The POWERED SPEAKERS Thread

[keyguy]

(disclaimer: Nothing against the Mackie's - they're fine, but Dave and I are a little older than some of you.)

 

That's why I use FBT Maxx4a's...

[Dave Ferris]

I just bought the EV SXA360's !!! (just under 2 BIG ONES...momma mia..that's a lot of dough for two little speakers!)

I have to take off for the gig, but when I get a minute, there's a humorous story regarding my purchase today.

[zephonic]

I owned the EON15G2's for about two years and they were generally ok for most applications. With a small group (ie. un-mic'd drums, bass, guitar) it would suffice for the entire group. I find them a bit too bottom-heavy, sound-wise, so when I use them as keyboard monitors I usually turn the bass down by +- 2 dB. Reliability is good, and versatility second to none.

 

 

 

[zephonic]

 

Now if only I could sell my Motion Sound stuff.......anyone out there?

 

Good luck...

[Strategery]

Right now, this is what I'm running...but it's not powered speakers, but serves me well. Peavey SP2's & Mackie 808S.

 

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/regular/0/6/5/281065.jpghttp://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/regular/3/6/2/320362.jpghttp://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/regular/0/6/5/281065.jpg

[Legatoboy]

Dave,

 

Dave man good luck with the EV's man. . . . !

 

 

 

I just bought the EV SXA360's !!! (just under 2 BIG ONES...momma mia..that's a lot of dough for two little speakers!)

I have to take off for the gig, but when I get a minute, there's a humorous story regarding my purchase today.

[mate stubb]

Dave, how did the EVs do?

[Dave Ferris]

So I'm on the fence about all these speakers. (what's new)

I get a call from the female vocalist (chick singer) at 9:30 AM SAT.

morning...she's freaking........"Dave, my PA stopped working last night, can you bring yours tonight"? Well, sure, except I sold my Mackies two days ago, I said. I hear this "OH NO....what are we going to do tonight"? "Do you know someone you can borrow one from for tonight? Maybe you might have to rent", I said. (she has no money)

 

I thought this might be the time to see if the DJ store guy is back from vacation. He's the only guy in So. Ca. w/ these EV's in stock, I should know, I made at least 20 calls to dealers and the rep. I drag my P120 and mic out to the west valley....it's Sat. and this place is a consumer electronics store as well as selling pro audio. It's jammed w/ people and their kids looking at the latest whatevers. I'm schlepping my keyboard through this mini-Walmart type place and set up in an aisle to hear the speakers. I'm in a space that's maybe 5ft. wide w/ kids running back and forth. Finally I get setup and turn everything on...as I'm playing, singing and listening I look around and see just down the aisle an assortment of vacuum cleaners, clock radios, hair dryers, soccer balls, children's toys and other misc. stuff.

I'm thinking to myself....man, in 40 yrs. I think I've played in every conceivable place possible, but this is definitely a first.

In aisle 3B w/ the EAW,JBL,QSC and the hair curlers!!

 

The speakers sounded great and I bought them, got a better deal than Sam Ash was going to give me. That night I told "Ellen"...you don't know what I went through to get this for tonight! They worked great on the first gig....her, myself and acoustic bass. Because of the limited space I had to set one on the floor by me and one on the pole. I was getting a mono sound because I was behind the spkr. on the pole but the piano still sounded the best it's ever sounded........FINALLY...I'm happy.

 

The hunt might still be on....I need PA speakers for mains as well as the keyboard speakers. Not sure how I'm going to do it yet. The Accugrooves would be my next choice...I have to sell some more stuff first.

 

What a saga! The EV SXA 360's.....RECOMMENDED!!

[mate stubb]

How's the bass response? Did the piano sound smooth throughout its range?

[Dave Ferris]

Plenty of bass for me.....smooth, even in mono. The highs don't sound as hyped as the JBL 512m's. I haven't hooked my S90 to check out organ/synth/ep patches yet. I'll report back when I do. I played 2 or 3 chords on the P120 in the store and knew instantly, these were for me. 36.6 LBS. is a major factor as well.

