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View Full Version : L pads, cut or boost ?



midlife
06-20-2009, 06:03 PM
The L pads on my L65s have zero at full counter clockwise and ten at full clockwise, whereas the L166s have zero straight up (12 oclock) and negative values counter clockwise and positive values in the clockwise direction. Do some L pads deal strickly with boost while others have a cut and boost capacity? And if there is a real difference why would it be set up that way?

4313B
06-20-2009, 06:10 PM
There is no boost. They are merely level controls. Full on, full off or somewhere in between. They are just two variable resistors, one in series followed by one in parallel, in a little can.

Mr. Widget
06-20-2009, 07:56 PM
There is no boost. :yes:

Think of an L-pad as a dimmer switch on a light in your home... they can only reduce the output from whatever the maximum possible output is.

The reason the graphics vary is a hard one to answer. In a perfect world they would always have 0dB or flat response at top dead center and allow you to "turn up" or turn down the tweeter or mid to taste. Some speakers are like this and many are not.


Widget

rdgrimes
06-20-2009, 08:51 PM
In the later models with L-pads, JBL claimed that "0" was the setting for a flat response in their anechoic chamber. On those models with no "0", you're on your own.

LowPhreak
06-23-2009, 04:47 AM
It shouldn't matter. Just set them by ear and ignore what's printed on the plates.

midlife
06-23-2009, 07:46 AM
It shouldn't matter. Just set them by ear and ignore what's printed on the plates.
Thats what I eventually did, but the L pad labeling discrepancies did have me wondering. ;)