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Sam Berger Sam Berger is offline
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Default AR3a vs. JBL-100

On Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 11:57:06 AM UTC-7, Peter Wieck wrote:
I have always had brute-force amplifiers such as the Citation 16, or 19, or back in the day (and still today) AR electronics. So efficiency has never really been an issue - the main speakers are Maggies after all, and in quite a large room. The single pair of JBL 100s I have heard - and not in my venue - set my teeth on edge. The AR3as in the that same venue did not.

I am glad that you enjoy both sets of speakers, nor am I suggesting that JBL speakers are "bad". Nor do I disagree with you on any one speaker is any more suitable for any given type of music than any other. But the JBLs are not to my taste.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA


I've never had the issues that some have with the L100's supposed shrillness, and therefore the inability to spend long periods of time listening to them. Like the 3's/3a's, it's certainly easy enough using the tone controls, as well as positioning, to tailor their output. But then again, I've never had the issues that lots of people have with the AR's, how they sound like a blanket was thrown over them, no dynamics, etc. I can only assume that it's a combination of my other gear, my room, that my L100's are original so perhaps the output is muted to some degree vs. restored versions which perhaps are brighter because of new caps, that my AR3's have been restored including the tweets and mids so that they now output like they did when they were new, etc. Or perhaps it's just that I like the sound of each speaker a lot. I know that I've heard some speakers(and to be honest, Maggies are in that category) which have never appealed to me for whatever reason while others rave about them. Again, I can only chalk it up to personal preferences.