 

I must say I thought that JBL515 you bought sounded far better than the 512m and the QSC HP122i. The GC had a setup to A-B-C them.

The 515's were a bit bulky for me and didn't lay flat like a floor monitor. For PA mains they would be killing though!

[Strategery]

Chicks...with no money...in distress.

 

Wow...that sounds familiar. :grin:

 

Randy

[Legatoboy]

I'd tell "Ellen" to geta freakin' day job and just stick with the EV's.... The devil and his gear lust (GAS) has many faces and names, in this case she be called "Ellen"! But she's a bandmember with no money. Boy I know that! I'm still getting paid back for floating last years Ireland tour buckeroos, but it was kinda worth it, I started drinking Beer again!

 

I'd get the Accugrooves also if I was a total Faust! This way you can mix and match for PA or Boards like flowered Gaffers tape and gift boxes at Xmas on a whim and different room acoustics and sound experiments!

 

lb

[Dengus Squatburg Jr]

I'm considering a pair of Yamaha MSR400's to do small restaurants and the like and handle keys, acoustic guitar and vocals, and double as keyboard monitors in louder gigs. They look like decent bang for the buck (the budget is fairly tight). Anyone got any more light to shed on these things? I'm also interested to know what is meant by 400w "burst" power?

 

Are the MSR400 users out there still happy with their choice?

[wmp]

I think that means if you drive them hard enough to put out 400 watts for any length of time, they'll burst. That's probably short for "burst into flames".

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I have no experience with the Yamahas.

 

I'm pretty happy with my EON G2 15s, but those EV SXA-360s have me drooling. One band I play with uses unpowered EV SX-100s and they just kick ass.

 

EV SXA-100s are only a few bucks more than the Yamaha MSR400s, they pack a lot more power, they're smaller, and they weigh about 8 pounds less.

 

 

 

[Jazz+]

I did a side by side comparison in a studio with the EV SXA-100, the FBT Max 4A, and the EV SX360. The FBT Max 4A trumped the budget EV SXA-100 model. But the EV SXA-360 surpassed both the FBT Max 4a and the EV SXA-100 in clarity, smoothness and detail.

[Jazz+]

I heard these high end EONA ADRaudio powered speakers last weekend. They are made in Slovenia and approach the Meyers Sound quality level. They sound highly detailed.

 

http://www.adraudio.com/

[Bennett Prescott]

Approach the Meyer quality level? We like to think in terms of "meet or exceed", depending on your opinion, but we're not out to be a "Meyer competitor", we make our own products with their own merits. Our construction is very precise and we use the best drivers available, B&O IcePower amps, and all analog processing to make the finest speakers money can buy.

 

Thought I'd jump in here and say hi to a new forum, please feel free to contact me directly with any questions.

[Mark Schmieder]

I guess I'd better recuse myself from this one :-).

[Mark Schmieder]

A couple of brands here that I wasn't familiar with, but maybe they aren't imported into the US. I guess they're worth looking into. HK Audio is probably too expensive over here, but maybe FBT or KME would be affordable even at the current exchange rate.

 

I never thought I'd need to visit this thread, but the day after returning from vacation I landed almost a dozen gigs, and for the first time in over a year, they are starting to bias towards keyboards (I've only been doing light keyboard work since last April or so, focusing mostly on bass guitar at gigs).

 

Mackie is too hyped and harsh, Peavey is not a brand whose reliability I trust, and most keyboard combo amps seem boxy (of the ones I have owned and/or tried). On the domestic front, that pretty much leaves Yamaha, JBL, E/V and maybe Yorkville and/or L-Acoustic. If I had more dough I'd use the employee discount for one of my own company's powered speakers, but that is some serious cash (though still in my long-term plans).

 

I only plan to run mono so that helps. My budget realistically is well under $800 and preferably under $600 (otherwise I'll NEVER be able to afford another 88-key board!). Unfortunately my timing is rather short as I need to take care of this this weekend.

