Nexo PS10

[stoneworld]

Hi all,

We are considering buying some Nexo PS10's, 8 in all and a pair of subs. This is for conference work so each pair will be placed further down the room with a delay added. I have a ton of questions (well a few) and wondered if anyone in here could give me the answer. I have been reading all the spec from the site and there just isn't quite enough info...

 

What I was looking at at first was running from the desk into a delay line (non nexo) and then each output into the PS10 Amp as the amp has the controller built in and takes care of the sub also. It appears the amp is discontinued! So... Would need to buy 4 off of the controllers and then feed them into separate amps. I understand that you need to take a feed from the output of the amp back into the controller as part of the protection system. So I guess I can't use one controller before the delay line and take one sense wire from the first amp back into the controller?

 

Any idea what the 10" driver uses for a magnet, I was wondering if it used a rare earth magnet as they make the speaker a lot lighter and this is one of the things nexo boast about - apparently their cabinets are half the weight of most others in its class.

 

Am I right in thinking that the PS10's are using 2- & 2+ for signal rather than 1-&+?

 

The brochure says about quick release front grill, are there any problems with them falling off or being loose? I want to fly them so grills that could fall off would be a problem!

 

Any issues with flying them?

 

And finally I guess anyone have opinions on them sound and build quality wise?

I would be interested to know if anyone has heard them up against the new EV Z3 which was my choice previously before being told to look at Nexo.

 

:-)

 

Thanks - Rich

[Rob_Beech]

Lots of controllers = lots of money.

 

Lots of speaker cables, lots of messing, have you looked at similar powered boxes which have all the processing built in. Some you can hook up and set delays, some you'd need a further processor but 1 single unit with multiple outputs would do this.

 

The PS10's are good boxes, and sound much nicer than their larger brothers the PS15 IMO. However, I think for you application, running signal leads instead of speaker cables, or even looking at wireless links, might be a better option.

 

Check out the NuQ10DP, heavier but it is powered. There's a whole range of flyware available too.

[stoneworld]

Thanks for the quick reply Rob,

Powered boxes.... Well we did look at that but it would still mean having to do all the cabling again. I have seen a purpose made cable that carries mains and balanced line, all well and good but I have probably half a ton of speakon cable for the existing set up. We have about 20 SX100's and 20 Z1's along with 16 Amps and a few miles of speakon!

 

I think I had a demo of these Turbosound speakers along with the KV2 and some Meyer cabs. The Meyer sounded best but then they were along the same price tag as D&B which is another option ...... but priced out of our reach! I know the obvious plusses for using a powered speaker but the cost of making up new cables frightens me!

 

Other thing I wasn't keen on with the Nexo setup was having the sub run from the same amp or via the controller. It would mean that it is running all the time where normally I would feed it from a subgroup and only assign VT or CD to it. Don't need voice routed to it.

[Killyp]

Seriously consider the d&b system though. I know it's pricey, but they've just released the new E series, so you may see a lot of older E9s (and maybe even E3s) being sold second hand. The EPac amps which drive them include DSPs which have all the delay & crossover features built in.

 

The E9s and new E8s and E12s are the best sounding full-range PA cabs I've yet heard (admittedly in my relatively limited experience in comparison to someone like Rob).

[Rob_Beech]

An XLR of comparative length to a speaker lead will be much cheaper. Even when coupled with mains cables. Then the loss over distance. For corporate work the last thing you want is great big 8x4mm cables running down the side of the room (needed to minimise loss ideally and 4 signals per side required). Much better with some thin (patch type) XLR and sourcing mains locally to the speakers, or running mains with it if needs be.

 

Amp racks also need space, and power, more power in one place than a bit here and a bit there which you often get.

 

The D&B stuff is of course, very good, and would suit your application well if you went down that route. Price shouldn't matter as much as you think, a hire friendly box will go out more often and potentially bring in a little more per day than a non hire friendly box. This depends on how you run the hire side of things.

 

 

Rob

[Killyp]

That's a good point actually. The d&b kit is very easy to set up correctly, and is practically foolproof. XLR into the amp, choose the speaker model on the amp, and then connect the amp to the speaker. No fussy cabling or outboard. Also, you can fit two EPacs side-by-side in a 19" rack.

[Matt Riley]

I'd echo the calls for d&b here. They've just had a bit of a rethink about the E series and smaller stuff, which also meant that the EPAC has been discontinued in favour of the two channel D6. We've got some E3s and they're really nice, so perhaps look into what sort of deal could be done, or how much you could get them for second hand.

 

Matt

[i_hate_fisicks]

The way forward with Nexo these days is the NXamp. 4 channels of amp and controller built in. They are remarkably good value for money. I beleive the smaller one (4x1) sells for about £2.5k. You could I believe run 4 pairs of delayed PS10s from one of these if you wanted to, though you'd be much better off for power and cabling reasons to get 2. PS10s are great speakers. I love them for all sorts of work. For speach work though, any high quality speakers will do you fine. Try perhaps the RCF Acoustica C3110, then you could use your existing amplifier stock.

