The JBL LSR28P powered monitors are loaded with features and boast an extremely flat response over a wide frequency range (click image for larger view).

Just about everyone in the music industry has heard of JBL. The company has a long and distinguished history of manufacturing monitors for recording studios and live sound applications. However, while JBL’s live sound products are as popular as ever, its studio monitors have fallen out of favor during the past decade, mostly due to their harsh, ear-fatiguing high end. But far from being down for the count, JBL has jumped back into the ring with an impressive new line of speakers, the Linear Spatial Reference (LSR) studio monitor series.

Designed completely from the ground up, the four available LSR models neither look nor sound like any of JBL’s previous monitors. The LSR28P is an active 2-way with an 8-inch low-frequency driver ($2,198 per pair). A perfect example of the new line, the LSR28P is impressive-looking, with patented parts and rear-panel DIP switches for tweaking everything from input levels to frequency response.

The other three models of the LSR series are the larger LSR32, a passive 3-way with a 12-inch woofer ($1,099 each); the diminutive LSR25P, an active 2-way with a 5-inch woofer ($958 per pair); and an active subwoofer, the LSR12P ($1,199).

Built Like a Tank
The LSR28Ps are heavy at 50 pounds each. The monitors are boxed separately; otherwise they would be impossible to carry. (They’re packaged and sold individually, not in pairs, which is ideal for building surround systems.) Unfortunately, I ended up straining my back when I unpacked the speakers, because I lifted them straight out of their boxes, not realizing how heavy they were. (I later discovered a paragraph in the manual explaining how to properly unpack the speakers in a way that won’t damage them or cause bodily injury—I recommend reading that paragraph.)

Needless to say, these speakers must be situated on a sturdy piece of furniture. Forget about putting them on a workstation’s flimsy monitor leaves—the kind that jut out from a workstation’s sides and are supported by little triangular braces. Planting them on a big workstation (like the Omnirax Pro Station) or the top of a custom console desk should hold them securely. If you prefer speaker stands, make sure they are heavy-duty with wide bases so they don’t tip over from top-heavy loads. For wall mounting, a wall-to-bottom bracket is a must; JBL recommends the Omnimount 100WB. However, there are no predrilled holes on the cabinet for such a bracket, so you’ll have to drill them yourself—or have a licensed sound installation technician do the job.

Black with a charcoal-gray face, the LSR28Ps appear at first glance ominous and monolithic in stature. But on closer inspection, several details come to light that are all but invisible in the LSR print ads. The baffle (the faceplate to which the speakers are mounted) is separated from the cabinet body by a 1/4-inch-thick silver trim. It features a bar-top-style finish of clear gloss laminate over a silver, fiberglass-like material that is actually a special carbon-fiber-composite skin wrapped around a foam core. This design purportedly cuts coloration down to a minimum by allowing little resonance. The cabinet, made of 3/4-inch medium-density fiberboard, sports a glossy black finish.

The monitors have no grates, so the speaker cones are exposed. This is great for the sound but leaves the cones unprotected, so keep clumsy musicians bearing sharp objects (like pencils, picks, or fingernails) far away. There isn’t any protective covering for the tweeter, neither a metal grate nor a miniature roll bar (the LSR25Ps feature these). Luckily, the tweeters are set quite deep into the waveguides, affording them some protection, but a misplaced finger could easily dent one of the cones.

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Reprinted with permission from Magazine, December, 2000
© 2000, Intertec Publishing, A Primedia Company All Rights Reserved