Found this thread, when i stumbled on a pair of L7´s, that where on sale.
The owner had them in a small room, placed against the rear wall, one speaker in the corner, other close to the opening to the room.
While the sound was undeniably solid, authoritative, and low on coloration, the general balance was decidedly on the bright side, really sharp and shrill.
Do the sound really balance out, when placed correctly - read this thread a couple of times, but after listening to the L7´s, I am really wondering, if they can sound neutral.
Of cause - JBL don´t sound like British speakers - soft, fat, and forgiving, but the general balance in that room, really makes me wonder.
/SWIN
SWIN, welcome to the forum.
As stated many times, the placement of the L7 is critical for best performance. The ones you heard were very poorly placed and probably suffering from being in a room far too small.
When shoved in a corner of a small room, the L7 will produce myriad high frequency early reflections off the side wall and ceiling. Being too close to the wall virtually plugs the rear port, which is especially important to the side-firing woofer. In addition, if there are objects in the room between the woofers, they will cause oddities in the low frequency response.
If you don't have a room that's at least 3.5 to 4 meters wide where the L7s can be a meter from the rear wall and the side wall, then they're not a good purchase for you. If you do have the right room to put them in, then they will be an excellent acquisition.
Out.
Thank you for your swift answer, Titanium Dome!
I think you are absolutely right, it must be the room and placement - close to the rear wall, and corner.
And the room where they are placed, is clearly too small for these speakers.
I have read all the earlier posts, so yes, I think I have (barely) the space, and room for these speakers.
Will return with pictures, and more opinions on these rare beasts.
/SWIN
I read all about the L7s before I bought mine. Even bought a pair of L5s first because I thought the L7s wouldn't work out. When a pair turned up four houses down the street I couldn't resist. They are currently operating in a tiny spare room, less than a foot from the back wall, less than six-feet apart, but more than three feet from a side wall and the ceiling is slanted. The equipment stack is between the two L7s but I've pulled the speakers out a bit and turned them slightly inward. They sound great and I don't even bother to EQ them, something that was a constant battle with my 4412As in the same room. In fact I'm going to put the Mac to sleep and go listen to them right now! Cheers!
Don't be afraid to give the L7s a good home. You can always build a new home for them later. That's what I had to tell my wife.
Needless to say, I bought the L7´s.
In fact, I would have bought them the first time around, if my card had not ended up inside a ATM, and my withdrawal denied.
But here are pictures (with the sellers permission), how they where placed at his home.
Used equipment to drive them where Harman/Kardon AVR30, Denon DCD1460 CD player.
Still not had any time for pictures, or properly setting up the L7´s at my place.
But while checking them out, I found that when they where placed in the middle of my room, (the only spot not occupied by HiFi gear) the balance of the speakers was opposite to that, at they´r previous owner - too much bass.
That was after I had put the strap back om the right hand speaker, enabling the side mounted bass - note the location of the LP player at the pictures!
The sound is obviously very high end, and they are very excellent speakers - detailed, authoritative, and very neutral.
I own many speakers, but Tony Iommi´s playing has never been so easy to follow.
These speakers are like John Wayne - standing tall and dominating the room, totally in control.
But they need wide open spaces to do that.
At the moment I am using a Yamaha CD player as a transport, with a direct coupled crystal CS4328 D/A chip to a Pioneer A-777.
Will try with more power and bi-amping, asap.
And spend the next weekend placing them right, and taking some pictures.
Many thanks to Titanium Dome, who started this thread, without it I would have ended up with "L7 - what???", and missed a great speaker.
To BMWCCA: My wife actually like these speakers, I encountered only light FLAK from her (say up to 20mm) when bringing in another pair of " large black boxes" - very unusual
Nice score! Hey, I like those aftermarket legs with spikes. I had been contemplating picking up some isolation spikes with inserts that go on bottom to decouple from floor ....but I like those on yours better. I personally prefer the appearance of the L7 without the factory pedestal....I think it's mostly used to provide stability. Did seller happen to mention where he got those legs?
BTW, Did anybody else notice the turntable RIGHT next to the side firing woofer? Yikes.....
My wife doesn't even pay any attention anymore. The seller of my pair had apparently kept them sequestered upstairs since he bought them from another medical resident who couldn't take them with him. When he brought them downstairs to show them to me, his wife said she liked them and liked the sound. Good thing they were moving withing the week and had to lessen the burden.
Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Did the owner attach feet/spikes to the L7s? No plastic platforms? Not sure what the feet do, but mine are just sitting on carpet with the platforms stashed away. Seems like something that heavy on four point loads would actually couple the box with the floor more than the other way around.
Cheap thrills for you I hope?
I hope you enjoy them for a long time.
It's true they do exhibit different personalities when in different parts of the room--more than any other speaker I've owned. Their best personality comes out when placed at or close to where JBL recommends.
Out.
L5 finally arrived this week, as I mentioned in the marketplace thread on a current L5 offering, this is my first main set upgrade since my 1975 L100A purchase.....took a while, but finally pulled the trigger on this wonderfully balanced, and aesthetically pleasing set. endless thanks to TiDome for starting this thread.
so far, put in three consecutive late nights going through the CD collection, a/b'ing them with the L100s etc.
mid is obviously much less colored, highs vastly improved, low end cleaner and I don't think at least, less of an impact than the full range 12" --now considering where to go next, but in particular if my '93 Kenwood AVR7050 integrated 100WPC is good/bad/mediocre etc?? any advice there is really appreciated. Am I missing that much by not upgrading the electronics?
That's an LC1 center for what it's worth which I grabbed off buy.com for 240 (same price as the L5 oddly enough). and to repeat, yes, the L100 I painted black to match the decor per the wife's requirements, but after 33yrs of ownership they will always be mine so the customization trumps market value....here's some pics
I can only tell you the more clean power I feed them, the better they sound. I'm actually listening to them right now as the L7s are headed out the door to the great L300/L7 Comparo function tomorrow. Wonderful little speakers but they are getting the benefit of a Crown PS-400. Even at soft levels they sound better with more power. We'll find out tomorrow what some other Luddites think about them. The plan is to take them along with the L7s for a little critique. Maybe A-B them with some 120Ti's and some 4412A's, too. I might even bring along a PS-400 and a PS-200 to compare just what does happen when you double the available power.
Enjoy!
You need to display vertical with the images! Not horizontal gave me frigging neck arch looking at it sides ways. Looks like you need to rotate a few vertical images around a few times until displayed correctly as well.
That’s better wow a nice assorted array of different beards of JBL delicious.
Without getting political, the red thing - is that a plumbers part? *)
____________
Peter
*) Function invented by Zilch
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