JBL Professional LSR305 First-Generation 5" 2-Way Powered Studio Monitor (LSR305)

These are studio monitors. My review will talk about what they do, what they don't do, who should buy them, and the value. I'll mention a few small issues. So what are studio monitors? Basically, if you record or mix down your own music, you need a special pair of speakers to check your mix. You can't do that on headphones--your mix--the way the different tracks of music sound together--won't resolve spatially (there's no real space with headphones). So this special product was designed to address this issue, as well as provide a live playback in the studio, and so on. Studio monitors do not have an exact definition, and there are different kinds. If you go into a music studio, the monitors are usually set up wrong, anyway. And so it goes. These tend towards what I would call "near field" which means, well, you sit near them. Not really near, but near. High frequencies lose energy over distance, so if you sit too far away they will sound dull. How are they different from a pair of stereo speakers in a hifi system? Well, they are designed in most cases to be flat and neutral, and not impart an attractive EQ, color or bias to the sound. So as far as speakers go, they sound, well, flat and colorless. And that's good for checking your mixes, but not so good for easy listening. Ideally, they should be revealing and mostly unforgiving. You want the truth, just like the ad says. Also, since these are not shielded (more on this later) they are a dud for computer speakers. And, they are for a solo listener. You have to be in the focus point, they focus like a good camera lens--that makes them special, but also a specialty item. So, so far, they from my description they sound like the box they came in. But in fact, they are great. Because when set up properly, you--the listener--and the speakers form the three points of a triangle. And after a few experiments (depending on your room acoustic), when they are set up right, the stereo image snaps into focus, and you can use them exactly they way they should be used--to check a mix. Any little problem in the mix is revealed, and you can quickly find the best mix (assuming you know how to mix). Note that in this triangle, the speakers angle towards the listener, at around 30 degrees. If you move a foot to the right or left, the image snaps out of focus. So basically, if you are looking for studio monitors for mixing on a budget, look no further. These do the job and do it well. They do it better. There are a few minor issues, again, remembering that these are a bargain. First is that the bass port fires towards the back wall. This is always problematic, depending on the room you are in. Having said that, in the focus position in the triangle the bass is reasonably well controlled. Also, the bass really does hit around say 42-48 Hz--it won't hit the lowest note of a large church organ, but double bass or electric bass, pretty good. Next, there is a resonant frequency in the case. That is, if you tap on the case, it has a note. This is surprising for a JBL design, and I guess this in one area where they cut corners. You could open up the case and apply some damping material, but then you risk the warranty and you might make it worse. If I find an easy mod or see one I'll try to post it. Resonant nodes are a common problem in audio, and this is a present, but minor quibble. Much has been written about the tweeter of this speaker and the diffracting pattern supposedly borrowed from more expensive designs. First of all, almost all speakers make this claim of "porting" expensive design components to lower models. In this case, the high frequencies, according to the hype, are less directional--more evenly dispersed. Well, this is pretty much rubbish, it is a cheap plastic design, and the high frequencies are very directional. But the fact is, that's what you want in a studio monitor--you want to sit in the focus point and hear a very accurate representation of the mix. It's a decent sounding tweeter, but if you want good sounding speakers, get JBL "regular" speakers, not these, or the perennial favorite Bowers & Wilkins. These are studio monitors. Next on the minor annoyances list is the overall shielding and hum rejection. There are two inputs, one for phono jacks and one for XLR cables. Now, you can hook up an RCA or banana plug combo--using adapters--from a stereo and drive these speakers (these are powered speakers, so they work with or without an amp or preamp). But the fact is, they just don't work well. Drive them from a sound card, they just don't do the job, they pick up hum and the sound is a bit off. But drive them from, say, an RME interface, or anything with decent balanced XLRs (say a mid range Focusrite, or, my fave, Grace audio), flip the switch from "consumer" to "professional" input level (they are "consumer" by default, at least on my set) and be prepared to be surprised, they do pretty well. The noise goes away. They are also susceptible to hum from dimmers, or electromagnetic hum. The tweeter is just a little bit less bright than flat--that is, there is almost a hint of ribbon in the sound. Not a bad thing, but don't set your mix too bright to compensate. Lastly, there is a very slight color to the sound, a hint of dark chocolate, sometimes edging ever so slightly towards murk. No biggie, but a slight coloration. As another reviewer perspicaciously noted, the coloration is similar to the Audio Technica ATHM50 headphones, so they make a complimentary pair. Compared to my Sennheiser HD600s, they are slightly darker. JBL claims the speakers are "pre" broken in, mine settled in and sounded noticeably different after about twenty hours, so don't mix anything serious until they have moved some air, IMHO. Again, these are some problems, but if set up right with the right cables, you are in business. And so, recommended. And better than anything in the price range. Who are they for: the budget home recording studio Not for: not for home stereo, computer speakers, multiple listeners Other notes: You will need XLR cables, and longer power cords than the ones supplied. There's no protective grill. The speakers have a very wide range for such a small box. Since there is no shielding, they are not too heavy--save the boxes for transport owing to the exposed cones. Do not forget to follow the setup pattern indicated in the obtuse instructions--if they aren't angled in (a very common setup mistake), the highs will be seriously skewed. There's a minimalist EQ switch on the back, I recommend you don't use this. Have fun, and happy mixing.

