Behringer Truth Monitors?

[blue and white]

I've been thinking about a new amplification setup for a while now... while looking I found a pair of Behringer monitors that looked kind of interesting.

 

These gave me an idea (almost never a good thing ) Could I use these monitors as a small pa system for band practices and small gigs? They're rated as 150 (woofer)/75 (tweeter) watts biamped but I've seen 15 watt amps that can blow away 300 watt guitar stacks and 100 watt amps that get drowned out by computer speakers Either I've been around some strange stuff or this is true in cases, but I wanted to make sure this isn't one of them (hopefully that made sense )

 

But anyway... any ideas on this? opinions on these particular monitors (link can be found at http://www.behringer.com/B2031A/index.cfm?lang=ENG)

 

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[captainmri]

i've heard truths are good but i wouldn't use them if you're going to be gigging with them -for fragility but primarily sound concerns. i'd get a small 'package p.a.'. it would cost a little more than the truths. used would be an option. the p.a. would probably include reverb or effects of some sort which would enhance your live mix. the truths would lack any kind of eq or effects.

p.a. systems have inherent qualities to improve your live sound-e.q. and such. the truths are not designed to flatter your mix.

[Prague]

Why would you consider Behringer? Price, right?

[blue and white]

Yep. Its mostly the price that attracted me, but they're also the highest powered monitors I've seen (again, sometimes this doesn't mean much)

 

I'd been thinking about getting a pair of monitors for home anyway when this idea popped into my head. I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone if I can? I might give it a shot, and if it doesnt work out, return them and keep shopping. Or maybe save up a bit more and pick up an eon-10.

[JimmyJimJim]

I reckon the BS2031 actives are pretty sweet monitors for the price - Behringer make 2 types of gear: stuff that's cheap because it's crap, and stuff that's cheap but is great value for money, and i reckon their monitors fall firmly in the latter group

 

HOWEVER i agree that they would really not be suitable for gigging or even rehearsal - and i've considered it myself before! Reasons being, they're really not gonna drown anything out - they're plenty powerful in a studio setting, but as soon as you're playing live it's really a whole different ball game. You'd probably blow them up! And thats the other thing: studio monitor seem to be inherently fragile as a rule, both a concern when you're pumping sound out of them and also simply lugging them around. Lastly, they probably won't have the sound you want - the whole point being they have a real flat response which can sound great for keyboards in the right setting, but as soon as you're next to a drummer the sound tends to lack grunt and cut in the mix.

 

All very much within my own opinions of course! If you decide to get 'em for your home anyway, try it out and tell us how it goes.

 

Word,

JJJ

[aliengroover]

They're actually pretty decent monitors for the price. They're not great, but they don't stink. Of course, I mainly use them as "poor man's mains", but I have used them for a few mixes, and found they translated quite well. Price factored in for me, in that I was planning on spending a few hundred more. It really came down between these and the BX8s. Flip a coin time. However, I wouldn't recommend them for live use.

Peace

[JeffLearman]

Ignore watts in a powered speaker. It's a completely meaningless spec. What matters is max SPL level (sound pressure level). Who the heck cares how many watts it takes? A 100W unit with an efficient speaker could blow away a 400W system with an inefficient one. That's only a 6dB power difference, and speaker efficiency varies more than that. It takes 10 times the power to get twice as loud, btw.

 

Stage monitors have to be at least 110dB SPL; 12" powered monitors I've been looking at run in the 120-130 dB SPL range.