Bought a pair in 1974. My first foray into high fidelity along with a Mac1900 and Duel turntable. IIRC I paid about $600 for the pair. Loved those speakers. Had them twenty years till I moved on to Vandersteen. Gave them to a friend who uses them daily. I have a soft spot for those L100's every time I hear them. Still have a new blue set of original "waffle" grills in my closet.

 

And only 4k$ a pair this spring. Should have kept mine from '72 Think like 280 each. might have been less. BX you know.....

 

$280 in 1972 dollars is $1,650 in 2018 dollars. So, I suppose the big question is, are the improvements in this version worth $700 in today’s dollars.

 

I normally don't care about aesthetics however those speakers look like two giant Rubik's cubes on stands. Hideous.

 

He is a loathsome, offensive brute... yet I can't look away.

 

Also a JBL fan and here is my assessment of their looks and pricing:

 

Mine were the orange ones. They were replaced within a month.

 

I use to drool over the L100 and later L110 iirc back in the late 70’s at Sound Studio in MD and DE.

The black grill should hide a bit better.

 

Great speakers, but overpriced. I believe the originals had alnico magnets.

 

Remember the L88? Add the plug and play mid range speaker and you had an L100. And it was cheaper. Also had much more refined grill in the same three colors.

 

Still have mine from the early 70's. Still listen to them through my model 20-12 SoundCraftsman, Audio equalizer, and Sansui 5000x with the updated driver board. (If I remember correctly, that was to 'fix' an overheating and thermal shut down issue the early 5000x's had). Still use my Dual 1229Q turntable to listen to my extensive collection (Like, over 2000 albums) of vinyl. I was an announcer for a Progressive rock FM station, KGLR in Reno, Nevada, during the early 70's and bought a lot of records through the Billboard buying service...a buck each! All had a snipped jacket corner or a hole punch to identify them as promotional records! Plus, All the major record companies always sent each announcer (This was an FM station, we did *not* employ disc jockeys! ) free new releases! (To evaluate, of course! If for promotion of the album or a cut on the record, that was considered Payola! (Ain't semantics great?!!)

My Century L100's had the brown foam, that went away (disintegrated!) after several years, so I purchased (from JBL) the cloth replacement grill cover. Personally, I prefer the foam grills and wonder if the new retro grills will still fit the original L100's!

MC (Air name was: Brother Joe)

 

Great the L-100 is making a return! Such an iconic speaker. Black grills for me please.

 

Once got them, we should re-decor our living room too....

 

too expensive

I remember years ago we launched the AR 10 PI as a tribute to the AR three (or three a) and it didn't sell at all despite the success of its ancestor. Later, I also worked with Advent on the anniversary edition of the original Advent. That was also too expensive and did not sell at all despite the cool little anniversary plaque mounted on top.

The L 100 was not only iconic, but to our shock and dismay, if the volume levels were equalized to be the same, it sounded superior to all the ultra expensive giant JBL horn-systems available. I would never comment on a product without hearing it, but since JBL's construction was once in a class by itself, and they enjoyed a sterling reputation, I saved for years and bought their top-of-the-line loudspeakers and electronics-- arguably some of the most expensive products in the world at that time. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was. As I matured and participated in the industry to greater and greater depths, I realized that no JBL had ever been an accurate reproducer. Being their biggest fan, this was hard for me to swallow but it's a fact.

Today, we cannot find JBL at a high-end two channel retailer. Their main volume comes from Chinese product with the JBL logo sold at big-box stores-- junk. Their synthesis home theater system is pretty spectacular but terribly expensive.

So, who is the targeted retailer? High-end guys won't touch it. It's far too expensive for the average consumer who harbors a warm memory of JBL in years past-- a memory they only deserved because of those wonderful small bookshelves JBL marketed in the late 60s and early 70s. They really were pretty good and there were several models to choose from including a small floorstanding model, thankfully without horns -- all of which held their own-- maybe not quite the resolution and refinement of a good British loudspeaker, but good enough to own for most of us while providing plenty of enjoyment. These $4000 JBL's will probably never be seen on the retail floor by any of us.

