The Peavey Messenger M100 is a complete, portable sound system designed with the compact size and carry-on convenience of a briefcase. At 24″ wide, the Messenger is portable enough for business travellers, and since it is completely self contained and sets up in seconds. The Messenger’s robust five-channel mixer and 100 Watt output make it ideal for an endless array of applications, from office presentations and meetings to karaoke and open-mic performances. Its top lid also functions as a lectern to hold your meeting notes or song lyrics.There is a small, zippered bag that holds all the stuff included with this package.
This is what it looks like in “briefcase-mode” and it looks pretty small. But honestly, a total of 100 watts total (50 watts per channel into 4 ohms) is rather low. Each speaker comes with two 4″ woofers and a 1″ tweeter. The beauty of this system is that it comes with a dynamic microphone and and an XLR cable so it can be used for small roadshows. The speaker wire is a bit on the short side…only about 15 feet in length…so get some longer speaker cable if you are gonna set up your speakers far away from you. The speakers used the standard 1/4″ phone jacks so getting new or replacement ones should not be too hard.
So should you get this? I personally will pass on it as the wattage put out by this system is a bit low so I can safely rule it out for serious sound reinforcement. But for small roadshows, the system cannot be beat and its portability is a big plus factor. Looks like Peavey has helped fill yet another niche market with this
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 was at an online, Internet radio station today and I happened to see a couple of these tucked away in a corner. I suppose that the station uses this for live broadcasts in malls and the like. I admit i was surprised when I saw it. They are a lot bigger than what I thought they would be. According to the Peavey website, these are the specifications:
- - Two-way, full-range sound reinforcement system
- - 15 inch Scorpion® woofer with field-replaceable basket
- - RX™ 22 compression driver with ferrofluid cooling
- - Frequency Response: 69 Hz to 17 kHz,+/-3dB
- - -10 dB point: 50 Hz
- - Sensitivity: 98 dB (1W/1m) anechoic
- - 800 watts program, 1600 watts peak
- - Patented Asymmetrical Quadratic Throat Waveguide™ technology
- - 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
- - Trapezoidal enclosure
- - Hammertex durable covering material
- - Stand-mount adapter
- - Weight Packed: 77.20 lb(35.017 kg)
- - Width Packed: 19.75″(50.165 cm)
- - Height Packed: 30.75″(78.105 cm)
- - Depth Packed: 23″(58.42 cm)
Looks like the Scorpion woofers can take a lot of beating but the Scorpions of old did not seem that they could handle large amounts of power. I have always preferred Peavey’s Black Widow drivers over their Scorpion ones. The reason I say this is because I had a pair of Peavey 112H speakers that turned literally to dust after some heavy amplifier worked its “magic” on them. They were only capable of about 200 watts tops. I am not too sure what the crossover frequency is but I bet it would probably hover around 1KHz as the compression driver would not be ble to handle anything lower than this. But they do look pretty impressive. For small road-shows, I think this Peavey SP5 has got it covered.
Way back when, quite a few years ago, I was contemplating getting a portable public address (PA) system for events and such. I was looking at two brands, namely the Fender Passport series and the Peavey Escort series. The Peavey Escort was one that piqued my interest and I must say that I do find it appealing to this day. The only thing that turned me off though was the mixer that is seated in a coffin, as can be seen in the diagram above. The specs of this thing, as per the Peavey website are:
- - Two-way speaker system with 10″ woofer and piezoelectric horn
- - Five-channel powered mixer
- - Four XLR mic inputs with 15 V phantom power
- - Two stereo line inputs
- - 60 mm faders
- - High quality digital reverb
- - 300 Watts output power (150 Watts per channel) with DDT™
- - Five-band graphic equalizer with FLS
- - Two folding speaker stands
- - One PV®i cardioid dynamic microphone with cable
- - Two 25′ speaker cables
- - Storage compartments for microphones, cables and accessories
- - Convenient package with luggage-style wheels
- - Weight Unpacked: 52.50 lb(23.813 kg)
- - Weight Packed: 64.00 lb(29.029 kg)
- - Width Packed: 16.62″(42.2148 cm)
- - Height Packed: 39.75″(100.965 cm)
- - Depth Packed: 17.62″(44.7548 cm)
That is what the unit looks like when it is open. The mixer portion looks too big though. It would have been nice if I could detach it and just put it on a table or something like that. The beauty of it is that when it is closed, it looks like a pod:
Relatively easy to carry, looking like a big suitcase. The thing even has luggage-style wheels so that you can wheel it from place to place. The speaker stands are included and fit in the box very nicely. The mixer portion looks like this:
The only issue I have with this is that it does not have a headphone output. I suppose that we cannot have our cake and eat it too. There is a 5-band graphic equaliser and the usual reverb and such that are available on many other portable PA offerings by other manufacturers. But the beauty of it is that Peavey throws in a free cardioid microphone with this!
