Massdrop JBL LSR30X 5" Active Studio Monitors

For a long time, I had two stacks of books doing that job. Of course they were carefully chosen for appropriate audio qualities...

Actually, they were carefully chosen thick volumes I was unlikely to want to read. Yes! Dense stuff! Just right

(my first ever all-mine speakers were raised a few inches off the floor on telephone directories)

 

Nah I'm actually going to grab those speaker stands some one linked here for now. My Desk has no room for near fields... and honestly I'm not 100% sure I'll be staying in the drop. Wife an I purchased a mattress today!!! I think it'll work out ok, but these will be in the living room till next year most likely

 

Umm... How long have you been married?

 

Almost a year, we've been sleeping on my old Queen from when I was single... and were tired of elbowing each other in the face xD

So we got a King Pillow Top, an sadly I'm not able to grab the speakers this run either! She got her Residency Approval early, so time to save up for a plane ticket!

Prolly for the better, chances are these might pop up again like the TH X00 did, or I can find a pair second hand

 

Thank you for the detailed information. Is the warranty same as the LSR 305?

 

New to forum and also new to active speakers. I joined the massdrop for these and wonder if JBL Nano Patch monitor controller would be a good volume control for casual listening? Thanks Jimmy

 

Only about 12 hours left on this drop.

 

Massdrop did have the standard lsr305 for $99 each earlier this year.

 

I missed it, but what did these end at?

Also It was nice to see Marvey's quote right SMACK on the front of the Product page! I hadn't noticed that before

 

$279 shipped with a cable set .

 

Well, quite. Although a pre-amp might still come in useful for volume/source selection, and there wouldn't be any harm in it being nicely transparent.

I keep chipping away at my audiophillery (I hope there is not too much -phoollery left) but I'm not even within sight of using the motherboard's audio out. Even though I have gone back inside the box, it is with a dedicated sound card.

But I grudgingly and painfully acknowledge that motherboard sound is a whole universe different from the days when then the average soundcard was better suited to beeping and playing pacman noises than it was to music.

What's the betting that, if someone fed a pair of these, direct from the PC*, without telling me, I'd be thoroughly enjoying the result? I suspect that I would. Possibly the best sound for the money? Pretty good anyway?


*cabling issues aside.

 

Got mines in the mail a few days ago. I ordered them out of curiosity and didn't really expect to impressed by them (was hoping they just sound decent and use them as cheap stereo setup for a future 4K TV) as I currently listen to everything through the HD 800.

Boy was I wrong. I am blown away that a $300 pair of powered speakers could sound so great. It might just be new toy syndrome but its been a few days now and I love listening to them all the same. I think the best thing I can say is that listening to these speakers gives me just as much joy (maybe even more) as listening to the HD 800.

The clarity of the sound and the center image of these speakers were the most incredible aspects to me (If you blindfolded me I would swear there is a speaker in the middle).

The sound signature to me is almost perfectly neutral and everything I play through them sounds great. Sure, the HD 800 has maybe a bit more detail retrieval and sounds more nuanced with maybe a slightly louder soundstage but these factors don't exactly influence my enjoyment of the music too much. I feel like the detail retrieval of these speakers are great, it is just the HD 800 is better. But I think the LSR 30X has a better balance throughout the frequency range after listening to the speakers, I feel the HD 800 is a bit bright in the higher frequencies and the LSR 30X has the more neutral sound signature.

The bass It might not extend low enough for some people, but for me the bass is good enough but lacks tightness compared to the HD 800. The tightness of the low end might be the only thing that is minorly disappointing to me.

Unfortunately, I live in a living room of a studio apartment (just graduated from college so moving out soon) so they are just sitting on a cluttered desk (I'm sure this affects the sound detrimentally based on all the things I been reading about speakers).

A couple of pics (of the dB matching and the poor poor location of the speakers):






I always heard from everyone that headphones are the cheapest way to get the best sound and after hearing these speakers, I'm not quite sure I agree.

The black gloss finish looks great (there are a few scratch marks here and there but for $300, I ain't complaining).

Unfortunately, even though they sound superb, this only fuels my curiosity about more expensive speakers (if these relatively cheap speakers can sound so great, what happens if I spend more?).

 

I'm eagerly waiting for mine to arrive soon.

 

Please don't. Shipment updates are perhaps OK when you're the first one getting the item, or when you're a warlock reviewer and many expect for you to review a given item. Otherwise, sharing shipping dates or numbers is more or less pure noise. You can go wild on shipment updates in your status updates, or on HF. But please refrain on SBAF.

 

What's your problem landroni, I was merely replying to Sylafari. If you don't like my post just ignore it. There's no need for hostility here.

 

Posting shipment updates is discouraged here, in addition to one liners. Please read:
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-n-ratio-month-ten-thoughts.4829/#post-154590

 

You seem to be new around here. To understand better why we do what we do please check out these posts, both a "must read" for those unfamiliar with SBAF:
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/must-read-for-new-members.3/

and:
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-is-higher-s-n-ratio-month-ten-thoughts.4829/

 

From what I have read in this thread, those are awesome for the price - I'd like to hear them!

 

Yes, the LSR305 is a very good performer, especially at it's price point. I have auditioned it a couple of times at the Winter NAMM and Guitar Center a few years ago and I was blown away by the coherent sound and the instrument separation as well as the sound staging. I was also surprised by the bottom end extension for a 5" driver as well as the high frequency extension from the tweeters too. The mids are clear and detailed which I totally didn't expect especially at that price point. However, I didn't purchase it then because I own a pair of Samson Rubicon 6 (ribbon tweeters) which is also a decent performer but not at the level of the LSR305. I recently took the plunge and purchase the LSR30X which was on offer at Massdrop with less than 1dB level matching as well as piano black finishing. I should receive my LSR30X soon and I look forward to post my impression here as soon as it arrives.