JBL 705P Studio Monitor Review

[BDWoody]

Hmmz... CDN $1546.63 - $1579.99 each for a grand total of ~$3159.98 / pair at the local retailer.

These also go on B-Stock sale semi-regularly for about half price.

I bought a few of these and a pair of 708p's along with several members last year, and was so impressed that I bought a few more (along with some of those same members). Running 3x708p across the front, and now 6x705p for the rest of the theater room. At half price especially, this is a pretty remarkable deal.

I never had any QC issues with mine, so count that single data point FWIW.

 

[digicidal]

I wonder if the B-stock isn't actually a better bet for reliability.... as I presume they are the ones that already had a problem which was fixed? At the very least they probably got an extra round of QC that the new stock didn't.

 

[BDWoody]

I wonder if the B-stock isn't actually a better bet for reliability.... as I presume they are the ones that already had a problem which was fixed? At the very least they probably got an extra round of QC that the new stock didn't.

That's kinda what I'm thinking...or someone just decided to return them...but either way I'm guessing they had some individual attention.

Plus they are already burned in!
/s

 

[FrantzM]

These also go on B-Stock sale semi-regularly for about half price.

I bought a few of these and a pair of 708p's along with several members last year, and was so impressed that I bought a few more (along with some of those same members). Running 3x708p across the front, and now 6x705p for the rest of the theater room. At half price especially, this is a pretty remarkable deal.

I never had any QC issues with mine, so count that single data point FWIW.

May follow your path for my ultimate HT settings .. May I ask what Pre/Pro you are using? And what subs? PM to not take the thread off track.

 

[PaulD]

Using these for 2 channel audio for my TV they did when required put out outstanding bass impact for tiny drivers and I can't remember seeing the red warning light come on ever.

That said they were broken out the box , buzzing noise out of one of my two speakers and later one died. Just distorted one day out if the blue.

I'd not recommended them for that reason, I'm not the only one with these issues either. Unless of course you don't mind boxing stuff up and sending it off for repair regularly. I hate doing that.

Sound wise they were good and with twin subs they kick ass... When they are working.

Sorry to hear that Thomas! I have and no QC issues with the 10 pairs of 705P or the 2 pairs of 708p (or the 2 pairs of M2s) that I bought about 18 months ago for a studio complex refit. I am in Australia so maybe we did not get any of the faulty stock.

 

[FrantzM]

Harman/JBL need to get their act straight. Confusion reigns, with brands without clear market focus (JBL for one sells everything from the M2 to Bluetooth dirt-cheap and crap-sounding bluetooth speakers) ... Quality Issues that have become almost a joke ... Availability and dealer network that requires a P.I. to navigate?
WTF???

I've post similar. It bears to remind the Harman/Samsung power that be, that they are driving superlative Scientific research and products to the ground with such a sh#$@%ty commercial approach.

 

[BDWoody]

May follow your path for my ultimate HT settings .. May I ask what Pre/Pro you are using? And what subs? PM to not take the thread off track.

Sent

 

[jhaider]

It's almost as if there is a factory filter missing over the 1kHz mark.

Unfortunately, there may be something to your analysis.

I have measured 705i single wire tuning out of a BSS processor at line level. There is a substantial cut that by eye looks centered at a little before 1kHz. Unfortunately I don't have measurements of 705i with processor in line. I'm not inclined to publicly post raw data of the speaker measurements and EQ curve. The other possibility is production consistency issues with the midwoofer.

Even if the filter is working as intended, the P model has a fairly substantial built in parametric EQ for user voicing, right? The positive is that this bump is high enough in frequency that a gated measurement will expose it and allow for user correction without external processing.

 

[miike888]

It is. I have a second sample which the owner also sent me. I plan to measure that to see if we are dealing with sample variations, instrumentation, or golden samples.[/QUOTE

Hi Amir!

If the other sample have the same flaws as the one in your review are you going to reach out to someone at Harman to see why the measurement doesnt match theirs?

It would be very interesting to hear what they have to say.

Thanks in advance!

//Mike

 

[relmu]

A lot of images of inside! by 12B4A.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-705p-708p.1303/post-49096

I see the photos used by the BB dac chip PCM1796

 

[stunta]

Silly question: doesn't the 705p have built in DSP? So why didn't they correct for the dip?

 

[hansik]

These also go on B-Stock sale semi-regularly for about half price.

I bought a few of these and a pair of 708p's along with several members last year, and was so impressed that I bought a few more (along with some of those same members). Running 3x708p across the front, and now 6x705p for the rest of the theater room. At half price especially, this is a pretty remarkable deal.

