old Jbl's distorting

Dynaco, it depends on your tastes. Until this day, I have still not yet found speakers that have that "JBL" sound.
If you really enjoy the sound of your JBLs, have them repaired. Voice coil replacements would not be $500.00. Mine cost that much because I had the surrounds replaced at the same time.

Maybe $250.00? You would have to check.

Although, if your interested, I happen to know where there is a set of completely restored L112s w/stands that are absolutely perfect/gorgeous......

Dynaco hum, Dynaco hum, where's this Dynaco comin' from? I dun' spent.......

Sorry, got off on a little tangent there.

It is important that the voice coil/bobbin assembly was aligned properly when applying the new surrounds. If they were not, the voice coil/bobbin will rub against the magnet assembly causing a "rubbing" or "cracking" sound with high excursion passages.

Have you noticed this condition since the surround replacements?

Also, if the speakers were played for any extended period of time with the surrounds in bad condition, more than likely (because the woofer cones were not properly supported), the voice coils are damaged.

The 4313s 10" woofer incorporated a 3" voice coil. The voice coil wire in those drivers was actually a square wire vs. a round wire. JBLs term for their square wire was called "Edgewound". Because of this configuration, the voice can be severely damaged very easily if the voice coil was allowed to run misaligned to the magnet.

I know this by experience. I destroyed the voice coils in my L112s by playing them with bad surrounds. It was a VERY costly mistake. It cost me over $500 to have the drivers rebuilt with new voice coils.

Now the speakers are sitting in a closet. Go figure.