SECTUAL

This is not a paid endorsement.

In November, my self-storage unit full of vintage electronics was auctioned off when I couldn't make rent. Some estate sale vulture is gonna make an absolute fortune off of that stuff. Choke, ya bastard.

I'm not collecting any more vintage stuff. It was reasonably priced back when I was buying stereos and Casio keyboards and whatnot, but it's priced well out of reach now.

I'm not even gonna buy another record player. I'll buy records for friends who own one, but I'm done collecting. It'll be strictly YouTube from now on. For me, that means one keyboard and a pair of decent speakers for my computer.

With that in mind, I went into the nearest Best Buy to shop. The guy said their computer showed two pairs of Edifier powered speakers in stock - the only ones in the state. However, he searched the whole store and couldn't find them.

He said their store primarily sold computers, while the store across town had a bigger selection of audio gear, and suggested I try there. There's a Guitar Center right next door to Best Buy, so I decided to check there before traveling further.

I found a used pair of Yamaha HS5's in my price range. I wasn't tickled by the bass response, but I figured they'd do. I was about to buy them when the clerk brought to my attention some brand new JBL 305P Mk II monitors right around the corner that were on sale for about the same price. Studio monitors are sold individually, not in pairs, so I bought two, along with a cable to connect them to my PC's sound card. I also bought a two-year extended warranty. Yeah, I know JBL is a trusted brand, but you can't be too careful, what with everything being made in China and all.

I wasn't expecting much from a couple of 5" woofers, but I was pleasantly surprised by the bass response, clarity, and detail of these speakers. I've only turned them up to 5 so far, as I don't want to disturb the housemates. I'll see how loud they'll go later, when everyone is gone. I can already tell from listening to 80s R&B slow jams at low volume all weekend though that they'll be adequate for my small apartment when I move in a few weeks.

So here we are. The JBL 305P Mk II powered studio monitor on sale for $129 US each at Guitar Center right now.

White:

https://www.guitarcenter.com/JBL/305P-MK...0220617.gc

Black:

https://www.guitarcenter.com/JBL/305P-MK...0151382.gc

A lot of situations can transpire in life where you lose all your old equipment... there are a whole lot of ways it can happen.

For people who are used to the sound quality of vintage speakers, it's good to know that they're at least making decent replacements.

A lot of it rides on the depth of bass you can achieve.

In all the electronic music these days, they're obsessed with bass...

You'd think they'd try to make the speakers match their obsession.

It's like all the bass comes from a tiny little area rather than it surrounding you.

I dunno, most sound systems these days just lack the depth and richness that is required for that vintage speaker sound.

We should start a site called "SpeakerSnobs.com"...

Make it a blog with affiliate links or something.

The bass isn't exaggerated, it's just there. I have the backs of the monitors close to the wall, which you wouldn't do in a recording studio. That tends to reinforce the bass response.

You probably wouldn't want to use these for mixing hip hop. But for music that has an actual bass guitar, or even an 80s synth bass, they're perfectly fine.

There's also a lot of depth to the sound, something I've been missing with shitty little Bluetooth speakers and whatnot. Instruments in the background actually sound distant, not just fainter. It's hard to explain, but those who have good stereos will know what I mean.

Ideally, you should take your own reference mix tape with you when shopping for speakers. The deck was stacked against me there.

First, the selector switch box at the store didn't have a way to directly connect an audio player. I had to connect my shitty phone with Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a rather low bit rate serial connection over wireless. It's not well suited to high resolution stereo transmission.

Next, the two speakers in each pair on display were placed way too far apart. You're trapped in a narrow aisle with a gondola full of other merchandise behind you, so there's no way to step back and get anything approaching a proper soundfield.

Finally, it's a retail space, not a studio or hifi shop or living room. So even if the other two points are in order, you're not gonna get a real sense of what they'll sound like when you take them home.

So I basically took a chance and got lucky. On the plus side, there are a few switches on the backs of the monitors that you can use to tailor the response to your room. I set them all for a flat response, and haven't done any tinkering yet.

(04-09-2023, 07:54 PM)user328 Wrote: [ -> ]Instruments in the background actually sound distant, not just fainter. It's hard to explain, but those who have good stereos will know what I mean.

This made me salivate just thinking about it.

It sounds like you're gonna have a ton of fun tweaking this system to get it just right once you're in your own place.

That is exciting.

All of the roommates were out, so I cranked the speakers all the way up for a few seconds to get an idea of how loud they'd go.

They're definitely too boomy to place near a wall, even with the bass attenuated as low as it'll go. I'm gonna have to either place my desk further from the wall or put some acoustic absorber panels on the wall behind them. I'm not gonna worry about that until I get to my new place and see how they sound there.