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View Full Version : L55s Finished - Wow!



Wagner
10-07-2009, 11:14 AM
And waking up.
Sound better every day (finished them up on Saturday).
This is the first pair of LE14As I've had the pleasure to have owned.
This is one fine driver, amazingly coherent for all the heavy lifting it's asked to do for this particular model; goes very high and clear while still shaking the house!
This old floor stander may be an "antique", but I have to say it is one VERY GOOD sounding old system. Very musical!
Will be interesting to hear what it sounds like after I get a little playing time on these new surrounds. :bouncy:

Thank you people for all your help, insight and knowledge.
You are truly an inspiration.

Kind regards to all,
Thomas

jblsound
10-07-2009, 12:08 PM
As one poster said a couple of years ago, the L55s sound better than they have a right to.
I've got 3 of 'em, a pair bought in '73, and another I bought in '99 to use as a center, that has a LE14C instead of the 14A.

They are improved when the old yellow lansoloy surrounds are replaced with foam surrounds.

SEAWOLF97
10-07-2009, 12:20 PM
Congrats on the rescue :applaud:

I had one ...painted black and had sat in water and someone had put a hammer strike straight into the LE20 ..the riser was disintegrating , so it got parted out ,,,always wondered what it sounded like ?

Can you give us listening impressions ? I'm a sucker for 2 ways...

OBTW ..how do you get that beauty ring off the LE20 w/o damage ?

still have the network and collapsed grill if anyone needs them.

Wagner
10-07-2009, 12:43 PM
Congrats on the rescue :applaud:

I had one ...painted black and had sat in water and someone had put a hammer strike straight into the LE20 ..the riser was disintegrating , so it got parted out ,,,always wondered what it sounded like ?

Can you give us listening impressions ? I'm a sucker for 2 ways...

OBTW ..how do you get that beauty ring off the LE20 w/o damage ?

still have the network and collapsed grill if anyone needs them.


Thank you.
I left the tweeters in the cabs during the work, cut a circle out of cardboard for protection of the little cone, and just masked it well with painter's tape.

Too soon to talk much about "impressions" as all the glue, paint and oil have barely cured. I will say that the level of detail is pretty impressive for an old 2-way with a dynamic cone tweeter. This system will definitely benefit, in spades, from some careful placement. Once again, these like others, are just stuck in the first available spot (less than optimum), and I can hear a LOT of information trying to get past the poor placement compromise.

These LE14As almost behave as a single source full range in this box (sonically) with the LE20-1s just augmenting things a bit when you get up close (listening for any issues). The two sound very disjointed and the tweeter's output is almost oppressive (bordering on harsh).
Yet, when at moderate to far field (read: normal listening distances) these two drivers blend fairly well for a very nice, full and smooth presentation.
Very clear and clean. The house is filled with a very natural sound.
They also go very loud with very little cranking on the volume pot. Using an honest 120wpc amp with a scale of 0-10 "3" is starting to get TOO loud. They can easily overload my living room, to the point of pain and having to shout, without strain or distortion.
And the spec sheet states they are only 80dB "sensitive"?
As I've said before, I'm too stupid to understand all the numbers and graphs, but I do know efficiency when I hear it, and these old boys are it, irrespective of "specs".
A lot of fun. Bass getting better and deeper with each track. Only have about 5 hours on them of moderate to loud musical material. Just let them "idle" Sunday and most of Monday doing radio duty.
So far, this is a very fun speaker without the weird pushes that my L100s seem to have with a lot of material.
These L55s do a fair to excellent job on everything I've tried so far.
Dianna Krall? VERY believable.
The acoustic bass being extraordinary.
This is a good pair of speakers for someone that just wants to listen to their music with a pleasant presentation and quality.
I like 'em.

Thomas

jblsound
10-07-2009, 01:03 PM
As the 14s play up to 2k htz means that the entire fundamental voice range is being reproduced by just one driver, so no XO is getting in the way. That's a good thing.
Those large drivers certainly remove the 55s from being used nearfield, as you have discovered. One needs to be seated back so the two transducers can blend into a cohearent sound.