JBL 1 Series 104 Compact Desktop Speakers, Powered Reference Monitors - Bluetooth enabled (sold as pair)

Product Information

The front panel contains a detented volume control, a mini headphone jack (which mutes the speakers when headphones are plugged in), and a mini TRS auxiliary input jack. The 104 represents an innovative new set of speakers, designed from the ground up to provide the most accurate sonic presentation of any monitors in their class. The company is well known for its audio system equipment, including loudspeakers and headphones, and is divided into two branches: JBL Consumer, which is dedicated to the consumer sector, and JBL Professional, which is focused on the professional audio sector and offers equipment for studios, live applications, and cinemas. It isn’t often we are able to recommend a pair of desktop speakers; in fact, it isn’t that often we get to test any.

While it’s true 30 watts doesn’t get you very far, the engineers at JBL have miraculously used every ounce of power from this amp and kept distortion to a minimum all the way to its limit. With every recording session, there's one piece of the puzzle that never rests; it's constantly in use, informing every decision that you make - and that's your monitor controller. You can even stream your mixes directly via Bluetooth, helping you translate your music into common listening scenarios. Now JBL has gone one better by adding Bluetooth to the equation and, while that sounds like a positively tiny upgrade, that small change has had a big impact. The cabinet's precisely contoured low-frequency port works with the driver to deliver powerful, tight bass at any volume level.

CEA-2034 standard rightly requires 50 dB scale which is what I have used in this review and will do so in the future. There’s a further media player input on the front via a stereo 1/8” jack, and below this a handy 1/8” headphone jack. At first I thought it was just positioning of the speakers, but after playing around with aiming them at me and away from me and everything in-between, it seems as though there is a dip in the midrange. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required as is 20 years of participation in forums (not all true).

Indeed desktop placement would place the designed listening axis at about 30 degrees up in the vertical, and possibly with some off axis sideways angle as well. The JBL 104 Reference Monitors’ integrated 60-watt Class D power amplifier distributes a potent 30 watts per speaker. They are small and light enough to pack up and take on the road with a laptop, for times when you want to listen on speakers instead of headphones.

An ideal choice for budding bedroom studio producers, the 104-BT set enables users to get a rivetting audio projection and sound without breaking the bank.

This will start your application with Klarna Retail Finance or V12 Retail Finance, our finance partners, and completing this form should take approximately 10 minutes. I am happy to give wholehearted recommendation to these excellent compact JBL speakers and I liked them so much that I actually decided to purchase a pair for myself.The speakers are set up with one as a Master unit – with the amplifier gubbins inside, so it’s heavier – which you connect to the other with a red/black wire. If you looked at the size comparisons of these that I posted, you'll notice that they're very small speakers. Unfortunately you can't hear the bass guitar since it is too low for these speakers, but the rest of the performance is quite remarkable.

With the JBL One Series 104 reference monitors, we started with the mission to give content creators the ability to hear all the details for better results while mixing and editing. It would be very interesting to see what the horizontal directivity is like measured above the horizontal axis. If your goods develop a fault within the warranty period, we'll quickly repair or replace the item for you. You're guaranteed power and performance from an integrated 60W Class D amplifier, distributed evenly across two monitors.But we’ve never taken a look at their “prosumer” speakers until NAMM 2019 – where they introduced the 1 Series 104 Compact Powered Monitors to us. The initial listening tests reveal the JBLs handling themselves well, scrapping like a young, ripped David against a slightly arrogant Goliath. The JBL graph is quite smooth which tells me it lacks resolution and hence the fact that we have more exaggerated ups and downs but overall, the correlation is quite good. One of the two speakers is the ‘Master unit’ containing the amplifier and all of the inputs, with the other being a passive extension speaker.