I bought these to replace my 10 year old JBL Creature PC speaker system, which has been on 24/7 and used for several hours a day for all of those 10 years, and it still works. The darn thing just wouldn’t die no matter what volume I played it at, but I wanted to upgrade to a more sonically pure system. After reading several reviews on audiophile sites, I chose the JBL Pro LSR305. After listing to several albums, I must say they sound absolutely incredible… I am truly amazed at the quality of sound and the level of bass. No separate subwoofer needed – these bookshelf speakers drop bass down to 43Hz! Grills would have been nice due to my wife’s shedding dog that gets white hair on every surface of the house, but I can use some canned air to blow them off once in a while. Other brands of studio monitors don’t come with grills either. Volume wise, they are are capable of making my home office sound like a nightclub. Quality wise, they surpass anything else I’ve owned. And, due to the reliability of JBL products, I expect to be enjoying these for 10+ years. 0 for a pair of these? They are certainly worth every penny and more. You can read more about them on the JBL Pro site: […]

I did a lot of research while trying to find the best monitors my budget would allow for my home studio. I looked into the KRK Rokits (5" and 6" models), Presonus Eris E5s, Yamaha HS7s, and even a pair of Adam A7Xs I found used that were just barely in my budget. I almost didn’t even try these JBLs–they were simply too cheap to be good, or so I thought…

But the Adams were slightly disappointing, especially considering the price; the KRKs seemed like they had an overly hyped low-end; the Eris E5s didn’t have enough low end, and I didn’t want to add a sub…the HS7s were pretty good, but I wanted something better than pretty good. So it seemed like for my budget I was just going to have to live with compromise and learn to do the best I could with a budget set of monitors.

That’s when the salesman at my local music store urged me to try these JBLs. They sounded good in the store. But I wasn’t convinced until I went online, read a number of glowing reviews and saw the comparisons Sonic Sense did on Youtube, with these and other monitors I had already looked at and listened to myself.

Bringing them home and working with them though, has been a much better experience than listening to them in a noisy music store or through the compressed audio of youtube. These things have blown me away. My mixes are taking less time now and translating to other sound systems better than they ever have before. So let me go into the particulars:

Full Spectrum Clarity: They’re very detailed all the way from the bass frequencies to the high end, and impressively flat.

Bass Response: They reach a lot lower than I would have expected a 5" speaker to go. I haven’t mixed any EDM on them yet, but so far I don’t have any desire to add a sub.

Stereo Imaging: Adequate. I can hear my panning decisions well enough, but they’re nothing like the Adam A7Xs I tried out (they’re stereo imaging is spectacular, but I wasn’t blown away by anything else regarding the Adams).

Controls: These monitors have a number of room controls on the back, my room is acoustically treated fairly well though, so I’ve left all these controls at 0.

TL;DR I’m extremely happy with these monitors. They were less expensive than my budget allowed and better than anything else I tried.

I was not sure what to expect with this monitor. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.

Packaging was easy to deal with and the product arrived undamaged. JBL does not include any audio cables and remember, you are purchasing one speaker under this product listing. Rear connections include mono XLR and 1/4". Volume control is also on the rear. The build quality looks and feels rock solid. The LSR305 is smaller than the LSR308 which makes placement a bit easier on shelving and desk space though I personally prefer placement on a stand. Though the monitor has a studio look most will find pleasing, note that there is no included grill. Despite long use, I noticed no heat buildup in the amp. Not unsually, the amp takes a few seconds to warm-up, just like most of the brands.

Despite the ability to play this speaker very loud, the clarity remains amazing after about a 12-13 hour break-in period. I have been using the LSR305 for over three weeks now and I remain impressed. Weeks later, the sound remains vibrant and clear. Great replication in the highs and lows with minor lag in bass response. I tied this into my home entertainment system and simply put, WOW! This one monitor puts out enough sound to fill our great room. I was going to deduct a star for JBL not including any audio cables or a grill. However, I was so impressed with the sound, I felt that would not be fair.