JBL 705P Studio Monitor Review

[direstraitsfan98]

Did you buy them from an authorized retailer?

 

[Dj7675]

These were B-Stock purchased directly from Harman during the 1/2 price sale.

 

[Doodski]

Most likely what I will do. I wasn’t concerned much about the. Scratch, but not being clean and sealed in a bag was unexpected. I also understand that things fail and that is what the warranty is for. But just thought they would have been better inspected before they went back out.

For sure it should have been inspected, tested and cleaned and then repackaged in a orderly safe manner. This is lazyness on the part of somebody with little to no sense of customer service. I have been big on customer service even if it's B stock, scratched and dented or otherwise. A employee should take a little extra time and build a following of customers as opposed to being lazy and have a bad attitude and loose customers. It's common sense especially when the sales people are usually on a commission bonus structure and they rely on the technicians and shipping staff to support the product and it's reputation. I think any sales manager would agree. I would raise a stink and perhaps give them a second chance to get this right. What is the warranty period they provide?

 

[direstraitsfan98]

These were B-Stock purchased directly from Harman during the 1/2 price sale.

It appears Harmanaudio.com has an excellent return policy. I bet you could try ordering until you got some that weren’t duds. They’ll even pay for return shipping.

 

[Dj7675]

It appears Harmanaudio.com has an excellent return policy. I bet you could try ordering until you got some that weren’t duds. They’ll even pay for return shipping.

Sold out now.

 

[Doodski]

Sold out now.

Tricky situation. The price is super great and now you are concerned about life expectancy on something that should work out of the box. I searched B-stock and it was defined as returns within a 30 day period that are good for resale and are also called refurbished, repacks and some other buzz words. I would get on the phone and make friends/get in contact with the customer service rep for Harmon/JBL and see what gives. Maybe they will cut you a deal or at the least service what you have.

 

[direstraitsfan98]

Sold out now.

You can get your money back for the broken one, at least. Sucks that the other one has a scratch but hey half price!

 

[Tom C]

I got three 705P during the half-price sale. Two arrived in a generic brown cardboard box, one in a branded, original white Harman box. The two in the brown box were kinda dusty, but in a bag with all the expected cords, instruction sheet and packaging. All three worked when I tested them, but now I’m going to run them constantly to see if a fail occurs within the thirty-day window.
Given the recent 1/2 price sale, and that they are no longer available, I’m suspecting the line is discontinued. Too bad if so, it’s a nice package, if they could have ironed out the flaws. Maybe replaced now by the K series with the VU meters?

 

[amirm]

I don't think Harman does such thorough unsighted listening tests with every of their hundreds loudspeaker shuffler for such minor issues, the shuffler is more used for their generalised and important research like the one from Toole.

No Revel speaker is allowed to release without passing double blind test against its competitors. This often results in delayed release of speakers post announcement. Don't know about JBL.

 

[Doodski]

Maybe replaced now by the K series with the VU meters?

The K Series has no DSP, no digital input and only analogue HF and LF trim adjustments. I think they are less expensive series aimed at a different market.
https://jblpro.com/products/705p
https://jblpro.com/zh/product_families/nano-k-series

 

[Tom C]

I’m curious. Does anyone know what driver cone material is used for these? The 306 P’s look like fabric tweeter and polypropylene (or similar) “woofer,” but I can’t find anywhere what the cones are for the 705/708. Tweeter diaphragm looks metal, so I’d expect Al, but the woofer is covered by a grill.

 

[thewas]

No Revel speaker is allowed to release without passing double blind test against its competitors. This often results in delayed release of speakers post announcement. Don't know about JBL.

At least that is what they claim, on the other hand if they had compared them to a Genelec coax or some tatty old Harbeth maybe none would had been released yet.
I am half kidding of course to show that this is rather a vague marketing statement.

 

[Francis Vaughan]

I’m curious. Does anyone know what driver cone material is used for these? The 306 P’s look like fabric tweeter and polypropylene (or similar) “woofer,” but I can’t find anywhere what the cones are for the 705/708. Tweeter diaphragm looks metal, so I’d expect Al, but the woofer is covered by a grill.

The tweeter is a lot more high tech than that. It is one of their annular compression drivers. The material for the diaphragm appears to be a polymer, probably polyimide. The bass driver is almost certainly of paper composition. Which is a black art.

 

[Pio]

These quality control issues are truly disappointing. I had an early pair of the 708P's and both eventually went back ( out of the box, one had slight crackling / distortion and about 6 months later the other one had an amp issue, would just shut down w/ red light on the front) the replacements have been flawless and work hard every day in my office at the station and I never turn them off.
STILL - love these so much I purchased a pair of 705Ps for the bedroom. Out of the box, one had an issue of slight rattling at high volume - had to send it back, again the replacement worked fine, but the back plate didn't quite align as well with the box as the others.

My opinion - when they work, they work great - and every issue I have had has been resolved to my satisfaction. Wanted to share my experience..

 

[Frank Dernie]

For me reliability in anything, from a car to a hifi, is the most important attribute after all if it breaks down it is no longer a car or a hifi.

 

[QMuse]

At least that is what they claim, on the other hand if they had compared them to a Genelec coax or some tatty old Harbeth maybe none would had been released yet.
I am half kidding of course to show that this is rather a vague marketing statement.

I have to disagree with you here - Revel is not in studio monitor bussines so Genelecs don't count as a competitor no matter how many folks purchase them for home use.

 

[thewas]

I have to disagree with you here - Revel is not in studio monitor bussines so Genelecs don't count as a competitor no matter how many folks purchase them for home use.

As said it was half kidding and that's why I also mentioned the Harbeth as a more direct competitor.

 

[QMuse]

As said it was half kidding and that's why I also mentioned the Harbeth as a more direct competitor.

Ehh, Harbeth..

More likely Dynaudio, Kef and such.

 

[thewas]

Of course, a Harbeth buyer would barely ever buy a Revel and vise versa , but it was the only passive loudspeaker that was measured here that had a higher Harman model based ranking then the Revel C52, but now I just saw that we have with the KEF R3 one that even gets a higher scoring than both the Revel models.

 

[bobbooo]

That video is more than 10 years old when Harman used to still make more Hifi loudspeakers under the brand infinity and is also marketing in the end. Now Harman belongs to Samsung and JBL Pro has current almost 3 digit number of speakers series(!) for monitoring, PA, cinema and installation, https://jblpro.com/en/product_families , each one should guess the chances for himself that everything gets blind tested in that shuffler...

This article describes in detail Samsung's blind listening tests (using a shuffler). Their audio division is headed by Allan Devantier, who worked at Harman, JBL and Infinity prior to Samsung. The evidence that Samsung/Harman group speakers undergo blind listening tests is stronger than the evidence that they don't.