LSR308s...just had to do it.

[BMWCCA]

To be fair, in a small, carpeted room with no other noise, away from the rest of the house, I have to literally stick my ear directly in front of each driver to hear any noise at all on mine. I never noticed any noise until this thread caused me to try sticking my ear in them.

My home is known for poor (old) electric with all two-wire circuits and yet I have no noise from any other speakers including the bi-amped Crowns with the 4345s downstairs. I'm running the LSR305s off a Crown PSL2 using a pre-made (Hosa) unbalanced RCA-to-XLR cable that (according to the packaging diagram) shorts terminals 1 and 3 (negative to ground). I don't have anything I can use in that room that would give me a true balanced connection to try it otherwise. I previously ran them off long RCA-to-RCA with 1/4-inch adapters into the unbalanced inputs with no problem noticed.

[Ian Mackenzie]

That makes sense

[4313B]

I use my LSR305's on either side of my 42" flat panel hooked up to my PC and I sit approximately 3 feet away. I can't remember what cables I used or what setting I have them on, I'd have to look when I get home. I have no issues with hiss. I do remember having issues with hiss when I first hooked them up. In short, I couldn't be happier with these little monsters. They replaced a pair of passive Tannoy DC6's costing twice as much.

I have noticed that if I really crank them the inexpensive build quality of the enclosures begins to show. Fortunately, I just flat out don't like listening that loud.

Interestingly, the Tannoy DC6's are superior in the far field and their build quality is significantly better. But they cost a lot more too.

My only concern with these things was mirrored by Grumpy quite awhile ago - the amps. I'll use them until an amp fails and then toss them in the recycle bin.

[rusty jefferson]

I think it's very likely the acceptability of the noise level in the near field from these speakers is related to hearing, or loss of it. Just because you can "hear" a 10k sweep doesn't mean you'd be able to hear a high frequency hiss at 2-3ft. I don't know how many times I've listened to systems with a microphonic tube in a preamp or phono stage that was ringing or hissing in 1 channel that was making me nuts, and no one else in the room could hear it. It happens to all of us eventually.

If you have these speakers and don't really notice the hiss, determine the distance from the speakers it's audible to you and measure it (the distance). Then have a young person with known good hearing sit in front of them and measure the distance it's audible to them. Not annoying, but audible. Annoying is subjective.

[4313B]

I just checked my LSR305's and I sit 2.5 feet from them. The input sensitivity is set to +4 dBu and the level is set to Max. I use this cable to hook them up to my PC sound card: Hosa CMP159 Stereo Breakout, 3.5 mm TRS to Dual 1/4 in TS, 10-Feet

They are outstanding.

[Aculous]

To be fair, in a small, carpeted room with no other noise, away from the rest of the house, I have to literally stick my ear directly in front of each driver to hear any noise at all on mine. I never noticed any noise until this thread caused me to try sticking my ear in them.

My home is known for poor (old) electric with all two-wire circuits and yet I have no noise from any other speakers including the bi-amped Crowns with the 4345s downstairs. I'm running the LSR305s off a Crown PSL2 using a pre-made (Hosa) unbalanced RCA-to-XLR cable that (according to the packaging diagram) shorts terminals 1 and 3 (negative to ground). I don't have anything I can use in that room that would give me a true balanced connection to try it otherwise. I previously ran them off long RCA-to-RCA with 1/4-inch adapters into the unbalanced inputs with no problem noticed.

well...all I can tell you is that at 2.5 feet away it was definitely audible. Just to make sure I wasn't crazy I had my girlfriend sit in the room and listen as well. Without me saying anything as to why I was asking her to sit down and listen I clicked the power switch waited and second and she said "what is that?" about 10 seconds of sitting there. I asked her to explain and she said it sounded like soft static. As Rusty mentioned already I suppose it could be age and hearing, we are both under 35 so I suppose thats young still? It is in a small room with carpet but its definitely not silent in there.

All I can say is that I have plenty of class-d amps and have had powered speakers before and never had this issue. But you get what you pay for, although I would have dropped another 50-70$ for a better amp so theres that. Or 50-70 less for passive monitors with MDF or dense wooden enclosure.

Anyway I'll leave it there for my experience with these. Glad other people are not having my same experience.

[bubbleboy76]

Maybe a noise difference 305 vs 308?

[BMWCCA]

If you have these speakers and don't really notice the hiss, determine the distance from the speakers it's audible to you and measure it (the distance). Then have a young person with known good hearing sit in front of them and measure the distance it's audible to them. Not annoying, but audible. Annoying is subjective.

Could be. I'm 63 with decades of motorcycling and listening to live and recorded music under my belt. Fortunately I have my much younger wife and 21-year-old daughter in the house so I can run that experiment. I'll let you know. But again, mine are the 305s—bought on the recommendation of 4313B and grateful for that.

[Ian Mackenzie]

We tin ear old farts are easy to please!

[watchnerd]

OP:

Are you using these in your living room or other mid-field type set up?

If so, how do you find the LSR308 now that you've had them a while?

[BMWCCA]

I'd jump on these, if you have any curiosity at all about them. I just ordered a second pair after contemplating buying a used pair locally for the same amount. That's $100 off list price for a pair, today only: http://www.guitarcenter.com/JBL/LSR3...71656243395.gc

One of the final legacy speakers from GT and what will forever be known as the Pre-Samsung JBLs.

[BMWCCA]

FYI: Today Guitar Center has the LSR305 in a Special Ediiton Matte Red color on-sale for $99-each.