JBL: I have a pair of JBL L100 Century loudspeakers. They claim they are bookshelf size. 37Kg and big. Are they kidding?

 

Howard, I have a pair of JBL L100 Century speakers. They claim they are bookshelf size. 37Kg and big. Are they kidding?

First - 37Kg per pair, not each!

Well, sort of. Blame JBL’s over-enthusiastic marketing department in the 1970s and the studio environment from which these speakers, the domestic version of the JBL Studio 4312, was derived. Nuff said about marketing departments. However the 4311s were and still are used on heavy duty shelves in studios. So, at a pinch, if you had shelves at least 18” deep so that the speaker’s rear was not touching a wall, you could do it. I did it with mine.

However these really come to life on heavy duty speakers stands as built by Peter Partington. The stands should be no more than 12” high in order to bring the tweeter in line with your ears when sitting down. Finally, I purchased a 2nd pair recently and the owner had them sitting on the floor. I really thought the bass would boom, but actually it didn’t. I wouldn’t really recommend that way though.

Howard Popeck