Speaker Stand Recommendations JBL L40

[yabai]

Hello,
First, many thanks for reading this post!

I'm slowly getting back into vinyl and HiFi after an almost 10 year absence...

Recently I purchased some JBL L40 speakers. They are currently sitting on the floor - which is certainly not optimum. Does anybody that owns the L40's or a similar sized speaker have any stand recommendations? I've looked a few places and haven't found much...

Any tips appreciated!

 

[mech986]

Welcome to AK!

For a trial run, I'd find two rectangular milk crates or similar, be sure they have or can have relatively flat sides. You can try them on the sides (about 13" tall) or on ends (about 20" tall). That should give you a lot less bass bomm and tighten the bass up, and imaging and top end will get a lot better because the tweeter and mid-bass will be closer to your head level in a seated position.

That will be a good start, then you can look for suitable stands or stuff to put them on. The classic concrete block can also work but put something flat and hard between the block and bottom, lest you scratch or damage the JBL veneer.

 

[yabai]

Thanks! My wife will probably let me get away with this for awhile...

I would eventually like to pick up something that is more furniture like...

 

[kermit z]

I agree with trying with milk crates first. I would also try to get the tweeters to hear level in your sitting position.

 

[yabai]

Wow! What a difference it made lifting the speakers off of the floor!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[mech986]

Wow! What a difference it made lifting the speakers off of the floor!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Heh, ain't audio fun?! Now pull out some of your music and listen for new stuff. Plus the imaging should get even better as you work on tilt back (small magazines or books under the front), or toe-in, or distance from back wall, or side wall, plus damping the side walls or floor (if not carpet).

BTW, what part of LA are you in?

 

[4343]

L100T makes a Great stand for L40's...

Brings 'em up to ear height while standing, which is what was required for showing them off just before they went out the door. I needed the space, or they would still be here.

 

[yabai]

Last night I played with moving them forward and away from the wall on crates. Amazing what the little things do. I have to say, I'm really enjoying them. I'll have to play with the tilt a bit...

Last night I played Paul Desmond's Bossa Antigua. That sax is still singing in my ears. I have a large collection of reggae but am finding many of the recordings may not show off the speakers because of how they were made. Sometimes poor recordings as well as poor vinyl.

I'm located in Koreatown just to the west of you

 

[yabai]

@4343 did I buy the L40s from you?

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[Zonker92]

Here are some I made; sorry my Windows picture rotation didn't take.

I was just trying to learn woodworking at the time (I'm still learning). If I had to do it again, I would have oriented the grain vertically. (I actually made them for L26 Decades which have oak veneer; the L40s are walnut.) You can also see that being a total noob, I foamed the woofers with the cones on the inside of the foams. D'Oh!

 

[yabai]

Those look nice! Was the Mobile 1 part of you secret formula ;-)

How did you connect everything together?

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[onwardjames]

Don't be so hard on yourself, Zonker, that's a great job. And are they angled as well?

 

[Zonker92]

Thanks! It's just tough looking back and thinking how I'd do it now. I glued them together with Tite-bond and then used glue and a brad nailer to tie the corners together from the inside, with those corner braces. I did angle them back to some arbitrary degree.

The Mobil 1 10W-30 can reminds me of my old Miata, which drank that stuff like Koolaid.

(PS I always thought Brad Nailer would be an awesome name for a porno star.)

OK, here they are on the L26s for which I actually built them. I just snapped this in my daughter's room right now. You can see the tiny T-amp that drives them, on her American Girl® camper to the left.

I wound up selling the L40s to a friend of a friend, but not because I didn't like them; I just had too many speakers and I'd just found some L80Ts for my son, so something had to go.

 

[onwardjames]

Thanks! It's just tough looking back and thinking how I'd do it now. I glued them together with Tite-bond and then used glue and a brad nailer to tie the corners together from the inside, with those corner braces. I did angle them back to some arbitrary degree.

The Mobil 1 10W-30 can reminds me of my old Miata, which drank that stuff like Koolaid.

(PS I always thought Brad Nailer would be an awesome name for a porno star.)

(

Just now got around to replacing front and rear seal on my miata. That's where the oil was going. Made a big difference.

Brad Nailer is a fine porno name. Lead singer for Type O Negative's name was Peter Steele (I'm guessing it isn't his birthname, lol)

Then there is Dick Valentine for Electric Six....

 

[-reverb-]

(PS I always thought Brad Nailer would be an awesome name for a porno star.)

Random Thought of The Day~! :yes:

 

[mech986]

Here are some I made; sorry my Windows picture rotation didn't take.

I was just trying to learn woodworking at the time (I'm still learning). If I had to do it again, I would have oriented the grain vertically. (I actually made them for L26 Decades which have oak veneer; the L40s are walnut.) You can also see that being a total noob, I foamed the woofers with the cones on the inside of the foams. D'Oh!

Thanks! It's just tough looking back and thinking how I'd do it now. I glued them together with Tite-bond and then used glue and a brad nailer to tie the corners together from the inside, with those corner braces. I did angle them back to some arbitrary degree.

The Mobil 1 10W-30 can reminds me of my old Miata, which drank that stuff like Koolaid.

(PS I always thought Brad Nailer would be an awesome name for a porno star.)

OK, here they are on the L26s for which I actually built them. I just snapped this in my daughter's room right now. You can see the tiny T-amp that drives them, on her American Girl® camper to the left.

I wound up selling the L40s to a friend of a friend, but not because I didn't like them; I just had too many speakers and I'd just found some L80Ts for my son, so something had to go.

Those stands looked great! Being enclosed, do they add any extraneous sound to the speakers?

As for the surrounds on the wrong side, I did the same thing as a set of 3 L40's was my first refoam project many many moons ago. At that time OCS speaker repair instructions said to do that. Since then, becoming a JBL fan, I learned the OEM way for 95% of JBL stuff is behind the cone. Never redid the foams though, they're still playing for my son in his home theater setup along with a pair of L19's for rears.

 

[Zonker92]

Those stands looked great! Being enclosed, do they add any extraneous sound to the speakers?

Thanks! I don't think so. They weigh a ton and I bet they resonate at a low frequency and damp a lot of vibration. But it would be easy to add a bottom and fill them with sand.

 

[audiojones]

Back when I had JBL L-40's here's what I had them sitting on. They're made by a company called Plateau and they're perfect for those old classics like KLH, AR, Polk etc.

I put the shelf gripper stuff on the platform to hold the cabinets tight. These get the speakers off the floor about 8" or so plus they tilt the speakers back a little bit. There's no model number on them unfortunately, just the "Plateau" sticker. I can dig them out and get the dimensions if you want 'em.

 

[yabai]

That is quite a nice offer! However, I surprisingly got permission from the boss and I put in an order for stands from A & M fabrication. Read a few reviews, looked at the picture, and received a nice email from Dean. That pretty much sealed the deal...

I'll be sure to post a few pics once they arrive.

Thanks for the good vibes guys.

 

[GD70]

Those stands looked great! Being enclosed, do they add any extraneous sound to the speakers?

As for the surrounds on the wrong side, I did the same thing as a set of 3 L40's was my first refoam project many many moons ago. At that time OCS speaker repair instructions said to do that. Since then, becoming a JBL fan, I learned the OEM way for 95% of JBL stuff is behind the cone. Never redid the foams though, they're still playing for my son in his home theater setup along with a pair of L19's for rears.

Those look very nice zonkers. BTW, how do you like the L-26's driven normally, and with that little amp?