Guitar Gear Forum

so over the last few months I've been upgrading my home recording rig.... First was the Captor X, followed by a new Mac Mini and the SSL2 Interface and now I got the final upgrade, a pair of JBL 306P Monitors... now the only thing stopping me from recording is my own procrastination lol

Congrats and HNMsD!!!! WOOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you notice any difference between your new JBL's and your old monitors?
When I hooked up my Sterling monitors for the first time, it was like night and day!

my last pair of monitors were a mismatched set of KRK Rokit 6s... one was a series 2 and the other was a series 3..... so this is a BIG improvement.... still dialling them in really. Being rear ported I had to pull my desk back from the wall because I was getting some really bad phasing on the low end, but between moving my desk back about 8" from the wall and using the 1.5db bass roll off on the monitor seems to have done the trick, just need to spend time with them really do lots of referencing

Wow, those look awesome Marc! Your whole setup is looking pretty badass, it's giving me some ideas for how to create some much needed space.

itchyfingers wrote:Wow, those look awesome Marc! Your whole setup is looking pretty badass, it's giving me some ideas for how to create some much needed space.

Thanks Itchy...... I have some changes planned I want to do soon, mainly upgrading my existing 21" 1080P monitor to a 27" or 32" 4K monitor with one of those gooseneck type mounts since I'll likely be doing more video than audio editing in the future and once I get the new monitor I'm going to have to build some small shelves off the side of the desk to put the speakers out a little wider. All in all I'm happy with the current setup and it can more than work for me right now

Nice score Marc! How's the SSL2?

Marc G wrote:my last pair of monitors were a mismatched set of KRK Rokit 6s... one was a series 2 and the other was a series 3..... so this is a BIG improvement.... still dialling them in really. Being rear ported I had to pull my desk back from the wall because I was getting some really bad phasing on the low end, but between moving my desk back about 8" from the wall and using the 1.5db bass roll off on the monitor seems to have done the trick, just need to spend time with them really do lots of referencing

Yup, my monitors are rear ported and close to the wall as well.
I had to angle mine, like you did, at about 35° because, I really can't move my desk any further from the wall.
Angling definitely helped in my case.

JiveTurkey wrote:Nice score Marc! How's the SSL2?

initial tests so far are great and a definite upgrade from the Yamaha MG mixer I was using as an interface before..... gonna be tracking some stuff this weekend, so I'll see how it compares to the previous rig

I have the 305s and I love them, they're much better than the Yamaha HS5s I had before. I am considering getting a set of 308s in the future.

GuitarBilly wrote:I have the 305s and I love them, they're much better than the Yamaha HS5s I had before. I am considering getting a set of 308s in the future.

I was real close to getting the 305s but when I listened to them in the store the extra low end from the 306s sold it for me.... I found the 305s would benefit from having a sub but I could get away without one with the 306s.... I'm going to have to figure out a way to arange my room that would let me move the monitors more than the 8" from the wall I have them at right now so I could put the bass response back to normal instead of the 1.5db cut I need to run it at. I'm wondering if maybe some aurelex foam on the walls right behind them would solve that problem... could be worth a shot...

Great set up, Marc.

How do you like the mini? What's under the hood?

jamminjohn wrote:Great set up, Marc.

How do you like the mini? What's under the hood?

the Mini is great.... picked it up last year JUST before the new model came out so it's the i7 model. I went with the 256gb SSD 8GB RAM model but bought 32gb of RAM, a 1TB SSD and the USB hub that's under it off Amazon and did the upgrades the day I got it lol.... I would recommend the hub to anyone that has or is getting a Mini since it can hold a SATA drive internally so for more or less the cost of an external SSD I got the drive and the hub.

Congrats! I had a new monitor day this year too and it changed everything. Always a good day!

Man I like that setup. I’m on a Mac Pro trash can. Apple will give me about $900 as a trade in and am looking at a Mac Mini as well.

I’ve heard the JBL’s are supposed to sound excellent.

Jer, the Minis are absolute beasts and the M1 model even more so, I can see them really becoming a standard all over the place once they get the drivers sorted out with different interface manufacturers and software developers. The JBLs are awesome as well, the clarity is really impressive, I'm still getting use to the low end but I think that's more to do with my room than the monitors. What's really impressive with the JBLs is the lack of ear fatigue, after 30 minutes at higher volumes I'd be done with my KRKs, with these I haven't experienced fatigue as yet.



Over the last few weeks I did the final upgrades, extended the top of my desk to allow the JBLs to be set wider apart and got my 27" 4K monitor and for fun set up a dual monitor rig, I'm not 100% sure I'm gonna keep the dual monitor rig BUT I'm holding out until I see how it works for video editing, I have a shoot with 3 bands this Saturday so if it makes my work flow better I'll keep it, for now there's no MAJOR advantage since the 27" monitor is big enough and the resolution is high enough to really be comfortable to work on alone

I have them. They are awesome. I still suck at mixing but they helped me suck less. I look forward to what you do with them.

It's time I finally buy some monitors; I've been using my little THR10 as my monitor system but it can't handle the intense bass of the Maschine stuff I've been working on lately.


Those JBL's look awesome, and at $150 each they seem like a killer ass deal. I's interested.

^That techno life will change you for ever.