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Score or did I ? JBL L100T3

Bigears

Bigears

Manager of my own day
I found a local guy selling a set of JBL L100's and without asking too many questions, I jumped in the car to check them out. Got there and took one look and realized these were L100 T3's. I informed the seller that he had speakers worth considerably less than vintage L100's and offered him about a quarter of what he was asking. I could tell he needed the money and I figured even with failing surrounds, I can get these back to 100% fairly cheaply, as I've repaired many speaker surrounds (with silver duct tape, LOL ). I was fine either way, but the guy took my lowball price.

When I got them home I found the owners manual, a Stereo Review L100 T3 test report from 1986 and the original receipt dated 1991 for $1086 stuffed into the bass port. Of course Julian Hirsch never met a stereo component he didn't like, but he rated them exceptional, blah blah blah.

I just pulled the drivers from one speaker and to my surprise I found a very large and heavy cast basket woofer and a chambered mid also with a cast basket. When I saw the plastic JBL badges and the cheap looking plastic stands, I didn't know what to expect.

Any opinions? Anyone here have a set of these?
 

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I sold these back in the era that they were originally out and I liked them all. The L60, L80 and L100. We also had the 250ti's as the "flagship" along with the JBL Project Everest speakers at $10,000 a pair. Massive.

I woulda got them, too. That was a great series of speakers and I really like those better than the older L100's having that titanium tweeter. But that's just my $.02.
 
I know that a lot of AKers like the T3 versions of the L series quite a lot.Ive got a pair of the L20t3's,and I love them,and I was never really a JBL guy.And the wood cabs on that series are amazing,IMHO.
When you get those refoamed youll have some terriffic speakers.
Jimmy
 
Bigears said:
I found a local guy selling a set of JBL L100's and without asking too many questions, I jumped in the car to check them out. Got there and took one look and realized these were L100 T3's. I informed the seller that he had speakers worth considerably less than vintage L100's and offered him about a quarter of what he was asking. I could tell he needed the money and I figured even with failing surrounds, I can get these back to 100% fairly cheaply, as I've repaired many speaker surrounds (with silver duct tape, LOL ). I was fine either way, but the guy took my lowball price.

When I got them home I found the owners manual, a Stereo Review L100 T3 test report on from 1986 and the original receipt dated 1991 for $1086 stuffed into the bass port. Of course Julian Hirsch never met a stereo component he didn't like, but he rated them exceptional, blah blah blah.

I just pulled the drivers from one speaker and to my surprise I found a very large and heavy cast basket woofer and a chambered mid also with a cast basket. When I saw the plastic JBL badges and the cheap looking plastic stands, I didn't know what to expect.

Any opinions? Anyone here have a set of these?
Click to expand...

The L100t3 sounds much better than the L100. I own a pair myself. To be honest you were not honest to the seller when you told him,"I informed the seller that he had speakers worth considerably less than vintage L100's and offered him about a quarter of what he was asking."

Not exactly a truthful statement to be kind. They are worth more than L100 as they are/were a superior speaker. Enjoy your new find. John
 
jpchleapas said:
The L100t3 sounds much better than the L100. I own a pair myself. To be honest you were not honest to the seller when you told him,"I informed the seller that he had speakers worth considerably less than vintage L100's and offered him about a quarter of what he was asking."

Not exactly a truthful statement to be kind. They are worth more than L100 as they are/were a superior speaker. Enjoy your new find. John
Click to expand...

John, don't make a judgement call based on my ignorance. I don't know much about JBL's and I assumed that the cheap plastic speaker stands stapled to the bottom of the cabinets and the very cheap looking JBL badges were indicative of cheap innards. Apearently JBL spent the money where it counted.

Would you track the guy down to give him more money or call it an honest mistake and move on?
 
Hey BigEars how's it goin? Make sure when you refoam the woofs on those that you attach the foams to the back of the cone. I have done those woofers twice, once on the front and once on the back. Beleive me when I tell you it makes a huge difference in sound if you do it the wrong way. Good score man!:thmbsp: :thmbsp: :thmbsp:
 
Bigears said:
Would you track the guy down to give him more money or call it an honest mistake and move on?
Click to expand...
Last pair I got on CL was free. I don't see the relevance of them being vastly better speakers than L100s. How does ignorance fit into the equation?

[They're not mirror-imaged, either.... :p: ]
 
Bigears said:
Would you track the guy down to give him more money or call it an honest mistake and move on?
Click to expand...

Had the original asking price been 2000.00 dollars then I'd say you did OK by offering a quarter of what he was asking. . .On the other hand if he was asking 200 bucks and you offered 50 then I don't know what to say. . .Only you were there. . .That said on the surface I can't help feeling sorry for the seller knowing as little as I do. . .

Not a put down at all. . .Just saying. . .

