Way late to the game here with my review - but hey, that just makes it that much better, right? 6 years of ownership on a set of these now, thousands of hours of production and critical listening through them and I can tell you that I am loving them just as much now as I did when I first heard them and brought them home.

Gearfest 2018 - was just about done for the day and managed to walk my way into the Harman truck parked in the middle. Looked at mics, phones, some other stuff, and in the back was a console with the 705P's on them, next to a set of the 305's. I had heard the 305's in the past and wasn't horribly impressed with them - and was a bit shocked when I saw the price of the 705's. There was a rep in the truck and I said "cmon - are they really that much better?" and he told me to sit down behind the board while he cued up a track. Blown away is a gross understatement. Amazing punch, depth, and clarity... immediately A/B'ed them against the 305's and it was absolutely no contest. I was further shocked when I asked where the sub was and was told no - and that I was listening to 500w of bi-amp power in each cab.

I listened to a couple of more tracks that I was intimately familiar with and then made the comment that I think they might even sound better than my Genelec 2029A's that I had been using for the past 10 years. The rep just kinda grinned - you could tell it made his day hearing that news. I listened for another half hour and then called my friend into the truck to validate my ears as he did far more production work than I did unti then. Considering he was test driving a set of ATC's for half the day - I knew he would give an honest opinion. He was very surprised as well, and also asked where the sub was. After 3 songs he said I needed to get them.

I pulled the trigger after taking a look at their return policy, which would give me enough time to do some critical listening at the studio vs. the Genny's. As an interesting side note - the Genny's replaced a set of 1st gen JBL 4408's that I had been using for almost 10 years prior and loved (still have them). Took them home, and listened to the Genny's while unboxing the 705's so I had some fresh memory for the sound. I did a direct swap and made no adjustments... oh my gawd. Absolutely night and day. Complete shock. They beat the snot out of the Genny's in clarity up and down the spectrum, with a much more uniform spectrum as well, and the sound just came alive. Had no idea what I was missing.

For the next two weeks I ran them almost non-stop, small tweaks to the onboard settings and finally got them absolutely perfect. They are smooth, crystal clear mids and highs yet not at all fatiguing even after 12 straight hours, and give a full-bodied & warm sound. I ended up keeping the Genny 1091A sub as it blended beautifully with the 705's. Sold the 2029's for half the price I paid for the 705's - so that helped.

About 6 months into ownership I had one of the 705's freak out on me for no apparent reason - it cranked itself full-blast and made what I can only describe as a police siren wail sound. I was downstairs and thought the cops had chased someone right into my front yard. It took me a moment to realize it was coming from upstairs and by the time I got up there (covering my ears) - a slight trail of smoke coming out of the port - and I flipped off the power on the back of the monitor. Needless to say I was a bit pissed... thought I just watched a G of monitor go up in smoke. Checked cabling and tried to power it back up - dead as a doornail.

Called up Sweetwater and told them what happened - figured they would point me to JBL. But instead - without even batting an eye they said they would send me a replacement and for me to send the bad one back to them. Got the new one in a few days - put my settings back into it and test drove it for a week before sending the bad one back. That was just under 6 years ago - and not a lick of trouble since.

Never did get a straight answer as to what happened with the old one. But hey - Sweetwater did good by me and the JBLs are standing the test of time now - they have been left powered on for years and have been run through the mill with production work, critical listening and casual/recreational listening.

If I ever had a need - I would buy another set of these without hesitation. Some of the best sound quality and processing features you are going to get out of a platform of this size. If they can unseat Genelec - that should speak volumes!

Read More Show Less

I had been mixing on my E8's for 18 years, I love them, but the KRK office here in L.A. was shuttered after the Gibson takeover so no service is possible. They are failing, and I'd been fighting new monitors for a couple years. I mention this as many can probably relate to wanting to stay with their beloved tool that has been working for them. JBL fell of my radar when they focused on consumer level monitors. I have several of those in my studios, and they are mediocre. I also have installed large JBL cinema speakers and their compression drivers are amazing. The ethos of this speaker really spoke to me... new technology, thinking outside the box, and focusing on low distortion, wide imaging, extended high frequency response and adaptability. You won't really see mention of these facets in most other monitors, because they really can't. They are mostly using the same technology, and have the same restrictive performance, relying on price point, online reviews, etc. As a technician, it's easy to recognize the effort that went into the design of these, but what about the sound? After all that's what matters. First off, it only took me about a month of adjusting to find the perfect positioning and tuning, something rarely discussed, but positioning is super important. Aside from positioning, I only made a small dip around 70 Hz which was a bit boomy, and gave them a nudge up in the 1K area for vocal clarity. That's it! The dsp is transparent and addressed my issues very easily. You can actually make several bands of adjustment if you desire. One speaker is about 2db louder than the other, no problem, there's a trim with .1db resolution, fantastic! I am blown away by the high frequency output, it's unbelievably clear, with no compression or straining I am accustomed to on normal tweeters. Extension is to the moon. You will hear distortion on records that you never noticed before. The sound stage is epic! The center image is firmly planted in between the speakers, like it's coming out of my computer screen. Panned elements are effortlessly separated from the center. I'm hearing recordings I know like the back of my hand for the firs time. Hearing singers opening their mouth before they sing. I never achieved this level of imaging with close monitors before, but I do have this with my listening system in my living room. I don't hear a left and right speaker, I hear a wall of sound 5 feet wide. It's mind blowing. They are very small and light. There are a couple of weaknesses. For one, the digital inputs are awful. I fought it for two days, and get fantastic results just analog from my apogee AD. Also, while they are ported and have a lot of low end, I felt it is exaggerated, but was easy to tune out. It's a 5" driver after all, sounds bigger than that, but still not nearly enough for full range mixing with a clear drop below 60Hz or so, for music you definitely want good subs to go with it. I also sleep well knowing Harman group stand behind their products, I use their equipment in large scale installations I have to maintain, and in the rare occasions I need assistance, they actually always pick up the phone and talk to me and will help solve any problems, and that's an intangible value.

