JBL L100 Reissue - $4000

[watchnerd]

I'm really rarely a person to say "this shouldn't cost this much."

For example, I'm willing to accept that the Technics SL-1200G costs $4000 give they rebuilt it from the ground up and, despite looks, is actually a nearly complete overhaul of the motor, plinth, etc.

But this JBL L100 reissue has me scratching my head.

Yeah, you get a 12 inch pulp cone woofer.....and I'm really not sure what this has going for it versus just buying a vintage version, for far less. Plus it's more...vintage.

https://www.musicdirect.com/Speakers/JBL-L100-Bookshelf-Speakers

 

[restorer-john]

They actually look very ordinary IMO- cheap in fact.

Having had a few pairs of Century L100s and passed them on, they may be classic, but their sound is dreadful.

This is interesting I think:

"Many audiophiles doubtlessly remember the unforgettable sound of the L100. And even for those that don't recall it, fans of classic advertising design will recognize the iconic Maxell ad, "The Blown-away Man," in which the listener sitting in his chair literally gets blown away by his speakers – L100s. JBL's L100s were chosen because listeners who cared about full-frequency response, tremendous dynamic swings, and studio accuracy were playing the day's best records on their own JBL speakers."

There are two versions of the ad that I can find.

This one:

And this one:

The first ad uses speakers that could be the JBL-L100 except for one thing, the speaker terminals are at the bottom of the speaker, not the top and even if they were upside down, the position doesn't line up with the 'wires' they are using. The overall depth of the speaker is also out of proportion for a L100.

The second ad uses a completely different speaker with a sculpted foam grille- very reminiscent of some Marantz models I remember, but certainly not a JBL-L100. The second speaker is much shallower too.

 

[Wombat]

They actually look very ordinary IMO- cheap in fact.

Having had a few pairs of Century L100s and passed them on, they may be classic, but their sound is dreadful.

Purchased mine new with a Rotel 50W+50W integrated amp. Awful. Replaced the Rotel with a Luxman R-1050 receiver. Much better.
JBL for some reason put monitors on the consumer market touting the 'west coast sound'. As a young fellow I thought they punched well in comparison to dreary speakers like KEF. I never considered they were an all-rounder but they hit hard enough to put me onto the high-efficiency path.

 

[restorer-john]

As a young fellow I thought they punched well in comparison to dreary speakers like KEF.

Totally agree, I was gobsmacked when I first heard the full range of JBL speakers at my local dealer as a teenager. I was even lucky enough to see a brand new Paragon (in its massive crate) unpacked and heard it.

I have no JBL in my speaker collection anymore except a few powered subwoofers for the boys.

And agree, KEF was putrid to my ears- dull, boring and very little at each end of the spectrum.

 

[Wombat]

Totally agree, I was gobsmacked when I first heard the full range of JBL speakers at my local dealer as a teenager. I was even lucky enough to see a brand new Paragon (in its massive crate) unpacked and heard it.

I have no JBL in my speaker collection anymore except a few powered subwoofers for the boys.

And agree, KEF was putrid to my ears- dull, boring and very little at each end of the spectrum.

A dealer I knew personally had a Paragon. The slam was amazing. That was my introduction to horns and compression drivers. A work colleague had Klipsch corner horns and a friend had a self-designed, using horn theory, large 3-way(JBL 15"+CDs) corner horn system. They all impressed me back in the '70s.

 

[JJB70]

That's a lot of money to pay for a bit of nostalgia. Especially when there is no shortage of extremely good speakers for a lot less, although I guess that won't be the point for those who buy them. Although some of the BBC LS3/5 monitors you can still buy (another antiquated design) are awfully expensive for what they are in my opinion.

 

[watchnerd]

That's a lot of money to pay for a bit of nostalgia. Especially when there is no shortage of extremely good speakers for a lot less, although I guess that won't be the point for those who buy them. Although some of the BBC LS3/5 monitors you can still buy (another antiquated design) are awfully expensive for what they are in my opinion.

If one is into nostalgia and high efficiency, the same money can get you some nice speakers from the Klipsch Heritage line, which have been in semi-continuous production since 'back in the day', have real wood cabinets, etc.

https://www.klipsch.com/products/cornwall-iii-floorstanding-speaker

 

[restorer-john]

Although some of the BBC LS3/5 monitors you can still buy (another antiquated design) are awfully expensive for what they are in my opinion.

Purely nostalgia driven prices. I don't get it, but to each their own I guess.

 

[SIY]

I haven't heard the L100s for years (OK, decades), but my memories of them are not terribly fond. Dynamic, but shriek and boom. Lots of people loved 'em, so my opinion may be idiosyncratic.

Nostalgia for me would be a return of Rectilinear IIIs, the sound of my teen years. Sadly, I think the pricing now would be out of reach.

 

[restorer-john]

Dynamic, but shriek and boom.

