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JBL's LSR series have become the staple of many homes, as well as professional studios. The LSR305 we are looking at today is most probably the best monitor speaker you can grab under $300. Let's take a closer look and see what it is it that made it so popular.
For all intents and purposes, JBL LSR305 is the ideal black box. They went with a fairly thick MDF construction that is put together about as well as it gets in this price range. JBL really didn't spare much when designing the entire LSR series, including the LSR305. The first thing you will notice when you look at these speakers is the unusual waveguide around the tweeter. That alone should set the stage for what you are about to experience when you push some power to these bad boys.
Not only is it imposing in nature, but that waveguide is one of the most effective solutions you will see in this segment and several segments both above and below. With that said, JBL LSR305 speakers are kind of chunky. They will definitely take some space on yourdesktop, which might be an issue for some users.
When you are spending this kind of money, it might be only logical to some that you get a set of passive speakers. That's not the case with LSR305. Going over thehardware, we see a 1″ soft dome tweeter packed tightly in a rolled surround and then their impressive waveguide. The bottom driver is a 5″ unit that is more than capable of moving some serious air.
In terms of power, you are looking at 41 Watts RMS coming from a Class-D Amplifier. If you were to look at the back of the active unit, you'd find some pretty interesting controls. We are talking about an HF trim, an LF trim, and Input Sensitivity switch. Later on, when we move into performance, we will talk about these a bit more in depth. Lastly, the inputs come in form of an XLR and 1/4″ TRS.
Here's the deal. Affordable monitors, which JBL LSR305 still are, will often offer a compromising performance. Not in this case. These speakers are flat, transparent and just impressive even if you are a hard core audiophile with money to burn. That waveguide we have been talking about so much breaks the sweet spot to fairly wide angle. Even the low end reaches deep enough without losing composure. You can easily position a pair of LSR305s off axis and get the very same flat response.
Power is there but limits the use of LSR305 monitors to smaller studios. What is most surprising is just how optimized these are out of the box. All of those trim controls are more or less useless for most users. You won't have to adjust anything because these monitors are tuned in from the factory. JBL hit the nail right on the head with LSR305.
JBL LSR305 is a no-nonsense, pure performance set of monitors that will get you one of the best frequency response profiles you will find for this kind of money. In order to get something that is significantly better than this, you will have to spend a whole lot more money.
For more info about the JBL LSR305, click here.
For more studio monitors under $300 you might like, click here.
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