Jbl L5 L80t3 comparison

[craig h]

Got lucky yesterday and picked up a pair of L5 for 40 bucks. (like I need more speakers but this was a no brainer). All drivers are great and were just a little dusty and cleaned up nicely. Only problem is the top of the cabs which had the old potted plant wear but some sanding and new piano black will fix them up. Rest of the cabinets and the grills are great. I did a side by side comparison with my L80T with the upgraded crossovers which I love. I have a yamaha m70 on the 80s and a Yamaha mx800 on the L5 both on the same preamp. These L5 are very nice speakers and have the classic Jbl sound. They carry a lot of bass and have excellent clarity and mids. Playing the same tracks on vinyl back and forth I am impressed with both and can't seem to come up with a winner. They both sound close. Anyone out there have these speakers and an opinion? Also, I am wondering why when I play both sets at once on their separate amps, the bass seems to go away. Separatly they sound excellent. I experience this when I try 4312 with the L80t also. Anyway I am VERY impressed with these L5 and they will be hanging around. Looks like I'll have to spend tomorrow night comparing them again. It's a lot of work but someone's gotta do it. Ha

 

[Zonker92]

I am wondering why when I play both sets at once on their separate amps, the bass seems to go away.

Probably out of phase with each other.

I haven't compared the two, but my son's L80Ts sound great with the T3 crossovers. bass is very impressive.

 

[Wayniac]

You are using a Yamaha preamp, right? If you are using the inverted preamp outputs to drive one of the amps, you will need to reverse the speaker wires (+/-) at one end, on one pair of speakers to compensate. This will correct your bass/phase problem.

 

[craig h]

Jbl L5 L80t3 comparison

I have only one pre out on this cx800u and have used splitters. Both amps are connected the same right and left. Battery test on the woofers shows both sets of speakers with a positive pushing the woofer out so I assume they are in phase but later I will invert the output to one set and see if that corrects the problem. I really want to hear these speaker sets together with their full potential.

 

[Zonker92]

Are the speakers all the same distance from you? You could try moving one pair around or swapping their leads.

 

[BMWCCA]

I have two-pair of L80T/3s (L80Ts with T3 crossovers) a pair of L5s, and two pair of L7s.

IMHO, the L5s easily best the L80T/3. Bass is stronger, deeper, and imaging is better. The little 4-ways just work! The L7s blow them all away, but the L5 is amazing. I have a pair of L5s and pair of L96s hooked up to A-B using a Soundcraftsmen Pro-Power-Four and I'm having a hard time deciding between those two but I think the L5 is winning!

They're all great speakers and I enjoy listening to all of them.

 

[mech986]

 

[craig h]

Jbl L5 L80t3 comparison

I'm just not sure. The L5 are fabulous speakers. When I wound up the L1 inductor on my 80t3 crossover I only went to 2.6 mh instead of the specified 3.0 and the bass on the L80T3 is better than the L5 which does very well for an eight inch wooer.. I can turn up the bass on the preamp and the L5 gets close. To me the L80t3 has slightly better separation and the L5 has better midrange and they both have the 035 tia so the top end is good on both with the L5 slightly more. I inverted the wires on the L5 and fixed the out of phase bass when I play both sets together. They sound great but I prefer playing one set at a time. I'm going to repair the cabinet damage on the top of the L5 and then these speakers are here to stay They are outstanding. Retired guy said he just doesn't use them any more. 40 bucks. One of my best scroes ever.

 

[BMWCCA]

Even JBL's spec sheets show the L5 with lower extension than the L80T3.

It's not like you don't have enough power! Are you giving the rear ports enough room? I'm not saying either one is a "bad" speaker. I'm quite fond of both!

 

[89grand]

I'd bet the reason they sounded out of phase was because of the weird connectors the L80t's have. I have to wire mine positive to black and negative to red to order for them to be in phase with my center channel and rear speakers in my HT setup.

 

[mech986]

Those L80T's need the grille keeper holes plugged with some new grommets, don't recall though whether they are still available from JBL Pro or consumer, maybe the same as used in the 4412 series.

 

[craig h]

I don't have a problem with the sound quality of either pair. They both sound superb and can take all the power I can throw at them although I rarely go "loud" when listening. These L80T projects aren't finished just yet and now I have the L5 cabinet project along with touch ups to my l36, a refoam for my l56, and refoam for my Advent 5002 that I have not heard yet and my pioneer hpm 60 cabinets that I am loading with 4410a drivers and crossovers. Meanwhile I'll listen while I work. Yes. L5s are very very good speakers and I am running them and my l80T3 out from the wall. Plenty of bass on both. My 100t3 can rattle the walls a bit so for now I'm digging the L5 and 80T. Yes, I had to wire one pair "out of phase" to play them together.

 

[BMWCCA]

Those L80T's need the grille keeper holes plugged with some new grommets, don't recall though whether they are still available from JBL Pro or consumer, maybe the same as used in the 4412 series.

When I see those missing I usually can find them stuck inside the holes in the baffle from previous owners jamming the grilles in place with no touch. I just fish them out with needle-nose pliers and insert them properly. Worth checking.

 

[craig h]

Thanks. I'll check that. I know the grills are supposed to "float" off the front but this one goes all the way in. I also need one grill. I'll keep looking on Ebay because although it can be done, I don't need another project of making one.