That sums it up perfectly, with a sprinkling of tizz for good measure.

They sound very good initially in isolation. The first time I sat my pair down on 300mm stands, I played Fleetwood Mac and was instantly transported to the 70s. I thought these things are quite good.

Then I switched to my Sony SSG-333es (my references back then). Back and forth maybe twice more and I sold the JBLs a few days later (at a huge profit). This was around 2000. I've had a another pair since and promptly moved them on too.

I actually got my Dad over (he is an extreme audiophile too) to hear them back then, as he hadn't heard a pair since the 70s and although he liked them, he agreed there was no comparison.

 

[andreasmaaan]

I haven't heard the L100s for years (OK, decades), but my memories of them are not terribly fond. Dynamic, but shriek and boom. Lots of people loved 'em, so my opinion may be idiosyncratic.

Nostalgia for me would be a return of Rectilinear IIIs, the sound of my teen years. Sadly, I think the pricing now would be out of reach.

Insane design. Tweeters left, right, and... bottom left and top right

 

[restorer-john]

Nostalgia for me would be a return of Rectilinear IIIs, the sound of my teen years.

What did they sound like? I've never seen so many tweeters all over a baffle like that.

 

[JJB70]

I haven't heard the L100s for years (OK, decades), but my memories of them are not terribly fond. Dynamic, but shriek and boom. Lots of people loved 'em, so my opinion may be idiosyncratic.

Maybe that sort of sound would be well received in today's market where expectations of what a speaker should sound like are increasingly being directed by small blue tooth speakers whose selling point is a booming, shrieking sound which impresses many in a "look at me, I'm so small but I can make so much noise!!" sort of way. As customers whose introduction to listening to music move onto what we might call hifi their preferences will likely be coloured by their earlier experiences.

 

[SIY]

What did they sound like? I've never seen so many tweeters all over a baffle like that.

That was much the fashion in those days. I think it was Bozak who liked to do something similar, and the ultimate in that vein were the ginormous LW Eraths.

The Rectilinears had a big, deep bass and sounded HUGE. And physically, they were really big and impressive. This was very important to me as a 14 year old, so of course I had to have 4 of them set up in quad, all driven by strapped Dynaco Stereo 70s.

Much less forward and boomy than the JBLs. I suspect that if I heard them now, I would not be as impressed as I was then.

 

[Soniclife]

Much less forward and boomy than the JBLs. I suspect that if I heard them now, I would not be as impressed as I was then.

 

[pos]

This new L100 is quite different from the original and probably closer in sound to a 4412 or LSR6332 than to a L100 or 4310.
The original L100/4310/4311/4312 had no electrical low pass, and a specific woofer and alignment that gave that "west coast" boost in the bass.
This version has an electrical low pass, and probably a more civil LF alignment given the woofer they use (a 1200FE variant, probably the best 12" HIFI woofer ever produced by JBL).
The tweeter is also a titanium unit, whereas the original L100 had a paper dome tweeter with a more rolled off HF response.

 

[watchnerd]

What did they sound like? I've never seen so many tweeters all over a baffle like that.

I remember these, the Cerwin Vega 2000-15.

I don't think I understood imaging then.

It might be fun to find a pair and see what they sound like.

 

[watchnerd]

This new L100 is quite different from the original and probably closer in sound to a 4412 or LSR6332 than to a L100 or 4310.
The original L100/4310/4311/4312 had no electrical low pass, and a specific woofer and alignment that gave that "west coast" boost in the bass.
This version has an electrical low pass, and probably a more civil LF alignment given the woofer they use (a 1200FE variant, probably the best 12" HIFI woofer ever produced by JBL).
The tweeter is also a titanium unit, whereas the original L100 had a paper dome tweeter with a more rolled off HF response.

But what about the big boomy cabinet that used to resonate like a drum?

 

[pos]

I don't know for this particular speaker, but JBL now typically uses 1" MDF material (sometimes more for the front baffle, and sometime a little less for the sides), side braces, and at least one rear to front brace for a cabinet of this size and standard.
That was not the case for the original L100, but the major part of what you heard and disliked in the bass department was probably due to the unorthodox woofer alignment.
At the time JBL was all about drivers and (relatively) little care was given to filter design and acoustical implementation. Quite the opposite of Klipsch in fact. Luckily things have changed quite a bit since then.
I don't know if they tried to recreate the original L100 "sound" with this one (and at that price I am not going to find out anytime soon), but a proper implementation of the drivers at hand should give great results, better than a LSR6332 and probably better than most audiophile speakers of this size.

 

[andreasmaaan]

I remember these, the Cerwin Vega 2000-15.

I don't think I understood imaging then.

It might be fun to find a pair and see what they sound like.

That looks like a mid-range mini line array to me. I'd say the tweeter is the little thing in the middle of the row. Would also be curious to hear these lol.