Bought JBL L166's (I have come home to stay!)

[jeffczar]

Finally after a few years of buying and selling some of the big speakers of the month (KEF's, Monitor Audio, Spendor, NHT). I decided to go get something that I REALLY wanted and lusted after. I got rid of my excellent L20T's in the mid 90's and began this fruitless search for something better. I finally came to my senses and bought a full set of the new L880/L820/LC2 setup for a HT room. I thought, those remind me of JBL's from the glory days, a facsimile of a classic JBL sound but not the real thing. Even though I liked them, I wanted to achieve my dream of a L112 or L166 pair. My day came, picked up a nice pair with all drivers perfect and only in need of a little fine steel wool and oil to make look nice. But the sound.....Oh the sound is BETTER than the memories I had in my mind, of going to audiophile friends homes as a teeneger and hearing those new L112's. I said then I will get these someday. Now is my time. They sound as close to perfect as any speaker I have heard the past 10 years. Careful adjustment of the Lpads to (2-3) on the mid and (6-7) on the tweeter give the speaker a very surprising soundstage and imaging as well. The detail is awesome, albeit a slight bit forward compared to modern speakers, the bass is very tight and deep but not overblown, but the bottom line is they make beautiful music. I finally have my L166's and I have never been happier with a speaker in my life. This is truly a testament to the incredible engineering and care that went into making these. Thanks to this site for rekindling my interest in one of my first loves. I will honor and treasure these forever! I highly recommend these to anyone, they do almost everything right and nothing poorly. Most importantly, you CAN go home again, and that's where I am staying. No more straying for some flavor of the month, lesson learned. Long live classic JBL! Why doesn't JBL just produce these classic speakers AS IS and see how they would sell, I bet you would be surprised!

[mech986]

Hey JeffCzar,

Welcome to Lansing Heritage! Nice score on the L166's, and yes, they are great JBL speakers, some say some of the nicest and accurate speakers of their day. Interesting visual appearance with the plastic eggcrate grilles. Are yours black or orange. Check out the JBL library which is linked above. You're gonna have a lot of fun here!

Of course, being new here, you can be excused from this but we always say:



Remember to resize your pics to around 640 x 480 and they'll post up fine!

Regards,

Bart

[tarior]

Congrats on the L166s! Those are still on my want list.

[MikeBrewster77]

I finally have my L166's and I have never been happier with a speaker in my life.

Congratulations!

Got pictures?

[jeffczar]

Am moving so things are a little messy, will be much nicer in new house. BTW, as a side note that Dual 1229 you see easily outperforms the Rega P1 and the Project Debut I tried to replace it with. I kid you not, the distortion levels on those tables approaching the inner grooves is intolerable no matter how I aligned the cartridge (Both a Denon DL160 and a an AT440ML). The Dual arm is better than I thought it seems, it tracks anything I throw at it flawlessly and the backgrounds are black. I had a hard time believing my ears really, but it is true.

[MikeBrewster77]

Am moving so things are a little messy, will be much nicer in new house. BTW, as a side note that Dual 1229 you see easily outperforms the Rega P1 and the Project Debut I tried to replace it with.

Nice looking setup and impressive tower o' vinyl! The 166's look right at home.

Good to know about the Dual's superiority over the other two potential replacements. I once considered both of those tables, but started moving away from the "black gold" for a while.

Enjoy!

[jeffczar]

Trust me on the Dual, I know it sounds far fetched. It wasn't even close. I know how to tweak a table too so I can tell you for a fact those arms are poor designs. A good classic Dual or Thorens will lay waste to anything short of $1000 as far as I can see. I have heard the P3 is an excellent table but I don't know first hand. Plus the Dual has the magic idler drive! which some people swear has a special sound to it. My wife can even tell, she said the Dual is so clear it sounds like a CD (That's a GOOD thing?) and the others were fuzzy. How can you argue with that?

[midlife]

Finally after a few years of buying and selling some of the big speakers of the month (KEF's, Monitor Audio, Spendor, NHT). I decided to go get something that I REALLY wanted and lusted after. I got rid of my excellent L20T's in the mid 90's and began this fruitless search for something better. I finally came to my senses and bought a full set of the new L880/L820/LC2 setup for a HT room. I thought, those remind me of JBL's from the glory days, a facsimile of a classic JBL sound but not the real thing. Even though I liked them, I wanted to achieve my dream of a L112 or L166 pair. My day came, picked up a nice pair with all drivers perfect and only in need of a little fine steel wool and oil to make look nice. But the sound.....Oh the sound is BETTER than the memories I had in my mind, of going to audiophile friends homes as a teeneger and hearing those new L112's. I said then I will get these someday. Now is my time. They sound as close to perfect as any speaker I have heard the past 10 years. Careful adjustment of the Lpads to (2-3) on the mid and (6-7) on the tweeter give the speaker a very surprising soundstage and imaging as well. The detail is awesome, albeit a slight bit forward compared to modern speakers, the bass is very tight and deep but not overblown, but the bottom line is they make beautiful music. I finally have my L166's and I have never been happier with a speaker in my life. This is truly a testament to the incredible engineering and care that went into making these. Thanks to this site for rekindling my interest in one of my first loves. I will honor and treasure these forever! I highly recommend these to anyone, they do almost everything right and nothing poorly. Most importantly, you CAN go home again, and that's where I am staying. No more straying for some flavor of the month, lesson learned. Long live classic JBL! Why doesn't JBL just produce these classic speakers AS IS and see how they would sell, I bet you would be surprised!

Congrats, I recently acquired some 166s and my observations are much like yours..."Days of Future Past", "Seventh Sorjourn" is also pretty good. I lost a rather extensive vinyl collection in the Katrina flood.

[jeffczar]

A man with taste! The first 7 or classic 7 Moody Blues albums are my favorite group of albums by any artist. I think I have Days Of Future Passed alone in 6 different formats (Original Vinyl/CD/SACD/Mo Fi CD/Vinyl Reissue/Mo Fi LP). I wish more people my age had taste as I am about 15 years too young to have grown up in that era. Sorry about your JBL's, I would be beyond PO'd!

[midlife]

A man with taste! The first 7 or classic 7 Moody Blues albums are my favorite group of albums by any artist. I think I have Days Of Future Passed alone in 6 different formats (Original Vinyl/CD/SACD/Mo Fi CD/Vinyl Reissue/Mo Fi LP). I wish more people my age had taste as I am about 15 years too young to have grown up in that era. Sorry about your JBL's, I would be beyond PO'd!

I am still in mourning about my album collection loss, but am presently replacing all the electronics. Should you cross paths with a pair L300 Summits while having some disposable audio funds, do not hesitate!!

[Punch]

L166 Horizon...my favorite speaker of all time.

[MikeBrewster77]

Nice room and setup you've got there! Also nice to see a fellow JBL + McIntosh fan around.

[Punch]

Thanks MB! It is a work in progress. We moved about 5 months ago, so the room is maybe 40-50% done.

[Bgymnastics]

Thanks MB! It is a work in progress. We moved about 5 months ago, so the room is maybe 40-50% done.

What are the JBL L166 Horizon speakers, worth. Are the 4412 better.

[SEAWOLF97]

What are the JBL L166 Horizon speakers, worth.

$400-600 depending on condition

Are the 4412 better.

I've had both and liked the 166's ... a little more

IMHO ... the best bang for buck , 3 way, 12 inch, JBL bookshelves are the one-twenty Ti , and relatively unknown .. haven't become super high priced yet .. at last check.