Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Having a tough time making mind up on the 590 or my L7.

  1. #1
    Member clwinbe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    Utah
    Posts
    62

    Having a tough time making mind up on the 590 or my L7.

    A shout out to the 590 owners out there. Could you advise how the 590 changes after a good break in period. I’ve been doing a/b tests against my L7. Both produce fine low end but the L7 has a sweeter top end with less ear fatigue for me. Does the horn become more civil with breakin? I got the 590 pair out the door for $800. I still have another three weeks to return them.

  2. #2
    Senior Member DerekTheGreat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Warren, MI
    Posts
    592
    I haven't actually owned 590's or L7's, but I have heard the L7's. When I went to pick up my 2nd Adcom GFA-555 II, the seller had L7's hooked up to the Adcom. Now, it could have been the so called "good" vintage Kenwood preamp or his source, but I thought the L7's absolutely stank. Just thin sounding and bit fatiguing- they weren't even cranked. Also thought, geez, these Adcoms aren't much to write home about, are they? (I hadn't received the first one at the time, was still being shipped)

    I've heard nothing but good things about the L7's, especially given their low price. But, when I got both Adcom amps in place to drive my XPL200's in vertical biamp mode, I was blown away by how good they are. So given that you've already got L7's and like them, my advice would be to return the 590's and rock the L7's until you can find a set of XPL200's.

    EDIT: I'm fairly new to the Hi-Fi game. Thought I knew a lot until my "journey" really took off almost two years ago. So I'm still learning. One thing I can say that might be beneficial and to play devil's advocate for the 590's: Preamp & Amp combo make a huge difference with speaker pairing. So in order to better enjoy the 590's you might want to try a more mellow preamp & amp combo if you have stuff available. Or you can try throwing an equalizer into the mix. When I ran a Marantz 3600 & 510M amp, I had to have an equalizer in there, an Audio Control C101 Series II. But that was just because the Marantz stuff was junk, took putting different stuff in place of the Marantz gear to realize that though. Until that point, I was definitely drinking the "Marantz is great" Kool-Aid. Currently running an Adcom GFP 555 which feeds an Ashley XR1000 crossover which splits the signal to run twin Adcom GFA 555 II's. It's absolute nirvana for me. Would be the end all but 200 watts just isn't enough, so I'm currently looking for higher power alternatives which equal or surpass the sound quality of the Adcoms.

  3. #3
    Senior Member HCSGuy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Bend, OR
    Posts
    752
    It shouldn’t take that long to break a speaker in - stick them in a closet full of pillows, turn them up to a reasonable level, and leave for the day. If you still don’t like them, it’s not going to get much better. I have never heard the 590’s, so I can’t judge them, so my advice will be strictly financial - if you don’t love them, send them back. Once your return period is over, the 590’s value will drop by half, and will never come back. There’s nothing about them that would ever make them collectible, like really good drivers or a classic enclosure design. The next piece of advice, which I am just now learning, is to choose between having 10 Toyotas or a Porsche. I visited a fellow audiophile last year, who, by the face of it, was a very modest man - Ford out front, simple rancher home, etc. I was there picking up some JBL’s from him, but took some time to listen to his Dynaudio Evidence Masters - speakers that were $75k or so when new 20yrs ago, still sound amazing, and are probably $30k now. While that is still a ton of money, I started adding up what all my 20prs or so of speakers are worth, and realized that, as long as I’m not paying new retail price, I could sell off most of my speakers and afford just about any speaker ever made with that money, so that’s what I’m doing. I’m going through all my speakers, listening to them, and if there isn’t something I really love about them, they’re getting sold. I’m hoping to get down to 1-3 pairs of keepers, then find something really special in the $15-20k used range.

    I’m only saying this because you can get some really good classic JBL’s for under $3k, that I think will scratch the JBL itch for quite a while - 250Ti’s and XPL-200’s come to mind, but there are others. If you can hold off for a bit and start putting $100 in an envelope every time you get the urge, pretty soon you’ll have the $$ for any of the really good JBL’s. I don’t know anyone who has sold 250Ti’s because they didn’t like how they sound, and there’s nothing funky about them (like the neoprene front on the XPL’s) that would keep them from lasting your lifetime.

    Btw, thanks for the lead on Matt at Utah Reconing - we went to SLC for spring break to look at Westminster College for my daughter, and in the 4 days we were there Matt re-foamed 15 woofers for me, and did a great job, as well as digging deeper into one of them. Saved me a ton of time and took several pairs of speakers from project stage to ready to sell. I’m kind of hoping my kid ends up going to school there, just so I’ll have an excuse to keep bringing him stuff to fix
    That the internet contains a blog documenting your life does not constitute proof that your existence is valid. Sorry.

  4. #4
    RIP 2021 SEAWOLF97's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    in "managed decline"
    Posts
    10,054
    I pretty much agree with HCS guy.

    L7's sound good , I had a pair

    downside (just MHO) ... the 035Ti will need foam maintenance.
    they are fugly & heavy
    many note that they are placement sensitive

    I just couldn't get past the looks ... traded them for about 5x what I had invested

    got my pair for 125 (with JBL sub) . they just don't hold value well ...

    great for a buyer, not so much for a seller.
    Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Long time reader First time member /sounds like am talk radio!
    By itgoestwo11 in forum Lansing Product General Information
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 12-13-2006, 06:33 AM
  2. JBL 4412 A tough Job ?
    By hitachi in forum Lansing Product General Information
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 08-05-2005, 04:11 PM
  3. Man, This was tough!
    By Ken Pachkowsky in forum Lansing Product Technical Help
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 02-16-2005, 04:45 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •