It all started after hearing a set of 4313B studio monitors. These little 10 inch wonders sound absolutely awesome! Sooooo Why do the bigger L100’s sound so lacking by comparison? There must be a reason?? If you look at the cabinet it is similar in size, a tad smaller, but they both use the same JBL plastic port. Hmmmm They both use the LE-5 midrange, There must be some magic pixie dust around that I can sprinkle on the l-100’s to make them sound better.
So in to my stash of parts and out comes a set of L-96 crossovers. If you look at the 4313 and the L96 crossover points they are nearly identical. What the heck that must be the secret sauce. An hour later my l-100’s are playing using the new crossovers. But sadly no magic? Just average sound!!! The only thing left is the better tweeter in the 4313. So back to my box of drivers and no tweeters like the 4313’s , but I do have a set of 044Ti’s. So what the heck, Lets see what happens.
An hour later with my router carving out new holes and the 044TI’s are in place. Time to audition these frankenberries. OMG what a change. These are real keepers!! These blow away 4311’s , l100’s, L50’s and pretty much anything else in that size from JBL. They even sound great when compared to my l300’s.
So for around $200 in parts and a couple hours time, I have one of the best sounding set of L-100’s I have ever heard. Firm base, excellent mids, and crisp highs. Who would have ever thought these would sound so great!!
Just thought I would share this inexpensive mod. And best of all when you put on the quadrex grills—No-one will ever know they are not stock.