JBL L100 Classic Bookshelf Speaker Review

Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
It's funny because I expected your comments on the speaker (pretty sure you've said as much in other threads).

LOL that would be so much better than the porthole styling of current Marantz avrs/pre-pros....plus it would have a plethora of shiny knobs and toggles and spinning tuning wheels.....to keep the hands-on audiophile busy and his eyes mesmerized by the magic blue light!

Then again vinyl is having a small resurgence too....and those Marantz receivers go for more now than they did new (and had one at the time, just do not understand that at all myself).
In the late 70s and early 80s about ten of my friends had a pair of L100s. All got them from their fathers when the elders didn't think they sounded so great anymore. I've heard them a lot, and all I remember is my lack of being impressed, though all of my friends were impressed with having such large, expensive speakers given to them. Oh yeah, and they played loud, which seems overly important to young men. Perhaps I just have weird hearing, so they never appealed to me. I could never stand loud rock music.

I had a Marantz 2270 in the 70s, purchased new. It looked awesome, but I wasn't all that impressed with its performance. The blue lights were cool. In a walnut case (which I found in a newspaper classified ad) it looked very nice.

Don't get me started on vinyl. It's not a small resurgence. Two of our four kids are into it.
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
I guess that means 1955 Chevy's are out for you too.
The butt of a C8 Corvette reminds me of the butt of a 1960 Impala. It is not very handsome to my eyes. I'm nostalgic for fresh designs and fresh thinking.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
In the late 70s and early 80s about ten of my friends had a pair of L100s. All got them from their fathers when the elders didn't think they sounded so great anymore. I've heard them a lot, and all I remember is my lack of being impressed, though all of my friends were impressed with having such large, expensive speakers given to them. Oh yeah, and they played loud, which seems overly important to young men. Perhaps I just have weird hearing, so they never appealed to me. I could never stand loud rock music.

I had a Marantz 2270 in the 70s, purchased new. It looked awesome, but I wasn't all that impressed with its performance. The blue lights were cool. In a walnut case (which I found in a newspaper classified ad) it looked very nice.

Don't get me started on vinyl. It's not a small resurgence. Two of our four kids are into it.
LOL I also bought the 2270, it had the fine ability to play a bit of radio during quiet spots on other inputs. I opted for the cheaper metal only cabinet, tho. It died eventually and I didn't even consider repair, so went to see what all the fuss was about "separates" at that point.

Only a few homes had components and stand alone speakers, many had those godawful console things. Most were not setup for best listening but rather lifestyle nor was I very critical at the time. I do love rock and that's all I listened to at the time aside from a bit of jazz/blues and the L100s worked great as far as I was concerned (as did the typical KLH or AR at the time, altho you could definitely party harder with the JBL). Funny the one guy who owned his own L100s (well they were in his room) pretty sure his dad had upgraded.

Yeah the vinyl thing I mostly just scratch my head at (but still keep mine around....for nostalgia :) ).
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
A friend who is a lurker on this site asked me why I’m so crabby in this thread, even beyond my usual demeanor. Fair question, I thought. After a few seconds of reflection I know the answer - I despise nostalgia. I can’t think of one nostalgic product that strikes me as a good design, except that it looks like an old design. Perhaps Marantz will come up with a new AVR styled like their 1970s receivers.

Obsolete designs are typically obsolete for a reason (perhaps several of them).
Hey Irv, the form of the L100 Classics may be banking on nostalgia, but under the hood it is not much like the transducers and crossover circuit of old. I evaluated the speakers on their own merits, and I think they are pretty good as a modern sound reproducer. I have seen the measured response of the old L100 Century and these new ones are far superior. Having a vintage industrial design is one thing but having a vintage sound is another thing altogether. I have heard the newer Klipsch Fortes and the Wharfedale Linton things and hooboy I was not impressed. I think the L100 Classics are in another league. Anyway, you can be dismissive of the aesthetics, but don't write the speakers off totally, they actually sound fine, and you should listen to them with an open mind if you ever get the chance.
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
Hey Irv, the form of the L100 Classics may be banking on nostalgia, but under the hood it is not much like the transducers and crossover circuit of old. I evaluated the speakers on their own merits, and I think they are pretty good as a modern sound reproducer. I have seen the measured response of the old L100 Century and these new ones are far superior. Having a vintage industrial design is one thing but having a vintage sound is another thing altogether. I have heard the newer Klipsch Fortes and the Wharfedale Linton things and hooboy I was not impressed. I think the L100 Classics are in another league. Anyway, you can be dismissive of the aesthetics, but don't write the speakers off totally, they actually sound fine, and you should listen to them with an open mind if you ever get the chance.
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?
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
I have heard the newer Klipsch Fortes and the Wharfedale Linton things and hooboy I was not impressed.
I remember reading the review of the original Klipsch Fortes by Julian Hirsch of Stereo Review. Hirsch seldom said anything really negative or positive about any speaker or component, but he loved the Fortes. I suspect the new ones are at least better than the originals. I guess Hirsch wasn't such a great judge of speakers.

 
T

Trebdp83

Audioholic Spartan
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?
There’s that ray of sunshine. Yikes, blinding. Where are those shades?:cool:
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
Aw, c'mon Treb... you been on a roll of sunshine lately too. ;) :p :D
Treb reminds me of our cat; he just wants my attention. But don't get any ideas, Treb, I don't care what you do, I'm not scratching your belly.
 