Not too sure how much this costs in Singapore currency but I dare say that this thing is a solid bit of kit and I am pretty sure is well-worth the price.
This amplifier from Peavey was way ahead of its time. It was only 1U high and it could pack 250 watts of power per channel! But this amp is about 20 years old and i still have it at my place. It has not been played in a while and I pretty much feel that it is had it but when it was in its prime, man could it pump the speakers…in a package (as mentioned earlier) only 1U in height! The gain controls are at the back of the unit so it is a bit of a hassle to set it but most of the time, we used to run the gains full anyway. I must break it out and give it a try again. Knowing Peavey and their reliability, I think it is still capable of kicking ass!
I was out buying dinner last night. It was a wet night as it had been raining the whole day. Then, under the shade near a block of apartments, I saw a couple of these speakers, still on their stands. I happen to know D.A.S. Audio speakers as I have seen them in use in many places in the late 1980s. This is the first time I have seen them in use for mobile applications. I must confess that these are a relatively newer model. The one I saw was older. And here is the stunner. There was a stack of equipment nearby and what caught my attention were the power amplifiers. They were none other than the old-school Peavey CS-800s! Either this sound rental company has been around a long time or they bought this equipment in a second-hand sale. But it was good to see these old work-horses still doing their job after all these years.
There are many players in the active speaker game. names like Yamaha, QSC, RCF, Behringer just to name a few. Peavey has been it for some time as well but this is a first, for me anyway, to find a powered enclosure features a true ribbon driver and a 12″ field-replaceable Black Widow dual voice coil premium neodymium speaker. Peavey has a description of the speaker here. According to Peavey, these speakers are able to produce 1,200 watts of efficient power while weighing a very lightweight 39 lbs per speaker. According to the website:
“The Input section features two input channels and a line output, with a mix of I/O options such as combination XLR-1/4″ jacks, RCA and install-ready Phoenix connections. Input channels 1 and 2 also have mic/line source switches and gain controls. The Auto-Off function automatically shuts off the power when it no longer detects a signal, while the Line Out allows the user to chain multiple units or send the input signal to another source. The DynaQ™ section offers advanced tone controls such as Bass Enhancer, which is an overall loudness boost; a Music/Speech switch that provides optimized EQ settings for each audio type; and Contour, specially configured for program music. A module bay allows for future expansion including Wireless I/O, Delay/Time Adjustment, Mixer Expander, Ethernet I/O and more. “
Looks like a lot of bang for buck, Peavey-wise. A write-up by Joshua Garber here shows that the sound was excellent, due to the ribbon tweeter. It is more accurate in sound reproduction than a compression driver coupled up to a horn, that is for sure. List price is about US $1,200 per speaker.
I have always liked the Nexo brand of speakers, even though these are from France. One thing I liked about them is the high SPLs (Sound Pressure Levels) and the clarity of these speakers. The only thing that kind of puts me off, not necessarily in a bad way, is that these things are processor controlled. Even though they are now owned by the Yamaha Group, there will come a day when I will eventually own one of these babies, especially the Nexo PS 15, my dream speakers. I used to see them being used at live shows, installed in clubs and even once installed in a record shop! But I suppose, my Peavey and Yamaha speakers will have to suffice…for now.
The Peavey FH-1 low frequency enclosure. I have always liked these speakers. In all my life as a DJ, I have used these speakers in many a function hall and live in the open. These FH-1s can really rock the house, throwing out bass like crazy. Of course this is one-third of the Peavey Project 2 system and also the little brother to the massive Peavey FH-2, which has two 15″ loudspeakers, and weighs a ton too! I know of a bloke here in Singapore selling these things at a pretty low price. I would buy them but there is currently no space in my house!
To be honest, I have had and as a matter of fact, still have a Peavey CS-800 amplifier from many years ago. That baby still rocks and is a joy to play. It has powered many a function I have had and is a real workhorse. I am in the stages of looking at power amplifiers to take over it. Do not get me wrong, that old CS-800 has not croaked. I just cannot vouch for the electronics inside. After all, 20 years is a long time and electronic stuff does not last forever…even Peavey amplifiers. I was looking at the Yamaha P5000S but I always drift back to Peavey…I just do not know why. And I am now looking at the Peavey CS 4080HZ
From the specifications on Peavey’s website, this 2U high amplifier can dish out a helluva lot of power. Lets see… 2040 watts RMS into 4 ohms per channel, 1250 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms. I do not even need to go into bridged mode but look at the power it is able to dish out. I still remember back in the day when the only power amplifier capable of dishing out that much power was the Amcron 5000VZ…but those days are long gone. Bloody thing weighs about 24 kilograms too! I do not have speakers that can handle this massive amount of power but I bet it would be a good amplifier for huge subwoofers. Maybe in the future, when I do get subwoofers, or run a club, I might get this amplifier.
