I havent had the same noise appear in my 305s. It could be a power issue, or ground hum if you have the monitor cables close to the power source. I will go home and listen carefully to see if mine exhibit the same attributes that you speak of. Another thing also is, how do you have them connected? XLR? TRS?

2 or 3dB of a signal is very hard to pick up or measure from the noise floor of the room itself. The JBL comes the factory at maximum gain with the selector and trim pot. Some of my tube amps at home have a tiny bit of noise at maximum gain which I never use for listening. Not everyone can hear the noise and even at home the noise floor of a typical very quiet room is going to mask some sounds. It also depends on your normal listening distance from the tweeter is that really a issue. I am a bit surprised that you have not hear some noise from your audio or video equipment before like coil whine. I use a lot of power filtering and good signal shielding at home.

I measured it clearly - directly at tweeter only ( - ~40dB from the room)

Like I said before (I think) the noise floor is there by minimum volume and doesnt get louder by turning it up.

I tested many monitors in the shop again. - and I have to say, that the JBL has the loudest noise floor of all and the ADAM F5 with its "fillet"-tweeter by far the most quiet! - and it turns down after some time not getting a signal.

But I will definetly stay at the LSR305 'cause of my explanation before!

so... tell me how u feel about your JBL LSR305!? :-)

I see that the Adam "cheats" by turning off after a period of low signal. Can be a issue playing soft music. I am happy with my JBL305 and retired my Equator D5 speakers. Equator users are a very loyal bunch. I am all locked in with my LSR305 for the next five years or so and was going to get the LSR2325P but the LSR305 became available and it was a smooth product rollout. What more can I say?

John57 - You liked the JBL's better than the D5's? What didn't you like about the D5's? I'm thinking about the D5's - or possibly the D8's. Yes, the Equator users are loyal - lots of good reviews too.

The D5 gotten too dark and clarity was not high for my needs. You will see that I am not the only one to said this. Since there is only three pages go back and reread this thread. I gave quite of detail previously.

Sorry - I had read your posts a few days ago and forgot it was with this thread.

Interesting on your finding them lacking clarity - that's what they are suppose to be good at. What do you mean by "too dark" though? I've been really wanting someone to say "go get them" on the D5/D8, but so far not getting the vibe I hoped for from the threads I've actually participated in.

Dark means that the treble range is lower than the mid bass energy. Dark is like the opposite of brightness in a speaker. It is the relationship of bass to the treble. Some users like a particular sound signature. The previous monitors, the Tannoys I had before the Equator were much brighter. The JBL's just have the better blend of SQ and clarity I like. I also like the Emotiva Airmotiv 6 as well. Both are very good and in use.

Thanks for the clarification - figured you meant something along those lines, but wanted to be sure.

Another consideration is that the Equator, JBL and my Airmotiv all use different technologies. Equator are coaxial design with heavy DSP processing in other words the analog goes in gets converted to digital processing is then done and gets reconverted back to analog to the amp then to the speakers. The JBL uses a class D amp to drive the two way speaker. The tweeter on the JBL is a soft dome with a horn in front of it. The Airmotiv uses a strong AB amp to drive the two way speaker with the tweeter being a folded ribbon or AMT design. Even if you make all three to have the same frequency response they will still sound different because the presentation is different. If the Equator D5 had more trim controls I might like it better.

John,
Whats evident in your post, as well as all of the other posts, is that the JBL 305 is being compared with monitors that are supposed to be much better. In light of that, I believe that JBL has succeeded in offering a budget monitor that can bridge the gap between what is affordable, and what has great sound quality. Previous to that, if you settled on cheap monitors you were stuck with an over-colored, and over-hyped desktop computer speaker system.
My mixes are translating pretty well with these monitors......I am happy as hell, and would not hesitate recommending the JBL LSR305. They are great for not only their price point, but great as an overall monitoring solution!

How do you compare the JBL LSR 305 against the Emotiva Airmotiv 4? Right now they have the same price.

Pablo,
I actually looked for the Emotiva Monitors, but found only a select handful of stores carry them, but none in my area. I would like to hear these though. I hear good things about them!
Has anyone else listened to these?
The one thing that I would point out is that the Airmotive 4 is a "4" hi-fi speaker as explained on many websites. It is more of an audiophile enjoyment type of speaker rather than labeled a reference monitor. On top of that, we are talking about 5" reference monitor, in which Emotiva 5s are 499 a pair, the 4s $300 a pair.....Not exactly an apples to apples comparasin.
Even if you google these, it comes up as "Desktop speaker". Not to take anything away from the Emotiva, as it looks like they compare favorably, but I was looking for a reference monitor to mix with, not listen to Led Zeppelin with. But some may find the Emotiva 4 a good purchase......I say that this price point has become ultra competitive, and should benefit us.....the consumer that there are a few excellent choices!