 

I remember years ago we launched the AR 10 PI as a tribute to the AR three (or three a) and it didn't sell at all despite the success of its ancestor. Later, I also worked with Advent on the anniversary edition of the original Advent. That was also too expensive and did not sell at all despite the cool little anniversary plaque mounted on top.

The L 100 was not only iconic, but to our shock and dismay, if the volume levels were equalized to be the same, it sounded superior to all the ultra expensive giant JBL horn-systems available. I would never comment on a product without hearing it, but since JBL's construction was once in a class by itself, and they enjoyed a sterling reputation, I saved for years and bought their top-of-the-line loudspeakers and electronics-- arguably some of the most expensive products in the world at that time. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was. As I matured and participated in the industry to greater and greater depths, I realized that no JBL had ever been an accurate reproducer. Being their biggest fan, this was hard for me to swallow but it's a fact.

Today, we cannot find JBL at a high-end two channel retailer. Their main volume comes from Chinese product with the JBL logo sold at big-box stores-- junk. Their synthesis home theater system is pretty spectacular but terribly expensive.

So, who is the targeted retailer? High-end guys won't touch it. It's far too expensive for the average consumer who harbors a warm memory of JBL in years past-- a memory they only deserved because of those wonderful small bookshelves JBL marketed in the late 60s and early 70s. They really were pretty good and there were several models to choose from including a small floorstanding model, thankfully without horns -- all of which held their own-- maybe not quite the resolution and refinement of a good British loudspeaker, but good enough to own for most of us while providing plenty of enjoyment. These $4000 JBL's will probably never be seen on the retail floor by any of us.

I can assure you fmalitz - put one of those carver 350 tubes on a synthesis horned cabinet speaker and you'll get spectacular.

BTW--- I have a pretty good idea who you are!

I suspect Harman simply uses their various luxury lines to market OEM car audio where the real money is for them.

 

I also think JBL doesn't care about middle-class consumers. Harman is brushing aside consumer series from JBL or Infinity for years, mostly during the last 20 years! Awesome sounding speakers like Array or Studio 500 series have not had continuity or upgrades based on the same idea. Just can see appearing new series that are completely different as the prior ones... a bit as if every year a new engineering team is in charge of a new project forgotten the last one. Talking about engineering continuity, I feel JBL PRO is more stable, but I don't like that ups and downs at the consumer series.

There is a big hole between high class series (Synthesis) and the ones coming from China. That's a shame to visit the JBL consumer webpage... just bluetooth speakers, many headphones and some ridiculous home speakers. In the other hand at the Synthesis site we go to another world: all is luxurious, from mega expensive homes to the baroque-like home theaters where to install that expensive gear.

Where are the JBL speakers that really want to buy the same people who bought the Century L100?

 

The middle class deserted good audio years ago, no money to be made there.

 

Bearing in mind that speaker preference is all a matter of taste I can tell you that the original L100s (sold in the UK as Century L100s) was a very colored, boom-and-tizz speaker. It was actually well-suited to rock music because it was like the bass and treble knobs on your amp were already turned up! On the other hand, if you wanted to hear natural sounding voices or acoustic instruments, the L100s were pretty dreadful.

 

Figure 18.5(b) in my new book shows the modern spinorama measurements on the JBL 4310/L100. It was a loudspeaker with reasonable overall spectral balance, but an abundance of mid and high frequency resonances. It was "colorful". The neutrality that we can easily find nowadays was not common back then. It was "of a time", to be remembered for better or worse, but not to be repeated. The new version undoubtedly is a more modern, neutral sounding loudspeaker, but it remains to be seen whether the visual nostalgia is enough to drive sales.

 

The JBL Lancer 77, an earlier release, was/is a more interesting nostalgia speaker IMO than the Century.

Ten-inch woofer + small tweeter, but plenty of bass in that small box due to the matching 10" passive radiator.

Infinity was selling more consumer-level speakers than JBL for a while. Which is why Harman bought them: to eliminate a competitor.

