JBL L-300 summit


Can the JBL L-300 summit sound good in small rooms at low levels or do they need to be cranked up to perform.They are fairly big speakers.
gellis1
Hi. I have a pair of the 4343 Studio Monitors that I use in a room approximately 15' x 20'. These speakers use essentially the same components as the L-300 (15" woofer, horn loaded mid/tweeter + super tweeter) except the 4343 is a 4 way design by the addition of a 10" midrange. My 4343's sound ok at low levels (levels where you could carry on a phone conversation at the same time) but they really shine when you when you start to crank them up a little. It really doesn't take much to get them going. With my system I rarely listen to them at much more than quarter volume. This is a volume that is not so loud that my wife can't watch tv in the next room, with the door closed of course. I never listen to them where neigherbors would ever notice. But at these mid volumes they just sound awesome.

I started out with a pair of L-100 and then progressed to a pair of L-65. And each was good given the budget I was working with at the time. But after listening to the big format JBL speakers I would never want to go back to either of those smaller speakers. There is just something about JBL's 15" speakers coupled to the horn loaded mid/tweeter that make them addictive. At low volumes I don't think the L-65 or the L-100 would have an advantage over the L-300. Actually if you lined up the L-300, L-65 and the L-100 next to each other, I think that at ANY given volume, low, medium or high, the L-65 will always sound better than the L-100, and the L-300 will always sound better than the L-65. Save yourself the time and go right for the L-300's. If you have the room for them I would definitely recommend you get the L-300's. Going with the L-100 or L-65 would only be putting off the inevitable. If you don't, you'll always wish you had.
The dimensions for the L-300 are 31 5/8"h x 23"w x 22 1/2"d. The weigh 145 pounds each. Here's a link to a brochure where I got the info:

http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/specs/home-speakers/1975-l300.htm

Also from that site you can get to the Lansing Heritage Forum which is a forum for talking about JBL speakers. You can get there by going to the home page and then clicking on the icon at the top of the page that looks like a page.
I have a pair of L-200's and L-166 Horizons..I think the Horizons sound better but there is something addictive about that big powerful 15" sound even at low volumes.
I'd like to hear someone's comparative experience contrasting the L-200 to the L-300, as I have never owned or heard the L-300.
One thing about the L-200's, for some reason, to me, older 1960's music somehow sounds better on them. For example, Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane's early 60's recording of ballads simply sounds wonderful on the L-200's.