L7 Heaven, Part the First
The L7 Owner's Manual Supplement spends a little ink on placement of the speakers, then goes on for three and a half pages on "Bi-Wiring and Bi-Amplification." This latter section really covers a lot more than just bi-wiring and bi-amping. Here in L7 Heaven, Part the First, I'll get into placement.
The placement instructions are simple and supported with two detailed drawings. Anyone who reads this and doesn't start with the speakers three feet from the front wall and three feet from the side wall on its respective side, with the side-mounted woofers facing inward, and the fronts angled 10-15 degrees (toe in) is asking for poor performance, and if he complains about it he's a dope. This is the simple, direct, straightforward, diagrammed, optimal placement recommended by the manufacturer. Then put the listener in the 60/60/60 triangle set up JBL recommends in the regular L Series Owner's Manual.
So to the complainers who jam L7s into the corners nearly flat against the side wall: you're idiots!
To the bellyachers who place L7s a foot from the rear wall and four feet from the side walls and three feet from each other with a TV stuck between them: you're morons!
To the whiners who put the woofers facing frontward and the other drivers facing inward: yo, stoopid!
To the gripers who put one next to the wall in the corner and the other two feet forward of the front wall next to an opening into the kitchen: hey, pinhead, get a clue!
The message here is this: PLACEMENT MATTERS.
If you've done any of the above and you're happy, then all I can say is 1) if you're happy, I'm not referring to you and don't mean to offend you, and 2) even if you are happy you could be getting so much more out of these speakers.
Especially on the L7s with their side firing woofers, getting them too close to the front wall increases coupling that results in uneven bass, and getting them too deep into the corners causes boominess. Think about how that side-firing woofer complicates things. :hmm: Placing physical objects between the two woofers, such as TVs, stands, equipment racks, etc., also interferes with the woofer's operation.
So, yes, it's a picky set up, more than the average consumer wants to bother with. He wants to pull 'em out of the cartons, stick 'em in the corner on either side of the TV, and watch Willy Wonka. Most speakers are arranged according to the needs of the room. With L7s, the room must be arranged according to the needs of the speakers. (That's a bit of an overstatement, but you get my point. ;) )
If the room is right and you've got the 60/60/60 triangle that JBL recommends, you're still not quite done, because every room is different. JBL advises that you can have some leeway of about a foot in fine tuning your sound with regard to soundstage, low bass extension, and treble dispersion and imaging. Again, the average consumer is going to say, "Screw this," turn up the tone controls, and think the problem is solved. By carefully adjusting proximity to room corners (closer/farther) and distance from the front wall (nearer/farther) while maintaining the 60/60/60 triangle if possible, you can really find the best environment that your room will provide for top notch L7 sound. Is this a PITA? Yes. Is it worth the trouble? Absolutely.
After keeping my L7s captive in my room in MI for a couple of years, I decided to do it right and changed the room to optimize the speakers. Holy crap! What a difference! :jawdrop: :jawdrop:
Who knows? I'm sure it was a conscious design choice to place the woofers on the side to keep the front baffle narrow and the L Series all looking similar. Maybe the marketing people beat out the engineers who wanted the woofers on the front. Can't really say.
What I can say is that this is a fairly unusual design for JBL, one that is not repeated. It makes the L7 fundamentally different from the other L Series speakers, even though driver complements and enclosure features are shared. It makes it harder to set up and less desirable for many consumer living rooms.
All of that being said, it has very good drivers, great crossovers, fine cabinetry, and a terrific sound. When properly set up and driven (see Part the Second) it's an amazing beast, and a bit unlike any other JBL. It will take a ton of power, and I've always chickened out before the speakers, especially since any amp I own will be driven to clip before the L7 is overpowered. :rockon1:
It's definitely one of my top five JBLs. :bouncy:
L7 Heaven, Part the Second
As I wrote above, the L7 Owner's Manual Supplement spends a little space on placement of the speakers, then goes on for three and a half pages on "Bi-Wiring and Bi-Amplification." This latter section really covers a lot more than just bi-wiring and bi-amping. Here in L7 Heaven, Part the Second, I'll get into those latter issues.
The first time I heard the L7 was at ABC Warehouse in Kalamazoo, MI, where the resident audio "geniuses" had done what the L7 Supplement calls "Two-Amp Bi-Wire." (Today a lot of people call this passive bi-amping. JBL also offered examples of One-Amp Bi-Wire, Three-Amp Bi-Wire, and Four-Amp Bi-Wire.)
Anyway, I was impressed with how LOUD the L7s would go in that configuration, and I must admit I wasn't really focusing on quality as much as quantity of sound. The L7s and amps were set up on a super-sized end cap in the audio dept, so the sound quality was marginal at best in that environment. I went back a couple of times over the months and the speakers never sold. Too expensive, I believed.
