PA Speakers for Studio/Stage

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Well folks, the 12-year-old Samson travel PA I've been carting around to small gigs and using as a rehearsal PA forever has finally given up the ghost. It's time for an upgrade.

 

I'm looking for something that can function as monitors for band rehearsals in my home studio, as well as to serve as a PA for small to medium gigs. We have a few mixers (analog and digital) lying around, so I thought powered speakers would be the most flexible option. Some 12-inch Mackies (or similar powered speakers with two channels and the option to stereo link) would definitely be a step up from what we have, and that seems to be a good compromise of weight/portability and enough power to amplify vocals, keys, and acoustic guitar over a drum set and guitar amps in a relatively small studio space, or in a small venue without a house PA.

 

We did see a good deal locally on some lightly used Behringer powered speakers with stands, but they're 15-inchers, and with each one weighing close to 40 pounds, we're concerned that the size and weight would be a little more than we want for what we need.

 

Alternately, my wife's Sweetwater guy recommended one of the EV Evolve tower systems, and that would be in our budget. He swore by it for its portability and for use as a rehearsal/small gig PA for his indie rock band. I'm a tad skeptical, though -- while it's a different brand, a small local venue has this style in-house, and I feel like it sounds a little muddy, and I'm concerned about feedback putting this in the corner of a studio instead of strategically-placed wedges. Plus, you'd need an entire second unit to run in stereo, and being a keyboard player, that irks me a bit (no need to get into that debate, of course...). That said, the portability, small footprint, and the built-in, app-controlled multichannel mixer is appealing, so I'm not ruling it out before I do some research.

 

So I thought I'd check with the forum for thoughts, feedback, and recommendations -- speakers you like, different styles you've used, experience you might have had in this situation. Our budget isn't massive but up to about $1500 is doable, and again, my ideal situation is something that will be equally useful in both a rehearsal and gigging situation (not looking for studio monitors here). 

 

Thanks, friends!

[ProfD]

There's no shortage of good options that are affordable too.

 

I'm partial to my Electro-Voice (EV) ZLX PA speakers for the rehearsal space and small gigs.  A pair would be less than $1.5k with tax.

 

However,  EV ZLXs do weigh 34 lbs each. Still easy enough to lift onto speaker poles.  Nice full range sound with just the tops. 

 

Of course, I have EV subs underneath mine....well...because....BOOM...when it's time to shake the room.🤣😎

 

 

[D. Gauss]

A pair of yamaha dbr10s are 800 bucks new. I got mine barely used for $400.  They've been absolute workhorses. Used as FOH, monitors, and keyboard amps.

[cphollis]

First off, what's keeping your band from using IEMs?  It's 2024, and you can't convince me that anyone "needs" an old-fashioned floor wedge.  They sound MUCH better, they're MUCH cheaper and they are MUCH lighter!  Also, much easier on everyone's ears.  It's worth weaning yourselves off of stage monitors.

 

Shifting over to PA speakers (not rehearsal monitors), the form factor of EV Evolve (and the RCF EVOX) are GREAT for small/medium venues.  The line driver heads have both wide dispersion and decent throw, so you get a nice even sound throughout the venue.   

 

I owned a pair, liked them for gigs, and then upgraded to the Bose F1 series, which does similar nice things but more of it.

 

I would not buy another pair of typical point-source box speakers for PA again, as the small line-array driver type units are so much better for most situations.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

30 minutes ago, cphollis said:

First off, what's keeping your band from using IEMs?  It's 2024, and you can't convince me that anyone "needs" an old-fashioned floor wedge.  They sound MUCH better, they're MUCH cheaper and they are MUCH lighter!  Also, much easier on everyone's ears.  It's worth weaning yourselves off of stage monitors.

I use IEMs, as do some of my bandmates in certain projects. But we have a lot of different combinations of musicians come through our studio to rehearse, so the extra setup isn't always practical or possible.

 

Also, my wife teaches voice lessons in our studio, and for certain clients, she likes to have a microphone set up (particularly for those that are gigging musicians who do a lot of amplified singing). So having PA reinforcement in the room is something we want to have available to us.

 

If a tower array is a good fit for that in a medium-sized studio space with mics pointing in various directions, I'm open to it. Good to hear that your experience with one onstage has been good.

[cphollis]

25 minutes ago, SamuelBLupowitz said:

I use IEMs, as do some of my bandmates in certain projects. But we have a lot of different combinations of musicians come through our studio to rehearse, so the extra setup isn't always practical or possible.

 

Also, my wife teaches voice lessons in our studio, and for certain clients, she likes to have a microphone set up (particularly for those that are gigging musicians who do a lot of amplified singing). So having PA reinforcement in the room is something we want to have available to us.

