how good are the JBL L15 bookshelf speakers by todays standards?

rodH

Active Member
I have an older Pioneer Elite receiver and was thinking of doing a small home audio (or even a 3.1 HT) system in my bedroom.

I am currently running B&W 804 speakers in my main system with McIntosh pre/pro, as well as McIntosh Amplifiers. I am looking to put together a small "budget" system for the room with either stuff that I have or can get fairly cheap. A long time ago my father gifted me a pair of JBL L15 (he also gave me a set of older ADS L470/2 "bookshelfs" but these are a bit large for what I want and the condition isn't nearly as good).

So my plan is to run a smaller set of bookshelfs and an 8 or 10" old HSU powered sub I have kicking around. Was originally thinking of Elac B5 then started looking into SVS ultimates, then also looked into Sanus Faber venere 1.5 and then took a peak at some new B&W 805 ($6k, NOPE!!), then have been considering doing a DIY build, then I was kind of remembering that I have the JBLs not being used and how hard would it be to actually build something to be as good as the JBLs (maybe it would be an easy task with some of the kits out there?).

I have never had these set up to listen to in a critical listening room and I have yet to set of my receiver, but for those familiar with the speaker, what is your opinion of them? Compete with today $200 best buy specials? $1000 decent bookshelfs or even $6000 B&W 805 (which I highly doubt).

TIA
 
A long time ago...

What is the condition of the woofer foam surrounds? If it was indeed a long time ago, they probably need refoamed.

The L15 is the consumer version of the 4401 Studio Monitor. As you suspect, it won't go really low, but since you're talking about adding a subwoofer anyway, I'd get them refoamed (if needed) and give them a go. They may pleasantly surprise you.
 
What is the condition of the woofer foam surrounds? If it was indeed a long time ago, they probably need refoamed.

The L15 is the consumer version of the 4401 Studio Monitor. As you suspect, it won't go really low, but since you're talking about adding a subwoofer anyway, I'd get them refoamed (if needed) and give them a go. They may pleasantly surprise you.

Ya, the surrounds are fine. I remember doing a few surrounds a few years ago on speakers I had kicking around and these may have been done at that time, they look good. Also aware they are same as 4401, but the info/reviews on those are fairly limited as well.
 
What is the condition of the woofer foam surrounds? If it was indeed a long time ago, they probably need refoamed.

The L15 is the consumer version of the 4401 Studio Monitor. As you suspect, it won't go really low, but since you're talking about adding a subwoofer anyway, I'd get them refoamed (if needed) and give them a go. They may pleasantly surprise you.

Well they are high up in my garage and difficult to get to, so I was just wondering what the general opinion was before I even bothered getting up there and spending a lot of time. I do like the sound of the ADS L470/2, very smooth and tight mid-bass, but they are just too large and doesn't have the WAF (which is important being in the bedroom).
 
Being a die-hard Klipsch fan, if they sound anywhere near what the L19s sound like (my son has a pair), I'd be digging them out of the garage.
 
I had a pair of L15's at some point, wasn't overly impressed - and I like JBL speakers from that era/series. In that smaller cabinet category, I much prefer my ADS stuff like the L400, 300C, L310 etc. Didn't hate the L15, just didn't love them enough to keep or use them. Best part of them could be the typical old school JBL heavy walnut veneer cabinet.

John
 
They're not a "wow", especially at this age. Surrounds are either old and need replacement, or have already been replaced with something that will slightly alter the sound. I believe that the woofer is driven full-frequency also as was normal for JBL in this era.

Still, they do sound very good for their size. I liked mine for desktop/office speakers, they did sound much better than cheap speakers, and the white aquaplas cones / walnut cabinets are always an attention-grabber for those of us who appreciate vintage JBL. I was curious how they compare to a couple of other similar speakers that I own and compared to the (later) L20T and to B&W 303s. The 303s finished last in accuracy IMO, L15s warm and solid with no LF and a bit soft (IMO) in the HF, L20T better all-around so I guess I'd say that they compare well to modern $300 speakers in their size range (which is mostly surround and rear-surround at that).

Since you already have them, and are going to pair them with a sub, I'd say that you will probably be very happy.
 
Right you are, wrong I am, thanks for checking. I guess I'm still stuck in the 4312A and earlier 3-ways (with the reverse-polarity woofers).
 
I love my L15 speakers. Got of CL from the original owner, one small ding, but the walnut cabinets look great on my shelf. They sound excellent with my Sansui 4000.
 
Kind of lame to bump a 4+ year old thread.

The 034 tweeters in those speakers are great sounding tweeters but having them crossed-over at 2.5kHz is forcing them to handle frequencies a lot lower than they usually would. If nothing else, that's going to dramatically limit the power-handling of the speaker, since the tweeter is often the weakest link anyway. If they were mine, I'd try to find a way to raise the crossover up to ~3.5kHz or so and then pair them up with a nice sub or two. For low-volume listening, they are probably fine as-is.
 
Why not dig them out of their hidey hole and hook them on to your good system for a try out.
You might be pleasantly surprised.
 
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