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JBL 308P MKII Studio Monitor Review
- Thread starter amirm
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This speaker is essentially an example of top-shelf engineering using bottom-shelf components.
(Which I find very impressive, FWIW.)
(Which I find very impressive, FWIW.)
ROOSKIE
Major Contributor
You made the comment I was just about to post.
My understanding is JBL had a mission to make these speakers as cheaply as humanly possible along with making them sound great.
Really seeing the insides and having used a pair for awhile I can say they did well.
This goes to show you can make excellent sound with very, very inexpensive drivers and parts. In the reverse of what we have seen in several designs using very expensive drivers - yet the sound was mediocre or worse. (Ascend, Oceans Way, Vedant Audio & more)
You can't just buy expensive drivers.
This thing has $0.50 tweeters, a plastic front baffle (with a very nice waveguide formed), $10 amps and zero cabinet bracing or fill. You can see what is important first here. Then of course what comes second and third when it comes making improvents that the JBL left on the table for a more expensive model.
I personally found them muddy and generally lacking the SQ that I crave for critical listening, that said I also was very impressed for any first time monitor buyer or person on a budget. Very decent sound all in. (like I said before though most HIFi types will eventually get upgrade craving)
Keep you eyes peeled for holiday sales which in the past where shockingly low on these.
LSR 308
80, 90, 100dB
0.5, 5, 50W
Oops!
Maxxed out.
Worth it for "casual" listening, though.
Haven't listened attentively nearfield, mine are 10 feet away.
Use them all the time for TV, unless there is a Feature Presentation to be watched.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/speakers-distortion.5920/page-2#post-132562
80, 90, 100dB
0.5, 5, 50W
Oops!
Maxxed out.
Worth it for "casual" listening, though.
Haven't listened attentively nearfield, mine are 10 feet away.
Use them all the time for TV, unless there is a Feature Presentation to be watched.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/speakers-distortion.5920/page-2#post-132562
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Not necessarily. For trained listeners in a controlled environment and using handpicked listening material, most probably.
In a "normal" listening environment there happens so much masking (e.g., through room acoustics), that it is safe to assume most people would never get to notice.
In fact, "Sound & Recording" and other well-established magazines aiming at audio professionals have their tolerance at 3% THD in this frequency band (10% THD for the bass region). You can have a look at their measurements of the superb Genelec 8361A [EN translation].
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The woofer is soft thin plastic... Probably wobbles/flexes.
Third harmonic - flattening at ends of displacement - occurs at moderate levels.
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The amp chip maybe isn't all that clean, either:
(assuming same chip as in LSR 305/308)
https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/sta350b.pdf
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Robbo99999
Master Contributor
okayyyyy, so for EQ purposes is it wrong to use that curve, which data do we use for EQ purposes? Although surely all the dB values are relative, so it doesn't really matter what absolute value they are, for EQ purposes we just need to know the deviation, so it doesn't need to be "normalised". Basically, what I'm getting at is which data would I need to use for EQ purposes given I want to EQ the listening window? At the moment I've EQ'd based on the listening window data in the CEA2034 file as you can see here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-mkii-studio-monitor-review.17338/post-561866
It sounds correct to me in listening tests, and I saw someone else in this thread EQ'ing based on that "110dB data", so I'm thinking it's still valid?
The only difference would be compression. Amir doesn’t do compression testing, so we have no way of knowing how the bass will response at higher levels. But yeah, EQ should not be done differently, unless I’m missing something.
High build quality, high sound quality, low price - pick 2 of 3.Every speaker I have either owned or heard, seems to have one or two shortcomings. If it is not related to cheap drivers or construction, it then becomes, they are overly large, or mostly overly priced.
Not sure there is a perfect speaker in all ways. Something always has to give.
Robbo99999
Master Contributor
Well, all the data in the attached Spinorama text file that Amir attached is at 110dB, so I'm thinking we can just use that data directly for EQ purposes without any "normalisation".
Hang on, just had a brainwave, the graphs Amir shows are at roughly 85-90dB, but I'm guessing this is calculated rather than measured - the Klippel measures closer than 2m or whatever the graphs are based on??? I don't know why there's a dB difference between the graphs and the data included in the attached file?
I'm still thinking it's correct to do EQ directly on the 110dB measurements in Amir's attached file, unless I'm missing something - you've not been totally clear in your responses whether this is the right thing to do or not? (My thinking in "the way dB works" is that this does not matter, but I'm not 100%).
P.S. I'm not stupid enough to try to do RoomEQ based on trying to get my speakers to 110dB at my listening position! I'm talking about using the data included in Amir's attached text file for anechoic EQ (not RoomEQ).
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phoenixsong
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Glad to see the performance of the Mkii like this considering the original 308p was relatively unpopular compared to its smaller siblings. Can't wait to see the 306p mkii! Do you guys think the speaker can be modded to change the amplification units? Also, what would likely be the source of distortion between 1-2kHz?
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It's around the crossover point. Larger woofers typically show a rise in 3HD around this frequency. What we see here though is mostly 2HD, which suggests to me it's more likely to be the tweeter, which is being stretched to play very low for its small size (notwithstanding that it's being loaded somewhat by the horn).
Keep in mind though that higher-order harmonics are well suppressed, and 2HD is relatively benign. I'm sure there's some audible distortion here, but I doubt it's quite as bad (in terms of audibility) as the graphs make it look.
Stump909
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It's been awhile since I've set my pair up, but I think changing the sensitivity allowed me to utilize higher gain with less hiss (if I recall correctly). I also sit about 7ft away. I do recall it sort of being the "eureka" solution though to some extent.
ROOSKIE
Major Contributor
I suppose it was less popular due to physical size.
The smaller version are very popular in consumer circles such as apartment audiophiles, gamers and you tubers. Most 8's are just to big for those users so that sized model is destined to have less sales.
As stated by @andreasmaaan , the tweeter is crossed very low for the type of tweeter. Obviously this is a very good ultra-budget tweeter and waveguide. Still the tweet is absolutely inexpensive it is a very simple button tweet. I am amazed that it plays as low as it does so well.
I'd guess changing the amps is simply not worth it, everything electronic is integrated as one here.
What puzzles me about these manufacturers of cheap high-quality monitors is why they do not make a prettier 3-way floorstander version of them and go to annihilate the hi-fi market at 1200 bucks a pair. Maybe jbl would cannibalize sister brands, while genelec or adam wouldn't.
Anyone knows why?
Anyone knows why?
I have never considered the effect of waveguide on phase until I saw this post.
SpaceMonkey
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I wonder if one could measure signal sent to woofers and HF (to determine crossover characteristic) so 305/308 could be converted into proper good monitors using external crossover amps without rubbish hiss.
Adam once made a floor stander (Tensor Beta), don't know the price (probably high). It's no longer available.
Genelec offers the G-series for the home market but these are stand mounts.
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