Vintage JBL Speakers vs Newer Offerings of Today - OPINIONS?

@ Chris Brown. I have a buddy with Some L100Ts he will sell me today for 150.00 and I am buying them because you say they are good JBL speakers in a league outside of L100s.
 
Hey $60 can go a long way these days. I paid less for my Insignia bookshelves a few years back and I'd take those over a pair of L100s.

I just feel it's a shame, the number of people who base their entire opinion about JBL on the failings of the L100.

I use 4 80's model E140's (15 inchers) and 2 Selenium horns in my Mackie/Crown/dbx/BBE/Samson PA.

Nothing weak in that rig, and it will blow you through the back wall with clear, clean power. :yes:
 
I've had JBL's 250ti's for a couple of years now and I would put them up against most any speaker.
I've also got Thiel CS3.7's which are great speakers.
If I had to go with just one set of big speakers, the 250ti's would be the keepers.

Al. Wise
 
Well said Al!

There seem to be two camps here on AK (and on other internet forums too) - those who think JBL = L100, and those who realize that JBL made hundreds of different speaker systems over a 50+ year period. Most have never heard the upper end of what JBL can do and it's a shame. Our 250Ti's represent a statement piece from the 80's that incorporated a lot of ground breaking technology. For instance Stereophile absolutely *raved* about the then-new vapor deposited titanium tweeter that the 250TI brought to the world. Many people who dislike JBL are complaining about cost reduced versions of that driver in much lower-line systems.

Going back to the original point of this thread - vintage JBL versus current speakers - I think you will find that a well made set of JBLs from the golden era will not embarrass themselves.

Will they satisfy the "girl with a guitar" crowd and those who listen to obscure audiophile female jazz artists (I'm taking to you Patricia Barber fans) ?

Maybe not.

But will they do a great job with most popular music that a majority of people listen to ?

Absolutely

Will they totally smoke your neighbor's sound bar or Bose "surround" system?

Without a doubt

Can you crank them up and rock the house when friends come over without fear of blowing something up ?

All night long

Am I going to buy some "S" or "Array" line JBL's eventually (made in the last 10 years and intended mostly for the Japanese market) ?

Take a guess :)

jblnut
 
In my opinion, the 1400 Arrays smoke everything else in their line, past and present, and I've heard them all. It is my understanding that the Array line was not intended for the Japanese market, as vertical horns don't do well there. My understanding is that they don't sell very well here either, which baffles me. The only speaker I've heard that beats them in dynamics and lack of coloration are the insanely priced MBLs.
 
JBL diluted their brand, laid off all their CA staff and generally shot themselves in the foot when they should have been capitalizing on the "high-end" audio trend of the past 20+ years. That the Array 1400 is the best speaker no one has ever heard is not surprising. What they *should* have done (20/20 hindsight) is come up with a new brand (see Lexus/Acura/Infiniti playbook) and figured out a way to get JBL into audio showrooms next to all the other high-end speakers.

Sigh....that's not going to happen though. They will continue to make excellent state of the art horn-loaded speakers that will be sold mostly overseas except for a smattering of custom home theater dealers who carry the line in the USA. Like the one near me who had to get Harman to ship the Array 1400's down just so I could hear them. They stocked none of them.

jblnut
 
JBL diluted their brand, laid off all their CA staff and generally shot themselves in the foot when they should have been capitalizing on the "high-end" audio trend of the past 20+ years. That the Array 1400 is the best speaker no one has ever heard is not surprising. What they *should* have done (20/20 hindsight) is come up with a new brand (see Lexus/Acura/Infiniti playbook) and figured out a way to get JBL into audio showrooms next to all the other high-end speakers.

Sigh....that's not going to happen though. They will continue to make excellent state of the art horn-loaded speakers that will be sold mostly overseas except for a smattering of custom home theater dealers who carry the line in the USA. Like the one near me who had to get Harman to ship the Array 1400's down just so I could hear them. They stocked none of them.

jblnut

Agreed on all points. It's almost like part of the JBL house wants to kill the other part off. They engineer such masterpieces, then drop the ball in marketing.

Arrays would be more than enough for me to get my XPL's on Bartertown. Maybe when the right deal happens.
 
Mmmmm. $11,500 a pair and they are butt ugly. the vertical horn is a strange thing to witness for sure, no wonder it was a no go in the Japanese market, not much aesthetic at all. Bet they sound great though :yes::

They ARE butt ugly, they might do better to hide that horn in cabinet, the way Fulton hid the electrostatic array of the Model J. They could go back to old fashioned mid century JBL type cabinetry.
 
They ARE butt ugly, they might do better to hide that horn in cabinet, the way Fulton hid the electrostatic array of the Model J. They could go back to old fashioned mid century JBL type cabinetry.

The 2234A horns in the 4430's were (literally) butt ugly too, but, boy, do they sing! The Array's look is not offensive to me, though.
 
But what newer JBLs, Chris?

I should have been much more specific; I wasn't referring to anything that new necessarily. I was mostly referring to 80's and early 90's JBL (as opposed to 70's JBL), pretty much anything they made after the point at which they stopped thinking paper cone tweeters were a good idea. I agree that their current lineup isn't exactly breathtaking.

@ Chris Brown. I have a buddy with Some L100Ts he will sell me today for 150.00 and I am buying them because you say they are good JBL speakers in a league outside of L100s.

Very cool, I can't imagine you will be disappointed. Every driver in the L100T is a great example of JBL technology and it's easily the most capable pair of speakers out of the 3 I own. They do like lots of power though.
 
Purchased Because of Chris Brown

I was offered these JBL L100Ts several weeks ago but initially passed thinking they were not too hot and too "NEW" of a speaker from JBL, until Chris Brown said these are better than L100 originals. Bought these for 125 this morning. They are not minty but they work fine and will be running on My Marantz 2285B - hopefully that has enough juice to run these properly as they are bigger than I thought.....

jbl_1.jpg
 
Interesting to see the screens having been removed on those 035ti tweeters. Hopefully the domes aren't dented.
 
The vintage JBL market is strong in Japan. I believe JBL still makes a descendant of the L100/43XX for that market.Take a look at the Kenrick Sound site I linked (once there convert it to English). These guys restore and sell all the vintage JBL's and they command a pretty penny. Fantastic workmanship.

There's something about those vintage JBL's.

http://kenricksound.com/

They also post YouTube videos that will make you feel like a kid in a vintage speaker candy store.:drool:
 
There are all kinds of speakers "better" than all kinds of speakers and finding the space and your use sensibilities are the only two things that matter. If limited space and time? Modern....and this is coming from a vintage junkie.
 
Nah, a friend who has owned MANY JBLs over the years recently bought some pricey Legacy speakers -
Danged, they were amazing - not like those SampysungJayBLs ... that will, no doubt, appear Real Soon Now ...
Besides, Harmin' CEO Paliwali has dismissed all the serious engineers and design folks
that brought them to where they were when they sold the farm ... betcha he saved Big Money, Too!
Now its up to Sampysung to save JBL, or Harmin' Kittons, or whatever ...

But the folks who own the vintage JBL gear know best ... :)
 
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