Even the lowly L56 deserves respect

[audiomagnate]

As surround speakers they do fine. Beautiful design, detailed extended highs, horrible mids but that is not an issue most of the time for surrounds. The 10 inch woofers bottom easily, but set them up as small and all is good. Retail value in good shape around here is under $50/ pair.

[rdgrimes]

The L46 is actually a much better speaker, in any application.

[DanMan]

Sure, every reproducer has its limitations, by very definition, but every speaker also has its unique application. If you are looking for a bookshelf speaker especially devoid of midrange, nothing can fill the gap quite like an L56! :)

$50 are you serious? Can you help hook me up ???

[SEAWOLF97]

L56 ? funky surround material. black plasticised foam ?

had a pair, my son still does.

nice boxes, good imaging, but felt that the woofer bottoms out too easily. Doesn't handle bass very well. preferred L46 or L86

[DanMan]

Yeah the interesting L56 was a strange (but very cool) sounding speaker.

I use lots of em for surround speakers with my L250's 8.1 setup because I don't want anymid-range sounds interfering with the amazingly magical unique awesomeness of the 250's midrange complement of drivers. And with audiomagnate's suggestion of putting them in 'small' mode, the sufferance of the bass is mostly minimized. And with the same sensitivity rating of the 250's, it is just an awesome complement in a surround sound setup.

They only bottom out for me, in this surround setup, on Frank Zappa Zeets, and any movie by Christopher Nolan.

I would love to have an extra pair just to hear them in stereo again and am always looking for 118H or replacement drivers... please let me know if anyone can hook me up with L56 woofers. Mucho obligato. ~Dan~

[rdgrimes]

The main issue with the L56 is the crossover. They set the crossover at 2200Hz, which is horrendously bad for the 034 tweeter. The L46 uses 3000Hz which sounds a bunch better, especially when pushed. The 10" driver in the L56 obviously fails in the mid range, where the 8" in the L46 does not. But an equally serious issue is the tweeter breaking up when pushed with 2200Hz sound being fed to it. At low to mid volume levels its OK.

I personally find no redeeming qualities in the L56, when compared to L46. The L15 has the same crossover issue as the L56. (2500Hz)

[DanMan]

A distorting JBL speaker still sounds better than most.

[SEAWOLF97]

A distorting JBL speaker still sounds better than most.


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