JBL 305P MKII review: Bargain price meets great sound

The JBL 3 Series Studio Monitors have long offered big sound at an affordable price, making them perfect for budding producers on a budget who want to ensure that their music sounds flat and accurate while simultaneously clear and detailed. The latest in the series are the JBL 305P MKII Monitors, which indeed carry the tradition of affordability, sitting in at only $149 each, or $298 for a pair.

Over the past few years, the affordable studio monitor world has seriously heated up. The likes of PreSonus have been firing on all cylinders while companies like Mackie and M-Audio continue to deliver. The JBL 305P MKII speakers compete?

JBL 305P MKII review

JBL 305P MKII

The JBL 305P MKII studio monitors sound excellent in their price range, plus they boast helpful EQ features for a more accurate audio response.

Design

8

Features

9

Sound

7.5

Value

9.5

Pros

Detailed and accurate audio response

Helpful EQ features

Ultra-low price point

Cons

Bass is a little lacking

8.5

BUY FROM

Amazon

Reverb

Design

JBL isn’t reinventing the wheel with the design of these speakers. They feature an all-black design with a ported enclosure and a matte black body built from 15mm MDF, save for the front of the speaker, which has largely a glossy finish. The speaker is coated in a matte black PVC.

While the speakers aren’t necessarily all that unique, they still look good and will look right at home in any studio setting, whether it be a home studio or a professional studio. Each speaker has the JBL badge between the woofer and the tweeter, which houses an LED light indicating status.

Generally speaking, the monitors felt strong and sturdy, and under normal use, you shouldn’t expect them to get damaged easily.

Features

The JBL 305P MKII monitors offer all the ports and features you would expect, plus some extras. On the back, you’ll get balanced XLR and 1/4-inch inputs, along with a volume knob.

You’ll also get some EQ settings, which can come in handy. There’s a high frequency trim, which has three positions (-2dB, 0, and +2dB), along with a so-called Boundary EQ switch, which also has three positions and is essentially a low frequency shelf that lets you roll off bass frequencies to compensate for any bass swells that might come from the monitors being placed closer to a wall or corner.

It’s a good selection of features, and there really isn’t much else you could want from the monitors.

Performance

The JBL 305P MKII monitors are built to be budget monitors for small spaces or for beginners just getting started in production. Thankfully, however, they don’t sound overly cheap. To be clear, you’re not going to get the same level of detail as you would with much more expensive monitors, but you also wouldn’t necessarily expect that. These monitors get the basics right. They provide a balanced overall audio quality that ensures you get a relatively accurate representation of your music.

Perhaps the biggest weakness here is in bass response, but that arguably has much more do with the size of the monitors than anything JBL could have done. 5 inches is the common woofer size for compact monitors, and even JBL can’t beat physics — if you want 5-inch monitors but want ultra-deep bass it’s probably worth coupling them with a decent subwoofer. That said, as far as monitors with 5-inch woofers go, the bass response is still quite good, and I found that kick drums delivered decent oomph. Just don’t expect much in the way of sub-bass.

Detail and clarity in the high end are solid here. I found that the speakers delivered a relatively accurate high-end response and a good balance between the mids and highs. I also found that I didn’t really have to use any of the EQ controls on the back to achieve an accurate audio response. Of course, that varies widely depending on the room they’re used in.

So the question remains, are these the best-sounding speakers in their price range? kind of think that the answer is yes. Again, you’ll get better bass response from larger speakers, but larger speakers typically cost more too.

Verdict

The JBL 305P MKII studio monitors have a lot to offer. They’re well designed, have helpful controls on the back, and deliver an accurate and clear audio response overall, especially for a pair of monitors in this price point. If you’re a beginner looking for first pair of studio monitors, or simply want a pair of monitors at a low price for a smaller space, then the JBL 305P MKII monitors are the way to go. Those who need a little extra in the way of bass will want to couple them with a subwoofer or consider something slightly larger. But again, that has little to do with anything JBL could have done, and more to do with physics.

Are the JBL 305P MKII worth buying?

Yes. These monitors are excellent at this price point, not only sounding excellent, but also offering helpful EQ controls to make them sound even more accurate.

How many watts is the JBL 305P MKII?

The JBL 305P MkII studio monitors offer 82 watts of total power per speaker. That output is divided between the tweeter and the woofer, each of which gets its own 41-watt Class D amplifier. They’ll easily get loud enough for most small and medium-sized studios, which is what they’re built for. Larger studios may want something with a little more oomph though, not to mention a subwoofer.

What is boundary EQ?

Boundary EQ on the JBL 305P MkII monitors is essentially a low-frequency shelf that lets you roll lower frequencies off to compensate for some of the bass build-up that may occur when you place the monitors closer to a wall or corner. If there’s plenty of space behind the monitors, you may not need to use the Boundary EQ switch. But if your workstation is facing a wall, it’s worth experimenting with the different Boundary EQ settings to achieve the most natural sound.