Using these on my desktop in my home office / hobbyist DAW. Currently running a Schiit Mjolnir 2 straight to to the LSR305 pair over balanced / XLR connection. All trim settings are currently set to flat. Speakers are currently sitting on Iso Acoustics stands, which make a huge improvement in sound. My listening position is about 3 feet / 1 meter from the speakers -- true nearfield. Previous speakers were Dynaudio Audience 42, which were purchased about 10 years ago for about $850 a pair. There are a few things the Dynaudios are better at (treble is a little smoother, midrange a little lusher, overall max volume a tad higher, box a tad smaller and more solid, better fit and finish), but overall the JBL LSR305s are better at pretty much everything else (low frequency extension, dynamic punch, quickness, decay, dispersion, more detailed and revealing) and have replaced the EISA award-winning Audience 42 in my desktop system. The JBLs are much closer to the speed and dynamics of the Martin Logan electrostatics in my main living room rig. Overall, the JBL LSR305 pair beats the Dynaudio Audience 42s convincingly on rock, disco, electronica, dance, and pop. No contest at all. For acoustic, classical, and jazz, it's more of stalemate, with the Dyns being darker, lusher, and smoother and the JBLs being more dynamic (both micro- and macro-) and more 'live' sounding; it's hard to say which I prefer for these genres. Tube-rolling the Mjolnir 2 may add a touch of lushness back. Also, the JBLs are more revealing of lossy and dynamic compression artifacts in MP3s, whereas the Dynaudios were more forgiving. Some songs that were borderline on the Dyns have become noticeably inferior on the JBLs. Not more fatiguing...just noticeably more 'meh'. As for the stands: adding the Iso Acoustics stands is amazing upgrade, especially for the price. Cabinet resonances go down, bass gets tighter, imaging improves immensely. But boundary reflections go down, so you have have to reposition / re-EQ to get tonality back where you want it. However, stands are essential to get the most if you're going to use it on a desktop. Little nits that still need work: 1. The top-most octave has more air than I'm used to. I have to decide if I like this, or if I want to dial it back either via the trim controls or other EQ. 2. Imaging -- the center-fill and phantom center is really really good, the best I've heard on a desktop. However, I haven't got the soundstage beyond the boundaries of the left and right speakers yet. However, this could be a result of positioning / placement, how close I sit, etc. Will need to fiddle around a little more. 3. The box could be a bit deader. Just to be clear, I don't hear it audibly resonating, buzzing, or otherwise making noise. But I can tell, compared to the best mini monitors I've heard or owned, it's a bit more acoustically live which means the magical sensation of 'the boxes disappearing' isn't happening 100%. More like 70%. (For the record, the best box speaker disappearing act I've heard was the original NHT Super Zero, but those little guys only went down to about 80 Hz and the box was teeny tiny, but solid as a brick). We'll see if / how much the Iso Acoustics stands improve this. 4. The hiss: others have reported this, I didn't ever notice this or hear it until I read about it. And, yes, my copies have hiss, too when nothing is playing, but I can only hear it if I put my ears about 3" from the drivers. It's not otherwise noticeable. 5. Subwoofer or not? I've heard the matching 10" LSR310s subwoofer integrated with the LSR305 at a local Guitar Center it's a great pairing for the money for music and for nearfield listening. Do I need it? No. In my ~10' x 10' home office / hobby mixing studio, the 305s put out a musically satisfying amount of bass. Kick drums are wicked fast and dynamic, electric bass is tight and groovy. For mixing, it's great, as the 43 Hz extension covers the lowest note on a bass guitar. What's missing is the last 5% of visceral impact...feeling it in my body...that 5" drivers just can't do. But with bass, less is often more and there is a fine line where more bass just turns into more problems. I've told myself I'll live with these guys for at least a month, getting them more broken in, before I make a decision about adding a subwoofer. I paid ~$250 for my pair. Sometimes you can get it even cheaper. This is an *astounding* value. The fact that it can go toe-to-toe in a near field setting with (albeit a bit vintage) Dynaudios that cost almost 4x the price is an impressive testament to JBLs engineering of these monitors. I'm tempted to get a 2nd pair and hook it up to an Airport Express for easy Airplay streaming in other rooms of my house. If I ever had to move to an apartment, condo or other setting where I could no longer have my beloved Martin Logan electrostats, I could be pretty damn happy long term with a pair of JBL LSR305 and a great set of headphones.

