JBL's skeleton in the closet? (L7 thread)

[Titanium Dome]

I searched using several variants on the name and picked up a casual reference or two, but I did not find any threads here that devoted any attention to the L Series of the mid to late 90s. That's the L1, L3, L5, and L7.

Before I got my current JBL Performance Series set up, my main system had as its loudpseakers four L7s and two L5s. They've since been distributed to secondary systems.

So here's the opener. Is the L7 considered the JBL family outcast? Is it the ulgy spinster aunt with a tight bun and a big mole, the goofy uncle in a bow tie and polka dot underpants, the 39-year-old son who lives at home and plays Nintendo all day?

Or is it one of the lesser understood and most underappreciated JBLs of all time?

What d'ya think? Should I be ashamed for even admitting I bought four of them? :slink:

[johnaec]

I can't really comment on the L series you're asking about as I've never personally heard any of them, but I am curious about the Performance series speakers in your avatar. How are they? Can you compare them to any other models?

John

[analogman]

Hello,
Are they the ones in rather plain black boxes with cheap spring type terminals on the back (square and cheasy like Asian stuff such as rack system Kenwoods etc.) ? IF SO the ones I heard stink. They sold them at Costco.

Analogman

[Titanium Dome]

Originally posted by analogman
Hello,
Are they the ones in rather plain black boxes with cheap spring type terminals on the back (square and cheasy like Asian stuff such as rack system Kenwoods etc.) ? IF SO the ones I heard stink. They sold them at Costco.

Analogman

The L7s were actually big, 75 lb. real Black Ash cabinets with two sets of 4-way gold-plated binding posts on the back. They were four driver systems with a 1" titanium tweeter, a 5" mid, an 8" upper bass all on an angled face in the front, plus an aquaplas 12" woofer woofer on the side. The speakers were designed as a right and a left, so a pair was a mirror image of each other. they were about $1000 each, so I'd be surprised if they were ever in Costco.

http://lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/specs/home-speakers/1992-l-series/page01.jpg

[speakerdave]

Originally posted by Titanium Dome
Is it the ulgy spinster aunt with a tight bun and a big mole, the goofy uncle in a bow tie and polka dot underpants, the 39-year-old son who lives at home and plays Nintendo all day
Speakers schmeekers--I want to meet the family!

[Titanium Dome]

Originally posted by johnaec
I can't really comment on the L series you're asking about as I've never personally heard any of them, but I am curious about the Performance series speakers in your avatar. How are they? Can you compare them to any other models?

John

In the avatar, you can see the forlorn L7 standing to the side of the PT800 and PS1400 stack. Later the L7 was removed from the room. From the picture, you can judge the relative size of the units. Even though the Performance stack looks much bigger in the picture, in reality it has a lighter, more open look compared to the black monolith of the L7. Yet the Performance stack is slightly taller, and it weighs 118 pounds compared to the L7's 75.

I biamped the L7 with 200W + 200W, but with the PS1400's built in amp the stack runs at 400W + 220W.

That's as far OT as I'll go here, but I do plan on starting up a Performance Series thread sometime, as well as an SVA thread. You guys talk about a lot of great JBL speakers here, but it seems I've been attracted to some of the JBL oddballs. :nutz:

[ooppalla]

Hummm
I have had a pair since 91/92. I was a Klisp (sp?) La Scalla owner (bought them used, but had installed the same speakers in smaller discos that I built in the late 70s) and tried updating to higher model Klisp, sorry I forget the name, for the "Speakers" for my dream system. When I set them up they were too brash for my very lively room. I have tons of glass, a wood beamed drywall ceiling and tile floors to deal with. So I got the L-7s as a replacement. They have good voicing ... but I need much more bottom for my 25x25x13 great room ... that has an 8 x 13 and a 7 x 7 openings to the room They have a good sound & pattern, but it is not as wide, nor tall as I would like ... the slanted face works well when you are seated on the couch about 10 feet from the speakers... But as you start standing the sounds shifts significantly... It seems like I am standing just above the sweet spots of the whole sound field. I think a lot has to do with my room, that has a carpet in the center of the music system and a big leather couch as the ideal listening area, but area outside the carpet/couch has high levels of reflected sounds from the balance of the room ... it seems that if I was 5' vs close to 6' it would sound better standing. All in all a good speaker, but I must admit I am eagerly awaiting the 4425s that I just bought for the bedroom. Any ideas for a good subwoofer system I should get for the big room with the L-7s? The L-7s to the best of my knowledge were never a price club item, but they had a super Frys Electronics store in Phoenix that had a pair for $2,000 5-10 years ago in one of their high end rooms.:wave:
When I called and spoke to JBL tech support (they actually had one then, anyone know of a phone # now?) to get a replacement grill cover damaged in shipping, He said they were looking forward to getting positive press on the new models. Never saw any, but I am not really inthe loop either. I have never heard the L-1s, L-3s or L-5s, but others have said they like the L-1 and L-5s.

[paragon]

I have never seen this and never heared.
Not sold in Germany i think.

