ItsMyNaturalColour Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Hey everyone...This is my first post in the sound section, and I'm not very technical minded when it comes to sound stuff so please go easy on me.At the moment, a few friends and I are considering starting a band. We'll hopefully be playing in small to medium venues. My question is about the right choices for PA gear. I've been browsing around a few sites looking at some speakers, and I've got a few questions about the JBL JRX series. I've mainly been looking at passive solutions because I've always preferred passive speakers by nature due to ease of repairs and flexibility etc, but if anyone has any active solutions I'd appreciate that too. Plus, active stuff would be a bit quicker to set up at every gig I suppose.My question revolves around the general usability of the JBL JRX 115 cabs and the JBL JRX 118s subs for bands. Power wise (on paper) these speakers don't look as if they'd have any problems in small venues or most medium venues (to my knowledge, please correct me if I'm wrong.) We'll be pushing through mainly vocals as a priority, but ideally we'd like to mic pretty much everything for larger gigs. This all sounds good so far, but, I've heard a lot of people that don't think highly of the JRX line. Obviously, they're not going to share the same quality as the better JBL products available such as the MRX line, but do they still sound decent enough for a band on an EXTREME budget? Do people expect too much from these speakers? If they didn't have JBL on the front, but instead "Peavy" or other similar brands, would people hold less of a grudge towards these speakers because they're made by a generally lower quality company? I get the impression that people expect too much from these speakers simply because they're made by JBL. At £200 a top cab, are they really that bad?JBL JRX 115 cab:http://www.jblpro.com/catalog/general/Product.aspx?PId=87&MId=3JBL JRX 118s bin:http://www.jblpro.com/catalog/general/Product.aspx?PId=89&MId=3For reference, I know another band locally that use a pair of Peavy Messenger Pro-15 MKII speakers. They do the job just fine in my opinion, and if the JBL's are similar, I'd be happy.Peavy Speakers:http://www.peavey.com/products/proaudio/loudspeakers/pro//index.cfm/item/117932/PRO%26trade%3B15MkII4ohm.cfmI know there's a tweeter upgrade that's popular on the JBL's, and this is something that I'd be happy to consider to get a bit more high end, because according to the specs, they do lack a bit.Popular driver upgrade:http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?PartNumber=264-270Any opinions would be greatly appreciated, but please remember I'm on a TIGHT budget of around £1,600 for top cabs, subs and amps. Each member of the band are willing to pay £400 each and we have 4 members. Other things that I haven't mentioned such as a desk, cables, stands, multicore etc etc are all already catered for in some way or another. For £1,600, I can stretch to getting 2 x JRX115 tops, 2 x 118s Subs and 2 x QSC GX5 amps. I'd also like to stress that I'm not planning on achieving breakthrough quality or volume, I just want the locals in the club to be able to hear us pretty decently on a Friday night, and I want enough thump to make them get up and dance! :) Thanks very much for reading my post. I'm super sorry that it's long. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyMitchell Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 My question revolves around the general usability of the JBL JRX 115 cabs and the JBL JRX 118s subs for bands. Power wise (on paper) these speakers don't look as if they'd have any problems in small venues or most medium venues (to my knowledge, please correct me if I'm wrong.) We'll be pushing through mainly vocals as a priority, but ideally we'd like to mic pretty much everything for larger gigs. Take the power ratings with a pinch of salt - JBL let themselves down by marketing them in the same way they sell car speakers to boy racers. A JRX115 won't in a million years come close to 128dB/1m, this is simply a calculation based on the short burst peak handling figure and assuming no thermal compression. Somewhere close to 120dB would be more realistic. That said, as budget speakers go, this range isn't by any means terrible, in fact, for the money they are good value. Why not look at the JRX112 for your tops, instead of the 115? Used over the 118 sub, it will give you tighter vocals and generally sound better. Also, it's cheaper and lots lighter. If they didn't have JBL on the front, but instead "Peavy" or other similar brands, would people hold less of a grudge towards these speakers because they're made by a generally lower quality company? I get the impression that people expect too much from these speakers simply because they're made by JBL. At £200 a top cab, are they really that bad? That's a fair point, although for £200 or whatever they cost, no-one with half a brain is going to expect the performance of a £4,000 Vertec box, and most whose opinion matters know that JBL's target market is extremetly wide and their product/price offering fits many sectors... good business model. That probably cannot be said for the other brand you mention, as if they ever do make any decent loudspeakers, they will struggle to be taken seriously and gain rider acceptance. Whose cabinets are more likely to have the badges removed, do you think?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsource Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 This all sounds good so far, but, I've heard a lot of people that don't think highly of the JRX line. Obviously, they're not going to share the same quality as the better JBL products available such as the MRX line, but do they still sound decent enough for a band on an EXTREME budget? Do people expect too much from these speakers? We have 8x JRX125 (2x15 model) and 4x JRX112M (the 12" wedge monitor) in hire stock. The 125's do the job, but you get what you pay for, we use them in the local band / club scene, but at 42Kg for a 500w cab, that's heavy. I've had the 125's for years, and have had no problems with them whatsoever, they're driven by QSC PLX amps, can be driven hard, and have done jobs from a Prime Minister's speech, to a weekend rock festival. The 112M's on the other hand, are very underpowered. Blown 3 HF drivers without really trying, and in this country, you can only buy a genuine replacement as a complete unit, (2412H-1), which is expensive. There are companies that do cloned diaphrams, but the better quality ones are only available as an import from the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 A good friend of mine bought a set of these to go with her Soundcraft powered mixer for backing tracks and her vocals. They sounded quite fine for the pubs and hotels she was doing at the time. When she started doing more wedding receptions in bigger rooms, the sound suffered quite badly from having the output faders higher up - and the bass end fell part with some of the tracks she was using that I'd