This is a review and detailed measurements of the JBL Professional 306P MKII powered speaker. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $149 including Prime shipping from Amazon (each).
Naturally the 306p has identical look and feel of the rest of the LSR series:
Same as the back panel:
You can see the switches and gain control as tested.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
I performed over 800 measurement which resulted in error rate of less than 1% throughout the range.
Temperature was 59 degrees F. Measurement location is at sea level so you compute the pressure.
Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.
Reference axis was the tweeter center.
JBL 306P MKII Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
Response is excellent other than the dip around 1.6 kHz. I really like to see manufacturers do better in this region as it is so important to perception of fidelity in my opinion. Fortunately the dip is narrow. Here is the near-field measurements:
Early window reflections are very similar to the on-axis courtesy of good directivity:
Simulated far-field in-room response therefore is what we already know:
There is a blip around 700 Hz visible in the above graphs and we can see it as resonance in waterfall display:
It is very low in amplitude though so not a sonic issue.
Distortion has been classically high in this series and the 306P carries the family signature:
Here is the JBL 308P MKII in comparison:
We see more of distortion between 1 and 2 kHz in the larger 308P than in 306P. The larger woofer seems unhappier in the higher range than the smaller one in 306P. Or there are sample variations.
Back to 306P, here is our absolute distortion measurement at 96 dBSPL:
Directivity as mentioned is very good:
JBL 306P Mark II Speaker Listening Tests
It took playback of a couple of tracks to know that the sound of this speaker is "right" and fits with the family. My reference tracks sounded very nice. To see the effect of that dip though, I dialed in a quick EQ:
The correction was definitely needed. On female tracks it brought out their voices and detail therein resulting in more enjoyable experience. Once there, track after track in my reference list sounded beautiful.
I threw my "speaker killer" tracks the the 306P. It did not bother it although it did not try to play the deeper notes -- not much anyway. I cranked the volume way high and I could tell it was being limited as after certain point, it didn't get much louder. And became a bit unpleasant. But highly composed compared to passive speakers or powered ones with no limiter.
The usual hiss was there by the way and did not go away until about 2 feet when nothing was playing.
Conclusions
The JBL 306P MK II once again shows what happens when you follow the science of proper sound reproduction even with strict budget. You simply get great sound. Even in hostile situation of just being thrown on my desk. Point them at your ear, plug them in and you are in business. OK, you should apply that little EQ correction but that is it.
Needless to say, I can recommend the JBL 306P MK II.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Naturally the 306p has identical look and feel of the rest of the LSR series:
Same as the back panel:
You can see the switches and gain control as tested.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
I performed over 800 measurement which resulted in error rate of less than 1% throughout the range.
Temperature was 59 degrees F. Measurement location is at sea level so you compute the pressure.
Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.
Reference axis was the tweeter center.
JBL 306P MKII Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
Response is excellent other than the dip around 1.6 kHz. I really like to see manufacturers do better in this region as it is so important to perception of fidelity in my opinion. Fortunately the dip is narrow. Here is the near-field measurements:
Early window reflections are very similar to the on-axis courtesy of good directivity:
Simulated far-field in-room response therefore is what we already know:
There is a blip around 700 Hz visible in the above graphs and we can see it as resonance in waterfall display:
It is very low in amplitude though so not a sonic issue.
Distortion has been classically high in this series and the 306P carries the family signature:
Here is the JBL 308P MKII in comparison:
We see more of distortion between 1 and 2 kHz in the larger 308P than in 306P. The larger woofer seems unhappier in the higher range than the smaller one in 306P. Or there are sample variations.
Back to 306P, here is our absolute distortion measurement at 96 dBSPL:
Directivity as mentioned is very good:
JBL 306P Mark II Speaker Listening Tests
It took playback of a couple of tracks to know that the sound of this speaker is "right" and fits with the family. My reference tracks sounded very nice. To see the effect of that dip though, I dialed in a quick EQ:
The correction was definitely needed. On female tracks it brought out their voices and detail therein resulting in more enjoyable experience. Once there, track after track in my reference list sounded beautiful.
I threw my "speaker killer" tracks the the 306P. It did not bother it although it did not try to play the deeper notes -- not much anyway. I cranked the volume way high and I could tell it was being limited as after certain point, it didn't get much louder. And became a bit unpleasant. But highly composed compared to passive speakers or powered ones with no limiter.
The usual hiss was there by the way and did not go away until about 2 feet when nothing was playing.
Conclusions
The JBL 306P MK II once again shows what happens when you follow the science of proper sound reproduction even with strict budget. You simply get great sound. Even in hostile situation of just being thrown on my desk. Point them at your ear, plug them in and you are in business. OK, you should apply that little EQ correction but that is it.
Needless to say, I can recommend the JBL 306P MK II.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/