Read More Show Less

So to be brief , I have quite a long history with my old JBL 6328P monitors. I had used mine for over a decade, and those were a Godsend compared to the old Mackie HR 828's , which caused so much listening fatigue I find it a wonder anyone could use them for long periods. The old 6328's were a huge step up for me, and only had a few minor regrets with them--their size (and loudness, eventually) and a mildly boxy sound that I've heard mentioned in a few professional circles. They were never unusable, they were always supremely accurate, but you never exactly got a sense of 3D immersion, the boxiness of the old monitors definitely gave them more of a 2D flavor , in spite of the praise I have for their accuracy.

It eventually came about that I needed to move out of the country, and into a much smaller space. I had to abandon the use of my 6328's due to potential noise complaints from neighbors with a shared wall, not to mention the amount of space they took up in my new mixing space would be unacceptable.

So after ensuring that my new room was treated, I went around looking for reviews of smaller speakers, and came across the usual Genelec, KH, etc, and eventually came across a few reviews of the 705P's. I remember seeing one that was less than positive from a big audio reviewing site, and another extolling the praises of the 705, so I was a little disheartened finding that there were some big criticisms out there of the 705P, even though there was a counterbalancing positive. One reviewer noticed a "boxy" sound in the 705P, which I was very familiar with already from the 6328P, but the other review was actually making positive evaluations of the newer 705P when compared to the 6328P. In their own summary, the 705P blew away the 6328P, which I admit sounded like fluff and exaggeration. But I definitely needed something good, and small, with a good low end, and the JBL fit the bill--I could not find anything else this size (it's the smallest I've seen) with such a great low end spec--almost as low as the 6328P, which again , was hard to believe given the size difference between the two.

In any case, based on the need for something small, I went ahead and ordered the 705P's.

So I've been using them for a few weeks now, and after working with them for a while now, I can say that I am rather surprised to find myself in the same camp as that reviewer who was praising the merits of the 705P compared to the 6328, rather than the more negative review.

More importantly, I can address their claim that the 705p is somehow better than the 6328P's.

I have to wholeheartedly agree--as miraculous as it may seem, they are better than my beloved 6328's.

That boxiness that I could not stand about the 6328's is gone. No trace of it whatsoever. All I get is a gorgeously balanced signal that is very easy to listen to, and has great low end--rather shocking at this size. Now it doesn't have the output capacity of the 6328's, but that really isn't needed now, so for my purposes, this is just fine. But still, they can go pretty loud if needed. Not that I can ever fully utilize them in such a way since I do have the aforementioned neighbors next to me, but with that being said, these are very great monitors that can crank out some good volume and not lose anything. And a very nice stereo spread.

Now I do regret that the EQ on the back isn't analog like the old monitors--I don't really use it yet, but I do like the old dip switches on the 6328's better. And it is rather cramped in the back, but really, I can't expect more in something this small.

Now would I buy these again? Absolutely! I may just end up getting another set for listening upstairs in the dining area or for home theater--they have such a tremendous amount of energy for something so small. There may be better speakers out there, but for now, I really don't want to think about how much it would cost to get such a good sound out of something equally as small--I just want to enjoy working with these and move on the the next project!

Read More Show Less

My Sweetwater sales engineer - Carson McClain - suggested that I try these out, as I was upgrading my monitors from JBL 3 series.. These were introduced at the winter NAMM and AES shows, and were blowing people away. As I absolutely trust Carson, I decided to go JBL rather than a certain monitor made in France, at three times the price. I will tell you that these are the best monitors I have heard and I have been in professional sound since 1988. The "sweet spot" is frankly amazingly wide, the frequency response, exceptional - I can move from one end of my console to the other (about seven feet) and they maintain center. I'm rather old school and create balanced mixes that use the entire musical spectrum, and these monitors meet and surpass my expectations. The monitors are very flat and don't color your sound, and the built in EQ and DSP allow you to tune out variances in your room acoustics. I drive them directly from my SSl console, and in a word, these near fields are simply stunning. They are no-nonsense and everything you require as an audio professional in a monitor. They will help you to create a mix YOU can be proud of, and your clients will love. I don't know how JBL was able to accomplish this, but I am very glad that they did. 5 stars all the way - these monitors deserve it.

Read More Show Less

When looking into studio monitors my sweetwater rep - Aaron Tremain, said that in this price range the 705's were the way to go.
I must say, I was initially skeptical about buying the 705's. having the 305's (as secondary reference monitors) I didn't see why i should buy "an upgraded version on the same thing".
But boy was I wrong..
The stereo Imaging out of these little guys are out of this world! and the clarity - superb.
From the kicks and bass which literally sound like they're coming from a sub under the table, to panning Instruments & background vocals to create space, the incredible almost-visual image in front of you is gorgeous!
as my Rep said after I made the order - "I'm excited for you to hear them! some things I hear and can explain what I'm hearing, and some things are just magic!"

Read More Show Less