Probably not "never broken in" but you probably "warmed" to how they sound, started noticing more etc. I find that sometimes even small/crappy speakers bring out something unexpected - such as my computer speakers which are 3.5" (requirements: one power switch/volume control knob which rules out most even slightly-larger actual studio monitors).
I've not heard the L7s but those look like things from before they kinda went downhill/where they are now (can you even buy speakers like this from JBL anymore)?
BIC - I'm familiar with that brand from the Parts Express catalog (great outfit). I've not heard them but they seem reasonably-spec'd esp for the price range (low). My rough read would be they probably sound as good as things 4x the price but with a brand name (e.g. Polk).
Music is the best and if your system makes it happen it's obviously working.
(I have a secondary system with Polk monitor 5s built 1985, Yamaha - talk about punching above the price point - 80WPC integrated, and a Yamaha CD. Some stuff simply sounds better on this system than the main one.)
(I bring up main system because I am TOTALLY a poor-man's audiophile. I've got a few bucks more in my setup than you, but not by orders of magnitude - which these guys happily spend. Because they can hear the difference when you pay $100/ft of cable. So first it's Klipsch* - blasphemy! - RP8000Fs, Adcom GFA545 amp, Vincent hybrid solid-state/tube preamp, Martin-Logan powered sub, Pioneer DVD drive, M-Audio Super-DAC 24-96 - this was $200 like 15 years ago, and I'd put it up against pretty much anything "hi-fi" costing 10 grand or whatnot - then in vinyl land 1210s/Rane Empath/Ortofon Concorde Elites - mmmm.)
*Edit: I recently had an encounter with an audiophile snob - when I said I've heard a lot of systems and tbh mine is right there with the top 2 or 3 - MAX! - I've heard in shops - he said "well it depends on the shop" then proceeded to bore me with a huge story about how he likes ListenUp and blah blah blah. I eventually just wandered off mid-sentence. I am here to assure you, I auditioned a set of the B&W Nautilus speakers - I want to say $20k/pr at the time - they were not the top of line $50k ones - in Phoenix and they were like an obviously-much-huger-but-same-wet-teabag-sound that NoAudiophile (linked in other comment) calls them out for in his reviews.
I have a Marantz sa8005 cd player, they did a real nice job with that one. Has about 99% of their ultra high end cd players, I wish it had balanced output’s but you can’t have it all, but it does have a really good DAC. I’m tempted to get a turntable, but the thought of building a vinyl collection at this point in life is more than I could handle. SACD is enough I guess. I like having physical media, but I do have a computer attached to the usb input on the cd player which is nice. Now if I could get a fresh set of ears, mine are getting old. I am thinking of upgrading the L7’s to ceramic tweeters and a custom x-over “foil caps” exc. it would be fun to see what they’re capable of. On the other hand I’m really looking at Tekton speakers as a upgrade, I’ve heard nothing but good things about them.
Heh, balanced outputs really are just the latest fad, you don't need them for 3' - 6' cables. They are useful for long runs in PAs. Anyone who claims they can hear the difference in a home setting (unless long runs to a different room or similar) is lying and won't be able to in a blind test (this goes for $100 interconnects vs $2 ones as well).
About the only time cables matter is a) if one insists on tiny gauge wire for speakers or b) instruments like guitars where the cable impedance does have an effect on the whole system (I think more so with passive PUs but don't quote me on that)(this is how Monster manages to make "bass" cables for people who are very stupid/apparently don't have tone controls on their amp).
I wouldn't probably bother with vinyl if it wasn't for the fact that's what all my stuff from DJ days is on (90s). There is the OCCASIONAL thing other than that stuff you can't get otherwise (early ZZ Top even the latest remasters have their critics) but sound-wise it's more a wash than the pure-vinyl guys would care to admit, even with regular CDs.
Now it does crack me up how many high-end turntables run fast - it's just like how they crank the specs on TVs at Best Buy, all trying to out-shout each other, rather than having them tuned correctly. The ear prefers how things sound sped up so basically they all do it, like around 1% - not insignificant.
Have you ever looked into Tekton speakers, the Encore’s are ones I’m interested in. I would really like to listen to them before purchasing, a trip to Salt Lake City to listen to a set is a little much and explaining that to the wife. Every once in a while they show up on US Audiomart, it kills me how these guys run through audio equipment like changing underwear. The cable thing is the biggest racket going.
First I've heard of them. My initial reaction on seeing them is that design doesn't seem like it should work. So it probably is either horrible or brilliant. Many review quotes on the site, as you are surely aware, lean toward the latter, and quite strongly, often citing the right things (e.g. dynamics)...huh....
You're right about guys cycling thru stuff - I'm more the "pieced things together over time and now it works so well I'm glad to not mess with it further" place around all of it. These are also getting well into the "way more than you need to spend" category* where like I say I'm generally more about "busting through the price point and retarded Stereophile high-nose-angle reviews."
*I really learned my lesson on this one when a friend had a pair of really cheapo Technics rack-system-style speakers (12" woofers, cone mid and tweeters) that he ran with a big honkin' pawn shop receiver (I forget what) and a digital EQ with correction (white noise/mic and all that). That setup sounded far better than it "should" have, by quite a bit.
Oh and regarding W vs A, yeah of course, just generally once in this class of gear a big W number generally means they probably have the A part covered. Given their thirst I'm sure those L7s are what would be generally termed a "difficult" load so something with inadequate power supply/too small of caps/both would probably fall flat on its face pretty fast.