 

If a tower array is a good fit for that in a medium-sized studio space with mics pointing in various directions, I'm open to it. Good to hear that your experience with one onstage has been good.

Gotcha. 

 

I have low-level amplified speakers in my rehearsal studio as well, but nothing that can get really loud.  We use them for listening to tunes. 

 

One of the aforementioned line array head units w/sub would do the job, but they are big. The line array head designs (Bose, EV, RCF, Turbo et. al.) are much less prone to mic feedback, as they disperse widely.  You can still get feedback, it just takes longer to get there.  I can play acoustic gigs with a Bose L1 Model 1S behind vocalists as long as we don't have to get too loud.

 

I also offer chi-fi headphones for visitors if they don't use IEMs ($25).  Anyone can wear headphones, even drummers and loud guitarists.  No wedge monitors or guitar amps, as we'll end up listening to stage wash through the microphones all night.

 

 

[Bill H.]

4 hours ago, SamuelBLupowitz said:

Alternately, my wife's Sweetwater guy recommended one of the EV Evolve tower systems, and that would be in our budget. He swore by it for its portability and for use as a rehearsal/small gig PA for his indie rock band. I'm a tad skeptical, though -- while it's a different brand, a small local venue has this style in-house, and I feel like it sounds a little muddy, and I'm concerned about feedback putting this in the corner of a studio instead of strategically-placed wedges. Plus, you'd need an entire second unit to run in stereo, and being a keyboard player, that irks me a bit (no need to get into that debate, of course...). That said, the portability, small footprint, and the built-in, app-controlled multichannel mixer is appealing, so I'm not ruling it out before I do some research.

 

FWIW the one time I've heard a guy using an EV Evolve in a club he was having feedback problems - a high pitched squeal he never got rid of while I was there. He did have it cranked though - and somewhat behind his mic rather than to the side. 

[ElmerJFudd]

Powered monitors that can be poled or set on their side is what you want.  You already have a mixer.  You’ll need a pair of adequate length instrument cable from mixer to the poles.  And of course since they’re powered you have to have shielded power cable long enough to get there as well.  
 

Bluetooth is useful if you ever DJ.  That’s the only situation where I find linking monitors useful.  For band, cabled from the mixer it can be mono or stereo at your selection.  
 

As far as which ones.  Budget is the question.  On the cheap Alto TX or TS are decent for the money.  Mackie SRM350 with the 10” speaker are already $499 each. Turbosound iX 12” have been pretty reliable for me at $569.  QSC K2 and Yamaha DRX would be great but substantially more money.  

[Delaware Dave]

Not the same as a band situation but i was at an event where the dj was using the evolves.  Hjghly impressive sound; loud,  deep bass  and wide dispersion. You wont be disappointed.

[ElmerJFudd]

1 hour ago, Delaware Dave said:

Not the same as a band situation but i was at an event where the dj was using the evolves.  Hjghly impressive sound; loud,  deep bass  and wide dispersion. You wont be disappointed.

These Evolve’s are the M?  Column speaker poled over a sub?  As a side note I recently did a gig with installed JBL CBT 70J-1 (not powered, they require an amplifier) no sub.  Running just vocals.  Very impressed with these column speakers as far as clarity, wide and even dispersion.  

[stoken6]

10 hours ago, Delaware Dave said:

Not the same as a band situation but i was at an event where the dj was using the evolves.  Hjghly impressive sound; loud,  deep bass  and wide dispersion. You wont be disappointed.

I played a sub gig where the band used an Evolv FOH system, and I was equally impressed. (The columns+subs were at the conventional position at the front of the stage, no attempt to use them for monitoring as well - we were on IEMs).

 

Cheers, Mike.

[ElmerJFudd]

4 hours ago, stoken6 said:

I played a sub gig where the band used an Evolv FOH system, and I was equally impressed. (The columns+subs were at the conventional position at the front of the stage, no attempt to use them for monitoring as well - we were on IEMs).

 

Cheers, Mike.

I suspect this is the ideal situation for that PA.  Can you elaborate on what they run through the PA and if drums are acoustic or electric?  Drum shield?

[Delaware Dave]

15 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

These Evolve’s are the M?  Column speaker poled over a sub?  As a side note I recently did a gig with installed JBL CBT 70J-1 (not powered, they require an amplifier) no sub.  Running just vocals.  Very impressed with these column speakers as far as clarity, wide and even dispersion.  

Not sure of the model # but they were the thin poled array columns attached to subs.

[cphollis]

29 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

I suspect this is the ideal situation for that PA.  Can you elaborate on what they run through the PA and if drums are acoustic or electric?  Drum shield?

