ghance Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 hi guys, its that time of year again when I get to thinking.. instead of putting our lovely but (relatively) expensive d&b C6 or Q7 into the cheap gigs.. I should buy some cheap and cheerful 10" or 12" powered speakers. applications: pub band, mates house party, DJ listen wedge, disco dry hire etc. but I haven't found anything I wouldn't be embarrassed to sit beside in the back of a volvo estate... um'd and ah'd over the following: mackie SRM350 - 'de facto' standard when you think small & poweredEV SxA250 - its an EV SX something, its powered, and I can use it wedge ways without silly plastic bracket feetHK Fast - used them, they were okay if you like your sound hard and nasal. don't know about the other products like dart or powerworksdB Technologies - Opera stuff seems to do okay in the reviews and then theres all the other plastic boxes by: yamaha, studio spares, behringer, fbt, Qube etc etc.. (not bothering JBL EON.. too plumy) so what do you guys use? can I gig a box like this and still respect myself in the morning? or should I just forget the whole thing and continue to stick my d&b where I shouldn't? ta mucho .spike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 At work we have both SRM350s & SRM450s and are very happy with both. I understand that there can be an overheating issue when running them "wedge style", hard, on a hot stage (the heat sink is the wrong way up & hot air gets trapped) but it has not happened to me yet.Something I have not yet tried but would like to, is the RCF equivalent which I have read good things about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Riley Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I have to say that I like the srm 450 at the moment. At my uni we've got a load of the old rcf arts (12+1?) and some of the newer ones. I've used the old ones in venues for years now, and would say that they are more neutral sounding, with a tighter horn pattern and fairly ok. I heard the new ones last night and, to be fair they were trying to compete with 8 stacks of c4 at the heavy metal gig I was working next door with the doors open, but I wasn't very impressed with their sound nonetheless. A decent set of mackie 450s, although less 'natural' sounding go louder/cut through better (subjective opinion), work well as monitors without the stupid plastic feet which always get lost, and the 90x40 horn is a bit better suited to the typical small venue which I use them in. I think that if it was a well small acoustic gig then in a narrow, reflective room, then I'd go for the RCFs though. My vote for worst powered speaker would be the behringer B300 which is insanely heavy, stupid shaped with the handles off the balance point, and comes with a stupid flying frame which cuts into your leg when you try to move them. Oh, and the ones I used to use broke after about a year of light use. I'd probably get the 12" over the ten as its easy to put a 12" into a gig which could normally use the 10, but with speakers like this, the 12" ones spend most of their life getting driven rather hard, and I can just imagine the srm 350 letting the smoke out if you tried to use it as a DJ listen wedge or a rock band monitor (two functions which the 450 does fine at!) Happy shopping, Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mal421 Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 The SRM 450 gets my vote . However the chinese built models are proving to be a less reliable than the italian built ones . The company I work for sells mackie and we have had a few failures with the new SRM450's , something we never had with the old ones . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave singleton Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Gareth, I have some db Technologies cabs for the exact same reason. You can take one and have a play with it if you like. It gets used very rarely, although my mother has decided to steel one for her dance studio! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiochains Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 I rate FBT's. I use a pair of FBT Maxx4A's (12" + 1")(300watt + 100watt) for alot of my "pub" gigs. I borrow from my work from time to time and they never let me down and there quite a few years old. Overheating has never been a problem as the only really get warm. They feature mic and line inputs with 3 band parmetric EQ and a loop thru. At work we mainly use the as a monitor wedge and they do the job well. They sound pretty danm gd for aprox £1,000 new (about the same as the srm 450) but they dont go quite as loud. Made in italy. For the unpowered option I use Martin Audio Blackline stuff, with QSC PLX amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghance Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 Dave - Thx might take u up on yr offer. AC - stuart @ SRD uses FBT as well and says much the same... But surely the trade rate has to be a whole lot better than the Mackie, else you might as well buy the better known brand? Do the FBT sound a lot better than mackie?? Martin Blackline with cheap PLX's.. yeah thats a working thing, but tryin to avoid an amp rack.. else I'd just send out d&b MAX12 and E12 subs with e-pacs. but good point.. often thought martin are missing a trick by not producing an active blackline box thou cheers fellas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiochains Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 often thought martin are missing a trick by not producing an active blackline box thou It is a shame they dont make any of there stuff active! If they could make the price right and they worked well, I would buy them. Have you looked at the HK audio ACTOR system (4 subs 2 tops)? im really impressed with it, and you can always break it apart if you need just tops or only 2 subs. aprox £4k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 ... can I gig a box like this and still respect myself in the morning?You're attempting the impossible, its a bit like the "smaller, faster, cheaper, pick any two", and you want all three. If you want to respect yourself in the morning, you need kit that is pleasing to you, and that is cost effective to your clients. If your clients dont wanna pay that much, then you gotta lower your standards. A smallish active box is not necessarily going to sound great (though there must be those that do), nor will it necessarily be lightweight (though some are) nor will it necessarily be cheap (though some are). What exactly is it you want to achieve...? There's a reason why if you put all the Eons ever sold together in a line they'll reach, well, a long way. Mind you, if you put all the Eons with no top end 'cos the HF amp went do-lally and fried the horn you'd still have a line that stretches a pretty long way... Perhaps the Hill PowerCube M5 would not be too embarassing? Never heard them, but they are reputed to be pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiochains Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Ive used Hill Power cubes before. Very punchy and compact, with lots of power. Ideal for small bands etc, not cheap tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghance Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 db - thanks for the Hill Cube suggestion. sorry if the OP isn't clear. I think you may have hit the nail on the head - Exactly what I want is for a bending of the good / quick / cheap rule. I guess I'm looking for in order of priority: quick (see compact, light & powered), good (like I'm not embarrassed to let my mates who know I work for a d&b PA co. borrow them for a 50 seater jazz/blues guitar gig or iPod house party) and finally cheap (like about the same kind of money as Mackie and less than say some of the Turbosound QLight DP stuff) lotta posts in vote of Mackie SRM450. I must admit there is a blues guitarist who plays in my local thru a couple of these boxes and it ain't too shabby. kinda warm without loosing too much punch & HF detail. but then again its that rosey tint of a friendly venue, packed full of punters, a few lovely ladies and a good beer in your hand. ..but yes I've too have heard SRM's used by a Karaoke DJ and felt like my ears had be unpleasantly violated. thanks for all the suggestions so far.. please keep them coming.. a few left field options like the Hill or 'I've used brand X and prefered them to brand Y because of A,B &C' kinda thing very welcome. ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljstevens Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 HK Actor system! Very good rock and roll rig for the money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob.d Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 The last word in the very small and active loudspeaker department can be found here- http://www.kv2audio.com/ex_10.html Fast? Yeh. Good? Like you wouldnt believe. Cheap? Well... But in all honesty, if you get a chance to hear a pair of these used in anger (especially over the double 12 sub), you'll wonder what the rest of the world has been doing for the last 10 years. They're sooo loud. Expect to pay 3-4 grand just for your top cabs though, maybe a bit less if your in the trade... :D Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiochains Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Has any one had any problems with Mackie speakers overheating?? Ive heard that some times the thermal protection cuts them out if they get too hot, but ive heard that its a common problem...? is this true? comments.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 See posts 2 and 4 above in this same thread which may at least partially answer your question. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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