Recording - March 2014 - 44

BY DARWIN GROSSE

Monitor speaker technology continues to move ahead, much
to the benefit of project studio users. Monitors are getting smaller and cheaper while simultaneously improving in quality. The
JBL LSR305 active monitor is a great example: a small-format
speaker with built-in amplification at a street price well under
$200. It's part of the new 3 Series from JBL, of which Peter
Chaikin gave readers a sneak peek in his September 2013
interview; there's also a larger model, the LSR308, that we didn't test this time. Let's look at what's on offer from the LSR305....
Speaker details
The LSR305 is a 2-way monitor system with 5" low-frequency and 1" high-frequency drivers. These are combined with a
rear-ported cabinet design that allows for accurate reproduction of low frequencies, and twin 41 Watt amplifiers. The components are contained in an 11.75" x 9.37" x 9.88", 10pound package that is perfectly sized for both desktop and
console-top use. The rear panel includes XLR and 1/4" TRS balanced inputs, a standard power cable and switch, a Volume
pot (I left mine set all the way up), -10/+4 Input Sensitivity control, and two 3-way switches for LF and HF Trim, -2/0/+2 dB
(the speakers sounded great in my space with both set flat).
But the details of this system imply something special. JBL claims
a frequency response from 43 Hz through 24 kHz, which is very
impressive for a small monitor. The LSR305 also comes with a
unique housing design dubbed the "Image Control Waveguide"

JBL LSR305 Powered Monitors

New design breakthroughs come down to an unbelievable price

by JBL, a technology first developed for the ultra-tweaked-out M2
mastering monitors introduced last year. It's meant to improve
stereo imaging even in non-optimal studio environments. This all
sounds pretty good, but how does it hold up for real work?
In use-general monitoring
I was lucky enough to get several months to live with these
monitors in my home/work studio. I tend to work on widely varying projects (from video editing to theater sound design), so I
wanted a chance to become comfortable with the system before
I had to comment on them. This is especially important because
my work area is hardly the pristine listening environment I wish
that I had.
Alas, my work area has morphed from being a comfortable
mixing/listening zone to something that looks more like Dr.
Frankenstein's laboratory. In addition to my DAW gear (computer, interface, monitor and such), I've got a pair of modular
synthesizers, a number of keyboards and controllers, a rack of
dubbing tape decks and turntables, and the requisite bins of
cabling. But I also have several projects in partial stages of completion: a miniature 18-channel audio system I'm testing for an
art installation, a soldering and breadboard area with halfbaked and half-completed hardware experiments, bookshelves,
boxes and a (sadly underused) treadmill. In essence, I've got a
"modern studio".
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RECORDING March 2014

But I need to get quality work done in this environment-and
your situation most likely mirrors mine. Therefore, we need a
monitor system that is forgiving of its surroundings, works with a
wide variety of source material, and is able to do so without eating up a lot of space. The small footprint of the LSR305 is a
good start, but I also needed a great sound that could support
the different projects I do.
I started my tests by pulling my normal workspace monitors off
the tabletop and replacing them completely with the LSR305s.
This isn't something I do lightly, but I had scheduled a window of
time for listening to the system before I had to accomplish anything important. Of course, I had just plugged in the final audio
cable when I got a call to pull together some quick updates for a
video project. Crunch time!
This wasn't super-detailed work, but it would force me to work
with a system that I didn't yet completely trust. I popped off the
edits, inserted them into the video, then nervously test-drove it on
the consumer-level systems that occupy the rest of my house. I
was pleased to find that the sound held up well across various
environments, and that any initial concerns I might have had
about the LSR305s were unfounded.
After that quick-hitter, I reverted to more general listening using
the LSR305s. When working on the analog systems, I was surprised that the low end was discernable even at pretty low frequencies; the monitor's ported bass was able to give me most of

Recording - March 2014

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