T

Trebdp83

Audioholic Spartan
Treb reminds me of our cat; he just wants my attention. But don't get any ideas, Treb, I don't care what you do, I'm not scratching your belly.
Whatever, just don’t try and have me neutered. I’ll scratch your eyes out and s#%t in your shoes.:D
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Treb reminds me of our cat; he just wants my attention. But don't get any ideas, Treb, I don't care what you do, I'm not scratching your belly.
Careful... he might pee on you.
One of ours did that to the Lady one morning when we were waiting for the vet to show up (yes, we use a mobile vet, and she is pure awesomeness!... and with four mighty beasts there is no way in #ell we are boxing them all up for a roadtrip!!!) She came up into the bed and stood on top of the Lady... and just let it go.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Careful... he might pee on you.
One of ours did that to the Lady one morning when we were waiting for the vet to show up (yes, we use a mobile vet, and she is pure awesomeness!... and with four mighty beasts there is no way in #ell we are boxing them all up for a roadtrip!!!) She came up into the bed and stood on top of the Lady... and just let it go.
Our pets always seemed to know if we loaded them in the car for the vet....but anticipating an in-home visit is next level :)
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
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?
If I were to design a speaker for that price range, I don't know, it probably wouldn't look a whole lot like the L100 Classics, but then again, what I would design probably wouldn't resemble much of what is available because it would be for me and my own agenda. But of course, I can't judge a speaker against what I would design, I only evaluate them in the context of how well they serve their intended function. The L100 Classic's function is to try to bring modern performance in a vintage style, and I think they mostly succeed in doing that.
I remember reading the review of the original Klipsch Fortes by Julian Hirsch of Stereo Review. Hirsch seldom said anything really negative or positive about any speaker or component, but he loved the Fortes. I suspect the new ones are at least better than the originals. I guess Hirsch wasn't such a great judge of speakers.

I only spent a few minutes with the Fortes, and I could tell they were pretty sibilant which is a big turn-off for me. It's possible the sibilance was due to some other factor, like some misguided attempt at equalization, but I am guessing it is just Klipsch keeping to their signature sound.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Well I think JBL was going for the sales aspect, and from the little I've seen, seems they sell well. Mission accomplished, take advantage of the "vintage" thing.
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
If I were to design a speaker for that price range, I don't know, it probably wouldn't look a whole lot like the L100 Classics, but then again, what I would design probably wouldn't resemble much of what is available because it would be for me and my own agenda. But of course, I can't judge a speaker against what I would design, I only evaluate them in the context of how well they serve their intended function. The L100 Classic's function is to try to bring modern performance in a vintage style, and I think they mostly succeed in doing that.
Hmmm... James Larson trying to be politically correct. Sorta fun to watch. I have only one question... does it hurt?
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Nice post, but for the original originals, I'll stick with "yuck".

I don't know about your modified version, but not only was the original difficult to listen to, they didn't image worth a damn. The speakers never disappeared; even my Audioengine things do that.
I bought my L100a speakers in 1973. They were part of my first stereo: an AR-Xa turntable, Shure M91 cartridge, a Marantz 2230 receiver, and the L100s. I was looking to buy Advent speakers, but I was in the Navy, and the only US-made speaker the European military exchanges carried was the JBLs. The other speakers they sold were various good looking but poor sounding Japanese-made speakers, Sansui, Pioneer, etc. So I sprung for the expensive JBLs. I kept that stereo for 27 years, with the addition of a cassette recorder, and later a VCR. In 2000 I got my first AVR and DVD player, keeping the JBLs and adding NHT center and surround speakers. After replacing the JBL's crossovers in 2004, I retired them completely in 2007, replacing them with Salk SongTowers. I'd sell them, but most people looking for L100s are scared off by the much improved crossover.

I got quite used to the JBL's sound, and kept them, mainly because I had a wife, 2 kids, a mortgage, and a very demanding job. But I have to agree with Irv. The L100s had 3 major flaws:
  • Exaggerated bass, but not as bloated as the bass of many other speakers from the 70s or 80s.
  • An rising response as frequency increased, leading to an overall bright & forward sound.
  • A big ugly looking & sounding peak at 6-7 kHz, caused by break-up of the mid-range; combined with the lack of a proper mid-range band-pass filter; interference by both the woofer & tweeter, which both lacked any low-pass filter. All of that was made worse by poor placement of the mid-range driver relative to the tweeter and woofer on the front baffle.
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. (Of course, that also depended heavily on the recording quality. Most vinyl LPs had a form of analog compression allowing 20 minutes of music per side, while preventing the pick-up needle from jumping out of the record's groves from bass vibrations. In general, this compression worked against good imaging.)

When I first took them to Dennis Murphy, I described their imaging when loud as one aspect of those speakers I really liked. He assured me not to worry, when his new crossover was finished they would create images much better. He wasn't wrong. Most of Dennis's designs, both DIY or commercial, are significantly better at imaging. He really does understand how to achieve that.
 
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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Hmmm... James Larson trying to be politically correct. Sorta fun to watch. I have only one question... does it hurt?
I view James as far more correct politically than you but that's not news. You're the curmudgeon in so many ways....
 
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