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Thread: Original L100 Century coming back to life

  1. #16
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
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    I believe the 4310 and 4311 had the woofers surface-mounted but all of the consumer versions were recessed into the baffle. My understanding of the later driver alignment was to cluster all the sources closer together for near-field monitor use. But it really wasn't that much of a difference and the true studio monitors were already in a tighter cluster. (???)

    What I've not seen before—but have no reason to doubt the authenticity of—are the wooden grille pegs (split dowels, actually) on mine.

    ???
    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  2. #17
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Nice results... well done.

    Do you have a place for these or will they remain in the collection?


    Widget

  3. #18
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    Nice results... well done.

    Do you have a place for these or will they remain in the collection?
    Same question the original owner asked! ;>)

    Same answer: They will join some dozen other JBL variants in a room yet to be finished in the upstairs above the master suite.

    It's a nice space with double windows in the West-facing shed dormer and the North wall overlooking the mountains, and an irregular ceiling due to the gables. Fully insulated and air-conditioned with plenty of power. Right now it just has code-required fire-retardant paper over sprayed foam insulation on walls and ceiling but I hope to have time to finish (drywall, carpet) once I'm no longer working 50-hours-per-week. Here's the view from that dormer during construction nearly five-years ago:



    For now, they are in an array in the basement (similar finished state but with rock-wool and Tyvek with cement floor) joining L1, S38, LSR305P, Pro-III Plus, and DCM TF500 and TF600 with a mobile tool cabinet holding a Crown Studio Reference-II, Power Line Three, Soundcraftsmen Pro Control Four, TEAC CD with iPod dock, and a Sony SACD player. There are also a pair of L150A waiting their turn, and my original JBL 030 system (new to my Dad 65+years ago) in unmatched boxes waiting to become 3-way with the addition of acquired Le175DLH and N1200 and "new" C35 cabinets I bought decades ago for the project but they are still stored in friend's basement. The intention was to tri-amp them with Crown VFX2A crossovers purchased from Steve Higgins here maybe 15-years ago, with D45, D75A, and either D150A-II or DC300A-II, just for fun! Oh, and I forgot about the pair of S70 Alpha-I down there, too. Given to me by their original owner. Ho-hum.

    So you see, they're not going anywhere—at least not while I'm still living.
    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  4. #19
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
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    I've been playing these L100s for a while now—and enjoying them. I'll occasionally switch back to others in the room just to do a bit of pallet-cleansing of my ears. I still think the DCM TF600 blows them away!

    As much as I never appreciated this very pair of L100s back 50-years ago, I still think they deserve to be preserved as they were. I'm not interested in any network changes, Zilch-plugging the port, or updating anything. In fact as crappy as the speaker connectors are, they are still working (well, as well as hey ever did) so I ordered some of these to make connection easier since everything else has bananas and I just know one day the spring buttons will simply come apart. I got these off Amazon for $14 the pair. I've had something like this in mind for years but never really found ready-made female jacks that worked well enough. So I paid someone who had the same idea but was obviously better suited to the realization of the item!

    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  5. #20
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
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    They gave me today off since I worked every day last week (end of the year). So, after a brief stop at work to make sure they hadn't f'd up something, I decided it was a good time to rub some more Watco into the L100 grille frame walnut strips. And, or course, I had to play them. Those female banana jack pigtails really make it much easier to swap the leads out so I ended up playing the L100s, L7, S38, and then the DCM TimeFrame 600s. They all sounded nice. The L7 is just superb and makes a comparison with the others really unfair though.

    So then I had the TF600 playing aimed to the "craft" area in the basement an hooked up another JBL pair to the Crown Studio Reference-II jacks in the "speaker" area, and went to another area to install a headlight lens in a BMW motorcycle fairing. The bike is one of 200 sold in the USA (R100RS Motorsport) but it came to me recently with an odd-looking lens fitment. After studying what it was about the lens that bugged me and realizing that it had a later lens but installed in the correct year "tunnel", I discovered it was only on the very earliest of any of the R100RS models that had the correct lens for this Motorsport. And I'd purchased my first R100RS, a '78, in November of 1977 so I knew it looked wrong. So I ordered one from a used-parts store in the Netherlands which arrived last week. Figured I'd just put it in while listening to the David Crosby "Lighthouse" album produced by that Snarky Puppy guy, Michael League.

