I always looked down my nose at JBL until my dealer sent me a pair of L82's to try, up until then I was a die hard Harbeth fanboy, now I see Harbeth as grossly overpriced, good but nothing special speakers. Maybe I also need to sell my Leica camera and buy a Sony!!
I am using a Marantz KI Ruby amp, L82's love lots of good watts, I don't think you will have any issues with the 2100/2200 amps. Get your dealer to give you a demo.
Some, but not all. I’d definitely give them a try and I even suggested my friend try them along with JBL. He actually went with the L100’s, but not because he tried both. I would say the L100’s are so dead on sound wise for me that I never think of swapping them for anything else. Except for the few minutes I considered the 75th anniversary edition of the L100’s.
My recently acquired L82's replaced my very-well liked Denton 80th's. My primary listening room is ~19' x 21'. What started motivating me to replace the Denton's was that I started to notice how small their 5" woofers sounded in this room. Particularly at higher volumes. I use a 12" sub and the tuning required to blend the Denton's and the sub was meticulous. In this size room, and it's limited positioning options, the sweet spot for the Denton's was rather narrow. So much so that sliding myself over an inch or two on the couch notably changed the imaging of that set-up. Since hooking up the L82's, one of the first things that has really impressed me is how wide their sweet spot is. Sliding side to side on the couch doesn't have near the game-changing effect it used to. The staging presented by the JBL's is very stable. They sound even and cohesive whether I'm practicing perfect posture or slouched over with fatigue. Blending them with my subwoofer has also been much easier. Where the 5" driver of the Denton's and the 12" driver of my sub could easily become disjointed, the 8" driver on the L82's gets along much more amiably. Interesting (not surprising), I think, since both speakers measure into lower frequencies similarly (~44Hz). I don't think the L82's would be too big for your 12' x 12' room. They will command that space if you want them to, but given that many reviewers gave the L82's credit for sounding just as good at low volumes, I think they could serve your space admirably without being overbearing. Definitely worthy of a test-drive!
L82's would be fine, I think L100 may be to big for a 12ftx12ft room. I use L82' in my 3mx3m listening room.
I have the bug for JBL L82s or L100s to replace my long-serving Maggie 3.5s. I am stranded (!) in retirement on the Eastern Shore, near Ocean City, and know of nowhere I can audition them. Can anyone lead me to a dealer in the Delaware-Maryland area? Also, any leads on discounts/B-stock? I hate overpaying! Thanks in advance. If your information is too hot to handle, please message me.
I got mine from Music Direct as B stock back in August for 25% off. Those are long gone but I assume if they get a return, the price might be the same, though you'd have to add $325 or so if you want the stands which are useful unless you have a good way to DIY height and rake angle. Maybe people will buy the 75th anniversary edition and you'll get a chance to snatch a lightly used one. Between L82 and L100, I'd go based on room size if cost is no issue. My L100s are in a room that's about 14x18 and they are perfect. In something like a 10x13 bedroom, I'd go small with the L82s.
JBL - L82 Classic Bookshelf Speakers (Blue Grille, Pair) **OPEN BOX** JBL L82 Classic Bookshelf Speaker Open Box (Pair)
I just received an "open-box" pair of L82's from Safe and Sound last week. I paid $2k, and other than there being some "Safe and Sound" tape on the boxes, I wouldn't have been able to tell you they'd ever been unpacked. They shipped them immediately and they made it to Oregon in perfect shape. It's the 2nd link provided by Monsieur Gadbois, above. I can heartily recommend Safe and Sound.
Musical preference is obviously subjective, but I must say, Soundgarden's "Badmotorfinger" sounds outstanding through these L82's! It's thick, gritty, swaggering, raw, punctuated, just killer. So much texture and emotion- incredible.
A solid recommendation. I've been a Fugazi fan for 20+ years. In on the Kill Taker, Steady Diet of Nothing, and Red Medicine are my favorite albums from them. Sounds like a Fugazi session is coming soon!
Not sure if tempered bass roll off is a characteristic of JBL speakers in general but I found it very effective in reducing bass enclosure resonance with the 6in. JBL two way speakers I installed in the front doors of my '84 Honda Civic. No huge hum in the doors where I didn't need to use a lot of polyfill to dampen it.
Welcome to the club! It is the best rock speaker I have ever heard, a much nicer and more balanced sound then Klipsch for example.
I have heard similar sentiments, but what makes them so good for rock music? I'd say about 50% of what we listen to at home is 60s-80s rock with the other 50% being mixed among 60s-70s R&B, 60s-70s country, singer/songwriter and jazz genres. I'd like to find something that can cater to all of those audiences well (which I'd acknowledge is a fairly wide spectrum).
I am interested in comparisons between the JBL classic 100 and the new Heresy IV. Has anybody heard both? I heard the Klipsch and am waiting for an opportunity to hear the JBL. A dealer near by says he sells plenty of the JBL but sells more Klipsch. I assume price is a factor in those sales as the Klipsh are quite a bit cheaper.
They're not like other speakers where the excuse is they're better for certain genre of music etc. Usually reserved for weak sounding speakers that we're supposed to think are more refined or something. I find they pretty much sound great with whatever I throw at them. I'm just so used to modern speakers not being able to handle rock (and all that falls behind that category), that it's very obvious these things excel at it.
+1 on what Fruff76 said above. looking at your avatar you will love the JBL sound, with Def Leppard they are just so musical, they really separate the instruments in a rock mix something 95% of other speakers struggle to do. The best thing is to borrow a pair from your dealer and have a listen. If you have a big room you may want the L100 if you have a small / medium room the L82's may work better for you.
..Just to add, any competent speaker sounds great with audiophile grade recordings, the best speakers sound great with the worst recordings, no matter what badge is stuck to the front of them...
Does anyone know of JBL Synthesis dealers in Canada? Alberta in particular. For such an iconic brand the lack of clarity regarding their distribution in Canada is embarrassing.
