Where are you seeing the price on B&H for the 308's? I am looking at their website and see the standard price of $250/piece.

EDIT: Ok, I think I see what you are referring too... just saw an ad for B&H on AVS and it took me to the sale but I noticed it says for a used speaker. Still not a bad deal though.

On their site, do a search for LSR308 and two things will pop up. The single speakers for $249 or the "kit" which is a pair of speakers for $299.

$299 for those is a nice price.

Yep, I see that now. Interesting that they have used ones on sale for $150/piece linked from AVS and then there is this kit for a new pair at the same price. Good find and thanks for sharing!

Ok, so it seems like a no brainier to try it out for the current sale price but was still curious if anyone could comment on my post below?

I have had a pair of 308's for about a week. They will perform like any other 8" book shelf. IOW, just because they are monitors doesn't mean they have to be used in a studio.
In your situation my biggest concern would be that they will not likely be anywhere as sensitive as your other speakers.
I had planned to buy a third for a center if I like them. I am returning them. Mainly because they do not sound as balanced as other speakers I have or have owned. I think the 305 is better overall, especially in the highs.

Up here the cheapest new I have seen the 308's is $299 each.

Thanks MUDCAT45... appreciate the input. So what speakers are you looking at now then? Staying with actives?

I agree with you in your concern but since I am looking at these of more of a stop-gap solution then I don't think I am too worried about that particular issue. They would be replacing a pair of Paradigm Studio 20's v2 for now with the ultimate goal of putting the K8's in the rear.

I think I am going to go for it because of the sale. I can report back my impressions if anyone is interested.

I am thinking about MAUDIO M3-8. I am toying with the idea of all active on the front 3 speakers.

Already have JBL, Revel and Klipsch KG's. I m looking for more of a live sound without too much PA sound.
Please report back with your evaluation.

I just ordered a pair of 308s from SweetWater and they should be here tomorrow! Can't wait to try them out. I listened to a pair of B&W 685s2 speakers while on vacation and they indeed sounded muffled and muddy in the midrange. I was very disappointed since they were on special too.

I wanted a setup with proper balanced outputs for use in a multichannel setup, so a cheap stereo DAC with XLR outs wasn't going to cut it. What I ended up getting is a pair of CleanBox Pro RCA to XLR converters which are very highly rated bal/unbal devices to get consumer line levels into pro inputs. I'll post my impressions here. Now I have an upgrade path to allow a full 7.1 setup without spending two grand on a prepro or receiver with a full set of XLR outs. Any Oppo BD player or receiver with pre-outs should do now. Much more affordable.

Keep us posted on the CleanBox. My plan was to use the Behringer MX882 which is around $100. One of its functions is to be a 6 channel consumer level to pro level amplifier.

I'm thinking about picking up a pair of LSR305's to use for my desktop PC. Do they auto power off when they don't have a signal after a set amount of time and wake up when they get a signal? I looked through the manual and they don't mention it so I'm guessing not... assuming they don't what do you guys use to turn them off without reaching back for the switches (it would be a PITA on my setup). I'm thinking of getting a smart power strip and use my monitor as the master so when it turns on/off the JBL's turn on/off.

I heard the 308s and have to have them now. I am starting my music system from scratch so am only interested in 2x LSR308s plus 1x LSR310s sub.
I am looking for an affordable $200-$400 processor for these powered speakers. I wouldn't hook up much apart the cable TV box because already have a 5.1 room in the basement. I,ve looked at Emotiva but was wondering if there were other pre-amps which were a good match for the 308's and which had the required pre-outs? I done a few hours/days online searching but am not finding any one good resource to filter by 'pre-outs'
Thanks,
Moto

If the processor has bass management, good chance you would get a better value going with a different sub. There is no advantage in buying the same sub brand as the speakers. Get the best sub for your money.

Setup up the LSR305's for a relative couple weeks ago (with a Denon HT1000). They never auto off'd that I saw.
Sounds pretty great. I was surprised.

*I use a pair of MMG's at my home with a Parasound HCA2200, nothing crazy.

I just got my 308s...already love them

Mr. Mysterious

You guys getting the LSR 308s make me jealous. I really want to try a pair. I just don't need them

They do not have an auto power off feature and I just leave mine on all of the time. I have them plugged into a surge protector and the amp never gets warm (even under load) and I believe their current draw is rather low. It would be a nice feature to have but since they don't seem to draw much current and produce no heat, then I don't think it's a big deal to leave on as long as you have them protected. And I do not experience any signal thumps when I turn on my pre-amp. Very quite speakers in this regards...

Just got mine last week as well and have been playing with them whenever possible. My intention is to use as surrounds but another member who started another thread was using them for L/C/R. He had some troubles getting them to play loud so I thought I would test mine out up front as L&R first before putting them as surrounds. I don't appear to be having the same issue he is and I am quite amazed on how these sound. I finally got to re-run Audyssey yesterday (even with the previous wrong Audyssey setup they sounded really good) and I am still experimenting but I am hearing a lot of detail out of these speakers. Natural, smooth, and accurate is how I would describe them. I have them approx. 10.4ft from the MLP and the speaker calc says they should hit about 105db with two of them at that distance. Very impressive especially at this price point. Needless to say, I am sold on powered speakers.

