JBL L100 Classic Bookshelf Speaker Review

[Irvrobinson]

The only thing I'll differ with Irv is his comment about imaging. At low to medium volumes the L100s did not cast an image. Their sound came entirely from within the cabinet. At loud volumes, this changed for the better. They could create outside-the-box images, but it required playing them loud.

Okay, you won my weird revelation of the day award. I admit, I never remember listening seriously to them loudly, because I found it unpleasant, but I can't imagine why imaging would improve as the sound level went up. Very weird.

One other observation, all but two of my friends with L100s (that I remember, I'm talking about a long time ago) just set them on the floor. The other two had them on stands their fathers gave them. I do remember the ones on stands sounding better, but that also raised the tweeter to ear level, which might have made a big difference. One of those two friends at the time was obsessed with Meat Loaf, and I do distinctly remember Paradise by the Dashboard Light not sounding very good. He sure played that song a lot.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I view James as far more correct politically than you but that's not news. You're the curmudgeon in so many ways....

I'm not scratching your belly either.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'm not scratching your belly either.

I would definitely piss on your head if you called the vet on me. I prefer my balls being scratched in any case.

 

[Swerd]

Okay, you won my weird revelation of the day award. I admit, I never remember listening seriously to them loudly, because I found it unpleasant, but I can't imagine why imaging would improve as the sound level went up. Very weird.

Dennis Murphy explained it to me at the time. I'll try and remember what he said. He described how the individual drivers did have good enough off-axis dispersion, but only in a narrower range than the original poor crossover design allowed. That crossover (no filter at all for the woofer, and only two first-order high-pass filters, one for the mid-range and another for the tweeter) allowed two and sometimes all three drivers to operate at the same time. The result was interference that was often out-of-phase, limiting or silencing off-axis performance. Only at loud volumes, did the drivers' off-axis performance begin to stand out. The new crossover design uses 4th order LR crossovers that allow one driver to produce sound in a more narrowly defined frequency range. In 4th order LR crossovers, two drivers do both operate within one octave of the crossover frequency. One of Dennis's best talents is that he manages to keep both drivers' responses in phase with each other in that ±1 octave region. This results in outstanding imaging.

One other observation, all but two of my friends with L100s (that I remember, I'm talking about a long time ago) just set them on the floor. The other two had them on stands their fathers gave them. I do remember the ones on stands sounding better, but that also raised the tweeter to ear level, which might have made a big difference.

Placing any speaker on the floor is a recipe for bloated bass. I never kept my JBLs on the floor, only on low dressers or bookshelves. I bought tall, sturdy, 12" deep book shelves just for those speakers. Eventually, I got some sturdy 18" tall stands, and finally stood them upright.

One of those two friends at the time was obsessed with Meat Loaf, and I do distinctly remember Paradise by the Dashboard Light not sounding very good. He sure played that song a lot.

We all have bad memories of bad music our friends liked. I certainly miss some of my youth, but as I got older, I was rather glad I didn't have to put up with friends' bad musical tastes. I have a very rarely played copy of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Everyone else seemed to like it so much that I thought I would eventually like it too. That LP remains in excellent condition. I'm very glad Meat Loaf was not on the play list among any of my acquaintances .

 

[D Murphy]

Dennis Murphy explained it to me at the time. I'll try and remember what he said. He described how the individual drivers did have good enough off-axis dispersion, but only in a narrower range than the original poor crossover design allowed.

Can't say as I remember the imaging conversation. But I'm pretty sure it was more than two hours ago, so that would explain it. It's hard to imagine the JBL imaging very well at any volume given the screwy driver configuration.

 

[shadyJ]

Hmmm... James Larson trying to be politically correct. Sorta fun to watch. I have only one question... does it hurt?

I'm not trying to dance around JBL's feelings here if that is what you meant. The L100 Classic is not a perfect speaker. The peak at 5kHz is probably due to a crossover issue, and that is one thing that I would tweak if I could. What I am saying is that if you told me to go build a vintage-looking speaker for a $4k retail, I don't think I could do better than the L100 Classics, at least if you wanted something with some serious dynamic range and not another LS3/5A clone.

 

[Swerd]

Can't say as I remember the imaging conversation. But I'm pretty sure it was more than two hours ago, so that would explain it. It's hard to imagine the JBL imaging very well at any volume given the screwy driver configuration.

Dennis – thanks for chiming in. I still occasionally get info requests from L100 owners who want to build your crossover. In the past month, I've had two.

I never said the JBLs imaged well. Only that they could actually produce images if the volume was high enough. Your crossovers did well at improving that at somewhat lower volumes. But it couldn't compare to any of your own designs that I know well, the CAOW1, SongTower, or Veracity ST. While you had one of my L100s at your house, I put my small CAOW1s on kitchen stools in the family room for music and movie use. We both noticed how much better they sounded, despite their noticeably less bass. A few years later, when I first got SongTowers, their imaging, at any volume, easily out did the modified L100s. After that, I had no nostalgia whatsoever for the L100s.

 

[D Murphy]

I'm not trying to dance around JBL's feelings here if that is what you meant. The L100 Classic is not a perfect speaker. The peak at 5kHz is probably due to a crossover issue,,,,

Looks to me like it's more of a marketing issue. I'm sure the EE's at Harman could fix the peak if they wanted to, or were allowed to, without blowing what seems to me to be a very generous price target.

 

[Irvrobinson]

This thread sent me down memory lane in a way, so I tried to remember the people I knew between about 1977 and 1987 or so who owned L100s. Scribbling them down, I counted eight, not "about ten". Oddly, I remembered all of their first names, but only three last names. Weird mental block. Two of the three last names I remembered were the owners who put their L100s on stands, so perhaps I have a speaker stand thing going on I'm unaware of. Two other thoughts came to mind. First, even at eight owners I've known, I can't think of another speaker model I've run into with as many owners I've known over time. I do remember thinking after I moved to another city after college for my first career job, and meeting more people with L100s, that the L100s were a phenomenon I was oblivious to. Second, it occurred to me that I don't remember any woman I've known well enough to be in her home, and didn't live with a man, to have an audio system that I remembered. None.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

I read the review, so I know the new ones have some merit, even though it is a little questionable for the price. I also know the drivers, crossover, and overall design are far superior to the old ones I'm bitching about. Nonetheless, being honest, if you designed the best $4K/pair speaker you could right now, would they look anything like the speakers you reviewed?

They'd probably look like the BMR towers.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Keep in mind that is about how much the originals cost when you adjust their prices for inflation.

Very true... probably why I'm content with looking for deals on yesterday's high end. If I look at some of the best vintage speakers I've bought over the past year or so (Allison CD-9, Paradigm bipolar, Cambridge SW Towers, VSA VR-4, PSB Stratus Gold), they would all be $3000 or more if still sold today.

Heck, the Von Schweikert VR-4's were $3k when introduced 25 years ago. They'd cost more than my car did if they were still in production.