JBL under/over achievers

[4343]

Overachiever!

+1

Add an SB-5 and they work great outdoors even. (Think lawn party background music...)

My Overachiever vote goes to L-110, I use them near-field all day long...

And 4412A. Plus 4430.

L-112's get the Underachiever vote in my book.

[SEAWOLF97]

them little JBL iPod speaker docks are waayyy overachievers....sound much better than they have the right to ...(looking at the drivers)

[SEAWOLF97]

think I'll add the L-16 to the Over Achiever list.really like the little guys ...just a 116-a with an LE25-2 , but they fill a room well with a nicely balanced sound....always liked 2 ways
( and 1 ways) for imaging.........looks like its time to wind grandfather

[macaroonie]

Overachiever!

Control 1 Can you imagine how many of those little guys they must have sold. When did they start ? 87 ? that is more than 20 years in production.

[jblnut]

Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, you can't beat the little J50. I paid $100 a pair brand new in 1995 and these things will still kick the #$@%^ out of any Cambridge Soundworks mini.

They get daily use still....

jblnut

[laurie]

I don't know if they are an overachiever or underachiever but my JBL TLX 14 speakers still sound incredible after 21 years - I bought them in 1989.

Over the years I've heard many expensive speakers from so many different famous brands but I still haven't thought of replacing them.

[Audiobeer]

JBL 8216A or 8216TA industrial series. Ugly POS but can be had all day long for $50 a pair and they run circles around a contol 5. I know not a pedigree but a hell of a bargain basement sleeper.

[bone215]

4412a overachiever.

[gferrell]

My lowly L7's are over achievers in my opinion. I really don't have anything to compare them to. And can not afford anything else. They sure sound good to me.

[gferrell]

Money wise don't forget the L100's

[SpeakerLabFan]

L-46s are another two-way that impress to my ears, which I admit were raised on and biased toward that forward "west coast" sound (re:speakerlabfan).

A nice build with the 117H 8" woofer and 034 titanium dome tweeter. They don't challenge the aDs 710s in my "bookshelf" category lineup, but are very fun speakers.

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/jbl/catalogs/1982-home/page08.jpg

[hjames]

Money wise don't forget the L100's

L100s are popular and can bring good money on resale,
but people's opinions vary like mad on them.
I wasn't impressed with the pair I had - thought the L100T3 was a MUCH better speaker.

[BMWCCA]

My lowly L7's are over achievers in my opinion. I really don't have anything to compare them to. And can not afford anything else. They sure sound good to me.

Well, of course! It's hard to consider anything an "overachiever" that cost $2,000/pair when new ten-years ago. Same could be said for the 4412A. Since I have both I agree on their capability and qualities. And maybe they pose a great undiscovered value today, but when new, both were certainly priced where their performance should not have been a surprise.

[Akira]

4310 over achiever
4311 under achiever

To many these speakers are close to the same. Couldn't disagree more!

I love the unified coherent sound of the 4310's. With all their faults they sound like a balanced box, (even with the peaky upper mid) the key being you hear the speaker as a single image. The LE20 and 2105 mid had a near seamless transition that sounded like an extended range paper cone. Also remember the response was intentionally band limited to comply with the lacquer disk cutting technology of the time.

The 4311's are harsh and I am always aware of the individual components. The LE25 tweet though higher in response sticks out like a sore thumb and I hate the transition between mid and top. A dreadful box that probably outlasted and out sold all of the variants of it's original predecessor. It's timing was right with the rise of the small studio. If you had a Teac/Tascam 4/8 track back in the 70's they were the only game in town. And they were real JBL's you could afford at a time when JBL ruled the studio world.

[SEAWOLF97]

Well, of course! It's hard to consider anything an "overachiever" that cost $2,000/pair when new ten-years ago.

L7's were new in 2000 ?? I auditioned a pair in 1991 and they had been out a while then ....you could be right, but hard to believe that they had a 10 year run ??