rekmeyata
Established Member
I have a pair of JBL L7s that I bought in 94, the mid-base surrounds on both speakers are starting to develop small ripples, which I know is deterioration, the rest of the speakers look fine, and the cost to refoam is around $150 each.
I had a high-end electronics store guy tell me that whenever you refoam your speakers the sound isn't as good as what they were when they were new; I contacted a speaker repair place in town, known all over the US named Speaker Workshop, and they said that was BS, that there is no discernable sound difference between factory installed original foam and refoam. The high-end guy said too that speaker motors wear out over time, and replacing the foam does nothing to address the eventuality of the motors wearing out, I didn't talk to the speaker place if that was true yet.
So, what is up with refoaming and the speaker motors wearing out?
Should I do the refoam or purchase another set of speakers?
All the high-end place carried was Klipsch, listening to Crutchfield speaker comparison with my headphones the Kef Q950 sounded the best in my opinion, and they sounded darn near as good as a $5,500 speaker, any thoughts on those Kef's?
Granted this was listening on headphones, which understandably is nowhere near what I would hear in person, but it's impossible to find places that carry any of the brands of speakers in one place.
I would rather spend $300 to refoam my L7s because I really like the sound these put out, it's why I bought them in the first place, but I don't want to spend that kind of money only later have to replace an entire speaker inside the cabinet because the motor wore out, which they don't even make those particular ones anymore so they would have to find a suitable replacement. Plus, if I spend $300 now, I might have to spend another $300 in 5 or so years for another set of speakers to be refoamed, then 5 years after that the other set needs to be refoamed, thats $900 in refoaming that could take place between now and the next 15 years; that's the cost of one Kef Q950!
There is a place in town that can refoam for a lot cheaper, around $100 for both, but I can't find out what his qualifications are or whether or not he's done good work, he said that he would refoam using a poly material which doesn't degrade, the Speaker Workshop said he would use the same material JBL put on the speaker originally, the other guy said the poly material would not affect the sound?
Thanks
Edit: some details; I listen to mostly music, from classic rock, some heavy metal nothing to raucous, smooth jazz, some classical, but very little movies. My living room is 18 x 30 feet, I run a Harmon Kardon PA 2200 which puts out 100 watts per channel, and I have a Klipsch 400 watt subwoofer. Not sure if you need that info or not but it can't hurt to know it.
I had a high-end electronics store guy tell me that whenever you refoam your speakers the sound isn't as good as what they were when they were new; I contacted a speaker repair place in town, known all over the US named Speaker Workshop, and they said that was BS, that there is no discernable sound difference between factory installed original foam and refoam. The high-end guy said too that speaker motors wear out over time, and replacing the foam does nothing to address the eventuality of the motors wearing out, I didn't talk to the speaker place if that was true yet.
So, what is up with refoaming and the speaker motors wearing out?
Should I do the refoam or purchase another set of speakers?
All the high-end place carried was Klipsch, listening to Crutchfield speaker comparison with my headphones the Kef Q950 sounded the best in my opinion, and they sounded darn near as good as a $5,500 speaker, any thoughts on those Kef's?
Granted this was listening on headphones, which understandably is nowhere near what I would hear in person, but it's impossible to find places that carry any of the brands of speakers in one place.
I would rather spend $300 to refoam my L7s because I really like the sound these put out, it's why I bought them in the first place, but I don't want to spend that kind of money only later have to replace an entire speaker inside the cabinet because the motor wore out, which they don't even make those particular ones anymore so they would have to find a suitable replacement. Plus, if I spend $300 now, I might have to spend another $300 in 5 or so years for another set of speakers to be refoamed, then 5 years after that the other set needs to be refoamed, thats $900 in refoaming that could take place between now and the next 15 years; that's the cost of one Kef Q950!
There is a place in town that can refoam for a lot cheaper, around $100 for both, but I can't find out what his qualifications are or whether or not he's done good work, he said that he would refoam using a poly material which doesn't degrade, the Speaker Workshop said he would use the same material JBL put on the speaker originally, the other guy said the poly material would not affect the sound?
Thanks
Edit: some details; I listen to mostly music, from classic rock, some heavy metal nothing to raucous, smooth jazz, some classical, but very little movies. My living room is 18 x 30 feet, I run a Harmon Kardon PA 2200 which puts out 100 watts per channel, and I have a Klipsch 400 watt subwoofer. Not sure if you need that info or not but it can't hurt to know it.
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