[Jon S.]

Returning it is unfortunately not an option. So far I can think of:

(1) Hang it from the ceiling as a Jerry-spirit mobile.

(2) Sell it with full disclosure for a loss.

(3) Have it repaired/reconed, e.g., by this place that's gotten good reviews here before: http://www.speakerrepair.com/mm5/mercha ... n=RECNEPRC , but at the same time, some people warn the recone kits available today are not the same as the old ones and it'll never quite sound the same.

What to do about this bummer?!

[hippieguy1954]

That's a tough one, Jon S.
Two questions:
Can you hear the rub when playing through it? If so, then it's a goner.

Is it around the entire coil or just one side? If it's only on one side, you can mount it so that side is up and it will even out over time, sometimes/maybe.

[tatittle]

Once upon a time, as a pig flew across the yellow sky by the blue sun, a JBL owner was able to curb voicecoil rub by GENTLY pushing the cone back and forth while shaking the speaker. This is obviously a difficult to impossible maneuver. But if the rub is caused by something falling into the gap (attracted to the magnet e.g.) this could dislodge it. I think I did it 1 side at a time going around the entire speaker. I did this on a smaller JBL though...it may impossible to get enough force to dislodge something w/o damaging the cone with the heavier 12" K120.

AS above poster mentioned, if it is slight rub and only on one side you can try to spin the speaker around, mounting it with various ends up. The gravity can be enough to increase the gap and reduce/eliminate rubbing, once you find the proper side to put on top. I have had speakers that rubbed when mounted with 3 "sides" up, but rotating it to the final position improved it significantly.

Alas it will only get worse. I was surprised to get a decent price for rubbing/burned JBL's clearly sold as needing recone. I haven't found a recone that is indiscernible from true JBL (Weber is way off IMO). Great Plains Audio does a good job with Altecs though. Their are places recommended by folks that I haven't heard (Upland?).

[kurt eye]

I bought a pair of K-120s on ebay about a year ago. One was good , one was shit. I'm considering sending the shit one to these folks:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JBL-D120-K120-E ... 2c7283b519

If anyone has had any experience with these guys, your feedback would be most welcome.

Thanks

[zambiland]

Orange County did a great job with a K140 that needed to be reconed. They also recharged the magnet. They used their recone kit, but the tone is pretty much right on. I think the 3rd party kits these days can be very, very close to the originals.

[Jon S.]

Thank you, everyone. Between here and TGP*, I have several viable options now to consider.

* http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... ght=Burned

[NSP]

Orange County did a great job with a K140 that needed to be reconed. They also recharged the magnet. They used their recone kit, but the tone is pretty much right on. I think the 3rd party kits these days can be very, very close to the originals.

+1 Very happy with the recone OC did for me....aftermarket kit sounds very much the same as my other original cone speakers.

[Jon S.]

That's high praise, NSP! Just sent OC an email inquiring on price.

[Jon S.]

Thanks again, everyone.

OC's price is right, but ...

I just had another thought. It slipped my mind earlier to include this in my OP but when my tech and I tested the K120, strangely, it was wired like a normal speaker, i.e., not with the black and red terminals reversed. This has me thinking now - did this happen ever with JBLs? If not, maybe it had already been reconed previously. That would support a return (or at least an attempt).

[tatittle]

The K series always had reverse phase or whatever (black input of signal +; and red return -) I am virtually certain of that (but I never worked there). If you bought it on ebay you can almost surely return it. If he clearly stated for recone, or not working properly/defective/needs repair, in the listing it would be sketchy though. If it is just listed as "used" the implication is it works fine. Insurance claim is another option as it may well have happened in transit; I use USPS precisely bc their insurance is smooth and dependable (and rarely needed). The colors on the posts come off pretty easily on some models, so you may want to check the order (left/right) of the posts compared to a known example.

I just watched a K120 (8 ohm) on ebay sell for $125. plus cheap shipping that looked great. I just have too many speakers and not enough money now though!

[Jon S.]

OK, here's the deal. I looked up the eBay listing. It says, the speaker is "like new," "very clean," "it has the original cone," "no rubbing at all," and "it sounds great." That's clearly erroneous. But I received the speaker around Nov. 23 and waited two months to install and test it. This was because my father got gravely ill just around then and died a month later and during this period the last thing my mind was on was new music gear. I guess the question is did I wait too long to fairly contact the seller now to tell him the speaker is not "like new" and has a voice coil rub? A friend told me today eBay recently extended the time period during which a buyer can object to an item as not within the description to 6 months. That sounds awfully long to me, I thought it was 45 days, but I'll have to check tomorrow.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JBL-K120-12-spe ... 2c90f56895

[tatittle]

I just thought of this: did you leave feedback yet? if so it may be entirely the sellers decision.

I encourage you to return it if you are being honest about what happened (which is what I suspect). It is a longtime, so the guy now really doesn't know if you blew it yourself...assuming he didn't know about the rubbing when he sold it. The same thing has happened to me, buy it, maybe brief test, store it, bring it up to volume and the bees start buzzing). I always assume some jerk sold me his garbage, but truth is they may not notice it in a quick test and shipping damage is common with heavy speakers. But you have legitimate cause for waiting so long. The guy may think he is getting shafted but that just isn't the case, and its the cost of selling on ebay which he's done a lot.

The questionable part is shipping insurance. If it was damaged in transit and it is too late to file a claim, he is getting a bad hand. Remember who shipped it? USPS claims are smooth as silk, but the other guys want to inspect the item and deny a lot of them.

I don't even think you need to contact the seller. It looks like there is a direct way through your ebay account (purchased items)--just click on return item and follow instructions. You may want to do that ASAP to make sure the deadline doesn't pass. I would contact the guy and explain the circumstances obviously at the same time minimum. The worst thing that can happen is you will lose a potential friend across the country that lives next to the Meadowlands and not get your money back. But my experience is ebay sides with buyers returning almost w/o exception. And you haven't done anything wrong...the guarantee is there for precisely these instances. I would just be nice about the whole thing and not assume the guy ripped you off intentionally, he may be fine with a return. If you can get him on the phone he may be more convinced you aren't trying to return a speaker you blew after receiving.

[Jon S.]

I just thought of this: did you leave feedback yet? if so it may be entirely the sellers decision.

I encourage you to return it if you are being honest about what happened (which is what I suspect).

I didn't leave any feedback yet. In fact, when the speaker first arrived, I emailed the seller to tell him I received it and let him know it would be a while before I could but I would once I installed it. And I don't blame you at all for the "if you are being honest" proviso. I'll be frank, were our roles reversed, I wouldn't appreciate being contacted 2 months later either. The expenses associated with my Dad's passing were in the thousands, part of me doesn't want to deal with this anymore at all and just add the $200 bucks to the overall expenses. Maybe I'll just email the seller again first, I'll have to chew this one over.

[hippieguy1954]

I'll have to chew this one over.

Always a good idea. Sometimes, depending on the situation, the stress factor isn't worth the $200.

[RiseandFall]

Sorry about your Dad, Jon.