Speaker compatibility

[bouldersoundguy]

EV makes very good speakers. You can hardly go wrong with those. The Behringers would be okay but probably noticeably inferior. The one advantage to the Behringer speakers is that they're 4.3kg lighter, which matters if you're hoisting them up onto stands.

 

[ecc83]

Electro-Voice EKX Series |

Ok, that ^ is for a much more expensive rig but speakers tend to have a 'house sound' and the EV ELX might not have the same Bells&Whistles but I would bet they sound pretty close.

Dave.

 

[wuzzo]

I should say so! 300 watts is going to give you well over 120dB SPL at a mtr. You WILL be told to turn it down!

Dave.

Well- little chance of that. We're a quiet band. My worry was that the speakers wouldn't perform well with a lower-rated power mixer.

The EVs scratch up easily, I believe- but I'll be painting them anyway.

 

[wuzzo]

EV makes very good speakers. You can hardly go wrong with those. The Behringers would be okay but probably noticeably inferior. The one advantage to the Behringer speakers is that they're 4.3kg lighter, which matters if you're hoisting them up onto stands.

No worries. We've got big girls.

 

[ecc83]

"My worry was that the speakers wouldn't perform well with a lower-rated power mixer"

The difference between 400W and 300W is just 1.2dB and that is easily with in the tolerance of the speaker's sensitivity, the clipping point of the amplifiers and the instantaneous mains voltage!

Dave.

 

[RFR]

A freind of mine has a band, not a very loud band.
They have (now had) those Behringer speakers. Twice they've blown the tweeters. Once in rehearsal, once at a live show. After the show incident they were retired.

Can't recomend them.

I can however, recommend Carvin PA gear.
Used to have a 6 room rehearsal facility. Rooms were running from noon to midnite with all manner of bands who were very, very hard on the equipment.

The Carvin stuff held up flawlessly.

 

[rob aylestone]

If you blow speakers more than once, then it's operator error, because speakers very rarely fail without giving out very obvious "help me" noises. If you wish speakers too hard, and ignore the help noises, then it's not the speakers fault. Some speakers are more or less efficient and many simply cannot produce the volume people want.

 

[miroslav]

I never heard the voice coils on our Cerwin Vega horns cry "help me" ......back in the day when we had a massive 3-way PA...18" bass reflex cabs on the bottom, 15s and 12s in the middle, and horns on top.
We use to pop a coil on the horns from time...just from getting pushed too hard, but then, in the decent clubs with bigger crowds, you just always ended up pushing the PA to its limit. We carried sapre voice coils...took about 10 minutes to swap one out.

I still have the pair of 15" cabs, which are actually a 3-way in themselves, but we would disconnect their internal horns/tweeters, and just use the 15" speakers for the mid-lows. I even have one of the Cerwin Vega amps that we used...the rest of the PA...don't remember, but I know I sold off the 18" cabs...they were some big ass bass reflex cabs.

 

[ecc83]

Tweeters are only going to blow due to thermal overload not over-displacement (unless the crossover was designed by an idiot!) . Now it might be the Behringer tweeters were simply not up to the job or, there might have been an amplifier defect such as a burst of HF instability at mild overload. Maybe the amp was picking up ultrasonic crap such as data?

If I were still making speakers I would put fuses in the tweeter feeds.

Dave.

 

[RFR]

And here come the berhinger defenders.

I was simply saying in the real world they're not up to the job, they're kind of junk.

I mean come on, in a 15 ×20 rehearsal space, and all you're running is vocals?

It's a classic rock band, not like it's death metal, screamo, or punk vocals.

If they blow, they're not up to the job.

 

[garww]

Well, a violin can do 105db, so be careful with those acoustic instruments up higher.

 

[mjbphotos]

If you've got the money go for the EV speakers. Behringers (and any low end speakers) start sounding crappy when you push them loud.

 

[witzendoz]

I would go for the EV's I have always liked EV's. The only reason I am not using them myself is I got a good deal on Quest, however they may not be available in the UK as they are an Australian company. I am however using EV subs and my large bass rig is EV.

I have also used EV recently at a gig, the self powered new series ones, and they sounded great.

Cheers
Alan.

 

[ecc83]

And here come the berhinger defenders.

I was simply saying in the real world they're not up to the job, they're kind of junk.

I mean come on, in a 15 ×20 rehearsal space, and all you're running is vocals?

It's a classic rock band, not like it's death metal, screamo, or punk vocals.

If they blow, they're not up to the job.

I am the LAST person to defend Bellringers! They have made EXACT copies of two of 'our' amplifiers and have bought up companies so they can monopolize certain components but, as you say the speakers were hardly being challenged and there COULD be another problem.

The Berry monitors, the crassly named 'Truths' do in fact have some support in some quarters and I have never read of any reliability problems with those.
Their high power PA amplifiers seem to keep going but no. I have NO love for Behringer in general!

Dave.

 

[wuzzo]

We've opted for a pair of the passive EVs- good deal by UK standards- and we can expand from there if necessary.
It's a steep learning curve- but we're enjoying it. We even spent a pleasant afternoon together browsing the PMP6000 manual. That's dedication.

Thanks for your help and advice. Good forum.