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Does JBL get a bad rap?

For years, all one heard regarding almost any JBL product, especially vintage consumer grade products was that they were all boom(bass) and sizzle( highs). I feel this is an unfair generalization. Surprisingly, I find much of their budget minded gear(80s-90s) actually soft in the treble and very non-fatiguing(titanium laminate tweeters). I also have experienced the L100T and found them fairly well balanced and nuetral. The midrange does lack some realism magic especially on vocals but so do other highly touted speakers. In short, I am a little late to the game in regards to the JBL, but as a mainstream maker I am impressed. And that doesn't even take into account their 4xxx studio monitors which are highly regarded. Back me up jbl fans!
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wolf_garcia
6,728 posts
 
Having cut my musical (recording) teeth in early 70s recording studios I can testify to why JBL got a bad rap...extreme treble and boomy bass was what people thought they needed and that's what JBL gave 'em. Amazingly, engineers were able to work around this (mini single speaker monitors as additional reference points) and make some great recordings. A recent Hifi mag just gave a rave review to the latest Everest flagship horn speaker, so one can assume they're doing fine now.
audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,555 posts
 
I have some JBL L-7 vintage 1992 speakers that retailed for $2,000.00, I first bought them in 2012 to flip for more money because they were in brand new condition when I got them, which was unbelievable for the age of them, I hooked them up to a fricken walmart RCA small all in one unit, I could not believe what I heard and the huge sound stage presatation, today, I removed the stock bi-amp plate and inserted Tara labs Omega jumper cables and the speakers are now hooked to a modded krell 700cx amp with Tara labs zero gold interconnects and omega gold speaker cables untill I get my hands on the discontinued JBL Everest DD-66000 or the new top of the line JBL Everest DD-67000 speakers, however, I will be keeping the vintage JBL-L7 speakers, BTW, they have the titanium laminate tweeters, the bass is none boomy period, rather for 30hz, the best I have ever heard considering what my cables do for them, these JBL-L7 speakers have a natural open well balanced tone, I am still scratching my head as to why these speakers are that good, cheers
ebm
9,311 posts
 
No they get a cool rap.
mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,498 posts
 
My Brother has a pair of Century 100's that he loves, according to him he "couldnt justify spending $4500 on a pair of Harbeth SL5's" and the sales guys in the store agreed! IMO All you JBL lovers need to move on.... LOL. That's IF you have good electronics and your not still using some old Japanese receiver from the 70's. JBL the HARBETH KILLERS!! ROFL...Seriously if I were working at HARBETH I would jump ship to JBL!! I cant take it...LOLOLOLOLOL.
czarivey
5,946 posts
 
Mattmiller, That's exactly what hi-end dealas tellin' ya at their stores about it. Their job is to make you believe and most do that A+ if not better. When you go through your OWN research it's quite different.
If you listen JBL models with studio mastering equipment, I'm more than sure that if speaker such as you've mentioned HARBETH wouldn't sound good there, than JBLs are INDEED HARBETH killers and that's exactly the reason why studio mastering engineers would pickup JBL instead of boutique Harbeth.
Try 4312, 4311 or newest of 43 series 4319 and you'll realize why... Try L800 tower speaker as well.
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