I never had any QC issues with mine, so count that single data point FWIW.

How loud do you play them and how large is your room? I would consider them, but as I like to listen sometimes at or above reference level in my 15x18 room, I'm better with large cinema speakers.

 

[617]

This is an interesting speaker; I would love to see more analysis of the DSP section. A few comments.

First, I believe this and other professional active models include user configurable dsp, so evening out the issue above the port dip should be easy enough. I think preference scores should be based on the speaker in its most basic configuration, however. The actual acoustic design of this speaker appears to be pretty good - besides the vertical directivity being narrow and a bit irregular, the basic acoustic design is really good, offering dispersion control down pretty low in a small box.

Second, from previous discussions on this model it seems that JBL was going for 'big bass spl in a small box'. I think Amir's comments and measurements attest to the fact that this thing goes pretty low and pretty loud. Bass roll off is between 40-50 and is a little recessed above that (no small box bass boost) which is quite low for a small woofer. I don't know if this thing has some kind of servo feedback or just a big woofer motor but the bass performance is striking.

Third, the pricing for this model is pretty competitive from what I can gather. I think a comparison with the Genelec 8330 5" model would be interesting.

 

[BDWoody]

How loud do you play them and how large is your room? I would consider them, but as I like to listen sometimes at or above reference level in my 15x18 room, I'm better with large cinema speakers.

I like it loud...I like to physically feel it.
I will listen at reference levels almost always when I can...both music and movies.

Room is about 16x20x8, listening position is about 14'.

I am not thinking I need more headroom.

 

[BDWoody]

This is an interesting speaker; I would love to see more analysis of the DSP section.

I'd be happy to send either one of my 705's or 708's to whomever would be best able to put it through the DSP paces...haven't even unboxed the new ones yet.

 

[QMuse]

This is an interesting speaker; I would love to see more analysis of the DSP section.

+1

First, I believe this and other professional active models include user configurable dsp, so evening out the issue above the port dip should be easy enough.

I agree with @stunta on this - if that dip is a systematic issue why didn't they correct it? User configurable DSP should be for left for room EQ and personal tone controls and not to rectify systematic issues.

EDIT: Quote from the user's manual:

Comprehensive EQ and Delay - Although 7 Series monitors are designed to yield exceptional neutrality in any room, the 705P and 708P models also feature onboard room equalization that can be adjusted to compensate for adverse effects of room acoustics and optimize the accuracy of sound reproduction in any listening environment. In addition to eight Room EQ filters, six User EQ filters allow implementation of customized response curves such as the X-Curve or compensation for transmission-loss” when the speaker is placed behind a perforated cinema screen. User-enabled digital delay allows virtual alignment of speakers relative to the listening position, while additional “AV Synchronization” delay is available to compensate for latency in video displays. Factory and User Presets are provided for storage and recall of user-specific EQ and delay settings.

 

[QMuse]

I'd be happy to send either one of my 705's or 708's to whomever would be best able to put it through the DSP paces...

From what I can see in the manual they both have 8 room PEQ filters, which should be enough. If you know how to use REW and have UMIK-1 you can make measurements and I'll be happy to create filters for you.

This is what you will need to measure:

1.) both speakers reponse with MMM RTA for the 20Hz-120Hz range at your LP
2.) each speaker's response with MMM RTA for the range 120Hz-900Hz at your LP
3.) each speakers response with on-axis sweep for the range of 900Hz-20kHz at app 1m distance from the speakers

It maybe sounds complicated but it is a 15 minutes job.

 

[MZKM]

Thank you!

Did you maybe manage to find time to check this?

The CEA-2034 was too large to import.

 

[BDWoody]

From what I can see in the manual they both have 8 room PEQ filters, which should be enough. If you know how to use REW and have UMIK-1 you can make measurements and I'll be happy to create filters for you.

This is what you will need to measure:

1.) both speakers reponse with MMM RTA for the 20Hz-120Hz range at your LP
2.) each speaker's response with MMM RTA for the range 120Hz-900Hz at your LP
3.) each speakers response with on-axis sweep for the range of 900Hz-20kHz at app 1m distance from the speakers

It maybe sounds complicated but it is a 15 minutes job.

I'll take you up on that.
Ok...time for me to dig into a part of my audio education that's definitely lacking.
I'll see what I can figure out this afternoon.

 

[QMuse]

The CEA-2034 was too large to import.

I know. But this is a new file which cntains 240points vs 200 you require, so please take a

The CEA-2034 was too large to import.

I know. Can you please try to import this Estimated room response. It contains 240 points. If it works I can generate CEA-2034 file with same 240 points.