Redknife

Here's my sub + SSV experience: I'll just say up front that what follows is opinion. Feel free to disagree. I included more detail since these are subjective assertions. I find the low end lacking with the SSV alone. I'm not bothered by absence of thump or lack of floor shaking. The Kronos as a sound source has a broad spectrum (full low end) and when using the SSV alone I miss the low end on things like organ, EP, bass, low octave piano. I decided I wanted to add a sub for small venue/practice. I didn't want a massive rig and wanted to keep weight down. I dont need this sub to supply the spl for medium or large venues. Based on all of the positive experience and good reviews, I ordered a Behringer B1200. I routed my mixer out to the Behringer and experimented with the cutoff frequency (or not). I listened to various familiar music sources and also played the Kronos/PC3A6. To put my listening impressions in to perspective: The listening area comparison was a pair of Yamaha HS8 tops and an HS8 sub. I realize that studio monitors are not a fair comparison. For medium or larger venues I am accustomed to the sound of multiple 18 subs (again, not the goal here). I was pretty disappointed with the overall sound of the SSV+Behringer B1200. I spent about 4 hours tweaking and troubleshooting. I found the Behringer sloppy and lacking full character for bass representation. The Kronos Berlin piano sounded empty and muddy in the low end. The Kronos bass sounds were lacking depth and also poorly defined. I listened to the Behringer alone and it was a mess to my ears (I'm familiar with the sound of a sub alone). To my ears, the Behringer didn't extend as low as I'd like. The Behringer did add bass to the overall sound and did get loud enough for my needs, I just found it to be non-musical and inaccurate. I went in search of an alternative. I was worried I'd have to get into the 75#+ size to be satisfied with the sound. Today I headed out to audition subs with a target of the Electro-Voice ZXA-1 sub. Briefly, the EV ZXA-1 sub retails for 599 USD, uses a 12" woofer, 700w amp, and weighs 46#. Its size is similar to the Behringer b1200. I listened to the ZXA-1 sub in store and compared it to the QSC w181 amongst others. The zxa actually compared favorably to the bigger subs. The sound representation was quite similar. Pushing the spl revealed the differences between the larger more expensive subs and the EV ZXA-1, which was not my main concern. My in store audition impression was that the musical representation by the ZXA-1 was satisfactory. The compromise compared to more expensive and larger subs would likely be spl if used for venues with many bodies. So I headed home with the EV zxa. Back in the same environment with the same sound sources, I was now happy with the sound. The only tweaking I did was adjust the sub volume to taste. I ran stereo XLR into the EV zxa-1 sub and stereo XLR>TS out to the SSV3. The Kronos sounds awesome with the SSV and EV ZXA-1 sub. The piano is full and clear in the low end. The bass and organs are well represented. The EV sub gets quite loud, FWIW. I really like the combo because it remains musical going from soft to as loud. It isn't fair to compare the $299 Behringer with the $599 EV, but for me that is where I needed to be at entry. I couldnt work with the Behringer wish I could. YMMwillV. Here is a pic of the EV ZXA-1 sub + SSV for scale: http://i62.tinypic.com/eqns7o.jpg

Medeski, Scofield, Martin, Wood I am fascinated by Medeski's piano work in this clip. [video:youtube]

Does that mean it was less than the Sweetwater price, which is $750? Yes, it was $6 something (sorry for the inexact $; they used my receipt for drive through pickup and I didn't get it back)

Yeah i suck

I had Aspen demo the ss3 at gearfest today. I actually didn't come to buy the ss3 but after I heard it I had to take one home. It was interesting to hear starting with the mono and then turning the width(?) up to hear the stereo effect. Sounded great even in a gearfest tent environment. It did help to have Austin walk through through the device. Nice size for lots of applications. Good deal today at gearfest too. Thanks Aspen!

String Cheese Incident- Austin City Limits [video:youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6cL2prvD64

(I didn't see this thread before) I'm glad to happen across this forum because it's helped me get my head back in to the game. I've been playing since the 70's and cut my teeth on the electronics in the 80's. I was initially exclusively a musician but tore some ligaments in my wrist from playing (don't do that). I switched into medicine and now am a vascular surgeon. I've done composition, studio and various types of gigs (solo to group and a range of styles). I had the most group success with a jam band which is my preference. I have been out of gigging for about 7 years while tending to other things. Now looking to get back in the public game. I've been upgrading my gear (Kronos, vsts, etc). While it might seem to some like product developments haven't been coming fast enough, the new boards and vsts are a vast improvement to me after a hiatus. Anyway, the expertise on here is pretty cool. Hope I can contribute.