JBL 708P Review (Professional Monitor)

[Newman]

...there was a perception of more clarity and more open sound (could be placebo but I feel good saying otherwise). ...

Doesn’t everyone?

 

[restorer-john]

There is a German saying that goes: "why will a dog lick his balls? - because he can" The marketing dept. has a nice point od sales etc. Similar to having 100M pixels in a phone camera (or was it 200?). Or amps with frequency response touching the long wave radio spectrum (with funny side effects sometimes). Ken Ishiwata once in the good old days of Marantz had called this "popular technology" - spot on IMHO.

As I'm sure you know (or I hope you do), a driver that can reasonably accurately describe a 20kHz fundamental will be a driver, that by its very nature, also must respond well above that frequency. 36kHz is not unreasonable, but allows no harmonics (how convenient). There are no brick-walls in dynamic transducer technology, just non-linearities and disappointment.

KI waved his magic hands over some of Marantz's best gear. I have had some, disposed of some and retained only one KI officially blessed piece. The legendary Marantz CD12/DA12LE.

 

[Pearljam5000]

From Focal's website :

 

[respice finem]

As I'm sure you know (or I hope you do), a driver that can reasonably accurately describe a 20kHz fundamental will be a driver, that by its very nature, also must respond well above that frequency.

OK, maybe I'm "age biased" (53.) - to hear any resonances near to 20 kHz, I would have to crank up the volume to insane levels. With normal levels, with lots of luck I will be able to hear up to 12-14 kHz, covering probably 99,9% of all music genres. Much of the pseudo-technical talk from manufacturers' marketing departments is IMHO just plain old "voodoo". Fidelity should be as high as reasonably possible, but there are many things that can be measured, but hardly heard - like little 1-2dB deviations in measured frequency response of a speaker, compared to the "mess" any real listening room will make of it. Just my 2 cents

 

[JIW]

Now with this and the Neumann KH 310 A (wich objectively did better than the JBL) reviewed, I'd really like to see how the Genelec 8350 APM does.

Sound and Recording measured both the 8350A and the KH310A. However, the text is german. Also, Amir has already reviewed several Genelecs - 8010A, 8030C, 8341A.

 

[restorer-john]

OK, maybe I'm "age biased" (53.) - to hear any resonances near to 20 kHz, I would have to crank up the volume to insane levels. With normal levels, with lots of luck I will be able to hear 12-14 kHz, covering probably 99,9% of all music genres.

It's not about you hearing 20kHz.

It's about equipment that can accurately describe and reproduce any waveform within the universally accepted audible spectrum in a linear fashion.

Whether you can hear it or not is irrelevant. Do you adjust the system for each member of your family or friends based on their auditory abilities? Do I adjust the tweeter output for my teenage boys vs me? No, of course not.

This JBL 708P appears to be a speaker worthy of auditioning and consideration.

 

[jeroboam]

Just compared this with the Tannoy xt6 distortion at 96db in the 200 to 2k range and while the Tannoy looks a bit worse it is not significantly so. As the Tannoy was severely criticized I wonder what the explanation for the difference in the ratings are. I must admit that I am a complete philistine in understanding speaker measurements so hopefully someone can put me right thanks.

 

[Tks]

There are many more Hi-Fi enthusiasts than pros buying upper class studio monitors, I guess. There is a German saying that goes: "why will a dog lick his balls? - because he can" The marketing dept. has a nice point od sales etc. Similar to having 100M pixels in a phone camera (or was it 200?). Or amps with frequency response touching the long wave radio spectrum (with funny side effects sometimes). Ken Ishiwata once in the good old days of Marantz had called this "popular technology" - spot on IMHO.

So just mostly for marketing it seems (of course, what else would it mainly be..)

I'd take megapixel increases any day over frequency response range increase. At least with 100MP, you can punch in, and re-frame without much of any detail loss, also those MP's are not in vain if you setup relatively still subjects and a camera on a tripod or something sturdy. So it has SOME limited use. 36kHz, or Sony's dumbass nonsense like this, an IEM with 3Hz to 100,000Khz range? If only they focused on ergonomics that made sense instead..

I know my tone is a bit scathing, this speaker looks and performs great from what I see. Just always odd to see dummy things tossed in.

 

[JIW]

Anyone got a reason as to why companies bother making drivers do anything beyond 20kHz in this sector? I get perhaps if you're using singal generators to output some odd sounds in some scientific field. But 36kHz? I don't get it.

According to the manual, -3 dB is already reached at 25 kHz.

Measurements by Sound and Recording of the 705p have 22.6 kHz already down 6 dB, while 20 kHz seems to already be about 3 dB down.