 

Nobody is thinking that these (and the other retro redos of big bookshelves) seem more angled at the markets in Asia?

 

The Japanese manufacturers that I represented, often sent over product that was targeted to the German market which is quite large. We used to wonder why they were sending these odd things over not being aware of the necessity of having different products for different markets. Since they were manufacturing a product for Asia, for example, why not sell it worldwide? I think you're right. Furthermore, JBL is highly regarded among collectors in Asia-- especially the old beautiful big theater systems.

Here's another story for you guys: when I was at Onkyo they sent over new black product unannounced. Previously, our entire line was silver. Hardly anyone had black receivers-- maybe none-- at that time (Nikko?). So the dealers had an option of black or silver because I refused to drop the silver line. We simply had duplicate models. The black took off (and stayed apparently) but initially, all the shipments were incorrect. Dealers who'd ordered silver were getting black product. We tell asked Japan (no Internet those days-- not even faxing) asking what the heck was going on. They replied that the shipments were correct as the black model might be something like TX25S for black. S for black?!? Why not TX25S for silver? They said it was S for schvartz! That's how we know the black initiative came from Germany. We had a good laugh.

Finally, we introduced a giant loaded receiver with a button marked EPR. None of us could figure out what that legend meant. Once again, we contacted Japan and we were told that with the equalizer business being as large as it was, they agreed with my request for an external processor accommodation-- hence "External Processing Roop"

I apologize if I'm hijacking the thread.

 

Continuing the highjack..........Nikko!!! Wow you are really going deep. Haven't heard that name in 30-40 years. I bought one in high school with a black face plate and silver trim. IIRC it was a 501S. My cabinetmaker dad built boxes for Radio Shack drivers and I was rolling. At 14 I was the envy and my dad was legend with my buddies.

 

Nice stories, and nice to see another industry legend posting here! Those old Altecs were something else...

On topic, I never owned a pair of the originals myself but helped sell a few, had them in my system for a bit, and many friends had them (and Altec, AR, etc.) I thought they were "OK" and better-built than some of the competition, but sonically do not recall then standing out from the pack, good or bad. And the times I have heard what I remember as great gear "back then" has usually led to a letdown.. Not always, but enough to keep me humble. Well, maybe...

 

The more sad for me is I see JBL (at least their consumer line of speakers) as a company resting in their laurels. L100 century is just as hipster as 2018 hipster is. We look at the fifties, sixties or seventies with nostalgia, so JBL brings the L100 to us. Have Samsung-Harman the most big and advanced anechoic chamber and audio lab in Valencia (Ca) for that??

Maybe -as some wrote before- connected cars and every gadget this micro-world carries with it, is the future for Harman.... so, we must be prepared to dust our shelves off in order to put our JBL speakers as collector objects.

I like the Synthesis approach (assuming the pro series knowledge and take advantage of it), but I don't understand why not to do the same with the consumer series in small scale. Why every new serie is so different from the last one? Any other speaker brand works like this.

I'm owner of a pair of JBL 1400 Array (Synthesis luxury series). I can't get a new woofer (one of mine scratches) because these drivers are not available anymore. Not possible to have so many spare parts from so many models at JBL. Excuse me????

I Like this L100 speaker as a fun/nostalgic object.. but i would prefer much better to see an in-a-box version of a SCL-2 speaker for example.

 

It all depends on the market

The "audio fad" was a long one stretching from 1965 to 1990 when the bottom fell out. The boomer kids started it, innovation with portable systems as tube switched to transistor helped in the 1970's. In 1979 the Sony Walkman rolled out to huge success with a quick follow up by CDs and car audio in the 1980's keeping the run going. The world economy took a dip in 1990, the boomer kids were having kids and music sales, audio gear sales and all that went with it peaked then fell. Once the economy picked up, computers were the rage followed by cell phones, smart phones and so on. Easy to compete in the 60's/70's for disposable income when you had a TV and your stereo--it became harder with VCRs and bigger TVs in the 80's. By the 90's, the computer came first, then TV, VCR/DVD player and cell phone...audio got the crumbs.

