JBL re-introducing the L-100

Thanks for the link. I have contacted them, and hopefully there will be some place in the Lower Mainland of B.C. where I can go and audition them. If I have to go to the States, and listen to them at a Synthesis dealer, I'm prepared to do so, but the dollar exchange (ours is at about .80 cents right now) is not in my favour.

I heard back from the Canadian distributor (Erickson Consumer), and while they cannot say for certain when the L100 will arrive in Canada (they just say fall 2018), and they cannot tell me which stores in B.C. will sell this speaker, they confirm the price in Canada will be around $5000 Canadian (no firm pricing yet). I will be very interested to audition this speaker in person, and see how it compares to its iconic namesake.
 
It will be interesting to compare to the original L100. Wu6, let us know your thoughts when and if these folks ever come up with the new L100s. Maybe they will invest in a pair of originals for a comparison. That would be a very cool thing! Nobody at my local would even know what a JBL L100 is or was. Well, except frequenters of Audiokarma and Lansing Heritage of course.
 
JBL has been selling the 4312e for a long time and other larger (and more expensive, whoa the 4367W) speakers in Japan exclusively (http://jbl.harman-japan.co.jp/search.php?q=スタジオモニター). I guess many here are surprised as this is the US website: https://www.jbl.com/home-audio/ that's just full of pathetic ghetto crap made in China if you're lucky.
Here's the proper JBL site: http://www.jblsynthesis.com/product...syn-products/type/bookshelf-loudspeakers.html
 
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/JBL_L100.htm

An analysis of the original L100. Based on what is written they should sound like ass (no wonder why I never liked them - give me a Klipsch Heresy any day and I do not like those either). 78db sensitivity? So dang low.

It is a nostalgia speaker. Hopefully it will be better designed than the original (but not many were designed that poorly).
You also say that two 8in woofers has more area than a single 12in woofer.

So.....
 
It will be interesting to compare to the original L100. Wu6, let us know your thoughts when and if these folks ever come up with the new L100s. Maybe they will invest in a pair of originals for a comparison. That would be a very cool thing! Nobody at my local would even know what a JBL L100 is or was. Well, except frequenters of Audiokarma and Lansing Heritage of course.

Well, I will be personally able to give you an "Original L100 vs. New L100" comparison, as this evening I purchased a very nice pair of L100 Centuries, locally to me. It would be fun to take them to the retailer, and do a listening test, switching back forth from original to new.
 
That's a reasonable comparison, aside from the difference in age.

I listened to the L100 @ CES in January and am also an L112 owner... if I was ranking these personally, the original L100 would come in last, no question. Not sure yet whether the new L100 comes out on top of the L112, though I am sure it is designed to do exactly that and has a substantial advantage in the available materials for driver parts etc. vs. what JBL had in the late '70s. The only reason I can't say that it's a sure winner in that 3 horse race is that I had very brief exposure to it vs. years of familiarity with the L112, and the L112 has widespread accolades over the years suggesting it's not a one trick pony but appeals to a lot of different ears. Too soon to know if that's going to be the case for the new L100.

I do think the L112 would come in 2nd to the new L100 for bass performance, if nothing else. That part was pretty obvious even in the short audition but you'd still want to have a chance to run some different music through them to evaluate speed, musicality, timber etc. and not just "whoa, that has some authority down low" which was my initial reaction.

John
 
Maxell probably bought the rights from this guy. Then chopped-off the bottom portion of the original.

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Don't know why I was so shaky on that pic? I swear, I haven't had a drink in three weeks!...maybe that's the problem?

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Shopping at the local mall back in the late 70s and saw the poster. Considering I'd just bought a pair of L100a's the year before I knew exactly what speaker that was. Had to have it! Had it glued to a board and framed.
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Confirmed from JBL Synthesis via Instagram that they moved the US Market release date to Summer 2018, not Spring as originally advertised.
 
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a large discounted price on these new L-100s. My guess is they will be quite popular with the buying public, thus JBL won’t need to lower the price.
 
What the hell does the 'original L100' have to do with this new one? What, the new one has some funky foam grill? Gezz, even on a JBL forum the haters can't keep from bashing the original.
 
What the hell does the 'original L100' have to do with this new one? What, the new one has some funky foam grill? Gezz, even on a JBL forum the haters can't keep from bashing the original.

The foam grill, and the white woofer. Aside from that, the new one and the original appear to share nothing else in common.

All the L100 hate is boring, and tiresome. The best selling speaker of the 1970s, and JBL's all time best seller. And still commanding very strong prices on the used market. But they were always a rotten speaker, right? No. I'm quite pleased with my well preserved pair, and plan to keep them around. There's no way I can justify the cost of the new ones anyway.
 
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The foam grill, and the white woofer. Aside from that, the new one and the original appear to share nothing else in common.

All the L100 hate is boring, and tiresome. The best selling speaker of the 1970s, and JBL's all time best seller. And still commanding very strong prices on the used market. But they were always a rotten speaker, right? No. I'm quite pleased with my well preserved pair, and plan to keep them around. There's no way I can justify the cost of the new ones anyway.

Agreed, just let'n-off some steam. As you note, it does get tiresome. I'll bet a frosty 24 pack 90% of these people that bash have never heard the speaker. There're just jumping on the band wagon, but they'd never admit it. After all, it's the internet.
I get the biggest kick when people want to compare the L100 to certain Pro JBL with what are obviously better drivers/crossovers. Kind of like a 'no sh** Sherlock moment'
 
Agreed, just let'n-off some steam. As you note, it does get tiresome. I'll bet a frosty 24 pack 90% of these people that bash have never heard the speaker. There're just jumping on the band wagon, but they'd never admit it. After all, it's the internet.
I get the biggest kick when people want to compare the L100 to certain Pro JBL with what are obviously better drivers/crossovers. Kind of like a 'no sh** Sherlock moment'
Count me in that 10%. I heard them when they first came out when i owned JBL 030s, and I own a pair now, along with over a dozen other JBL systems.
 
Regardless of how the L100 sounds, next to the Yamaha NS-690 series, the 100 was the best looking vintage 12" 3-way speaker.
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JBL didn't make the original L100 the way it is because they didn't know better, or didn't have the materials/resources/whatever. It sounds the way it does because it was designed that way. The goal wasn't a flat responding "audiophile" speaker system. It was a consumer repackage of a monitor that was specifically designed to get the business of those who would otherwise be buying Altec 604s.

You can probably bet that the re-release won't have that goal in mind.
 
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