I recently received a demo unit of the JBL One Series 104 Reference monitors and I am extremely impressed by the build and performance on these. I will go over all the specifications, features, and my thoughts on these and also let you know what I found in my testing. These monitors are well built and extremely durable. For the price I am certain they will make a great addition to any DJs home studio.

Specifications

These booth/desktop monitors feature coaxial woofer design with a 4.5 inch Low Frequency Driver and a .75 inch soft dome high frequency driver. These are powered by a 60 watt class D amplifier which distributes 30 watts per side. This combination is put together into desktop size casings that are acoustically optimized for perfect sound quality. For the inputs they have provided 3 different styles of inputs to be able to not only provide sound for your professional equipment but also your personal music players as well. The maximum SPL for the speakers is 92 dB and the peak SPL is 102 dB. The speakers feature a front panel volume control with a headphone jack that has an auto mute to the speakers for when you are using your headphones.

Unboxing Thoughts

When I removed these speakers from the box I was a little unsure about them. My first thoughts were they seemed a little small for a studio monitor use. They are very sleek and clean which is great for the look of a studio workstation. This also helps with ensuring you are not taking up too much unnecessary space. To connect the satellite monitor to the main JBL opted to use a traditional speaker wire that clips into the back of each speaker. While it is extremely effective and cost effective I feel it is inconvenient for the DJ wanting to use these outside of a home studio. Other than this they were extremely well built and have good weight to them. After my initial uneasiness wore off I was thoroughly impressed with the build of these monitors.

In Use

Once I got these set up with my DVS setup I was really impressed with how great they looked on my practice desk. Small and clean they did not take up unnecessary space at all. I tried all types of music with these speakers and they played it all beautifully! When I played music with heavy bass notes I pushed the volume as much as possible and there was no distortion from the speakers at all. The speakers hit every note and the only equipment that was clipping was from my mixer. With the high frequencies there were no negative items either. I tried to push these things past anything a regular user would ever do and they held up strong and steady. The front volume control was extremely convenient in practical use. I tried every input they had and every one delivered high quality crisp clean sound.

Conclusion

All in all these monitors would be a great addition to any DJ’s studio. At an MSRP of $149 it is a high quality and affordable option for any DJ. These speakers did an amazing job for me and I am sure they will do an amazing job for you as well. As with all of my review articles please do not take my word for it try them out for yourself. I am sure you will love them!