CES 2018 • Hot Product

Once upon a time, JBL speakers -- specifically the L100, whose production ended in 1978 -- were what you graduated to when you finally had the money to upgrade from whatever hand-me-down your parents passed along. The L100 was JBL's best-selling speaker ever, and owning a pair immediately put you in an exclusive group of serious, discerning music lovers.

Well, the L100 is back. The brand-new L100 Classic ($4000/pair) remains a compact 12" three-way, bass-reflex design that can be oriented vertically or horizontally, but it includes improvements in drivers, enclosure tuning and crossover design. The L100 Classic's newly developed 1" titanium-dome tweeter is mated to a waveguide with an acoustic lens for optimal integration to the 5" pulp-cone midrange. Low frequencies are delivered by the 12" white pulp-cone woofer operating in an enclosure that is tuned via a single, front-firing port with flared exit. Connections are made to a pair of gold-plated terminals located on the rear panel. Treble and midrange attenuators are located on the upper-left of the front baffle.

The speaker's walnut frame grille is available with the iconic Quadrex foam insert in a choice of black, orange, or blue colors. Accessories include optional metal floor stands with adjustable carpet spikes.

Speaker design has come a very long way since the L100's heyday, but we have to admit that we're curious: we'd love to hear a pair of the newest L100s under familiar circumstances. Is the sound merely nostalgic, or can the L100 Classics hang with the best of today's audiophile speakers in their price range?