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Thread: New respect for L150A's

  1. #1
    Senior Member evans224's Avatar
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    New respect for L150A's

    I don't care what anyone says, with the right amp/preamp they sound absolutely wonderful. I know they aren't the most exotic or sought after JBL's, but I just hooked them up to a recently aquired 12 year old Krell KST-100 amp and KSL preamp. They just blew me away with the tight, chest thumping bass and well balanced mids and highs-not too forward, just about right. I was almost ready to give up on them because they are so large. Not now. I may even attempt some of the "upgrades" tried here. Who says an amp is an amp?

  2. #2
    Dang. Amateur speakerdave's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by evans224
    Who says an amp is an amp?
    Julian Hirsch

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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  4. #4
    RIP 2009
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    I still have mixed feelings about having sold mine...I admit, I was really fond of the sound. The 4315's pretty much make up for it, but there was a certain "smoothness" about the L150...

    John

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    Senior Member evans224's Avatar
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    Julian Schmoolian, what the heck does he know anyhow?

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    He knew plenty! I have a lot of respect for the man. I also disagreed with him about some of his comments.

    I don't buy into the speaker wire craze... I certainly don't buy into the AC power cord craziness... but I have conducted many amplifier comparisons, blind, double blind, and others and yes, some amps sound different than others. To me there are maybe a half dozen amp flavors. To others there are nuanced differences in every amp. I guess I just don't have that discerning an ear. Thank God!

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  7. #7
    Dang. Amateur speakerdave's Avatar
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    Perhaps some explanation.

    Julian Hirsch wrote the equipment reviews for the late not particularly lamented magazine High Fidelity for what seemed like decades although it may have been one afternoon. He is famous for at one point fessing up and allowing as how the solid state amplifiers he was reviewing all sounded basically the same. So in his honor there as been created the Annual Julian Hirsch Awkward Admission Award. (Edit: The acronym is in Spanglish.) We've had a winner around here recently.

    David

    Edit: To be fair to Mr. Hirsch: Alot of them probably did sound basically the same, and that not as good as a lot of people would have liked, only he didn't say that part.

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Not to be too dogmatic, but...

    Mr. Hirsch did write for High Fidelity early in his career, but most of his reviews were for Stereo Review. I believe in the early days while at High Fidelity he never would have made that statement, because back then amps really did color the sound... some people prefer some of those colorations to this day.

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  9. #9
    Senior Member DavidF's Avatar
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    Julian seemed to me more concerned with proving the performance aspect of the HiFi products against the marketing claims. As HiFi moved from what we more recently call Geek status to mainstream, the marketing of HiFi mirrored the auto industry (bigger fins means better performance). I sense that his interest was to boil down the advertised specs and relate to the reader how the actual specs related to product quality. More objective yes, but many, many awful products were entering the market. Perhaps this separation of seed from chaff became his standard of measurement which had much less to do with with the subjective quality. I do not think Julian ever intended or wished to cater to the discriminating elite of the market.


    DavidF

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    Senior Member tomt's Avatar
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    evans224 -Julian Schmoolian, what the heck does he know anyhow?
    `````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````
    most likley not much,don't the bible say-the dead knowth not any thing?
    `````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````
    in the jaes he selled/spelled out his mission to test stuff

    same issue as the hafler/keros 'paper' on ultraliner

    did i spell keros right?

  11. #11
    Senior Member evans224's Avatar
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    I've run several different amps and receivers recently, including Panasonic's all digital 100 WPC x 7 that people were raving about, Parasound HCA1205 high current monster with the digital 1500AV preamp, all the way down to a cheapo Harmon Kardon (blasphemy!) I bought for my son. To me, there is a HUGE difference with the Krell gear. I guess it's that low end that they are famous for. By the way, the same guy who sold me the Krell stuff wanted me to buy his pure silver speaker wires -for $1200! Really now. They can't be worth as much as I paid for the amp and preamp, can they?

  12. #12
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by evans224
    By the way, the same guy who sold me the Krell stuff wanted me to buy his pure silver speaker wires -for $1200! Really now. They can't be worth as much as I paid for the amp and preamp, can they?
    Maybe he'd let you borrow them for a week to find out?

    On the Krell subject... I compared a pair of their newer offerings with a pair of Cary 50 watt tubes on my own speakers and the Cary kicked ass! Not so in the bass.... but where most of the music is... another good reason to bi-amp.


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  13. #13
    JBLGUY
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    Multi amping rules

    Now your approching something special. IMHO it is the only way to really go " high-end "

  14. #14
    Senior Member GordonW's Avatar
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    Well, there's a simple reason L150s sound good... it's a d*** good woofer, in a d*** well-thought-out cabinet design (tuned/tunable to work in a wide variety of rooms, with just a simple weight-change on the passive radiator), mated with d*** good crossover design and mid/tweeter drivers.

    Though, I'd like to hear one, with 044Ti or 035Tia tweeters and 104H-2 mids, with a slightly modified version of the 120Ti or L100T crossover (ie, one of the above crossovers, with L-pads for accurate mid-tweeter level matching). Basically, a modified 120Ti, with the paper-cone mid and a cabinet loaded-for-bear. Could be absolutely devastatingly good...

    Regards,
    Gordon.

  15. #15
    Senior Member Lancer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GordonW
    Though, I'd like to hear one, with 044Ti or 035Tia tweeters and 104H-2 mids, with a slightly modified version of the 120Ti or L100T crossover (ie, one of the above crossovers, with L-pads for accurate mid-tweeter level matching). Basically, a modified 120Ti, with the paper-cone mid and a cabinet loaded-for-bear.
    Absolutely!

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