Regards
Eckhard

[Titanium Dome]

Originally posted by ooppalla
Hummm
... but I need much more bottom for my 25x25x13 great room ... that has an 8 x 13 and a 7 x 7 openings to the room They have a good sound & pattern, but it is not as wide, nor tall as I would like ... the slanted face works well when you are seated on the couch about 10 feet from the speakers... But as you start standing the sounds shifts significantly... It seems like I am standing just above the sweet spots of the whole sound field. I think a lot has to do with my room, that has a carpet in the center of the music system and a big leather couch as the ideal listening area, but area outside the carpet/couch has high levels of reflected sounds from the balance of the room ... it seems that if I was 5' vs close to 6' it would sound better standing.

...I have never heard the L-1s, L-3s or L-5s, but others have said they like the L-1 and L-5s.

I was told by someone who might know that the slanted face was designed to be especially effective in traditional rooms with 8-10' flat ceilings. With the seating position properly chosen to take advantage of first reflection room dynamics, the sweet spot would actually be wider than in a traditional front dispersion pattern.

In one house I had a great room with a ceiling 10' at one end and 16' at the other. The L7s could fill the room, but they did not sound good. I moved them to the family room, a large room with traditional 8' ceilings, and after about 2 hours of experimentation with speaker and seating placement, they were phenomenal. No sub needed for sure. Of course, I was biamping, so that helped, too.

Some listeners think the L5 is superior to the L7. In terms of ease of set up and placment, it's far superior, and the sound is great right out of the box. I use two of them in my 2 channel only set up, and they are terrific. I supplement them with a sub, however.

A well set up L7 will beat the L5. It's just a matter of how much work you want to do.

[ooppalla]

I biwire with a single amp now and could definitely hear the difference. I am guessing the BI-amp is cleaner, better definition and more bottom? Your thoughts? What amp do like for either the top or the bottom?

[Charley Rummel]

Is it the ulgy spinster aunt with a tight bun and a big mole, the goofy uncle in a bow tie and polka dot underpants, the 39-year-old son who lives at home and plays Nintendo all day


....Do they by any chance also have red hair, freckles, wear heavy dark rim glasses? SO! How's the Farkle family doing these days!?! Please say hi to Fred and Fanny for me!

Regards,
Charley

[Titanium Dome]

Originally posted by Charley Rummel
....Do they by any chance also have red hair, freckles, wear heavy dark rim glasses? SO! How's the Farkle family doing these days!?! Please say hi to Fred and Fanny for me!

Regards,
Charley

Sadly, the diminutive Farkles passed away late last spring when an L7 without a base toppled over and crushed them. :montyp:

They were buried side by side in original L7 boxes. Their tombstone was one of the foam box inserts, with the inscription, "Unremarkable lives crushed by an unremarkable speaker. Ah, the irony of life!"

[ooppalla]

Ti your input on taking time for positioning/testing the L7s got me thinking :hmm: ...
so I have played with positioning and have been able to get more bottom and I like the sound better. :rockon2:
A slight shift in angle or movement of just a few inches makes huge differences ... those center firing woofers seem to make things more complicated. I am getting older, thank you for reminding me what I use to know... So how do you like the Performance Series compared to the L7s? I am very much enjoying your other thread on the P.S.
How does the L7s TI tweeter sound compared to the P.S.? :cheers:

[Titanium Dome]

Originally posted by ooppalla

A slight shift in angle or movement of just a few inches makes huge differences ... those center firing woofers seem to make things more complicated. I am getting older, thank you for reminding me what I use to know... So how do you like the Performance Series compared to the L7s? I am very much enjoying your other thread on the P.S.
How does the L7s TI tweeter sound compared to the P.S.? :cheers:

The Performance Series is much more flexible and easier to set up. You can put the PT800 towers almost anywhere. They even come with wall mount brackets, and there are optional corner mount brackets, too. You can also place them on a shelf, on stands, etc. Then you can put the PS1400 sub(s) wherever you want.

Of course, with the L7s, everything stays in one enclosue and you must work to find the best position for the entire array of drivers. There's probably more compromise required in doing that.

As for the tweeters, the L7 is hard to compare accurately because it's angled up slightly, and because it does not have the EOS Waveguide. Given those L7 limitations, the Performance Series tweeters are clearly a better high frequency implementation in my opinion.

[Audiobeer]

I owned a pair that was being closed out by One Call in the mid 90s. They were in a room about 14' X 16' with an 8' ceiling and obstructions (furniture) everywhere. They were very effecient speakers. I drove them with a 90 watt Onkyo integrated amp. They could play loud without distortion and were to me a fantastic bargain for the $800 price with shipping included at the time which is about 1/2 of what they listed for. If I had a pair available new again for $800 I would still consider it a good deal. I liked them better than the JBL L-65s that they replaced. I did however fine the top end tiresome after a bit of listening but I was listening to a lot of Classic rock at the time. I felt they had plenty of bass. The next pair I owned was a pair of well broken in 4333As. The bass was more controlled on the 4333s and had greater impact being more realistic. I'm not much at writing what I hear, but the whole sound out of the 4333s seemed to be less fatiguing to listen to for an extended period. That is what struck me the most. It surprised me because they use the same tweeter as the L-65. That being said if I had $500 - $700 and had a choice of either a pair of L-7s or L-65s I'd take the L-7s in a heartbeat if listening was my primary concern and not recouping my money later.