[stoneworld]

Hmm, NXamp looks interesting, just had a quick look, a pair of those would work fine.

 

D&B would be great but at £1700 a cabinet and a little under that for the amp -v- nexo at £700 a cabinet -v- EV Z3 for even less how can D&B be an option?

 

Rob, The present setup has two 4 core 4mm cables running down either side with a speakon splitter under the first and third speaker. If I were to do this with powered speakers, using a cable that carries power and a balanced line there would be 4 cables running past the first speaker each about the size of a 4 core 4mm as power is all fed from one phase from a distro.

I'm not so worried about the amount of cables apart from the cost of copper and time spent humping and rigging as there is plenty of other cable using the same runs, soca, 16A, triax, multicore, 5 wire etc but I don't see the point in running 5 wires to each cab when I can run 2. Not to mention it getting more complicated when the whole thing is flown.... actually it might just be easier. But I still don't like the thought of having to do it active.

[Killyp]

D&B would be great but at £1700 a cabinet and a little under that for the amp -v- nexo at £700 a cabinet -v- EV Z3 for even less how can D&B be an option?

 

Let's just say you get what you pay for. I use Nexos most of the time, and while they're good, they're nothing special. The d&b range will wipe the floor with the Nexo range, especially at corporate gigs where acoustics are often terrible and it's critically important that everyone can hear the vocals correctly. Nexo don't do the same work d&b do when it comes to the distribution of the speaker, and the way sound behaves as it exits the speaker, and how the sound of the two drivers interacts at different angles.

 

There are some horror stories floating around of audio rental companies having to pay for whole shareholders meetings to be reheld for large corporations because not everyone could hear correctly.

 

 

The d&b kit is expensive, but it'll repay itself...

[ChrisBogg]

What would stop you using one controller with the ps10 outputs patched into a 2 in 6 out processor? you could still use the sense cables on he first to outputs if you dont delay them and delay the rest.

 

When sense operates it would do so from the first boxes but would limit all the boxes. Only a problem if your delays are outputting much less gain than the left right system.

 

Just a thought

 

Chris

[stoneworld]

What would stop you using one controller with the ps10 outputs patched into a 2 in 6 out processor? you could still use the sense cables on he first to outputs if you dont delay them and delay the rest.

 

When sense operates it would do so from the first boxes but would limit all the boxes. Only a problem if your delays are outputting much less gain than the left right system.

 

Just a thought

 

Chris

 

I had thought about that, can't see any problem with that but I'm sure someone would say it invalidates the warrantee....

[i_hate_fisicks]

D&B would be great but at £1700 a cabinet and a little under that for the amp -v- nexo at £700 a cabinet -v- EV Z3 for even less how can D&B be an option?

 

Let's just say you get what you pay for. I use Nexos most of the time, and while they're good, they're nothing special. The d&b range will wipe the floor with the Nexo range, especially at corporate gigs where acoustics are often terrible and it's critically important that everyone can hear the vocals correctly. Nexo don't do the same work d&b do when it comes to the distribution of the speaker, and the way sound behaves as it exits the speaker, and how the sound of the two drivers interacts at different angles.

 

 

I'm sorry, but this is just bullsh*t. Nexo and d&b are very much in the same league, and many of their boxes are very similar. There is certainly no disparity in quality between the two. For some reason, a lot of Nexo bashing goes on on this forum, for reasons I don't understand, and to some extent, opinions about speakers can be subjective, but to say that d&b wipes the floor with Nexo is just silly, and not at all helpful to the dude who was asking the question.

 

As for the price difference, in my experience the difference isn't that great. Are you sure you're looking at comparable models?

[csg]

It wont invalidate any warrany. In several of the nexo manuals I have here it stipulates this way of working to avoid the need for a controller on every individual amplifier. As long as you have equal or lower gain on your delays ( which would be very likely) then you will lose none of the protective aspects of the td controller, particularly once longer cable runs to the delays, hence higher load impedence, have been taken into account.

Ive run many systems in this way and have never had any problems.

[Killyp]

I'm sorry, but this is just bullsh*t. Nexo and d&b are very much in the same league, and many of their boxes are very similar. There is certainly no disparity in quality between the two. For some reason, a lot of Nexo bashing goes on on this forum, for reasons I don't understand, and to some extent, opinions about speakers can be subjective, but to say that d&b wipes the floor with Nexo is just silly, and not at all helpful to the dude who was asking the question.

 

As for the price difference, in my experience the difference isn't that great. Are you sure you're looking at comparable models?

 

 

Yes. The E9 vs the PS15 for example. I use Nexos most of the time, and know how to get the best sound out of them. They're good, but nothing special. The d&b cabs are streets ahead.

 

Heck, Nexo don't even seem to understand about vertically aligning their drivers :D