It is an ideal scenario, and works well for smaller outdoor functions as well as most indoor venues.  My past setup was the same design, but a smaller unit from RCF (EVOX J8).  It was always impressive (though modest) when we took it out vs the typical QSC tops and bottoms.

 

We run acoustic drums (six drum mics) through a submix and a sound tech.  We don't use the drum shield if the drummer behaves himself.  We do not have a loud guitarist.  

 

I can record some great mixes once I process the vocals to remove stage noise from the tracks.

[AnotherScott]

When I decided to get a system of this type, I probably would have gone with the EV Evolve if I was committed to gigging with two of them. I went with the Bose L1 Pro 8 because the wide dispersion meant it was better suited to being used as a single unit instead of only as part of a pair.

[ElmerJFudd]

57 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

When I decided to get a system of this type, I probably would have gone with the EV Evolve if I was committed to gigging with two of them. I went with the Bose L1 Pro 8 because the wide dispersion meant it was better suited to being used as a single unit instead of only as part of a pair.

Are you using the Bose for solo piano?  How do you like it and how’s it for moving around?  

[AnotherScott]

39 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Are you using the Bose for solo piano?  How do you like it and how’s it for moving around?  

It's used primarily for the band's vocals. It's a nice compact system, and a noticeable time saver compared to two speakers on poles, each with their own signal and power cables.

 

But yes, there have been times I have put piano through it as well, and thought it sounded fine. I'm toying with getting a second one to use as my keyboard amp, where I've typically used a ZXa1 (the model with 100 degree dispersion) or the Alto TS308 (90 degree), which would address the issue of keys being louder to the portion of the audience closer to my side of the stage (especially if they're not far back from the stage), and related, the difficulty other band members sometimes have hearing my keys if I'm not in stage monitors (which is usually the case). But it's not like what I am doing has not been workable, and I don't know that I can justify that additional travel weight or expense.

 

BTW, the reason I usually do *not* put keys through it along with the vocals is that it it is easy to push the Bose to where what I assume is its built-in compression kicks in. It's not a high SPL system. If my keys are in the PA and volumes start to push, the vocals get squished down. So now, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that maybe the best (also lightest and cheapest) thing to do would be to keep the setup the way it is, but also add just a bit of keys to the Bose for a bit more nearfield-and-stage coverage, while counting on my EV/Alto to cover the bulk of the volume  for the bulk of the audience. Hmmm.

[ElmerJFudd]

5 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

It's used primarily for the band's vocals. It's a nice compact system, and a noticeable time saver compared to two speakers on poles, each with their own signal and power cables.

 

But yes, there have been times I have put piano through it as well, and thought it sounded fine. I'm toying with getting a second one to use as my keyboard amp, where I've typically used a ZXa1 (the model with 100 degree dispersion) or the Alto TS308 (90 degree), which would address the issue of keys being louder to the portion of the audience closer to my side of the stage (especially if they're not far back from the stage), and related, the difficulty other band members sometimes have hearing my keys if I'm not in stage monitors (which is usually the case). But it's not like what I am doing has not been workable, and I don't know that I can justify that additional travel weight or expense.

 

BTW, the reason I usually do *not* put keys through it along with the vocals is that it it is easy to push the Bose to where what I assume is its built-in compression kicks in. It's not a high SPL system. If my keys are in the PA and volumes start to push, the vocals get squished down. So now, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that maybe the best (also lightest and cheapest) thing to do would be to keep the setup the way it is, but also add just a bit of keys to the Bose for a bit more nearfield-and-stage coverage, while counting on my EV/Alto to cover the bulk of the volume  for the bulk of the audience. Hmmm.

Thanks, this mirrors exactly what I was thinking.  
 

For vocals these column designs do a wonderful job of delivering clarity on lyrics, even volume  across the range and very wide dispersion.  For vocals, I don’t think you even need the subs but to stick the pole in. 😂 But obviously it’s there for DJing and amplifying instruments.  

[Sam Mullins]

I would look into the new Mackie Showbox. Tradeoffs for sure (no stereo option) but having something with battery power and detachable 5/6 channel mixer might be useful in a lot of situations.  The features look great but of course the sound is the deciding factor. 

[stoken6]

22 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

I suspect this is the ideal situation for that PA.  Can you elaborate on what they run through the PA and if drums are acoustic or electric?  Drum shield?

Drums were acoustic but mic'ed iirc. Everything through the PA for FoH, all monitoring on IEMs. No drum shield, but the drummer was relatively restrained, and played a small kit (forgot his ride cymbal!)

 

Cheers, Mike.