Ok, I bought these used with the woofer foams gone. I refoamed them and they sounded pretty good. Ive been lugging these around and have never heard them being " shrill or harsh. they sounded good. its been about a year and I hooked them up on channel 2 with my advent legacy ii speakers and did a sound comparison. hmmmm. two differnet sounding speakers both with strenghs and weaknesses.. Why werent these blowing the advents away??. I reversed the leads on one of them and the speaker got much brighter and clearer!!. hmmmm . I reversed the wires on the other and the speakers were now TALKING! > HMMM ??? so I started pulling the tweaters.. no way to screw them up. male/ female connectors, so I pulled the mid ranges and I had a red mark on one of the speaker hook ups. I get a 9v batt and put the positive on the red side and negative on the other. the speaker jumped out. But..... the solid lead was hooked up to the red side.. thats backward!! long story short. someone had reversed the leads on all the mids and woofers.. put everything back together and man what a difference. anyone want to buy a set of advent legacy ii?

Heavy. not bug enough for use as an end table.. thats about it.

Very powerful sound excellent bass and clear mids and highs, huge bass for an 8 inch driver, honestly these speakers destroy the infinity sm50 and the Bose interstudio range of the same age, and for 30 years they shake the house down, I'm running a 105 watt a channel Sony ta ax 295 amplifier with monster cable speaker cable and these speakers sound amazing, I have owned all kinds of awesome speakers over the years including polk rta12s, ar94s, marantz 6 mkii's among others and I have to say these are my favorite

No weaknesses at all

Bought these around 1990 after careful consideration and spending a few thousand on a Pioneer rack system. They have been sitting in various attics in extreme hot/cold for over 20 years. It’s now 2020 and I decided to put the system back together again because WI-FI can be hooked up to it. I refoamed the woofer surrounds and they’re back to their former glory with my “vintage” Pioneer system!!

I need to somehow replace the screen material, one got ripped and I’m sure the other one is probably pretty rotted.

I bought my pair of LX-44s when they were first introduced in the early 90s.
I paired them with an Onkyo Tuner/receiver and CD player.
The system has always sounded smooth and crisp across the board.
I recently had to refoam the drivers but it was very easy and they sound as good now as they did when I first bought them.
Some of my friends have said that the highs were too much but, after listening to their systems, I am not surprised about the criticism.
I have always been pleased with the lows, mid range and highs. It is actually very even across the board.
Why JBL doesn't make them any longer is a mystery to me. I can't find any of their products that match up to these as well.
They really should go back to their old plans for these and get them back into production.
To me, for the price I paid then, $299 ea. when I bought the whole system, was the equivalent of $1000 speaker today. Very much worth every nickel.
I'd buy another set in a second if they were available.
I would advise you to snatch them up if you see them for sale somewhere. Do not hesitate. They are a very well engineered speaker, designed perfectly for a home system.

I've had my JBL LX-44s for over 25 years. I've loved every minute of listening to them. Up to now they've ben extremely accurate, clean and durable.
The sound is wonderful across the board. Clear crisp titanium , tweeters, smooth midrange, and strong (not booming) woofers.
Never had any problems until recently. I find that, after 25+ years of use, the woofers need to be re-foamed or replaced.
I'm in search of equivalent replacements so I might preserve their great performance.
If you ever come across a pair of these, do buy them.
As far as I am concerned, they are the very best speakers you can buy for your home, hands down.
No, they won't fill a concert hall. They aren't supposed to. They ARE a great home entertainment main speaker or even a aux. speaker for your home theater system. Paired with the right sub-woofer and aux speakers, they would be terrific.

Well folks the JBL (James B. Lansing) as in (Altec Lansing)- 2 of the Greatest Audio engineers and Audio transducer (speaker/cabinet) builders in the world, - LX44 was designed directly from JBL's PRO series Studio Monitor est.cost around $10,000 each, for the Home. Thats why they sound so great.
If you find a pair for sale BUY THEM and re-fit the new cones or transducer.
Its Flat line across the audio spectrum with spectacular clarity.

Treat your self to a real world of sound..