A simple look online would prove the LSR305 is the best entry-level studio monitor, not just in terms of price, but also in terms of performance. Period. If you compile the reviews online, you'd basically get something like this: 1. JBL LSR305 2. Yamaha HS5 3. KRK Rokit 5 I was looking for the best beginner studio monitor for music production. I've researched, read, and watched lots of reviews and comparison tests (both sound and performance tests) against the top two contenders which are naturally the Yamaha HS5 and the KRK Rokit 5, and the JBL LSR305 comes through every single time. It easily beats the KRK Rokit 5 while the Yamaha HS5 comes in a close second (debatable, since the Yamaha is more expensive and you need a subwoofer; read on to find out why). Now, some reviews may give an edge to the Yamaha HS5 for being a Yamaha and for sounding very linear and "flat," (which is what you want in a studio monitor for accurate audio reproduction). This is certainly the case. So that's all good, right? It's as flat as it gets. However, it lacks considerable low-end. If you get the Yamaha, you would most definitely need a subwoofer to reproduce the lows. This means you'd need to shell out even more money for a subwoofer, which is counter-intuitive since you're in the market for an affordable entry-level studio monitor. Not the mention the Yamaha is the most expensive out of these three. Conversely, the KRK Rokit 5 is inferior to the Yamaha and the JBL in every single way. The quality in its audio reproduction just isn't there. It's basically, the opposite of the Yamaha. Not only does it have too much low-end, but worse than that, it lacks mids and highs. This results in a muddled, bass-heavy reproduction. Pricing is on par with the JBL though, and you might even get it for cheaper, so it has a slight price advantage. So you might think that the Yamaha HS5 is the best entry-level monitor because of its accuracy, but what if I told you the JBL LSR305 does NOT need a subwoofer and the mids and highs are as accurate as the Yamaha? This means you're also getting accurate bass. Ultimately, the JBL is really the best of both worlds because you get better bass than the Yamaha, the mids and highs are accurately represented (like the Yamaha and unlike the KRK), and it's cheaper than the Yamaha. On top of that, you wouldn't have paid extra cash for a subwoofer either. So you're pretty much getting more for less. Based on this, I would recommend the JBL. To be fair, I would also recommend the Yamaha, but not as highly as the JBL because it's more expensive and you still need extra gear. On the flipside, if go with the JBL, you don't need anything else. I've had these JBLs myself for over a year now, and they always deliver. It's perfect for listening to music, especially in lossless quality, but most importantly, mixes always come through. I don't think I've made a better investment for my hobby. I honestly can't recommend this studio monitor enough. Get the JBL, you won't regret it!