put a little too much bass into - on purpose because in the smaller rooms, the bass seemed to get lost and couldn't be pulled out with the eq. They sounded, I felt, very similar to the Peaveys, but with a bit less at the bottom. However - also like the Peaveys, they lose their smoothness when output levels go up. They were small and tough, and simple to use. No way I'd ever try to stick a band through them, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChazHS Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 We have the JBL SF-15 cabinets, which are a JRX 115 unit with a different model number. The only difference being the pole mount in the bottom of the cab. They are quite heavy, and being a chipboard box not the toughest cabinets in the world - but for the money they do a very good job. The only issue we have had is them popping HF drivers, when someone decided to hire a pair and run them on an amp with no form of clip limiter. I'd much rather use them over Peavey or another simillarly priced cabinet any day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.swart916 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Everyone here is quite correct. For the price, they are fine. The PRX 600 range are powered boxes with much more balls than the JRX 100 range. At a slightly higher price of course. The PRX 400 range are the same boxes as the PRX 600 range, minus the amplification.My favorite combo with the PRX 600 range of boxes: PRX618XLF sub underneath the PRX 612M. For small to medium sized venues they sound great. Perhaps save a bit more and consider the PRX range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ83 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I've had 2x JRX112M and 1x 118 sub for a few years now and they've survived everything I've thrown at them. I've been very happy with the sound and they have certainly paid for themselves. For small pub/church hall gigs I'll use the JRX as the main rig and then for bigger jobs I'll use the wedges as monitors.I work mainly with live bands so vocals, drums and bass guitar go through the PA. The only time I've had problems was the 2 hours of dubstep after the live bands finished, the speakers survived but it did melt through the cable tie that holds the resistor on the crossover board! Took about 5min to repair the next day.For reference I power them with 2x XTi4000 going through either a GL2400 or Yamaha MG166CX. My small grumble with the 112's is they have 1x jack and 1x speakon socket and I would prefer 2x speakon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Riley Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Yep - similar views to the above really- I think with the lower end JBL stuff you certainly pay for the brand name. There are some solutions in a similar price range where you're not really paying for the label, and they don't have a segmented product range to protect so you may get better value for money - LD systems stinger series, and Thomann's the box pro stuff being potentially good examples of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMyNaturalColour Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the replies. Unfortunately, I'm in a state of confusion. I think it's because I've never really used a variety of speakers and I'm not generally great with sound stuff at all.The confusion I have now is, when I put all of the 15" passive speakers in descending order of price on Thomman, the list of stuff I can afford includes Thomman's own brand, Behringer, Peavy and the JRX line from JBL. The reason why I initially thought I didn't need to budget more on speakers is because of these Peavys that I mentioned above, and how they sounded just fine to me for the size of the venues around here. I can budget more than I initially thought, but, not loads. I can go a MAXIMUM of £300 per top cab. I can't pay more than £600 for the pair, because I originally wanted it to cost around £1000 for a couple of tops and a couple of subs. I can push that total up to £1,200 but that's about it, so if I spend more money on the tops, I don't have a lot of room to play with when it comes to subs. If I push it up anymore then this band will never get going because borrowing PA stuff is proving to be a nightmare. I guess the absolute bottom line is, if I buy JRX's, will they be OKAY for the price, or am I completely wasting my time? If so, what other top cab for the money is out there? I'm really sorry for the awkwardness of my situation, and I'm sorry that it's not a very 'technician' question... More of a noob trying to buy some decent speakers. Thanks again, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 What are you trying to put through them? I'd be tempted to just go for a pair of better 15 and horn TBH. Might get a better bang for your buck! The ELX115P are very nice, active and loud! http://www.thomann.de/gb/ev_elx_115p_bundle.htm Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMyNaturalColour Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 What are you trying to put through them? I'd be tempted to just go for a pair of better 15 and horn TBH. Might get a better bang for your buck! The ELX115P are very nice, active and loud! http://www.thomann.d...115p_bundle.htm Josh I'm not 100% sure yet, but it'll for sure be vocals, and ideally I'd like to mic pretty much everything for medium sized venues. Guitars, DI from the bassamp, a few drums... stuff like that. They look really nice! Are the passive versions just as good? Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 The passives are nice, as are the 12s (of which I own 4 now) A pair of 12s and a pair of the 18 subs would be a nice system. I run exactly that off of a TSA4-700 and a DCX2496 Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMyNaturalColour Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 The passives are nice, as are the 12s (of which I own 4 now) A pair of 12s and a pair of the 18 subs would be a nice system. I run exactly that off of a TSA4-700 and a DCX2496 Josh Sounds very nice. It's within my price-range too. Are the subs slightly too overpowering for the 12" tops, or is the balance good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 If anything, I'd rather take 4 subs and 2 tops! But I like my bass. :P E2A, you really want to put a DCX across that Amp, it has no form of Clip Limiting built in and will just distort instead. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMyNaturalColour Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 If anything, I'd rather take 4 subs and 2 tops! But I like my bass. :P Josh Awesome news! :D Thanks very much... I'll run it past the guys within a next few days to see what they think. The reduced weight for the tops is a huge bonus too, and the non-carpet design will look nicer on stage too ;) Thanks everyone for your help! I'll for sure be posting here again to further ask questions on PA inquires that are very likely to arise... Thanks again, Tom :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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