JBL L100 Amplifier Recommendations


I recently purchased the JBL L100 Classics. I have paired them with my existing Cambridge CXA80 and MyTek Brooklyn DAC+. The Mids and Treble on the JBL’s are great, especially with the DAC. However the bass response seems to be rather flat on these JBL’s. I’m thinking it’s simply the Cambridge not having the ability to drive the 12” woofers on the JBL’s as well as a more powerful amp. I’m looking at perhaps a Bryston 4B3 amp one day instead of the Cambridge to improve the bass response and overall performance of the JBL’s. Is my thinking correct? Would this help the overall performance of the JBL’s? specifically the bass response? Or is it just how the JBL’s are in general? Alternatively I’m thinking of getting a little sub . Although a woofer that big on the JBL’s you’d think you’d never need a sub. Keen to hear what everyone thinks.
andyboom
Its not so much that you need a gutsy amp to drive a 12" speaker; what you are dealing with here is the simple fact that JBL chose to make this speaker hard to drive. Its nominally 4 ohms to start with, and has a difficult phase angle in the mid bass region.


Due to the 4 ohm impedance the efficiency translates to about 88dB. This means that in an average room the amp will need to make about 200 watts (into 4 ohms) to be able to play at lifelike levels.


Now you may have an issue with having one speaker wired out of phase with the other, so I would check your connections and make sure both speakers are working together rather than against each other- if the latter is true, it will be a bit bass dry!

hegels are known to control woofers exceptionally well with their superior damping factors

no guarantee it will do the trick to your satisfaction with your jbl’s but if there is an amp that might do it...
I have the JBL 4319, which are a close cousin to the L100 and drive them with a 90W/channel Marantz PM15S2b and have great, deep and controlled bass. It's 12" woofer is adroitly handled by the Marantz.

All the best,
Nonoise