 

The comments here have been very helpful; moreso than user reviews at the various e-stores. Everyone has taken the time to give good details on the characteristics of each model and how they compare to others, in various contexts. It does seem that the powered speaker models mentioned here are likely to be better bang for buck and more usable on-stage for full-range realistic rendition of piano, e-piano, organ, and synth, than a dedicated keyboard combo amp.

[Dave Ferris]

Just heard the L-Acoustics 108P, 8" and horn, 28 lbs., the other night.......see my post in the "keyboard amp under $600" thread.

 

Very impressive.....great sound....big $$$$.

[Mark Schmieder]

L-Acoustics has been steadily improving. Technically they are competitors, but we get along very well with them. It helps that they are extremely friendly people :-). I only became aware in the past few days that they had begun introducing models that are a bit more down-market for typical band P/A applications. I should look into these newer models as everyone seems to like them.

[Mark Schmieder]

I'm likely to spring for the RFC ART 310a in the next 24 hours. It's roughly the same price as the Yamaha MSR400, but is lighter, and likely has a more even response. I've heard very good things aboutn RFC over the years, and they are once again independent.

 

An Italian speaker would probably also make a good match with an Italian (GEM PRP700) piano :-).

 

http://www.rcf.it/vediMacro.phtml/lang/EN/IDMacro/1680/menuAttivo/1674/m1/0/ARTSeriesART500-A/product.htm

http://www.gtaust.com/filter/08/03.shtml

 

[Mark Schmieder]

Already having second thoughts, after reading the Sound-On-Sound review of the similar 12" models from RCF:

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec05/articles/live_rcfart322a.htm

 

My company has stayed away from plastic enclosures for a reason, and it is good to be reminded of how they compromise the sound :-). I was hoping it was my own bias at play, but SOS makes it quite clear that the plastic material adversely affects the mid-low end, which would affect synth bass and even synth lead, as well as probably acoustic piano emulations and organ.

 

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, all active stage monitors from the under-$1000 crowd are plastic vs. wood. Except for that one hard-to-find and obscure European model mentioned abovev in an earlier post.

[Jazz+]

Have you auditioned the EV SXa360 ?

[Mark Schmieder]

No, but they're out of my price range. They also have a plastic enclosure so that doesn't help. I have no doubt they are a great P/A speaker, but there has also been some concern about reliability (on another forum). Nevertheless, I am most impressed by what I have read of that model in terms of unhyped and even sound.

[Jazz+]

They were drop shipped for $897 each plus $26.21 shipping.

[SK]

12" AccuGrooves are also available in the price range you're considering. Zero plastic parts.

[mate stubb]

I finally gave up on 2 way powered plastic enclosures, and bought the 3 way unpowered Accugrooves. I should have them next week hopefully.

[Mark Schmieder]

Too expensive for limited purpose. Others may have more of a need for general-purpose P.A., or are busier as full-time keyboardists.

 

I am saving up to buy an $1800 powered 12" speaker cabinet for my bass, from Bergantino. Half of that will be funded by selling what I have, but spending almost $1000 on keyboard amplification would push out my higher priority of improving the bass system.

 

For those who are full-time keyboardists, I also wonder whether a P/A speaker is as useful as a specialised solution such as a Leslie cabinet, something from Ashby Systems, etc. That is, for the traditionalists who mostly cover e-piano, organ, and vintage synths vs. bread&butter symphonic sounds, etc.

[Dave Ferris]

Hey Mark

 

For my purposes...getting a good AP approximation w/ a dp, the EVs do a solid job. I don't play too loud or do has much synth stuff has I used to so that really isn't an issue.

 

To get a good stereo setup though, it seems you might have to spend at least $1500 new unless you find something on Ebay or Craigslist.

The EVs have gone up a bit in price since Jazz + got his a few years back. I paid $1975 out the door here in town. I needed something that day...if I waited for the +'s connection I would have saved maybe $40-50.

 

Bass.....that's a whole other deal man.