Which JBL L100 Century grills do you like?

Tony M

My L100 Century speakers my old friend gave me are OK now. I failed at replacing the surround since it seemed a smaller size but some of the blame lies with me too I believe. I thought the voice coil was silent when I glued the outer rim. It felt free but not spongy like all the rest I've ever done. I think the spider is dried to the point of not functioning properly anymore.

OK. I replaced the woofers. They sound GREAT. Seriously.

For the grills. I don't want to pay 250.00 for OEM super thick foam cubed inserts.

I have the wood frames. I just need inserts.





I saw a video where a guy wrapped the wood frame in cloth too. I won't be doing that. I like the look of the wooden grill frame.

I can build inserts with 1/4" plywood wrapped in black cloth pretty easily. Cost...0.00.

I can also afford 150.00 to 200.00 for NICE cubed inserts w/JBL badges since I only have 40.00 into these now.

I'm still frugal of course.

I'm glad I did a little research into this one sellers grills that are 80.00 plus 10+ shipping. I saw where a few people didn't like the quality of his thin cubed grills and sent them back.

So it's the med. to plus thickness from "theJBLfoamfactory" seller for me. 150.00+15.00 shipping.

I like the sound of these a lot so I'm keeping them for sure.

I know Doc Hardy would pass these along as fast as he could but my hearing says they sound pretty darn good.

Would you go the "free" route and build some flat "black or ??? hey, I could spend 10.00 at JoAnn Crafts on any color cloth that looks like sound would pass through, wait, I have some "white" cloth in the back room too.

I'm going out right now to look at that white cloth. That would look great against this Walnut.

I might put the "cubed" look on hold for now and go FREE on anymore cost.

Thanks for listening.

Tony M

Yea, I'm going with this cloth.

It's not white like I thought. More of a tan. Nice, somewhat open thin weave too.

mhardy6647

Blue foam.



(internet photo of "aftermarket" replacements -- the true blue was a bit less bold)

Tony M

This netting was a pain to remove and clean up.









Going to remove this other netting on the other one too.

Tony M

I forgot to mention I can see the foam was brown.

audioluvr

Bet those will look nice when you get done Tony!

Tony M

Thanks.

I also had "fun" refurbishing my "road find" AR 4x's in the summer (July) 2019.

Tony M

Cut some grill panels to glue the tan cloth to. Friction fit. I like how they turned out. Again, removing these old screens was a pain. But they're cleaned up 95% now.





































Now for the tan cloth...

Tony M

Decided to paint the grill frame front AND painted the insert fronts black also.

I saw another picture of a grill with light cloth and a white panel behind it just like mine. If I had "white woofers" still in the cabinets, maybe it wood be ok.

I wanted it all blacked out behind the cloth now. The midrange bezel is silver and might be able to be seen, maybe not. I can always paint the bezel black too.

I have to iron the cloth before gluing it.

I think I'll make 2 more grill frame inserts so I can mount the cubed foam grills to them. Then I can swap them out if I buy the cubed grills in the far future.

Tony M

I put new cloth on 4 grills today.

Tan on the JBLs and Black on a set of ADS L800's I swapped the cross-over in one of them a year or more ago. I had re-clothed one grill of the ADS's but didn't like it. I took it off today and now I have an acceptable set of grills for these ADS gems.

I plan on using some Velcro fasteners on both sets of grills.

I still have to trim the excess cloth on the backs of all 4 grills and try to flatten the corners back there too..

I just might finish the 4 grills tonight.

The ADS grills have been on my mind for a year or more. After seeing I could use surround repair glue for the adhesive, It was time to try it out. The glue worked GREAT.

Tony M

Drew out the 2nd grill insert panels and put it in the back room.


Start of the new ADS grills.


Almost finished. I want to glue the excess cloth on the back side for better adhesion. I need to add Velcro too. There is only a thin lip to glue the cloth to. Then the cloth can be folded inward and down in a second stage of gluing later.





The JBL's...Cloth was glued down and corners stapled.




After dinner trimming.


Before Velcro test fitting.
















I don't know why this picture turned out dark tan but it shows the texture pretty good. The grills really do look white against the Walnut cabinets.


That's it for the posts until I get some cubed grills IF I ever do.

Good night and goodbye.

Tony M

I have to agree.

And I can't see the midrange's silver flange either.

They look like some KLHs and Advents from that era that I've owned.

That old pr. of AR4x's had that white/tan linen cloth that some bug/s liked the taste of, too.

They look almost new now. I'm thinking of swapping out the binding posts in the next few days. I forgot about that project. I have some new posts in the back room. These original posts are made for 16ga or maybe 14ga MAX wire I think. It's tough to wire these now too.

I listened to Gordon Lightfoot's greatest hits today. Listened for over an hour to that magical sound coming from the front wall and a couple of times from the sides too. I'm using an adcom 555II for the power and I think they are a great match.

They sound as good as they look even though the woofers aren't original. These woofers are still breaking in too. They've been sitting for years. They're beefy and sound ALMOST as good as the originals.

I spent a few hours finishing the ADS grills today and tonight. I found the soft Velcro strips from the old grill cloths next to the grill Tags. That was nice.
I'll put the refinished grill tags in their place and stick the grills on and listen to them again. It's been a while.














Before...

westmassguy

Very nice work!

Tony M

Thanks.