    When I went back over to the speaker section of the basement I sat for a moment in one of the Poang chairs and thought how nice the tone balance of the L100s was on this album, and how smooth the transition from the fairly deep bass was to the vocals. And then I realized I was actually listening to one of my JBL Pro-III Plus sets that I'd recently replaced surrounds on after paying twenty-bucks for the set including sub off Craig's List.

    I mention this at all because I was never a true believer in the L100, even from Day One. But I thought they actually sounded pretty good—until I realized I was playing a $20 JBL setup with tiny monitors and a single passive sub with only an 8-inch driver!!! The mystique of the L100 was lost on me and I ended up listening to the album again from the beginning on the little Pro-III Plus system. I never have realized why I'm so pleased with these and they never get any mention. (shrug)
    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  6. #21
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Exactly why I sold my grey L100s after getting them cleaned and fixed up.
    The mystique did not match what I actually heard from them - they did not "wow" me.
    And I was quite willing to accept crazy money and shipping charges to FLA for mine ...
    There is always another pair of great JBLs to enjoy!

    Quote Originally Posted by BMWCCA View Post
    They gave me today off since I worked every day last week (end of the year). So, after a brief stop at work to make sure they hadn't f'd up something, I decided it was a good time to rub some more Watco into the L100 grille frame walnut strips. And, or course, I had to play them. Those female banana jack pigtails really make it much easier to swap the leads out so I ended up playing the L100s, L7, S38, and then the DCM TimeFrame 600s. They all sounded nice. The L7 is just superb and makes a comparison with the others really unfair though.

    So then I had the TF600 playing aimed to the "craft" area in the basement an hooked up another JBL pair to the Crown Studio Reference-II jacks in the "speaker" area, and went to another area to install a headlight lens in a BMW motorcycle fairing. The bike is one of 200 sold in the USA (R100RS Motorsport) but it came to me recently with an odd-looking lens fitment. After studying what it was about the lens that bugged me and realizing that it had a later lens but installed in the correct year "tunnel", I discovered it was only on the very earliest of any of the R100RS models that had the correct lens for this Motorsport. And I'd purchased my first R100RS, a '78, in November of 1977 so I knew it looked wrong. So I ordered one from a used-parts store in the Netherlands which arrived last week. Figured I'd just put it in while listening to the David Crosby "Lighthouse" album produced by that Snarky Puppy guy, Michael League.

    When I went back over to the speaker section of the basement I sat for a moment in one of the Poang chairs and thought how nice the tone balance of the L100s was on this album, and how smooth the transition from the fairly deep bass was to the vocals. And then I realized I was actually listening to one of my JBL Pro-III Plus sets that I'd recently replaced surrounds on after paying twenty-bucks for the set including sub off Craig's List.

    I mention this at all because I was never a true believer in the L100, even from Day One. But I thought they actually sounded pretty good—until I realized I was playing a $20 JBL setup with tiny monitors and a single passive sub with only an 8-inch driver!!! The mystique of the L100 was lost on me and I ended up listening to the album again from the beginning on the little Pro-III Plus system. I never have realized why I'm so pleased with these and they never get any mention. (shrug)
    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  7. #22
    Senior Member Odd's Avatar
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    Phil, you've done a really nice job on them.

    But they are museum pieces.
    43XX (2235-2123-2450-2405-CC 3155)5235-4412-4406-4401-L250-18Ti-L40-S109 Aquarius lV-C38 (030) 305P MkII

  8. #23
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Odd View Post
    Phil, you've done a really nice job on them.

    But they are museum pieces.
    Maybe . . . and maybe not.

    But this sure is:

    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  9. #24
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BMWCCA View Post
    Maybe . . . and maybe not.

    But this sure is:
    That sure is pretty… Too nice to use on the street!


    Widget

  10. #25
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Phil's got a basement of the BESTEST toys!
    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  11. #26
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    That sure is pretty… Too nice to use on the street!
    Makes me feel very old to realize this one is now 45-years-old—and that my first BMW was seven-years prior to that!

    Hey, are emogis working again?
    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

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