JBL 308P MKII Studio Monitor Review

[FrantzM]

I believe that to be their main weakness. Relieving them from the reproduction of signals under 120 Hz helps.
I would not call them , stellar playing 90+ dB at 3 meters listening position.

If one finds a way to reduce the listening room background noise use subs and realize that one shouldn’t ask them to fill a large room even then,
you are very hard-pressed to find better speakers at 4times the price.

Peace

I've always felt my 308 mkIIs sound a bit tiring at high volumes I'd assumed the horn effect but maybe it's distortion creeping in

 

[phoenixsong]

I believe that to be their main weakness. Relieving them from the reproduction of signals under 120 Hz helps.
I would not call them , stellar playing 90+ dB at 3 meters listening position.

If one finds a way to reduce the listening room background noise use subs and realize that one shouldn’t ask them to fill a large room even then,
you are very hard-pressed to find better speakers at 4times the price.

Peace

If there is a need to fill a large-ish room? XD

I was thinking of the T5V or A130. 5 inch speakers would be desirable, since my parents don't like something obtrusive in the living room- unless 7 inch speakers measure much better at higher levels (T7V maybe?)

 

[FrantzM]

In a large room thus involving >3 meters main listening position? They will likely be straining. On movies that can pass; on music and intent audition, with a person with an audiophile bent? They show their limitations. To my ears under these conditions, harsh and shouty. An illustration of severe distortions
in my small room, I am finding surprisingly good when playing at my usual Max SPL of 85 dB Max.

 

[Buckster]

Shouty was the word I was looking for too

My 305 Is seemed to handle higher volumes differently they seemed to loose dynamics (not good either) but didn't sound shouty

 

[Jinjuku]

I believe that to be their main weakness. Relieving them from the reproduction of signals under 120 Hz helps.
I would not call them , stellar playing 90+ dB at 3 meters listening position.

If one finds a way to reduce the listening room background noise use subs and realize that one shouldn’t ask them to fill a large room even then,
you are very hard-pressed to find better speakers at 4times the price.

Peace

Running mine in a ~16X13X8 foot room with the matching LSR 310's and allowed to play in their comfort envelope given the room size it plays incredibly well. I did the speakers and subs for $1000 shipped. Incredible value that I can't DIY against.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

Looking for some.advice please running a pair of these as L/R as part of a home cinema setup (might get a 306 as a centre too) - they sound great apart from the annoying hiss (audible from 2.5m)

Looking for some advice please ref setup of gains from my X7200W Denon please ?

I've currently got the 308s set at -10dB jumper and set at a gain of 9 on the volume at back

I have the 7200w set to 11.1 with fronts as preouts. My concern is optimising gain as best as possible to minimise distortion etc

Currently have the 308s at +3db on the Denon and the other passive speakers at -5/-6db is that preferable than say having the 308s at 9db on Denon and the passives at more like 0db please ? I think the Denon can output a reasonable pre-out voltage so didn't want to introduce any clipping/distortion within the 308s set to -10. I've seen from other reviews on here of the Denons outputting anywhere up to 2v or even 4v from the preouts

I did try the 308s at +4 setting on back but introduced huge Delta Vs passives I needed something like a setting on the Denon of +9db on the 308s and -9 on the passives

Thanks very much for any advice/help

Here’s how I handle system gain structure using the pre/pro stage of a Pioneer VSX-LX503 AVR for switching, processing, etc. on JBL 305s. You might try it with your 306s and 308s. I get better headroom from both versions of the 305 this way:

Speaker level: FULL
Speaker input sensitivity: +4dB

I get back the lost gain from the Pioneer through its individual channel level settings, running them all a little hotter than the nominal 0dB settings. The Pioneer feeds dedicated DSPs for each channel at several dB high than the nominal -10dB “consumer equipment” level with their inputs and outputs set as high as recommended by the manufacturer. This gain structure gives me what I consider to be an optimum trade off of noise vs. distortion. Note that even though the notorious JBL “hiss” is unaffected by any of this (the hiss level doesn’t change at all unless the speaker level is turned all the way down to “mute”,) none of the hiss from any of my 305s is audible beyond several centimeters or few inches in an extremely quiet room.