I got a pair of LX44's from a friend for $20/pr.The reason they were so cheap was because the foam was out of the woofers.A few weeks latter I saw a set of Bose 201's a neighbor threw away in the garbage. I quickly retrieved them and noticed the speaker cabinet was in really bad shape but the woofers were like new. Instead of having my JBL woofers refoamed I took these Bose woofers out of the old cabinet and put them in my JBL speakers. To my surprise the sounded fantastic,maybe even better than the original speakers.Then a few months latter I saw a pair of JBL G200's at a garage sale so I bought them for $30.00/pr.They were like new so I used them for my surround sound speakers. I've never hears better sounding speakers any where for any price.I could have spent a couple of grand and still not get a better sounding speaker.I have them hooked up to a Denon AVR-3200 receiver with a Polkaudio center speaker and a JBL sub woofer.This thing ROCKS.It's like being at a live concert. Best system I ever owned and saved a ton of money to boot.

I bought a pair of JBL LX 44 speakers and was really impressed. They had a great sound with a real rich sound. I think the high range was too much but I just turned it down with a high filter an equalizer. It my first pair of JBLs and I am hooked on them. If you want to get a pair you will enjoy them. I powered them with a vintage Pioneer SX 750 and they matched up real nice.
Scott in SC

Lived up to the high praise here and elsewhere. I bought them used with disintegrated woofer surrounds for cheap, refoamed them, and WOW. Replaced smaller JBL P20s + sub with these much larger speakers, and my wife even agreed we're not going back. The imaging is remarkable.
The bass from the 8" 408Gs is accurate but they won't fill a big room (it does help to play them LOUD though!). I used to play bass and I prefer clean, strong, punchy bass from speakers. I don't tolerate boomy bass. It's hard to find all three so I'll take clean and punchy in my large room (32' deep x 21' wide x 8' high).
The mids are very clean and strong with sax, elec. and acoustic guitar, piano and vocals. I can listen to Larry Carlton and Acoustic Alchemy all day! They are clean enough to pick out different instruments playing harmony parts.
The highs are sweet and clear (some have said too strong from the titanium tweeters, but I'm a JBL tweeter fan). They do expose poor recordings though, which is not their fault. Female vocals are spectacular such as Mary Black and Diana Krall. I hate it when female vocal 'S's screach, and these don't.
When I was inside the cabinets, I checked the crossovers. They used high quality parts, so I left them stock. I might rewire them with beefier wires, but not today. The cabinets are heavy and well built. They also isolate the ported woofer bottom from the mid/tweeter compartment, which probaly helps keep the mid clean.
Placement is important with any rear-ported speaker. I have mine about 18" off the floor and about 16" from the wall but I'm still experimenting. Excellent imaging - you can tell if someone steps back from the microphone! I have the original angled bases that I may try soon.
I am very pleased with my $1000 system at this point: Marantz CD-5004, Yamaha RX-V867, and JBL LX-44s. The CD player's DAC is where the clarity starts. Add a clean amp, and clean speakers and enjoy! The Yamaha has a 'pure direct' mode that shuts off everything but the amp (fed by good analog cables from the Marantz).
Now all I need is a new home with a better listening room! I once overheard a conversation between Paul Klipsch and an unhappy customer when he visited a high-end stereo store (about 1974). The customer claimed his new Klipsch speakers didn't sound right. Paul asked about the room.. dimensions, windows.. etc. Paul then told the customer how to fix the problem: Move!

Great responsive and 'punchy' bass. Had it powered by a Pioneer A443 for almost 20 years. Now it's replacement, a Marantz PM-43 is proving the drivers to sound even bigger than 8 inches!
Just love the Pure Titanium tweeters, with its great clarity and crisp sounds. Last but not least, the mids giving it that nice 'complete' sound and balance.

One other thing that deserves a mention, is the beautiful, heavy timber case that enclose the LX44's tweeters and woofer. they almost feel indestructible!

None what so ever, except perhaps the front grill tabs. My top ones have broken off. Not really much of a weakness though, come to think of it..

What can I say? I've owned these speakers for about 20 years now, and they sound as great now, as they did back then!
Around the late 80's I just started work and wanted to treat myself to a new sound system. After buying all the necessary components, it was time to purchase some speakers. I was told to stay away from the generic brands that match Hi-Fi components and have a listen to more 'specialised' brands, in particular European and USA brands.
After listening to a wall of different makes and models (with the help of a friendly sales assistant & my own CD that I knew would meet my listening demands), it was the LX44's turn. They were expensive ($1000 was a lot of money back then) but I immediately fell in love with them and took them home.
Now 20 years on, and a lot of admiration from envious friends and family members, I have never come across a better set of speakers and am so glad with the choice I made. What an investment!