Speaking of the new (current production) JBL L-100 reboot

Some of us choose not to use them for sonic reasons :)

*runs, hides, snickers, regrets being a jerk, pokes head out, rethinks, snickers some more.

:teeter:teeter

Some of us just can't be as gifted as others. ;) ;)

:teeter:teeter

(Just kidding around.) ;) ;)

As an aside, could you imagine an "Audiophile Insult Contest"? ;)
 
Mine would be more along the lines of mocking audiophiles for being audiophiles instead of not being enough of one.

"Your speakers are SO BIG, they've given you the sex life of a much younger man. Say, age 5."
 
How many objectivists does it take to change a tube?

None, they use solid state.

I've got a nifty trio of Sonance 260 stereo power amps. They were designed as some of the first "zone amplifiers", but they put out a respectable 60 wpc and, no small thanks to the big toroidal transformer, are rated down to 2.8 ohms. They are, to put it mildly, not bad, and are all the amplification most sane folks would ever need. They're especially impressive considering I paid $40 for two of them on FB Marketplace and $10 for the third one the following Saturday at a thrift store, and I didn't wildly underpay.

Anyway, point being, I'm convinced that when folks say all amplifiers sound alike, these are the amps they're thinking of*.

*I'm buzzed from a trip to the bar/arcade and abusing italics. Sue me.
 
Lord knows that JBL sold a ton of L100s. And lots of folks love(d) their L100s. :)

Back in the early 1970s, I used to think that the Marantz Imperial 7 and the JBL L100 were it. The speakers I lusted to own. Actually had four Marantz Imperial 7s in my (very short lived) Quadrophonic system.

Then I listened to Altec A7s.

A very dear friend still has a pair of L100s as his main speakers and he loves them.

No longer my "cup of tea" but I am always happy to listen to music with my friend on his speakers.

Would I buy a pair? Nope.

Do I revile them? Nope.

They will appeal to some and won't appeal to others.

Nothing more than that.

Just my opinion. :)
I like what you said there about being happy to listen with your friend. I am now using stock 4312a's.I went to a local guy who sells out of his house and he represents some pricey things. Rowland amps/20k$ speakers and the last Oppo cd. I found that the sound; folks singing sounded like floating heads without bodies in my face: was somewhat irritating. The 4312's have issues lord knows; but they are pleasant to hear. And they have knobs to play with on the front panel. People sound like people and not like HAL in 2001. Nothing More Than That....
 
I listened to the l100s in the late 70s, and they sounded good, but we're not the sound I was looking for at the time as I liked the Cerwin Vega S2, and Klipsch La Scalas, and purchased both a few years later. I know drastic differences in sound, Lol. What I do not like about the new JBL L100s is the price, way over priced IMO...although I have never heard the new ones. It looks to me like They are just trying to make some cash by remaking the old speaker. just my 2 cents.
 
Let's see, I've been at this hobby since 1953. Over the years, I've heard all sorts of speakers at all levels of prices from cheap to ridiculous. The L-100, the home version of the 4310, was one of the most popular. They sold in droves. Compared to lots of other speakers in the typical shop's "speaker wall" they sounded better on certain kinds of music than anything else in the store. I didn't have the money at the time; but on most late 60's/early 70's rock music they sounded good and generated a certain excitement. The kind of sonic punch and excitement of a live concert. They had a forward sound, and brought the performers into the room. A "they are here" perspective. They also worked well on some folk music; but bombed on full orchestra, chamber music, and a lot of ballads. Just not subtle enough. For that kind of music, I would have picked the KLH 5, or even the KLH 17 which had a more neutral sound. More of a "you are there" perspective. I used to dream of a four-speaker stereo system with a pair of KLH 5's and a pair of L100's to cover a wider range of music. What I could afford was a pair of KLH 17's. I still have them.
The point here is that the sound of the L100 and its popularity generated a lot of speakers with similar sound. The Marantz 7 was mentioned, and there were many others, even after JBL had dropped the L100 and the 4311WX. The Pioneer HPM100, for one. Agree with the sound or not; the fact remains that they and their emulators were an enormous business success for their manufacturers, and they were well matched to the music of the day.
In closing, I'd like to paraphrase a wise man (I wish I could remember who) that said something close to: "The recreation of a live performance in the home with only two speakers being a virtual impossibility; the best we can hope for is the aesthetic equivalent of a live performance." For the rock fans of the late 60's/early 70's; that was the L100.
Jerry
 
Well as much as I would like to be excited that a manufacturer actually is employing a 12" woofer in a current design/build, if the results still only emulate the old L100 sound, that would be a shame.
 
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