 

[pbc]

I sit about 16 feet away from these speakers in my family room. When running a test tone, even with my avr set to its highest +12 level calibration these speakers only hit 72db at reference.

Tried both an Anthem MRX 520 and AVM60 processor.

Are the 56 watts simply not enough or could it be a voltage issue where something like a clean box pro would help?

Have the speakers set on - 10DBv input sensitivity. Should I try the +4 in this scenario?

 

[FrantzM]

With the Volume control at the back at the "max" setting?
Strange, they play louder in my experience although 16 feet is out of their comfort zone.

 

[pbc]

Yes fully maxxed out. Surprised as unless they're super innefficient their 50 watts or whatever should be plenty even at 16 feet.

They do get loud, just won't hit 75db reference test tones at 0db on the AVR. Makes me wonder if their is a voltage or gain structure issue.

So thought about the ART Clean Box Pro as an option to boost.

 

[More Dynamics Please]

Consider the way Kali rates the maximum listening distance for its studio monitors:

Kali Audio defines Maximum Listening Distance for a studio monitor as the maximum distance at which the monitor can play at 85 dB continuously, with 20 dB of dynamic headroom to allow for peaks in the program material. 82 db - 85 dB is the generally accepted threshold at which long periods of exposure can be damaging to hearing. 20 dB of headroom ensures that louder sections of program material still come through without the loudspeaker distorting.

The LP-6 has a Maximum Listening Distance of 2.2 Meters, and the LP-8 has a Maximum Listening Distance of 2.8 Meters. So for larger rooms, the LP-8 is the better choice.

Kali's LP-8 is roughly comparable in performance to JBL's 308P MKII. So by Kali standards once you get beyond 2.8 meters (~9') neither the LP-8 nor the 308P MKII should be capable of producing 85 dB continuously with 20 dB headroom (105 dB peaks). At longer distances they may play loud enough to suit some. But they won't be able to produce 85 dB continuously with 105 dB peaks, which also happens to be THX reference for movies.

https://www.kaliaudio.com/lpseries-buyers-guide

 

[pbc]

Thanks, I guess what I'm surprised at is that even with +12db on my AVR trim, I still can only get to 72db at the LP using the AVR test tone. I never play anywhere near reference in the family room (typically at -20 to -35db to 0), but because of this I have to reduce my rears and sub as a result to match the 72db. I guess it doesn't really matter that much, just found it quite odd.

 

[Robbo99999]

I sit about 16 feet away from these speakers in my family room. When running a test tone, even with my avr set to its highest +12 level calibration these speakers only hit 72db at reference.

Tried both an Anthem MRX 520 and AVM60 processor.

Are the 56 watts simply not enough or could it be a voltage issue where something like a clean box pro would help?

Have the speakers set on - 10DBv input sensitivity. Should I try the +4 in this scenario?

There's a massive effect related to the listening distance, assuming you're measuring at your listening point. Each time you double the listening distance you lose another 6dB. I've got two of these speakers and they'll do around 80dB with ease at 2m whilst only being on around 4 or 4.5 on the back of the speaker. You're at 5m listening distance, so over twice as far as me, but that would only reduce by around 8dB (estimation rather than calculation).....so you should still have more headroom left in your volume knobs on the back of the speaker, they should play louder than your 72dB at 5m. Seems to me your AVR is not pumping enough voltage into the speaker, or you're not running the DIP switch on the back of the speaker on the "consumer setting", you'd want it on the -10dBv setting. EDIT: I see you're already on the -10dBv setting, that's the most sensitive setting, so that should be what you use in your case when you want max volume, assuming your AVR is not outputting more than 2V into the speakers.

 

[pbc]

Hence why I'm thinking it is just that the MRX520 (and AVM60 before it) simply don't have enough voltage to power them, and so was wondering if a CleanBoxPro would help in this situation.

