The club I was spinning at a couple of days back just got two of these speakers. These Turbosound Milan M15s were punchy, to say the least. At least they were better than the in-house sound system which really sounded bad because they were long past their expiry date. These speakers, couple up or rather, used with an 18″ subwoofer that was already present in the club were absolutely fantastic, sound-wise. When I got back home, I decided to do some reading up on these speakers.
According to the Turbosound website, these self-powered loudspeakers can put out 450 watts of power. They are a two-way design, utilising a 15″ woofer and a 1″ compression driver coupled to a horn. The amplifier is a classic Class D that is available in lots of other speakers like these. There is a two channel mixer at the rear of these speakers and there is an option to daisy-chain them. They are pretty light and can put out 125 db SPL in continuous operation. I tried carrying them and I was surprised to find that they are pretty lightweight compared to many others that are similar.
Did I like them? I must say I did. But for the price, I can get some cheaper units. But the sound is pretty good and I bet you won’t regret buying them
JBL took a leaf out of Yamaha Stagepas’s book by having a portable PA system with a detachable mixer at the rear of one of the speakers. To be honest, I have never seen these in use by anyone before but from what I can see, it looks like a pretty hot contender. OK. Comparisons with the Yamaha is that it uses a 300 watt (150 watts per channel) Crown Class-D amplifier versus a 500 watt (250 watts per channel) Stagepas 500. The Yamaha has a 10-channel mixer and this one has an 8-channel one.The speaker designs are the same as the Stagepas, with a 10″ woofer and a 1″ horn. Like the Stagepas, this has digital effects built-in (5 effects to choose from) and has Phantom Power for powering things like active DI boxes and condenser microphones
The only thing I do not like about this is that Channel 7/8 on this is a stereo mini-jack. It does not make it versatile at all because you need to look for special cables like RCA to stereo mini-jacks. JBL says that the mixer is made by Soundcraft (another member of the Harman Group) but the design and features of the mixer could be better and more flexible. Besides, it is less powerful than the Yamaha Stagepas 500 and more expensive too.You can read more specifications here about this system here.
So if you ask me, If I had to make a choice between this EON 210p and the Yamaha Stagepas 500, I would take the Stagepas 500 over this anyday.
I have had a Yamaha Stagepas 500 system for quite some time now and if you asked if I am happy with it, I would gladly say I am. It has to be one of the cleanest-sounding sound systems that I have used in a long time and its very versatile too.
A short time ago, I was looking around for some powered speakers. When you mention you want to buy powered-speakers in Singapore, what everyone automatically suggests are the Mackie SRM-450s. But to me, once you go the Yamaha route, you never go back. This MSR400 for instance has a 12″ woofer and a 1.75″ horn driver. The amplifier that powers this is bi-amplified, which means no passive crossover inside. That makes it very much more efficient in terms of power. It is able to deliver 400 watts of power. It can be used as a fold-back monitor or even a front-of-house (FOH) system with the aid of a subwoofer. I think a couple of these MSR400s should be able to power a moderate hall pretty well.
This is the rear of the Yamaha MSR400. There is a heat-sink (a rather large one at that) to keep the amplifier cool. There are balanced XLR connections provided, as well as a LOW and HI equalizer. One thing that is not present here is a high-pass filter (HPF) but I think that it is not that important. You can plug a microphone in one of the XLR sockets and use this as an instant public address system
Sound-wise, I was able to hear a demo of it that day. The 12″ woofer provided a lot of punch, but then again, I was listening to it in a shop’s demo room. I have yet to hear it being performed out doors but I have heard that t performs very well. It is not the least expensive of powered speakers available on the market but the Yamaha quality and the clarity of the sound make up for it. Will I get this in the future? Hey…who knows? But I do know one thing. It oozes quality and its a Yamaha. That seems to be good enough for me
Peavey has certainly moved on with the times. These are the new SP2 speakers from them and they look pretty good. One thing they have kept from the SP2 speakers of old is the popular Peavey Black Widow speakers. These speakers, like the SP2′s of old, are still bi-ampable and they can take even more more power. Specs-wise:
- - 2-way full-range, bi-ampable sound reinforcement system
- - RX™22 compression driver with ferrofluid cooling
- - 15 inch BWX Black Widow® 4 inch voice coil woofer
- - 1000 watts program, 2000 watts peak
- - 54 Hz to 17 kHz
- - Patented Asymmetrical Quadratic Throat Waveguide™ technology
- - Asymmetrical horn aim their coverate patterns 10 degrees upward and 30 degrees downwarddirecting sound to your audience, not over their heads.
- - Patented Radialinear Planar Phase Correction System
- - Sound Guard™ III tweeter protection
- - Full-range inputs include a Neutrik® Speakon® 4 pin jack and two 1/4 inch phone jacks
- - Bi-amp input via 4-pin switching Neutrik Speakon
- - Trapezoidal enclosure
- - Hammertex durable covering material
- - Stand-mount adapter
Only thing putting me off these speakers is the weight. These speakers weigh about 50 kilograms each. Also, they can take about 1000 watts of power, unlike the SP2s of old that could only take about 280 watts. Furthermore, these speakers come with Neutrik Speakon connectors and the popular 1/4″ phone jacks that came from the speakers of old. It also comes with tweeter protection. Pretty good speakers and I bet they can produce a hell of a lot of power. Like I said before, if it was not for the weight, I would gladly get these.