Hi MUDCAT45... been toying with the 308's and I got to say they are very impressive speakers. Much better than I anticipated at this price point. Sorry you didn't feel the same but I did come across some studio monitors that might be what your looking for. They are the PreSonus Sceptre S8's. They also have an S6 (6" version) but I assume you would be more interested in the 8. They are designed by Fulcrum Acoustics for PreSonus. I think they will have the live sound your looking for minus the PA distinction based on the design and the lineage of the designer (Fulcrum). However they are a lot more expensive then the 308's. They have full active DSP and 2 of them calculate to 119db at 1m so they are much louder by comparison. Check them out when you get a chance.

As for the 308's, best bang for the buck as far as I can tell. They (along with all powered/active monitors in general) have changed my whole perspective about this hobby. Thanks JBL!

Yeah, it makes the most sense for me because I don't have to bother with figuring out what's the best amp/preamp or have to worry about 'blowing them out'. They're really convenient.

Mr. Mysterious

Thanks for the reply. I'll probably just get a smart power strip to power them on and off. I don't like leaving things on, I watch my power bill like a hawk LOL.

Same.

So I've joined the JBL club and couldn't be happier. I've been listening to all my old favorites on .FLAC as well as movies and both my girlfriend and I loved it.

I have it connected from the analog outs of my HTPC through my Cleanbox Pro but I don't have a straight RCA to XLR to compare it with. I do notice a tiny amount of noise / hiss when I put my ear immediately next to the speaker, so I'm not sure if that's a feature of the sensitivity of this speaker in general or if using unbalanced raw using the -10db setting on the back would give more, less, or the same amount of hiss. Using my cleanbox I get +4db at the output so that's what I switched my inputs to.

Now that I'm satisfied I'm going to be ordering another 308 and a pair of 305s to make it a 5.1 setup, then eventually another pair of 305s for the surround rears or perhaps Atmos front heights if I can find a PC-based codec for it.

Nice! I bet three of those 308's across the front would be an awesome front soundstage.

Mind if I ask what is the distance to your LP and how loud do you listen to movies (reference? ) and music. Have you felt you ever reached their limits at any point?

Thanks

Nope, they are more than loud enough at my sitting distance, which is about ten feet or so.

I live in a huge loft and running them as 2.0 instead of 2.1 doesn't make much difference. My sub is a rather cheap one which I'll probably replace sooner or later, but I can run these speakers full range and they handle everything I throw at them well. If I wanted more SPLs I would just get a front stage of EON 615s which was my original dream speaker, but now that I have these and they cost half as much and provide ample SPLs, I plan on getting a full set of this LSR line. I am super satisfied with the sound output and clarity, and I've owned Klipsch KL-650 THX horn speakers powered by an Emotiva amp, as well as some B&W speakers. I think these are perfect, I'm so glad I read this forum! Otherwise I would have speakers 2x as big as they needed to be. If you run them not full range and with a sub, I don't see how you could need more power or SPLs unless you're in a huge room.

My loft's theater area (semi closed room) is 22 (deep) x 11 (wide) x 13 (height). The SPLs of the Klipsh were overkill and I had to put the volume up to get the dialogue clarity that I get with the 308s at lower volumes. I'm glad I sold all my old stuff, this is much more minimalist and bang for the buck, better than what I had before in many respects.

I like these 308s a LOT more than the demo of the muddy sounding B&W 685s I heard at a hifi retailer. That demo convinced me to go with JBLs instead and try my luck. I'm so glad I did, because otherwise I would be feeling like I'm missing out on midrange clarity as well as bass extension and stereo separation / imaging too.

JBL FTW! They've got a hit on their hands. Good job guys.

Is there any recommended mounting for these? They're rear ported so they need some breathing room in the back, I'm just wondering if I should just build shelves until my projector screen or get some kind of dedicated hook up.

If they had VESA mount brackets that would be great. Oh well, can't get it all.

Just to chime in... When I had mine temporarily up front for L&R, I tested at reference level and they had no issues. My seating position is about 10.4'. According to the speaker calc, they should hit reference at 10.5 feet with a little room to breath. I think you might have to run them a little hot though as I was not getting over 100db during my tests but they were loud and did not break up at all. I was very tempted to keep them in the front and buy another pair for the rear but then I hooked up my QSC K8's and they are a better match for my center. The 308's are now being used as surrounds as was my original intent. If you want a great all around setup at a good price, they are hard to beat.

Not sure of your setup but this is what I am using for my 308's for surrounds and they work great:

http://www.amazon.com/B-Tech-BT77-Ul...TXSCZTE4XZ07FQ

and here is another one that looks almost identical but allows for more width (12 inches compared to mine at 11 inches):

http://www.amazon.com/Pinpoint-Mount...inpoint+mounts