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View Full Version : JBL L 7'S - The Second Time Around



ka7niq
06-10-2007, 07:42 PM
My Grandpa owned Hartsfields, and gave me his old L 65 Jubal's.
So, I was in a "JBL Family" as a young man.

My Jubal's got ripped off years ago when my home was broken into, and I had no insurance, just renting back then.

I always had a special place in my heart for JBL.

I saw the L7 JBL's at my local Circuit City, and did some research on them.
I saved my money, but bought them mail order to get a deal.
My FIRST pair were absolutely dreadful, and I gave them a very bad review on Audio Web, maybe even on Audio Review too.

They were screechy, did not image, and just plain sucked.

Last week, I saw some local for sale.
At first, I just laughed, and ignored them.
But Duke Spinner on Klipsch forum has em, and likes em.

I came over here, and saw others like them too, so I thought WTF, and bought them.

The last pair I sold local to some kid.
I had em bi amped with Krells, played Metallica for him, and they were gone!

So, i paid for these, and the guy even delivered em for me in his pickup!
He liked em, but the old lady did not,,so she forced him to buy Bose.
Poor Guy, you could see it in his eyes he was having a hard time saying good bye to his old friends!

I will cut through the chase and say right now THIS pair sounds NOTHING like my last pair.
This IS very much an Audiophiles Speaker.
They image all over the place.
They are ANYTHING but bright, actually quite recessed in the midrange, and a LITTLE over damped.
We will get to THAT later.

When these first got here, they sounded a little strange.
They had sat in the living room of the previous owner, unhooked for over a year.

I played em low at first, gradually increasing level, and then they started sounding better.

After about an hour of play, I hit em with some demanding RAP Cd's of my kids.

Then, I did my little "trick" I do to all old speakers.
I intentionally and carefully heat up the drivers, then, I turn amp all the way down, and CAREFULLY push each cone driver all the way in to it stops.
I "massage" each driver like this a few times, slowly and carefully.

Bud Fried taught me this.
It seems Ferrofluid can SOMETIMES get stuck, or dirt/dust gets into the coil.

I heat em up, and do one speaker at a time.

When finished, the speakers from California finally came back to life!

Elton John's' Saturday Night's alright for fighting was the very best I have ever heard on any speaker, including my 801's.
Dexy's Midnight Runners song "Come on Eileen" was devoid of screech/

Stevie Nicks voice was free of peaks singing Rhiannon, as was Christine McVie's.

The L7's really show their stuff on complex, demanding material, easily separating and revealing, in a soft spoken way, what is on the recording.

I think they can be improved greatly by playing with the damping material in the speakers.

The sound is definitely over damped.
I think JBL was trying to get the LAST little bit of coloration out of them, and was a BIT enthusiastic in their amount of stuffing.

Guess what ?
It didn't work, compared to the B&W 801's they do have some coloration.
TOO much damping robs musical bloom, and my instincts tell me there are great improvements to be made by playing with damping material and amounts.

There IS a slight mid range recession compared to the 801's, and this give em a laid back character.

The L7 Tweeter is no match for the 801 tweeter, but nothing is.
No big deal.

The L7 gives a big, non fatiguing sound, and the louder you play em, the more they like it.

Right now, I am using a Luxman M 117 amp and a Parasound PreAmp.

My Moscode 600 is being modded, and will be back shortly.

In short, I am VERY impressed with these speakers.

They are not even bi wired at the moment.

If one reads my original review from long ago on these, you will see I WANTED to like these.

The first pair must have been defective, because these kick butt, in an audiophile way.

Bass is OK, but I have corner mounted 9.5 cu ft 15's with gobs of power on them.

As long as a speaker goes down to meet my subs, I am happy.

From 4 hours of listening, I must say L 7 is indeed an impressive speaker.

Not surprisingly, the speaker from California did the Beach Boys justice, and Red Hot Chili Peppers too!

These LOVE Rock.

Boston was great, so was REO.
Jewels voice and Piano was just right, in a laid back way.

On the Live Farm Aid CD, there is a Live Version of "Copperhead Road".

This was the best I have ever heard that song, it is a real bitch to get right.

James Ingrahams voice lacked a LITTLE body compared to the 801's, but I think some damping mods will fix that ?

On Village People's "Macho Man", the trumpets were a bit muted, and the midrange recessed compared to the 801's.

Not right, not wrong, just a different perspective then 801' that is all.

I gotta get back and listen some more, just wanted to share.

Titanium Dome
06-10-2007, 08:40 PM
That is such a change from your original impressions, which I've copied here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=172949&postcount=114

I think you show a lot of class coming here and demonstrating your open mind. Anything I might have written disparaging your original experience is out of line now, and I humbly retract it.

Well done. :applaud:

ka7niq
06-10-2007, 09:26 PM
That is such a change from your original impressions, which I've copied here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=172949&postcount=114

I think you show a lot of class coming here and demonstrating your open mind. Anything I might have written disparaging your original experience is out of line now, and I humbly retract it.

Well done. :applaud:
Hey, we are Passionate about our speakers.
It is that passion that drives us as audiophils.
I SWEAR I must have had a bad pair the first time ?

I bought em mail order, and maybe they were B Stock purchased from a repair center or something ?

I sure EAT my words now!

After further listening, here are some more impressions.
Speech on Male voice shows a LITTLE coloration.
I can hear box, but it is not distracting.

I can HANDLE a bit of coloration, all speakers have it.

The 801 with their Kevlar driver in a marble head, and the Matrix cabinet control this better.

But the 801's will not play NEARLY as loud w/o strain, and are more :brutal: in that there is no middle ground.

You wouldn;t want to listen to Tommy James and the Shondells on 801's, or Styx or Foreigner either.

The L 7's will play Anything, make it sound good, image all over, and play it loud w/o distortion.

Before I go into these, I am gonna change amp, bi wire, possibly bi amp, etc.

I more or less just threw em in, moved em a little to focus image, and they sounded pretty good, so i just kicked back and listened.

Remember, these sat 2 whole years unplayed, so maybe the caps have to re form ?

I have YET to find anything that sounds truly horrible on them.

They are much like my Von Schweikert VR 4 JR's in that regard, no "suprises" as you switch from disc to dics in the changer.

And YES, I use a CD Changer Gasp :p

I had a Cal Audio Labs transport and could NOT hear a difference.

The DAC is what matters IMHO.

I wanna try my Adcom 585 on them for I feel my Luxman M 117 is a bit too warm with the L 7's.
The Adcom 585 is more extended and thinner sounding, perhaps a better match with the warmly voiced L 7's ?

Can't wait till tomorrow, gonna pull out the Cat 5 cable, and use it up top.
Low inductance stuff, should improve the highs ?

Best 500 bucks I ever spent for these.

And to THINK, my original choice of L 7 was right all along years ago ?

Dam mail order crooks !

My boxes on the original pair were obviously opened before, but they told me to give me the DEAL I originally got, they had to sell me a "demo" pair.

Yeah, right !

This is a properly working pair of L 7's now, and I love them.