The transistor, the chip and digital drove the boom for 25 years. Any innovation in audio basically came from the movie companies (Dolby/THX/surround) and the telecom industry (MP3, streaming etc.) The audio companies went from innovators to adding features other industries created. This is normal in a mature industry, if you want to look at audio innovation, don't look at the consumer side! The pro side has done line array tech, subwoofer tech, monster amps, digital everything and so on. There is a demand for relentless innovation on the pro side because that industry demands it. Car audio sound quality and features have really taken off since 1990 so we have that.

The good thing about nostalgia products is it revisits older designs that work properly. The L100 and Klipsch Forte' III come to mind. The generation of 20 somethings grew up on little bitty speakers with little subs as the Bose AM-5 took over in the late 80's. They are learning why such "monsters" existed and learning how they work. All the marketing for the past 30 years has been smaller is better, smaller is "new" and so on... the big dogs with large horns, big woofers and very large cabinets were considered obsolete. Well, physics don't go obsolete so even though the big dogs cost a fortune, if there is a market for something larger than a coffee can--it will be filled.

I'm sure the new JBL L100 will sound much better than the old one... Samsung blew 8 Billion bucks buying out Harmon, they like JBL and want to build the brand. Could this be the first fruit of their union? Measurements will tell... throw us some spinorama action! Now that would be a good comparison, the Klipsch Forte' III VS the JBL L100--bring it on!

Sure beats the skinny tower, little box speaker stuff of the past 20 years... never know, it might be really good. It could open the floodgates for speakers that are as big as they need to be to get optimum performance (it could happen!) At least it don't have that horrid piano black shiny finish that reflects light like a mirror to annoy the heck out of you when watching a movie. A return to performance over style? Why not?

Time for AVS to get out the measuring gear... although a curiosity for me as I have no use for it, the thing might kick some serious butt...or not.

 

I'd say these speakers will exist in 2 or 3 shops nationwide and would venture to say theyll be 2700-3000 dollars in those stores.

JBL certainly influenced the 2 channel and HiFi we all enjoy today.

As far as Harmans direction - Seems there are those sound engineers/speaker designers that prefer to make a speaker sound great (Greg Timbers).. and then there are the computer readout flat response across the board types (Revel.. yawn).

Timbers did the JBL name a gigantic service creating the synthesis line. I realize we could debate that all day, but I will always enjoy Timbers designed speakers regardless of how natural they sound. They make me smile and love lots and lots power!

Its a shame Timbers and the remaining Harman design team didn't get along, but such is life and **** happens. I'm pleased I've acquired 2 of his best designs which will undoubtedly supply endless enjoyment and smiles for the entirety of my life.

 

I'd say these speakers will exist in 2 or 3 shops nationwide and would venture to say theyll be 2700-3000 dollars in those stores.

JBL certainly influenced the 2 channel and HiFi we all enjoy today.

As far as Harmans direction - Seems there are those sound engineers/speaker designers that prefer to make a speaker sound great (Greg Timbers).. and then there are the computer readout flat response across the board types (Revel.. yawn).

Timbers did the JBL name a gigantic service creating the synthesis line. I realize we could debate that all day, but I will always enjoy Timbers designed speakers regardless of how natural they sound. They make me smile and love lots and lots power!

Its a shame Timbers and the remaining Harman design team didn't get along, but such is life and **** happens. I'm pleased I've acquired 2 of his best designs which will undoubtedly supply endless enjoyment and smiles for the entirety of my life.

It still would be fun if I had unlimited funds to play would be a completely restored Marantz 2270 and a pair of L100s, just like I originally had, although IIRC, mine were dark brown grill foams, not the black blue or orange. Maybe I'm misremembering.

 

Fugly.

 

A Review is coming soon!

 

A Review is coming soon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o7bj7mFH0E

Good, Steve confirms the dark brown grills available originally. Maybe I'm not losing my mind quite yet.

 

 

I wonder how long before my S38's are retro cool?