-
Feeling lucky? Check out the AK 24th Anniversary Giveaway thread and join in the fun!
Jbl l36 question
- Thread starter PeerlessK
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
Chris Brown
Super Member
"keep up with today's digital music"? Well audio signals are analog by the time they get to the speaker. The fact that the information may have been contained digitally at some point before that doesn't matter. I have no idea what you are asking about "bit rate quality" and how that pertains to the L36.
Personally I am not a fan of the paper-cone tweeters in the L36, and the 10" 125a woofers aren't that great either. They are generally what people got when they wanted a pair of L100's but didn't want to spend as much... The L100's have their own share of sonic deficiencies but at least they have the nostalgia power, style, and collector value. The L36's are just mid-low end JBLs that don't sound that good (imo). The L36's are the only pair of JBLs I've ever had that I've ended up selling.
Last edited:
PeerlessK
Well-Known Member
Digital sound from a source like apple products or android boxes . About you not liking the l36 . I like them and so do some others . We all hear differently . Digital music is played back at different rates 94 ,320 etc . I guess part of my question is the efficancy rating of the speakers and a digital source ,that the speakers would sound good using Apple Music as a source of music
KingBubba
"Too Much Stuff"
I've owned a pair for years and cannot come up with a substantial negative comment. As far as the digital age, the real advantage to digital recording is its ability to record a bit wider range of frequencies with a higher amount of bass. Tape would become saturated with bass very quickly and engineers had to back off the bass during recording or risk major distortion. Now recording engineers can record as much bass as they want and then mix it in at whatever level they wish. The extra bass is the only part of the digital age that can cause substantial damage to speakers.
As an example, I have been watching discs of "Babylon 5" recently. The soundtrack has a phenomenal amount of very low bass. I watch B 5 at a fairly substantial audio level. The foams on my L36 were just a little bit aged. Now the woofers have gone from aged to shot. Had I watched B 5 on a new set of foams, there would have been no damage. As long as the L36s are up to date, they can handle whatever you throw at them. If I were you, I would go get them as soon as you can. I would not spend more than $100 for them.
As an example, I have been watching discs of "Babylon 5" recently. The soundtrack has a phenomenal amount of very low bass. I watch B 5 at a fairly substantial audio level. The foams on my L36 were just a little bit aged. Now the woofers have gone from aged to shot. Had I watched B 5 on a new set of foams, there would have been no damage. As long as the L36s are up to date, they can handle whatever you throw at them. If I were you, I would go get them as soon as you can. I would not spend more than $100 for them.
BilboBaggins
Addicted Member
I liked L36s with a good bit of power, but I preferred the L26s for how well balanced they are. Around here, going rate is three times that.
PeerlessK
Well-Known Member
Hearing the set I'm after they sounded pretty darn nice . I don't know how to value($$$)speakers . one will pay anything to get what they want if they want it bad enough . Reading the negative comments about the l36 I don't understand or get some comments I've read while having a few hrs with them . I think they are competitors of a speaker . Me ? I've never owned a perfect speaker
I agree from beginning to end. I have my L36s at work in a system and listen to them quite a bit. Home system has 2 sets of L26s and a set of L112s. The 26s are really surprising how good they sound and the 112s, well I love them. I'm very happy with all my JBLs and unless from a friend, the 36s will cost you considerably more than $100 in Chicago.
BilboBaggins
Addicted Member
I think the negative comments were from people who didn't give them sufficient power. I think that happens a lot in cases where the speaker sounds best with a high current amp.
mcgarick
Super Member
I've had the l36 and it was Awesome....the LE25 tweeters are great tweeters! and removed my snobbery about paper tweeters.
They have huge magnets and are very revealing. They are absolutely one of my favorites and I even built a bookshelf that incorporated them ...I like them that much. And I like paper drivers and natural drivers like Silk. I had the l26 and the mid-range was missing on that speaker because the woofer just wouldn't put out a high enough signal to fill in well enough in a quality way.. I also had a pair of L100 s and I thought that l36 is were much more to my liking. The l36 is a very versatile speaker in that I was very successful with tripath amplifiers and single-ended Tube amplifiers. Both sounded fantastic with the l36. If you can find a pair in good shape for a good price I would definitely grab them. And if they turned out not to be your cup of tea there's a lot of other people around that would love to have them so you could sell them easy. That's one of my very favorite vintage speakers.
They have huge magnets and are very revealing. They are absolutely one of my favorites and I even built a bookshelf that incorporated them ...I like them that much. And I like paper drivers and natural drivers like Silk. I had the l26 and the mid-range was missing on that speaker because the woofer just wouldn't put out a high enough signal to fill in well enough in a quality way.. I also had a pair of L100 s and I thought that l36 is were much more to my liking. The l36 is a very versatile speaker in that I was very successful with tripath amplifiers and single-ended Tube amplifiers. Both sounded fantastic with the l36. If you can find a pair in good shape for a good price I would definitely grab them. And if they turned out not to be your cup of tea there's a lot of other people around that would love to have them so you could sell them easy. That's one of my very favorite vintage speakers.
GD70
Lunatic Member
No two people hear the same. If you like them, that's all that matters!
Digital bit rate means nothing except sound quality by the time you hear it. Doesn't matter what the speaker is. Now, some speakers may be more forgiving for bad quality, vs. studio monitors like the Yamaha NS-10M's which will reveal every flaw in a recording.
Digital bit rate means nothing except sound quality by the time you hear it. Doesn't matter what the speaker is. Now, some speakers may be more forgiving for bad quality, vs. studio monitors like the Yamaha NS-10M's which will reveal every flaw in a recording.
MCM_Fan
AK Subscriber
To each his own, I suppose, but I love the sound (and looks) of my restored/re-imagined L36 Decades. I drive mine with a Yamaha A-1000 integrated amp and listen to them every day with a variety of sources, including streaming (uncompressed AIFF files through an Airport Express and a Schiit Modi II Uber), a Philips DVD 963SA SACD player that also up samples standard redbook CDs to 192KHz/24 bit, an Akai AT-V04 tuner and a Realistic Lab 440 turntable with a Signet TK10ML cartridge. The speakers don't seem to have any problems "keeping up" with with all of my various sources.
Here's a couple pics:
Here's a couple pics:
KingBubba
"Too Much Stuff"
MCM_Fan, yours remind me of what mine looked like after the fresh rehab and before the cats got to one of them. I'm too busy using them in the bedroom system now to go through another refinish job. Nice work. I sold my Akai tuner like the one you have, a few years back to an AK member. It was one hell of a tuner. In my area, there is just nothing to listen to on radio. They were a great looking tuner.
