick test one of the two speakers sound was lower than the other, woofers suspensions look good, the passive radiator's are definitely gone, I pulled the trigger and had them brought to my (little) place, I thought that, still, the 4311B have to sit on a stand (which actually are two yard chairs...), the L220 would end up 10 inches higher and a little (...) wider so why not to try (I don't have a wife any longer but still, afraid of my mum's comments when she finds out...).

Watched quite a few videos about suspension replacement and it sure is tricky but not that much not to say that being the passive radiators free of coil there is less risk of harm, ordered the new foams as well as the gaskets and now waiting for them to reach me.

Removed the PR out of one of the two cabinets to start and clean it, with a cutter took away the gaskets and old foam or, better, what was left of the foam both off the cone and the frame of the speaker itself, not a big deal at all, used some thinner applied with a paper cloth to help soften the hardest part and again went on with the cutter and the cone is clean and free (they were already redone by the original owner as well as the woofers which are still in good conditions but can tell the work was not done perfectly), some thin sandpaper to the frame made it clean and gave me confidence to move onto the other one which I will soon start (mind you, those things are huge and my space is limited).

Quite a surprise to see those connecting cables from 40 years ago and how people stresses about audiophile cables... by the way, removed the crossover from the back, found out that the l-pads have some "mute" gaps but I guess that with usage and some dry contact cleanser they should get back to work, I also checked continuity of the woofer with a tester and connection between the speakers and their pins on the crossover, it all seems fine, can tell all the components are the original ones and I guess the caps, at least those big yellow standing ones, would better be replaced but this will eventually happens after new suspensions are on place and it all sounds as it was back in time.

Once I am done I will sure be back to ask how to revert the cabinets to original, the owner had the brilliant (...) idea to paint them with a lick of varnish, mind you, I own a small boat with a nice mahogany top and I know about varnish, when I redo it from scratch it takes me at least 6-7 layers of it to reach an acceptable result and I know how hard is to remove it all but why on earth you want to paint speaker cabinets, to preserve them???
So, one day I will want to restore them to original but am afraid that using a phon and a scraper would make a mess, I will sure have to remove the speakers first and then attempt it but this is another story we'll eventually talk about later on.

The other bit would be networks/crossovers, I can handle a soldering iron but not really aware of how a cap works (in Italian they are called "condensatori"), I am trying to learn about them and also asking on general hifi Italian forums but replies are so very varying, somebody suggested to even use automotive caps for those values I can't find (like a 36uF which I still haven't found by a quick browsing), somebody says that those laid down flat on the network board should still be good whilst the yellow ones are sure out of original specs, I wouldn't want to spend audiophile money onto them, not yet at least but just replace them with new ones to, at least, keep original features if not improving, I will have to reopen the cabinets to find out which voltage they are (found the F values on the schematic of the N220 network and also found through a video that the missing value one not marked on the schematic should be a 3uF one) but dunno which kind of cap nor if they have or not a polarity to respect.

Will try and post pics of the cabinets, speakers and networks in the coming days if it is no issue but, Pete, reading about your journey and results with your L220 sure boosted my will to work at them even tho I am pretty sure I'll not reach (anytime soon) your results but nonetheless it was a very pleasant reading, so very brave and bravo!!!

Best

Giovanni

Giovanni68....first of all, Welcome to AA!

Secondly, thanks for taking such an interest in my post from three years ago. Shame on Photobucket for wrecking my photos. I'll never use them again.

The first thing that jumps out at me with your excellent post is, here is someone who has wanted a pair of these for a long time, just as I did so many years ago. I can feel your excitement as you get started on your project. I can assure you, without hesitation, that every minute of your time will be time well spent. I've owned my L220's now going on 38 years. I knew at the time I was buying a great set of speakers. I was beyond excited at the time. What I really didn't realize at the time was the full potential that these speakers have. I've really come to realize this mostly in the last three years or so, since I rebuilt the crossovers, and more recently the speaker cable upgrade to a truly premium speaker cable. Of course all of the upgrades I've done to the system and room have had an effect for sure. But the L220 has revealed every upgrade with ease, as if to say give me more, give me more. They seem to have no real limit here. If I seem like I'm still excited, it's because I am. There are other highly revered JBL models (such as the L300) that are fabulous no doubt, but the tower design of the L220 offers advantages in my opinion. Once the L220 is fully upgraded, connected to a premiium system and set up properly in a favorable environment, they are simply astonishing.

I would encourage you, when the time comes to upgrade your crossover components, to buy the best components you can. Why buy cheap parts now, and have to do the work again later? You may have to pair some caps, as I did, to obtain the correct values. As to the "dead spots" in the crossover L-Pads, cleaning them may or may not fix the problem. And, getting the knobs off to replace the L-Pad is not easy. I ended up buying a replacement network on eBay with good L-Pads, and then upgraded it.

As far as refoaming the drivers, just take your time. It's a critical job but isn't overly difficult.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to ruin the cabinets on these speakers with varnish. I've seen some painted gloss black! What were they thinking???!!

You might also want to upgrade the binding posts. One question...are your L220's the older version or the "A" version? Put another way, is the 14" woofer an LE14A or an LE14H? The L220A uses the LE14H. It has a heavier magnet, and has an improved voice coil gap design and higher power handling capacity. Don't fret if you have the older model, (with the LE14A driver) it is also excellent.

What kind of system do you have?

I wish you the best of luck with your project. I'm excited for you. If you have any questions, I'll help you if I can.

Carry on!