I agree with you, $4,000.00 for these speakers, someone hopes to make some big bucks on an old style speaker. Steve Hoffman promised in this thread to review the new L-100 speakers and report back, he did not like the originals at all, so he might be a good person to ask. Bet they might actually sound better with Audio Note amplification!
Maz, I really like your refurbished L-100 loudspeakers, they really look so nice with the blue fronts, great job on the cabinets. Have you ever done a head to head comparison with the B&W speakers upstairs? If so, what was the outcome. You know, you might really dig on adding some of the Super Tweeters I added to my Polk LSiM 703 and 707 speakers, you should try it and see what you think, they really bring an enjoyable brilliance to the upper end of most speakers, and if you did not like it, you send them back and owe nothing. Take a look at my thread (How I Transformed My Home Listening Experience, Part II) How I Transformed My Home Listening Experience (Part II)
They can be had for 3200 to 3400 if you are smart and sound much better than the originals. They are pretty much a different speaker on the inside than the originals. I personally loved the pair I bought in 1975 up until they were stolen in 1984. I have an original refurbished pair (photo posted earlier) that i used with my second rig in my office and they sound fabulous. Easy to listen to. Sort of disappear in the room.
Two way different sounding rooms. The JBL L100s are in a my downstairs office which is a very dead room. Lots of carpets and I mostly play CDs on them A dry sound but fabulous when turned up. Even low volume is nice. My main upstairs is moistly for vinyl but I also play CDs via my OPPO. The room is an open plan family/kitchen style setting, so lots of reflective surfaces. It's a room for living and loving music. I don't want to isolate myself most of the time. But no I haven't done an A/B test,. They have very different sounds. I like them both but I haven't swapped them out between the two different rooms.. I guess in theory the B&Ws which are a bit brighter, might be better downstairs and the JPL's upstairs. I'd love to hear the new updated JBLs in my main room. I've only heard them at a dealer location and thought they were fantastic.
I guess the best indicator you are moving the the right direction is when your good sounding recordings sound better and your bad sounding recordings (and even mediocre soundings) sound much worse! The better my stereo gets the fewer and fewer CDs I want to play on it! I am getting a bit bored only listening to my best sounding CDs. The bad sounding ones I play only as background music, or in my car or on my garage system. It is getting to be like a 20/80 ratio good to bad.
I don’t know about that. I also have the L100’s and just about everything sounds really good, unless it was unusually poorly produced. One of the things I love about them is I can play random stuff on tidal etc and never feel the need to skip tracks because they sound bad. Maybe your amp and source are just way better than mine. If that’s the case, I’d downgrade and enjoy the music.
It is not a criticism of the L100s. It is just an observation when it comes to audio in general. I personally want the best recordings to sound their absolute best. The price I pay is overly compressed, reverb laden, hashy sounding recordings are also revealed even more. I buzz saw in the distance becomes one right before you.
I listen to a lot of acoustic jazz and if it's a good recording it really is like they are in the room with you. I can understand a hard rocker feeling like they are missing something. For those who feel that there is not enough bottom do you have The Allman Bros At Fillmore East? No heavy drums on this record, jazzy type so they won't be real loud and bass-ey anyway. But how does Barry's bass sound to you and the sound of the band over all?
I heard a pair in a shop, proper listening room etc.... Underwhelming comes to mind and very very overpriced also comes to mind
I've had a broken in pair of these in my stable for a few days. These speakers are absolutely kickass. Music just flows out, more than enough refinement and resolution to hear into the music, but also smooth. Bass is incredible and makes you realize there really is no replacement for displacement. Most importantly, these speakers make music fun, something that is sorely lacking in this hobby and on these forums. I've heard a lot more expensive speakers do less than these (looking at you Magico), and do not think they are overpriced personally (especially considering one should be able to get a decent discount if they try.) The JBL stands are a must to complete the design and aesthetic. For perspective, my taste in music is very wide, these are not just a 'rock' speaker. In fact, listening to Rostropovich play Bach at the moment and the cello is more emotive than I've ever heard.
I completely agree with this post and couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m currently listening to Brahms 1st symphony (Herbert von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic) on my L100 classics and agree that they are not just a “rock speaker”. They do pretty much everything well IMO. Enjoy!
Spot on! I seriously think a large portion of people who post on here would absolutely love these things. I still wonder why Stereophile and the Absolute Sound haven’t done a review of them. Just curious, I see on your profile you have Omegas. Did you replace them, or just add the 100’s?
The L100s will be the primary speakers. When I get the space, I think the Omegas deserve a decware amp for a different flavor. Omegas are a great speaker also, but markedly different sounding.
I purchased the L100 Classic 2 weeks ago and loving it . I have a Forte III , Klipsch 5.5, and a klipsch Jubilee . Compare to Forte III the JBL sound clean and smooth accurate . I Used to have Magnepans, martinlogan ,BW and nothing is more enjoyable than the L100 . I read this thread from the beginning and thank you all for your opinions . So far I tried a mcintosh MHA-100 , Parasound P6 and A23, The best amp so far is my tube Yaqin 100b It is night and day compare to the other amp .
I've had my eye on the L100 Classics along with the Forte IIIs for a while now. Are there any areas you'd say the Forte IIIs excel over the L100s? What type of music do you typically play through them?
Thought I'd chime in with a 1-year update. I've been living with the L100 Classics hooked into both my stereo system (Cambridge CXA60) and via a speaker switch into my HT system (Marantz NR1609) since I bought these for myself last June (FWIW I paid ~$3700 delivered with the stands). They sound great with both setups, though would probably benefit from more power in both (next upgrade--looking for a good price on a used Luxman L-507uX). I honestly don't really know if I'd call these "hifi"--they're not the last word in refinement, and I've never had that sort of "wow!" moment where the artist on the recording materializes in front of you like I've had demoing other products at hifi shops. Granted some of these have been crazy, top-dollar rigs, but e.g. the Focal Aria 726 did a much better job of imaging and cost 1/3 of the price of the L100. I will say that I absolutely love how they sound with the music I listen to most, and they've brought me into some genres that I hadn't had much interest in previously. For instance the first time the 24/196 version of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levy Breaks" came up on the Amazon Ultra HD playlist I looped that track maybe a dozen times and have played it many, many more since. I had never really been into classic rock before but guitars just sound amazing on these speakers. Other genres these are particularly well suited to are contemporary indie rock, alternative, hardcore and metal. When Tool's catalog finally came out on streaming I fell into that hole for several weeks. They also definitely rock out on electronic and EDM at dance party levels. I've also been extremely happy with them as front channels for my 5.1 system. They integrated very well with the receiver and the other speakers I have and make a very compelling setup for my everyday HT needs. And yes, the fact that they look great doesn't hurt! I don't think it warrants snubbing them by calling it a "lifestyle product"--in fact I'd be pretty put out if I spent this kind of cash on something that didn't look like something I'd want to show off. Which does raise the one nit I have with these: for $4K asking price they really should have made proper left and right channel versions, and that JBL obfuscate the fact that they're not mirror images in the advertising literature is very bad form (press shots always show one with the grill on). Long story short, I love these for the way they sound and am not looking to swap them out anytime soon, but would considering investing in something additional for more of a "hifi" experience.
A fellow boomer here. I confess to liking the retro looks, especially in orange. But many folks I knew had these back in the day and I never liked them. So I could not live with them other than maybe on static display. One would do with a lava lamp on top?
I own the JBL L100 classic but I've never heard the original or any other iteration. Do they even sound similar? If so, in what way?