 

[Robbo99999]

Hence why I'm thinking it is just that the MRX520 (and AVM60 before it) simply don't have enough voltage to power them, and so was wondering if a CleanBoxPro would help in this situation.

Maybe you can try it, and if it doesn't pump up the volume enough then send it back for a refund. I don't know anything about CleanBoxPro, so can't provide pointers on that.

EDIT: note that Amir recognised in the review that he heard clipping/distortion problems when inputting too much voltage into these speakers, he didn't actually say how many volts he tried inputting, but he did comment along the lines that he had to be careful with how much voltage he inputted. He was asked about it, but didn't work out how many volts he was outputting, and he wasn't clear on which DIP switch he was using as he misquoted the DIP switch labels....I think I asked him about it & he didn't answer. It's supposed to be ok up to 2V on the consumer setting -10dBv, but unclear how that relates to what Amir was inputting.....just don't think you can solve your low volume problem by inputting more than 2V into this speaker.

 

[richard12511]

I sit about 16 feet away from these speakers in my family room. When running a test tone, even with my avr set to its highest +12 level calibration these speakers only hit 72db at reference.

Tried both an Anthem MRX 520 and AVM60 processor.

Are the 56 watts simply not enough or could it be a voltage issue where something like a clean box pro would help?

Have the speakers set on - 10DBv input sensitivity. Should I try the +4 in this scenario?

Yeah sounds like you have a voltage issue. You should definitely be able to get more than 72dB at that distance.

 

[rmsanger]

I saw at my local guitar center that the 308p mk2 were on sale for $200 per speaker when normally at $260 per speaker. I'm more interested in Yamaha HS8 or Adam T7V / T8V than these but still an interesting value prop @ $400 all in.

 

[hollis]

I saw at my local guitar center that the 308p mk2 were on sale for $200 per speaker when normally at $260 per speaker. I'm more interested in Yamaha HS8 or Adam T7V / T8V than these but still an interesting value prop @ $400 all in.

Thats pretty good. They drop down to $150/each maybe once a year:
https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B077NHM2K6?context=search

 

[Hai-Fri. Audio]

couldn't wait for sales and went with b stock. 350 taxed, shipped for a pair.

had a pair of 305p's with christmas sales but returned them thinking there'd be more aesthetically pleasing monitors out there in the same price range with same performance. turns out my ears didn't lie 305p's are brilliant. kali and adam rarely go on sale, nor is there "b stock" available everywhere.

at 350 all said and done with full warranty the value proposition is just too good.




also my main system has been hijacked for the foreseeable future.

 

[home_theatre_man]

Just picked up a pair of these to play with while in COVID QT and have a question related to the limiter. I was hitting one of the speakers pretty hard (didn't measure the actual input voltage or output SPL) to see if I could duplicate the limiter symptoms Amir got...which I thought I did. I didn't leave it at that level for long - just enough to say, "Yeah, OK, that's what the limiter sounds like." However, when I backed off to normal levels, I was still getting what I had thought were the limiter artifacts. Powered off, unplugged, waited a couple minutes, powered back on, artifacts still there. Powered off, unplugged, waited about 6 hours, powered back on, artifacts gone. Speaker is completely clean and normal. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this behavior?

 

[Chromatischism]

Just picked up a pair of these to play with while in COVID QT and have a question related to the limiter. I was hitting one of the speakers pretty hard (didn't measure the actual input voltage or output SPL) to see if I could duplicate the limiter symptoms Amir got...which I thought I did. I didn't leave it at that level for long - just enough to say, "Yeah, OK, that's what the limiter sounds like." However, when I backed off to normal levels, I was still getting what I had thought were the limiter artifacts. Powered off, unplugged, waited a couple minutes, powered back on, artifacts still there. Powered off, unplugged, waited about 6 hours, powered back on, artifacts gone. Speaker is completely clean and normal. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this behavior?

I wonder if there is an internal temperature sensor involved?