I admitted to the salesman that the L7s looked bitchin' with those four thick wires and big amps behind 'em, and he tried to pitch them to me. However, it was clear that he needed to sell them more than I needed to buy them, so a marathon session of "I can walk away with no regrets and you're still stuck with the speakers ensued."
Eventually, I walked out with the L7s, the heavy duty cables, and both Soundcraftsmen A200 amps for $1300. :rotfl: Oh, sometimes I kill myself!
Reading the L7 Supplement was like a new world to me.
:) Bi-wiring!
:) Reduction of intermodulation! :wtf:
:) Frequency-optimized cables! (skin effect? ETPC vs.OFHC--wha-a?)
:) Amplifier flexibility! (tubes and SS together? mono amps?)
:) Bi-wiring connections!
:D Bi-amplification! (which people call active bi-amping these days)
I know the audio agnostics among us long ago debunked and demythologized much of this information, but it was the Holy Grail to me, so I followed it religiously, and I might add, to great effect.
So, here are my subjective conclusions about optimizing the L7 from the standpoint of cabling, wiring scheme, and amplification.
First, get rid of the grounding straps. Even if you're going to drive them with a single stereo amp, remove the straps and replace them with short jumpers made from the same wire you're using from the amp to the speaker. Those straps (as I recently learned again :banghead: in my Performance Series experience) really ruin the upper frequency performance and muddy up the midrange. Almost any wire is better than the straps.
Second, you're feeding two crossovers and four speakers in an L7. Give 'em some juice. The brochure may read "minimum 35 watts" but don't believe it. If you want harsh, metallic, shrill sound, then stick a wimpy amp on these babies and clip the hell out of it. At a minimum, 150W/ch is needed. Over the years, I tried driving them with a very nice 55W/ch Kenwood integrated amp, a 100W/ch receiver, and a 125W/ch amp. When I finally got back to using one of the 190W/ch A200s, I finally realized what potential these babies had. This dramatically improves low volume dynamics and makes loud listening thrilling.
Third, try Two-, Three-, or Four-amp Bi-wiring as JBL describes it. Separating the LF crossover from the HF crossover and adding one, two, or three extra power supplies to the power chain gives you a real shot at achieving the kinds of sonic "reproduction in a bi-wired system which will be played at realistic concert hall levels." Two A200s with twice the power supply capacity really let these things suck the juice, which they like to do.
Of course, you can get really good results with a single wire connection to a high power amp, but my subjective experience is that doubled power supply capacity (not simply "twice" the amplifier power rating) really helps.
Maybe next I'll mock up a diagram or two showing a couple of the Two-Amp Bi-Wire schemes and give my impressions of how they affect the L7s output.
Not enough L7s? "L9" next?
Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I trekked out to Palm Desert, CA to grab a pair of minty L7s for under $600.
I hooked up with my traveling amp and iPod. The traveling amp is a Soundcraftsment S860 in a hardborad, metal, and carpeted case. It's a bitchin' companion for getting a couple hundred Watts per channel out into the field. Because the iPod puts out both a straight signal (via dock connector) or a gained signal (via miniplug), it's great for field use.
Anyway, they looked great and sounded good, so I loaded the beauties into the back of the Sorento and trekked back to LA, stopping for a few minutes at the Morongo Casino to see if I could earn enough to pay for the speakers. Not quite, but I got a bit back anyway.
I put them in the basement studio, otherwise known as the garage, where other L7s, some L5s, an L3, some SVA1800s, the L250s, the L60Ts and the LX300s all live. They sounded terrific there, better than before (as expected).
My practical side wondered, [i]Why did you buy these?" My JBL demon replied, "Because." As I listened to how very good the LE120H-1s were at producing bass, I glanced at the LE14H-1 looking at me from the L250 behind the L7. Hmmm. I wonder?
Soon the grille over one of the LE120H-1s was off and the driver was out. Hmm. I wonder?
A few quick internal measurements, some volume calculations, a quick look at the crossover schematic... Hmmm. I wonder?
Over to the L250, tape measure out, a reading here, another there... Hmmm. I wonder?
Back to the opening in the L7... Hmm. I wonder.
L9 anyone?
L Series (1990s) bonanza?
A lot of L3, L5, and L7 pairs have gone on ebay lately, some without any bids due to unrealistic opening bids asked by the sellers.
Still some of these should have sold at the opening bid price as the components were easily worth twice the opening amount. Hopefully this will signal a decline in price for these models in the short term, making them an even better deal IMO. There's a lot of restoration and modification work to be done with this series.
3 Attachment(s)
The last word. well maybe not.
Dome is dead right with regard to placement when the woof is side firing as I have found out. Its not an unsurmountable problem but it does need addressed or it all falls apart.
I thought you all might like another look at my babies. 4315s in disguise.
The rework has rendered fantastic imaging that was a bit suspect in the originals ( wide baffle effect ), other than that these are stock. Greedy for power though.