Source: https://www.soundandrecording.de/equipment/jbl-705p-nahfeldmonitor-im-test/

 

[JIW]

From Focal's website :
View attachment 110078

Sound & Recording measured two Focal speakers which use the inverted beryllium dome: SM9 and Trio11 - both are down 6 dB at around 30 kHz and while the SM9 starts to roll off at about 25 kHz, the Trio11 already rolls off at 22 kHz. 40 kHz is down 13 and 17 dB.

 

[BDWoody]

This JBL 708P appears to be a speaker worthy of auditioning and consideration.

There is also the 708i, if you want to roll your own amplification.

 

[Pio]

So happy to see this review! The 708P is superb, I absolutely love this monitor. As you mentioned Amir, their limits are almost impossible to approach. I usually have mine paired with a couple of 10" subs, set up this way, they're as good as anything I have heard. Thanks again for this review, been waiting for it for a long time!

 

[Pio]

Note: Rating is for far-field listening.

Preference Rating
SCORE: 5.0
SCORE w/ sub: 6.8

Frequency response: +/- 4.8dB 41Hz-20kHz

View attachment 109998View attachment 109999View attachment 110000View attachment 110001View attachment 110002View attachment 110003​

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360° polars, to analyze positioning accuracy:

Horizontal:

View attachment 110004
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Vertical:

View attachment 110005
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So a the mic was off center by a bit to the right and a bit too low.

It's interesting that the 708 scores a 5.0 and the 308P a 5.6. I own both, the 708 is the much better speaker, specially when the volume is high. Honestly, this makes me wonder if there is something missing in the formula in the scoring.

 

[richard12511]

Wow! That beamwidth graph is ridiculously good . These are good out of the box, but should be amazing with a little EQ. That's an outstandingly good waveguide(as the 30X reviews also show).

This speaker looks like a more well made 308p. Similar FR performance, but with better output and much lower distortion.

 

[richard12511]

Yeah, looking back at the JBL LSR308P MkII review, it's clear that JBL might be eating its own lunch with that model at an 85% discount versus the 708P. The 308P MkII has smoother in-room response and better directivity, and the only sacrifice appears to be a bit more distortion.

FR does look a tiny bit better with the 308p, but I have to disagree about the directivity. Horizontal beamwidth is (imo) the most important graph to judge directivity performance. Looking at the two side by side, the 308p seems to narrow(starting at 1kHz?), widen and then narrow a bit more. The 708 looks like a more straight beam imo. The 308 is a bit wider, though, which may be a good thing for the majority. The 708 also provides a bit more max output, and I'd say the distortion difference is more than "a bit" . 308p is definitely the better value, though, even at non-sale prices.

Also, I think the output differences are larger than what the official specs say. I own the 308p and it's starts sounding "too loud" well before by ears would usually give up. I don't own the 708p, but I've heard it, and I didn't get that sensation. It (subjectively) got loud enough to fully satisfy me.

 

[Deleted member 2944]

JBL claim to have 2 channel amplification for these speakers with a 250W amplifier for the LF and a 250W amplifier for the HF. Clearly they understand the importance of having equal capability power delivery across the audible spectrum, unlike many other companies who economise on the HF amps. Not that a single tweeter compression driver voicecoil could absorb 1/4kW for long...

@amirm most interesting review! The menu/selector wheel reminds me of my Canon EOS cameras. Do they have captive nuts/mounts on the bottom for standmounting BTW?

The crossover here is 1750Hz. If the crossover were down in the 400Hz range you'd have approximately equal power requirements for woofer and tweeter. And that's assuming you had equal sensitivities for both drivers....which you don't here. The tweeter/guide in the 708p is way more efficient than the woofer.

The reason they're using equal power amps for woofer and tweeter in this speaker here has nothing to do with the power requirements.

Dave.

 

[Spocko]

This or genelecs?

I sent Amir the Genelec 8050b for review, so we'll be able to compare them in the near future. MSRP these Genelec speakers are similarly priced especially if you get demo models. I prefer Genelecs due to their extreme build quality compared to the JBLs.

 

[Spocko]

View attachment 110067

Without a doubt one of the best speakers you can choose for maximizing home cinema effects

 

[Frank Dernie]

Sadly seems that, in common withe all the up market JBLs I have investigated in the last 20 years, it is pretty well unavailable here in the UK. The importer website is hopeless.

 

[pma]

The crossover here is 1750Hz. If the crossover were down in the 400Hz range you'd have approximately equal power requirements for woofer and tweeter.

Sorry this is incorrect. Please see again
Overley, J.P.: Energy Distribution in Music, IRE Transactions on Audio, 09-10, 1956

Average peak energy for most music genres remains at maximum up to 2400 Hz and 4800 Hz. So you need the amp with same output voltage level with 1.7kHz crossover frequency, provided the drivers have the same sensitivity. Of course only in case that you do not like clipping for some reason.