I bought another JBL LSR 305 (Single) speaker from Bhalerao Enterprise, so I have two of them now. Amazon's price is more. The speaker takes 1/4 inch cable, which, unfortunately, doesn't come with the speaker. If you want to use an audio interface, you need two of the 1/4 inch to RCA cables, one for the left, one for the right. The sound quality is great, with a decent bass, great mid, and fair highs. I listen to Indian classical music, and Bengali Tagore songs, folk music, etc. The speaker does justice to these genres. However, the same music files (most of them) sound quieter, smoother, and sweeter on my Koss Porta Pro. The highs and mids are aesthetically pleasant with the Koss. To get that vibrance with the JBL, you need to turn the volume up. The JBL output doesn't crack even at fairly high volumes. The clarity is superb, but so it is (or almost so) with my Koss, which costs one tenth of the JBL pair. Where the Koss really scores better is in its ability to handle noise. If your music file has a bit of noise, it will be hard to overlook it if you are listening to the JBL. I have an IBall Tarang 2.1, which costs Rs. 2000. I would say, the bass is much more pronounced and aggressive with the IBall Tarang, especially at a high volume, but its mids and highs are disappointing. The JBL, however, gives a more deep, receding, hollow effect to the bass. On the whole, the JBLs are great speakers, with superb clarity, reasonable bass, great mids and highs.

La entrega fue mucho antes de la estimada, cumple mi expectativa, sin duda un buen producto, excelente calidad de sonido y fidelidad a un buen precio, no tengo comparativa con otras marcas y modelos similares, sin embargo me gustaron y estoy satisfecho con mi compra.

J'appuie à 100% un des commentaires précédents: https://www.amazon.fr/gp/customer-reviews/R23FQELI7IGP17/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00DUKP37C Un son bluffant. Technologiquement, c'est un tout, mais à souligner: crossover actif (càd filtrage woofer et tweeter en amont de l'amplification) puis un ampli class D par voie (càd deux par enceinte = woofer + tweeter). Seuls points d'attention: - A volume sonore faible ou nul, on peut entendre en écoute rapprochée (moins de 1.5m) un léger bruit de sifflement (hiss noise). Ceci est intrinsèque au design de la plupart des enceintes amplifiées où l'ampli est au niveau maximal en continu, le volume global étant réglé par la source audio ou par un composant à l'entrée de l'enceinte (en amont de l'ampli). Ce bruit est très faible. On n'entend plus ce bruit dès qu'on monte très légèrement le volume. Enfin, ce bruit est résiduel et n'est pas lié à une mauvaise source ou un mauvais câblage: pour preuve, il suffit de court-circuiter l'entrée pour constater que ce bruit reste. Remarque: vous verrez sur certains forums des utilisateurs se plaignant d'un bruit significatif qui augmente avec le volume (et pas uniquement avec les JBL LSR305); ce type de problème est lié à un mauvais câblage ou une mauvaise source. - L'interrupteur on/off est placé à l'arrière. Peu convivial, mais d'une certaine manière normal: ce sont des enceintes pro avec d'autres usages. - Même commentaire concernant le bouton rotatif pour diminuer le volume à l'entrée de l'enceinte: il est situé à l'arrière et, de plus, un par enceinte. - Pensez à vous renseigner sur le câblage adéquat! Les entrées sont de type "balanced". Pour raccorder un source audio avec sortie jack, pensez par exemple à un câble 3,5 mm Jack stéréo vers 2 x 6,3 mm Jack Mono.

国内メーカーの製品と比べると筐体サイスが若干大きいので、置く場所さえ確保出来ればとても良いです。 AC電源が3Pなので、アース付き電源タップか2P変換プラグを用意する必要があります ノイズが乗ることもなく、耳への負担も少なく自然な感じで音楽を聴けています