Recording - March 2010 - 54

BY LORENZ RYCHNER JBL LSR2325P Studio Monitors with LSR2310SP Subwoofer the overall performance of the system in a variety of acoustic spaces. Instead of focusing on a simple measurement such as on-axis frequency response, JBL measures systems in a field 360 degrees around the speaker and engineers the entire system to ensure off-axis response reflected to the mix position is also smooth and accurate.” The P stands for “powered”—the 2325 is bi-amped to deliver up to 55 W (woofer) / 35 W (tweeter), the 2328 produces 95 W (woofer) and 70 W (tweeter). The long-excursion woofer is magnetically shielded; the soft-dome tweeter sits recessed in a waveguide. The cabinets are meant to stand upright for best alignment of transducers for ideal arrival times Adaptable These speakers were designed to find a home no matter what the prevailing connections are: XLR, 1/4" (balanced TRS but also working with unbalanced two-conductor tips), or RCA. The sub goes one better—it has XLR outputs, the idea being that in a 2.1 system you first bring the audio to the sub where the highpass filter (that you set to either 80 Hz or 120 Hz cutoff) subtracts the extreme lows, then the bandpassed audio goes via XLR cables to the 2325 or 2328 cabinets. If you have some other “bass management” way of dealing with the low end, you can set the highpass filter to “external” and the XLR outputs of the sub are disabled. In a larger surround system, simply bring the .1 (LFE) signal to either of the two XLR inputs on the sub. The cabinets all have rotary level controls that are stepped. It’s a good idea to begin by setting the L+R and the sub to the same number of steps to achieve an overall volume that you think is the loudest you are likely to ever want to reach in combination with the final output gain structure of your mixer or audio interface. From there you make any adjustments to the sub’s volume if things aren’t quite in balance yet. On the sub there is a pushbutton to change the sub’s polarity by 180 degrees. The 2325 and 2328 cabinets can also have their high and low responses adjusted separately with these 3position switches: High Frequency Trim boosts or attenuates highs by 2.5 dB (7 kHz shelving), Low Frequency Trim boosts lows by 2 dB or attenuates lows by 3 dB (120 Hz shelving). Another measure of the adaptability of the 2300 series is the provision of mounting points—exploring that option could be a lifesaver in a constrained environment. The sound JBL lists the 2300 series under “Recording & Broadcast”, and if this reviewer had his druthers, he’d add “and any other critical listening situation”. I can imagine this being The LSR2300 Series of active monitors from JBL consists of two different full-range speaker models, the LSR2325P with a 5" woofer and a 1" voice coil, and the LSR2328P with an 8" woofer and a 1.5" voice coil. They both have the same 231H 1" tweeter. Either model can be combined with the LSR2310SP subwoofer. I had a pair of the smaller 2325 and one sub to review. JBL also considers its new MSC1 Monitor System Controller part of the 2300 Series; this desktop unit combines useful monitor-control features with JBL’s RMC (Room Mode Correction) system for tuning speakers to provide better mixes in your lessthan-perfect room. Look for a review in an upcoming issue. The 2300 details LSR stands for Linear Spatial Reference. In the words of JBL: “The Linear Spatial Reference (LSR) philosophy is based on a set of design goals that carefully controlRECORDING MARCH 2010 at the listener’s ears. The 2325 measures 11.9 x 7.4 x 10 inches, the 2328 is 15.6 x 10 x 13.2 (WxHxD). The rear-ported sub’s amplifier produces up to 180 W with <1% THD into the rated impedance of 8 Ohms. The speaker is protected by a rigid grille. The sub is quite massive at 16.3 x 15 x 18.1 and weighs a hefty 45.5 lb.

Recording - March 2010

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