The JBL L100 is considered the best selling speaker in JBL’s history. It will always be remembered for its looks, sound and its role in the famous Maxell ad, “The Blown-away Man”. Popular since the 1970’s, the L100 re-emerges in 2018 with its iconic look and modern technology.

“The original L100 speakers were not only JBL’s all-time, best-selling loudspeakers, but, from all indications, they were the best-selling loudspeaker system of the decade,” said Jim Garrett, Senior Director, Product Strategy and Planning, Luxury Audio, HARMAN. “The original L100 was introduced at the 1970 CES in Chicago, and here we are almost 50 years later with retro products and designs in high fashion. There is still a huge appreciation and desire for these great looking, great sounding vintage JBL loudspeaker systems. We think consumers are going to love this loudspeaker.”

Designed by Chris Hagen, the new JBL L100 Classic sports a new titanium dome tweeter, new drivers, an updated crossover design and tuned enclosure. Harman provided the following details:

The L100 Classic uses the newly developed JT025Ti1 1-inch (25mm) Titanium dome tweeter mated to a waveguide with an acoustic lens for optimal integration to the JM125PC 5-inch (125mm) cast-frame, pure-pulp cone midrange driver located directly below. The vertical HF and MF transducer arrangement is slightly offset to the right of the woofer below, with HF and MF attenuators located on the upper left of the front baffle. Low frequencies are delivered by the 1200FE 12-inch (300mm) cast-frame, white pure-pulp cone woofer operating in a bass-reflex enclosure system that is tuned via a single, front-firing port tube with flared exit. Connections are made via a pair of gold-plated binding post terminals located on the rear-panel. This passive, 3-way bookshelf loudspeaker measures approximately 25.5″ H x 15.5″ W x 13.75″ D and can be oriented either vertically or horizontally. Optional black metal floor stands are available with included adjustable carpet spikes. The walnut wood frame grille is available with the iconic Quadrex foam insert in a choice of black, orange, or blue.

The Quadrex grills looked fabulous especially in orange.

The L100 Classic is shipping now at a price of $4000 USD.

As a barometer, scouting the web, some JBL owners mentioned they paid $750 for their L100 in the 1970s. In today’s dollars that is $4904. So just tell yourself you are getting a discount… 🙂

–Mohammed