I have said it before. There are lots of manufacturers making powered speakers these days and Samson is one of them. This is their offering to the powered-speaker range, the Auro D412. It puts out pretty good sound and comes highly recommended by those who use it. The sad thing is that in brand-conscious Singapore, many use Mackie speakers. There are lots of other manyfacturers out there that build pretty good powered speakers and Samson is one of them. Specifications-wise:
– Compact, lightweight 2-way active speaker system
– D412: 12-inch extended range low frequency driver
– 1.34-inch (34mm) compression driver with 1-inch exit
– 400 watts of output power
– XLR mic input
– 1/4-inch line input
– Volume control
– 2-band equalizer (Bass and Treble Controls)
– Line output allows daisy chaining of additional speakers
– Built-in Optimax compressor/limiter with two-stage speaker protection
– 1-3/8-inch pole mount receptacle
– Two over-sized ergonomic carry handles
– Dual-angle floor monitor positioning options
– Solid polypropylene construction
This speaker comes with a 12″ woofer and is capable of delivering 400 watts of power. That is pretty impressive for a speaker this size. It is also pretty lightweight and cane be used as a near-field monitor if need be. Like most of the other manufacturers, it is made of polypropylene and has a horn with a 1″ throat.
Looks like this speaker can deliver the goods.
My wife and I were at a shopping mall that day and we saw that there was some kind of singing competition going on. I saw that the sound company that was hired for the event was using these Martin Audio Blackline X15 speakers. I must say that the sound engineer really tuned it well because it was providing very nice sound, with ample bass, without the need of a sub-woofer. they were mounted on stands and I vaguely remember an old friend of mine asking me once what I thought of the Martin Audio Blackline series but I said that I did not know as I have never heard of it or even heard them before. Now that I have heard it, I must say that they sounded pretty good. I mean, there are other things to worry about like equalization, processors and even the amplifiers driving it but I must say, they really sounded good. Of course, it was in an enclosed space and was not pumping some serious music. If they were, a subwoofer would definitely be needed. I wanted to find out more about these speakers. A visit to their webpage had some specifications:
- Versatile, multi-angle plywood enclosure
- Very high output, two-way system
- 15″ (380mm)/ 4″ (100mm) voice coil, ultra-long excursion
low-distortion neodymium LF driver
- 1.4″ (35mm) exit titanium dome, neodymium HF
compression driver
- Switchable passive/bi-amp crossover
- 8 ohm nominal impedance
- Rotatable 80° x 50° horn for portrait or landscape orientation
- Integral pole-mount and M8 rigging inserts
- Comprehensive mounting options and accessories
Not too shabby indeed. As a matter of fact, these were the cleanest-sounding speakers that I have heard in a long time. Well, they are expensive but I must say that they must be worth the price.
There is a company in Singapore clearing massive stocks of these dB Technologies active speakers. Like most active speakers which are pretty much sold everywhere these days, these speakers have fairly common specifications, like a 1″ throat for the horn and the 12″ woofer. Amplifier is a Class D amplifier, supplying 500 watts total. Now the only thing that boils down as to whether they become hot sellers is the price. They are currently on sale, selling for about $500 each. That is not too bad considering. The normal price for these hover around the $600 mark and that is not too bad too. I would prefer 15″ woofers, at the very least, on an active speaker. But the thing going for this Cromo 12 has to be the weight, which is 18.5 kg. Now that is pretty attractive and your back will thank you for that.
So f you ask me, will I buy these? Sure…if the price is right. If not, I would rather stay with the passive speaker/amplifier combination that I have been utilizing for years. If you think about it, its more flexible. Or for smaller shows, pack a couple of these active speakers. They should be more than sufficient when hooked up to a small mixer for such shows.
There is a new speaker company out there and I think they are going to make a pretty big impact on the audio scene. The company is called Bold Audio and according to their website:
BoldAudio was created to fill a need for high-quality loudspeakers tailored towards cost-sensitive markets. A team of international acoustical engineers from Europe and North America with experience in acoustical design, engineering live sound and installed sound reinforcement embarked upon over a year of research and development into the design and engineering of our product lines. With extensive consultations with sound engineers, system installers and industry professionals, we asked what they would like to see and hear implemented into the designs of Bold Audio loudspeakers. Next, we implemented all the data and started the design phase and chose to partner with world-class loudspeaker component manufacturers such as BMS Audio from Germany and 18sound from Italy. The result was the birth of a world-class brand of high-performance, high-return loudspeakers called Bold Audio..
Pictured above is the Bold Audio BA15. Looks a bit like the Nexo PS15 but I am pretty sure they will be a lot more affordable. Right now, they seem to have their act together. They have spoken to the industry and from the description above, they have listened and are ready to give discerning sound engineers and rental companies what they want and need. Yep, you will be certainly hearing about them soon enough.
I have been hearing some great things about this Phonic system. First thing is, the price just cannot be beat. For about US$200, you get a mixer/amplifier, two speakers that can double up as monitor wedges, 20 feet of speaker cable and even a dynamic microphone thrown in. Plus I have heard that the sound is pretty good and will suffice for even outdoor. many people in the USA are using this system and there are some sites that sell this as low as US$150! Egads!
Singapore does not have much to offer as far as cheap PA systems are concerned. I do not think you can get something at this price. If you do, it must be second-hand. In any case, this system is able to put out about 100 watts per channel of music power. The speakers have 10″ cone woofers and a horn with a compression driver. Maybe I will ask the local distributor of Phonic here if he brings in such a system. I like Phonic. My DJ mixers after my Tamon were all Phonic and they performed faultlessly. So yeah. I trust Phonic with their systems.
I came across this rather interesting all-in-one portable address (PA) system and when I googled it, I found out that quite a few sound companies re-brand this and put their name on it. All I know is that the system is called the PA-100 USB. The reason it is called that is because you can use a USB stick as well as an SD card in the system for playback if you do not have any external sound sources like say a CD player or a laptop. I must say that this is the first time I have seen such an addition to a portable PA system and I must say that it is a novel idea. I wonder how much it costs…