You got a pair of very fine JBLs . . .One of the last good ones in my mind at least in their consumer line. . .

Enjoy them. . .I know I surely would. . .
 
Elgato, haven't stopped by the usual place to run into you. I seem to do much better not going to the thrifts! I'm seriously considering having these refoamed professionally.

I considered the situation the seller was in and now that I know the value of these speakers, I'm sending him a check equal to 3/4 of what I paid him originally. If the guy was financially okay, I'd call it a good deal and let it be, but this was a hardship case. It was still a very good deal.
 
Bigears said:
Elgato, haven't stopped by the usual place to run into you. I seem to do much better not going to the thrifts! I'm seriously considering having these refoamed professionally.

I considered the situation the seller was in and now that I know the value of these speakers, I'm sending him a check equal to 3/4 of what I paid him originally. If the guy was financially okay, I'd call it a good deal and let it be, but this was a hardship case. It was still a very good deal.
Click to expand...

You are a good man. . . Good for you. . .
I doubt that you regret it. . . Actually you will enjoy the speakers more. . .

btw. . .love your avitar. . .
 
Hey Bigears, I know what you mean about the thrifts. They seem to be getting worse and worse everytime I go. I haven't been going much either. I think you could refoam these yourself if you wanted to. The pair I refoamed came out great. It's not as hard as you might think. You can pick up the foams from O.C. Speaker for pretty cheap. Here's a link on how to do it.
http://audioheritage.csdco.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=469&highlight=stepbystep
By the way... Good call on getting back with the guy. I'm sure he was stoked and I'm sure you'll feel better about the deal.
If you do decide to do them yourself and you need any pointers you can P.M. me.
Either way... Enjoy your new speaks!!!:D
 
Nice deal on some nice units. I don't understand people who don't check to find out what the going price is. I bought a pair of JBL 240TI's last year, not knowing exactly what they were. I knew they were worth the $20.00 though. I re edged them and had to sell because of hardship. They went for much more than the $50.00 I had into them. Enjoy those! I hope you don't have to ever sell them.:no: Brad
 
Some serious Karma for you, bigears. What a totally nice thing to do. :thmbsp: :thmbsp: :thmbsp: :thmbsp:
 
I honestly was going to pass on these speakers given my initial impressions. I looked through the bass port and saw a cast basket woofer and figured these had to be worth saving and made the guy an offer, even telling him that they may be worth more to someone else. I was perfectly fine walking away. He really needed money and I thought I was sorta doing him a favor buying speakers I didn't really want.

When I called the seller to tell him I was paying him more for the speakers, he told me I made his day. Paying him the extra was the right thing to do, given his situation. I can use the karma.
 
Bigears said:
I honestly was going to pass on these speakers given my initial impressions. I looked through the bass port and saw a cast basket woofer and figured these had to be worth saving and made the guy an offer, even telling him that they may be worth more to someone else. I was perfectly fine walking away. He really needed money and I thought I was sorta doing him a favor buying speakers I didn't really want.

When I called the seller to tell him I was paying him more for the speakers, he told me I made his day. Paying him the extra was the right thing to do, given his situation. I can use the karma.
Click to expand...

I apologize for my remarks. I assumed you knew the specs and price of the L100t3 when new around 1990. I have seen L100t3 sell for up to $800 a pair on fleabay in the last few years. There are kits for very short money to refoam the speakers yourself. The cabinets are very well made on my pair and they honestly sound much better than the original L100. I think the L100 are a good sounding speaker but not nearly as good sounding as the L100t3. You can go look for information on them at the JBL website or at the Lansing Heritage site. That was good of you to toss the guy a few more dollars. You should get $600 plus for them refoamed when you part with them. I am still using my pair with my HT for my rear speakers. Mine are going to Audiogon to make way for my Hales 7.1 HT. Well 3 pairs of Hales speakers and one custom made center channel using the same drivers as Hales did. The JBL are nice but my JBL L300 Summit are just too big for the room. A 5.1 HT with vintage JBL speakers like these is not too shabby to listen to. Enjoy your new L100t3 speakers. John
 
John no problem. I simply had no idea what the true value of the speakers were. I considered the plastic stand, plastic badges, plastic grill frame with the grill cloth "melted" to the frame and figured these had to be cheapies with little value. Thanks to AK, I know what I got and made it right with the seller.

This place is great!

Elgato, I'm most likely going to do the surrounds myself. I've done quite a few and the only ones that gave me trouble were some older Infinitys that instantly went to coil rub as soon as I pulled off the old surrounds. Thanks for the link!
 
Bigears said:
Would you track the guy down to give him more money or call it an honest mistake and move on?
Click to expand...

I would! And I would tell him here is some hush money for taking part in my 1 mistake of the year :D So here is some loot. :music:
 
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