Probably not "never broken in" but you probably "warmed" to how they sound, started noticing more etc. I find that sometimes even small/crappy speakers bring out something unexpected - such as my computer speakers which are 3.5" (requirements: one power switch/volume control knob which rules out most even slightly-larger actual studio monitors).
I've not heard the L7s but those look like things from before they kinda went downhill/where they are now (can you even buy speakers like this from JBL anymore)?
BIC - I'm familiar with that brand from the Parts Express catalog (great outfit). I've not heard them but they seem reasonably-spec'd esp for the price range (low). My rough read would be they probably sound as good as things 4x the price but with a brand name (e.g. Polk).
Music is the best and if your system makes it happen it's obviously working.
(I have a secondary system with Polk monitor 5s built 1985, Yamaha - talk about punching above the price point - 80WPC integrated, and a Yamaha CD. Some stuff simply sounds better on this system than the main one.)
(I bring up main system because I am TOTALLY a poor-man's audiophile. I've got a few bucks more in my setup than you, but not by orders of magnitude - which these guys happily spend. Because they can hear the difference when you pay $100/ft of cable. So first it's Klipsch* - blasphemy! - RP8000Fs, Adcom GFA545 amp, Vincent hybrid solid-state/tube preamp, Martin-Logan powered sub, Pioneer DVD drive, M-Audio Super-DAC 24-96 - this was $200 like 15 years ago, and I'd put it up against pretty much anything "hi-fi" costing 10 grand or whatnot - then in vinyl land 1210s/Rane Empath/Ortofon Concorde Elites - mmmm.)
u/335K whatchu runnin'?
*Edit: I recently had an encounter with an audiophile snob - when I said I've heard a lot of systems and tbh mine is right there with the top 2 or 3 - MAX! - I've heard in shops - he said "well it depends on the shop" then proceeded to bore me with a huge story about how he likes ListenUp and blah blah blah. I eventually just wandered off mid-sentence. I am here to assure you, I auditioned a set of the B&W Nautilus speakers - I want to say $20k/pr at the time - they were not the top of line $50k ones - in Phoenix and they were like an obviously-much-huger-but-same-wet-teabag-sound that NoAudiophile (linked in other comment) calls them out for in his reviews.
I have a Marantz sa8005 cd player, they did a real nice job with that one. Has about 99% of their ultra high end cd players, I wish it had balanced output’s but you can’t have it all, but it does have a really good DAC. I’m tempted to get a turntable, but the thought of building a vinyl collection at this point in life is more than I could handle. SACD is enough I guess. I like having physical media, but I do have a computer attached to the usb input on the cd player which is nice. Now if I could get a fresh set of ears, mine are getting old. I am thinking of upgrading the L7’s to ceramic tweeters and a custom x-over “foil caps” exc. it would be fun to see what they’re capable of. On the other hand I’m really looking at Tekton speakers as a upgrade, I’ve heard nothing but good things about them.
Heh, balanced outputs really are just the latest fad, you don't need them for 3' - 6' cables. They are useful for long runs in PAs. Anyone who claims they can hear the difference in a home setting (unless long runs to a different room or similar) is lying and won't be able to in a blind test (this goes for $100 interconnects vs $2 ones as well).
About the only time cables matter is a) if one insists on tiny gauge wire for speakers or b) instruments like guitars where the cable impedance does have an effect on the whole system (I think more so with passive PUs but don't quote me on that)(this is how Monster manages to make "bass" cables for people who are very stupid/apparently don't have tone controls on their amp).
I wouldn't probably bother with vinyl if it wasn't for the fact that's what all my stuff from DJ days is on (90s). There is the OCCASIONAL thing other than that stuff you can't get otherwise (early ZZ Top even the latest remasters have their critics) but sound-wise it's more a wash than the pure-vinyl guys would care to admit, even with regular CDs.
Now it does crack me up how many high-end turntables run fast - it's just like how they crank the specs on TVs at Best Buy, all trying to out-shout each other, rather than having them tuned correctly. The ear prefers how things sound sped up so basically they all do it, like around 1% - not insignificant.
Have you ever looked into Tekton speakers, the Encore’s are ones I’m interested in. I would really like to listen to them before purchasing, a trip to Salt Lake City to listen to a set is a little much and explaining that to the wife. Every once in a while they show up on US Audiomart, it kills me how these guys run through audio equipment like changing underwear. The cable thing is the biggest racket going.
PS you could build this...may need to build a house around the project first
https://www.audioheritage.org/html/perspectives/drews-clues/audiophile.htm
First I've heard of them. My initial reaction on seeing them is that design doesn't seem like it should work. So it probably is either horrible or brilliant. Many review quotes on the site, as you are surely aware, lean toward the latter, and quite strongly, often citing the right things (e.g. dynamics)...huh....
You're right about guys cycling thru stuff - I'm more the "pieced things together over time and now it works so well I'm glad to not mess with it further" place around all of it. These are also getting well into the "way more than you need to spend" category* where like I say I'm generally more about "busting through the price point and retarded Stereophile high-nose-angle reviews."
*I really learned my lesson on this one when a friend had a pair of really cheapo Technics rack-system-style speakers (12" woofers, cone mid and tweeters) that he ran with a big honkin' pawn shop receiver (I forget what) and a digital EQ with correction (white noise/mic and all that). That setup sounded far better than it "should" have, by quite a bit.
Oh and regarding W vs A, yeah of course, just generally once in this class of gear a big W number generally means they probably have the A part covered. Given their thirst I'm sure those L7s are what would be generally termed a "difficult" load so something with inadequate power supply/too small of caps/both would probably fall flat on its face pretty fast.