JBL's Still Worth Getting Into?

If you like the L112 that much (I do as well), you should check out the L150A. If you have the space for them, they do everything just that much better - same excellent mids/tweeters but sitting closer to ear level w/o stands, and the larger enclosure/passive radiator combination gives them solid room presence on the bass w/o having to crank the system up quite as much.

John

So in my vintage lot I have HPM-150, Quantum 4, AR90, L110, HPM-100, HPM-900, and L112. I can tell you without hesitation the L112 is my favorite. I bought them for $350 in near mint condition, so good deals can still be had.. just have to keep your eyes peeled and be ready to strike when the ad pops up.
 
I have some early L 88s ....I like them a lot. I only have some KG 4s to compare them to but they play most everything good....the only down side I see is the adjustment knobs are on the back so when I'm drinking I have trouble with them.
 
If you like the L112 that much (I do as well), you should check out the L150A. If you have the space for them, they do everything just that much better - same excellent mids/tweeters but sitting closer to ear level w/o stands, and the larger enclosure/passive radiator combination gives them solid room presence on the bass w/o having to crank the system up quite as much.

John

No question I'd love to hear the 150A. Yes, they are essentially the same speaker system, but they play lower with the increased internal volume and tuned passive radiator. They're in pretty high demand.. I've seen pricing in the $1000 - $2000 range
 
I've had numerous JBL's and the build quality is top notch.
But horn speakers do not seem to stay in my house long. (Klipsch also)
I can enjoy the titanium tweeter, and still have the L1's, and miss the 4312a's.
Love to hear some other samples of JBL that perform with rock music.
 
I've owned a pair of L112's since new, I bought them in or around 1982, they were only displaced as my main speakers when I stumbled on a pair of Ti250's, and even then the L112's were just moved to the next room on a secondary system.
I've owned dozens of speakers over the years, some better, some not so much but none have ever displaced my JBL's for very long.
Over time I learned that to get the most out of my JBL's I needed big power, I run my L112's off a Phase Linear 400 and my Ti250's off of a Yamaha MX1000U.
I've cycled through several phases of running various Infinity speakers, a pair of ADS 910's, and several versions of Polk SDA's but the JBL's have never been displaced for long.
 
Curious, what JBL horns have you spent time with?

C38, and something 45 from the early 70's if I remember right. (Larger then the C38).
Fantastic build quality, but speakers have advanced.
I wish that JBL had survived into the 2000 era, with the advancements and their quality!
(Of course, almost no US companies with build quality survived.) :(
 
And sorry BMWCCA, do not remember the horn and crossovers that well. I know that makes a difference. I am open to be enlightened,
that's why I'm on this journey.
 
C38, and something 45 from the early 70's if I remember right. (Larger then the C38).
Fantastic build quality, but speakers have advanced.
I wish that JBL had survived into the 2000 era, with the advancements and their quality!
(Of course, almost no US companies with build quality survived.) :(
C38 is a small bass-reflex enclosure. It is not a system, per se, but can be loaded with several systems from the factory. About the only "horn" system offered in that box would have been the 001 which was simply the 130A woofer with the LE175DLH compression driver/horn unit. More commonly it held simply one full-range D130 possibly with the 075 ring-radiator added in the HF range. Be that as it may, there's nothing offensive in either system. The box is too small for the 15-inch to develop all the bottom end it is capable of, and both systems work much better in the larger C35 or C37. There was also the rear-loaded folded-horn enclosure C40. Often "horn" is used improperly with others describing JBL, or simply parroting what they've read on-line. There is a horn-loaded enclosure and there are horns that fit on compression drivers. The former used a maze of chambers to extend the volume the speaker sees and react with the LF driver to reinforce the power and efficiency of the driver. These can also be referred to as "folded" horns.

Mostly what folks seem to complain about when they slam "horns" are the metal horns with lenses used on mid-range compression drivers shaped to direct and impact the response of the driver's output. These can be simple megaphone shapes (think Victrola), flared exponential openings, multi-cell, or other shapes. Haters love to complain about "ringing" of the metal horns, right or wrong.

There are also plastic wave-guides on the front of speakers, usually towers, that many call horns. In a sense, they are horns, but the fact that Klipsch keeps calling them horn speakers leaves them pretty much nothing in common with the JBL 43xx series with compression drivers with true horns. I don't normally think of wave-guides when I think "horn". Doesn't mean I don't like them or you wouldn't. Some of my favorite modern JBLs use specially designed wave-guides to make them sound truly fantastic.

The iconic JBL studio monitors of the '70s and '80s were mainly known by the 4-digit model range 43xx. The only model with a "45" that I know of was the rare 4345 4-way monitor with an 18-inch LF driver which did have a mid-range horn driver. It is so rare there are likely more clones made of these than there are of the suggested number of 200 pair of the originals ever made. They were from the '80s. They are arguably one of JBL's best, and what I listen to every day. I doubt you heard those and if you ever had them in your house, you'd remember them if only for their size. I hope you get the chance to hear a pair someday. They are very special, as are the hundreds of talented folks out there who build homage version of them as clones so people like you and me can enjoy them for what they are.
 
BMWCCA, thanks for the response.
Yes, know about the C-38's, but the driver could not produce the low's from modern drivers, and the cabinets were not optimal.
Still, a beautiful quality product.
The 45 series I mentioned were early 70's, could be L-, were made in LA.
Could be another #, but I digress.
Never want to take away from the JBL of old! When they sold out, another story.
(Still have a JBL Urei amp, great unit) sold the other 2. If I had more space, I would still have.
 
The 45 series I mentioned were early 70's, could be L-, were made in LA.
There was an L45 Flair cabinet. Mostly the same systems available in that cabinet as in the C38. Too small for a large woofer to do what it should, and most of those D130 or 130A were not ever designed for deep bass. Think of cello frequency range. There were other JBLs of that time that did better. And many a decade later that will stand with anything made today without needing a sub! I still feel your damning of "horns"—when it is arguable that nothing you heard may have even had a horn—is just as typically "fake news" as all the west-coast-east-coast crap we have to endure. I'd call the whole anti-horn diatribe misinformed, but I don't know you and you don't know me, so I'll just disagree with you.
:beerchug:
 
Regretfully sold my 4312's, but still have a near mint set of L100T's that sound great, and recently acquired a nice set of L100Century's first version with inline drivers. They came with original grill covers, but foam is long gone..
Also had some L80T's for a short time, pictured on top of 100T's
I like JBL, but I think my true sound are my AR3A's that I restored. But still keeping some 100's :)
 

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