That also worries me a bit. If you really can use those speakers as reference monitors and not just for music. I guess I'll have to skip the Airmotiv and consider JBL speakers or the Equator. I just want to improve the KRK RP 5.

Pablo,
I can say with confidence that the 305 outperforms, and runs circles around the KRK all day. I have had both, and the sound clarity difference is eye opening. Not to say that the KRK does not have a place.......In a DJs studio yes......for mixing they are tricky, and colored (Putting it nicely)
The equator is also a nice choice, but just consider going to the store and listening for yourself.....Bring your favorite reference CD that you have to the store with you, and let your ears be the judge. That is what sold me on the JBL305s. Whatever R&D JBL performed to get these to market definitely paid off. I enjoy them immensely, and think you will too if you give them a shot.
Also keep in mind availability when you get your next set of monitors.....what if you dont like them?? Do I have to MAIL them back to some website? Or can i just go over to Guitar Center..........convenience sometimes helps!

I would go to Guitar Center and listen to each model, but in Mexico virtually no such possibility exists, so the closest is trusting comments of others or yourself lucky if you have a friend to try it. I will continue reading are saying about these models, perhaps take advantage of discounts that are made in November.

okay, just ordered a pair of 305's. These better get me jigglin' or someone's getting a knuckle sandwich !

The only KRP brand I like at all is the VXT series which is far better than the ROKIT series but cost more. Both Equator D series and Emotiva do most of their sales on the Web. My JBL LSR305 continues to work just great and quite happy with them specially with the price to performance ratio. I see no reason why an accurate Hifi speaker can not be use for mixing/mastering. Check this thread and the links. The end results of mixes are going to users that have others speakers not monitors. I even use my car speakers to check the final results. I also have a very good set of headphones as another check to verity the smaller details that I may have miss with the monitors.

Airmotiv 6 for mixing/mastering | The Emotiva Lounge

If I had to choose between the Airmotiv 4 and the JBL305 just for mixing I might just lean toward the JBL305 because more users are using dome tweeters than using a folded ribbon tweeter. I personal know that the JBL305 will work well since I have not heard the Airmotiv 4. You still have to learn the characteristics of any monitor to have predicable results to the end users. I am going to bow out here for a while take care!

Please report back with your first impressions as soon as you get them. I'm looking into getting a pair too, but still hesitating a bit because there are so few reviews.

My other alternative is the Equator D5, which I have already audited. But they had this annoying peak at 7 kHz and they are more expensive here in Europe. The JBLs should have a better bass extension too.

Eris 5's sure sound good to me out of that whole list. Ty for posting this

The Eris E5s and E8s are buy one get one half off currently at Musician's Friend, so I'm trying to get some more details on them. Still leaning toward the JBL LSR 305/308, but currently still keeping my options open.

I'm glad you've found this useful. Thanks for letting us know what you think!

As I stated in my earlier postings. I said I would listen for the white noise that people spoke of when it came to the JBL305s.

After listening carefully, there is a VERY small amount of noise that in my opinion does not interfere with the use of the monitor. Its BARELY audible. It certainly does not get any louder when i turn the volume up, it stays very quiet. It is there, but my BAS 20/20s had the same noise. Im thinking that all monitors that are powered make some sort of white noise but at lower volumes. I want to state that you REALLY have to listen to hear it.

great thread so far, very helpful to read over.

I'm debating between the Yamaha HS5s and the JBLs, still not sure which to go for. The yamaha's are appealing because over the emphasized midrange - like someone mentioned already, they really let you know 'what you've messed up in the mix'. On the other hand, the possibility of them being too fatiguing and not listenable for hours of producing worries me; I need a set of monitors that I can produce on and not be limited to just mixing on.

As well, the JBL seems to be better on paper: the low end extends about 10hz lower than the hs5.

Any input would be great

Man, I tried the JBL LSR 305's this weekend and they dissapointed me. Maybe I expected too much after the GS-hype, but I didn't really like them. They were pretty harsh and undefined. Don't feel like a big improvement over the KRK Rokit5's I currently own.

Is it just me?

i'm afraid of being swept up in the hype as well

Its definitely just you. I dont know what source you were using with them, but I have the feeling that they werent set up properly. Dont forget that there are decibel settings in the back. If they are not set properly for that environment, then they wont sound good. Idk what to say about your comment. I have recommended the 305s to many people, and every one that has bought them has had nothing but glowing praise. Dont forget also that they have to be broken in. I thought as though they might be a little harsh, but after about 10 hours, they broke in quite nicely. I dont need to remind everyone that these monitors are 300 for the pair. There is not much to compare them to, but for budget monitors, they sound excellent!

I tried the 305s at GC recently and thought they sounded great for 5" inexpensive monitors - better in most ways that the 308s. Admittedly, GC didn't have the 308s in the best location to get a really good sweet spot listen. For me it's between the 305s and if I want to bust the budget, the HS8s.

why not HS5?