JBL L100 Amplifier Recommendations

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!

+1, atmasphere.

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

They are a little difficult to drive. I’ve had L100. They are actually known to have nice bass response (50-250). I use to drive mine with Mac tube gear. C20 and a pair of MC60s at about 80 watts each..
First time I used KT 88s too. GL KT88s were less than GE 6550s at the time. and deeper cleaner bass. 40+ years ago..

You could buy TOPPERS then.. I liked Sony they had a true ribbon in an enclosure for under 75.00 for the pair..

There was no lack of BASS or anything else. I liked those speakers..

Sure are expensive now... Holy Cow..

Class ds about 250-UP aught to do the trick... They had a 250 watt stereo for 550. or something. Hypex boards on EBay. VTV. Good customer service too..US company..

Regards

PASS 250.8 for great bass and soundstage.

Thanks fellas!

Any tube amp suggestions for the L100 Classic (the new one)? Looking at Carver 275/350, Ayon Triton, Conrad Johnson Classic 120....

Anybody using a high powered push-pull tube amp with them? Please share you experience.

see my comments on the carver 275, i wrote a fairly detailed summary - just search carver and my user name

very very nice amp, esp for the $

Thanks, I've read it now. Sounds promising. Were you able to sort out the high frequency harshness with other tubes?

Slightly behind the curve...

I'm expecting delivery this month for my JBL L100 Classic 75 Anniversary Edition speakers.

As of right now I was planning to run these with my Technics SU-G700 (140w/4ohm) through my dual Cambridge Audio Azur 851w power amps in Bi-amped mono block fashion (350w/4ohm). I've seen the Andrew Robinson review in which he claimed he was able to run his L100's fine with the Technics SU-G700 alone.

My question is, since I'm also planning to utilize dual KEF Kube 12b powered subwoofers with my set up, would the dual sub's make up for lack of power of my SU-G700 in the bass/low range sound department (only being 140w/4 ohms)? So since I'm using dual powered sub's could I get by without the dual amps, or is it best to just stick with the extra power of the amps? And with these speakers and dual amps and dual sub's would I potential be way over doing the bass then?

I figure I'm gonna have to try all the various options out, but wanted some advice as a starting point. Just got I to HiFi this year and am in way over my head.

Thanks

What did you end up doing @ja_kub_sz ? 

Wow... Well...

1. JBL L100's with SU-G700 and dual 12b's, X26 Pro DAC and it was good.

2. JBL L100's with SU-G700 and single Azur 851w power amp, dual 12b's, X26 Pro DAC and it was better.

3.JBL L100's with SU-R1000 and dual 12b's, X26 Pro DAC and it was even better.

4. JBL L100's with SU-R1000 and dual Azur 851w mono amps, dual 12b's, X26 Pro DAC and it was awesome!

5. JBL L100's with SU-R1000 and dual Azur 851w mono amps, dual 12b's, Musetec 005 DAC and it was amazingly good!

6. JBL L100's with SU-R1000 and JC5 power amp, dual 12b's, Musetec 005 DAC and it was simply incredible!

7. JBL L100's with SU-R1000 and JC1+ mono amps, dual 12b's, Musetec 005 DAC and it was phenomenal!

8. JBL L100's with SU-R1000 and JC1+ mono amps, dual 12b's, Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC and it was enchanting and captivating, just makes me want to listen and listen and listen.

9. Focal Sopra No. 3's, with SU-R1000 and JC1+ mono amps, dual JL F112 subs, Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC and I'm in love and spoken for for the rest of my years. This is my dream system and I feel I have reached a plane of audio enlightenment.

*2nd System JBL L100's, with SU-G700M2 and dual Azur 851w mono amps, dual 12b sub's, Musetec 005 DAC, and it's my mistress when I want to get away from my true love 😉

So to answer your question @willg1985  I did a lot.

@ja_kub_sz Woahhhh haha what a ride! So were you just using the R1000’s preamp section with the JC1+ mono blocks?

Yeah... I mainly got it for more tone controls and the XLR connection MC phono tags with DSP for my Teac TT with XLR outs. I have the Benchmark HPA4 that I also use as a preamp.

The ADC of the SU-R1000 does add something to the overall sound that I enjoy.