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Author Topic: EV ETX 35p & 18SP  (Read 31619 times)

jasonfinnigan

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EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« on: April 16, 2014, 02:40:54 PM »

I'm in the market for some new mains. I'm eyeing the EV ETX Series. I'm thinking of Getting 2x EV ETX 35p and 4x EV ETX 18SP and using some powered 15's I have as some center/front fills if needed.

This will be for concerts, festival and church conference type environments. It needs to be able handle basically any genre from country, gospel, worship, to rock and metal. and some outdoor (possibly summer concerts in Southwest VA weather so low -mid 80s temps). with anywhere from 100 to 1,000 people (no more).

Do you think this would be a good setup.

My other thought would be to get some used EAW KF850EFs, and some QSC amps, but it seems that would be less SPL, not to mention their rather old speakers, and would likely end up costing a lot more (especially with the cost of amps, NL4s wiring harness for racks, more racks, etc etc).

Any ideas?

I would wait til I hear them but my dealer is going to make a good deal on them to me if I pre-order them but tomorrow is the last day EV will let them get the price low enough on pre-order to where they can make the deal so I need to make a decision soon.

I am pretty sure they will produce enough volume (say 90db outdoors @ 100feet/foh mix position) my main concern is if they will hold up outdoors and not cut out. I haven't used a lot of powered gear so the fact that they have no fans scares me, but again this is SW VA so it's not extreme high temps.
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Thomas Le

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2014, 04:04:09 PM »

It's hard to tell with the ETX since it was recently announced at NAMM and it's not proven in the wild yet. Have you looked at the JBL (PRX735 on PRX718XLF) or QSC (KW153 on KW181) equivalents?
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Corey Scogin

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2014, 04:11:26 PM »

My other thought would be to get some used EAW KF850EFs, and some QSC amps, but it seems that would be less SPL, not to mention their rather old speakers, and would likely end up costing a lot more (especially with the cost of amps, NL4s wiring harness for racks, more racks, etc etc).

EAW KF850's are in a class well above the EV ETX, JBL PRX, QSC KW, etc.  The output from the 850 should crush that of the ETX.  I'm not saying one's a better fit for you than the other, just pointing out that those don't compare.  I do agree that the 850's will end up costing you more.  You'll also need more people to lift and stack the 850's at 250lbs ea.
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jasonfinnigan

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2014, 05:50:23 PM »

EAW KF850's are in a class well above the EV ETX, JBL PRX, QSC KW, etc.  The output from the 850 should crush that of the ETX.  I'm not saying one's a better fit for you than the other, just pointing out that those don't compare.  I do agree that the 850's will end up costing you more.  You'll also need more people to lift and stack the 850's at 250lbs ea.

Yeah I know. We rent/hire out mains and own everything else, for bigger shows it's been much cheaper. But we are starting to to a lot of smaller stuff and outdoor festivals that just don't have the budget for that.

I think the ones we usually rent are some DB Tech DVA (we ground stack them though). They used to rent us the EAW 850s but they haven't rented them out in years, and are actually selling them hence why I brought those up. They want around $950 each for them with road case cables and all. But I really think for our small events it's just going to be too pricey the speakers are the problem - the cost of the amps - especially in a triamp situation is going to be $$$$$.

Ok, so to make this easier. Lets say we will continue to rent at the 1,000 people level. But lets say the system should be able to handle an 800 people auditorium (indoors, but I guess that's a given) and up to 300-500ish outdoors.

I'm honestly not a fan of the QSC K series I heard them once.. Didn't like them. The JBL PRX 735 looks interesting to me. I haven't used any of there powered gear (or really much any powered gear besides db Techs). But I've heard that some of them had issues with the power supplies going bad. is that still true?

I guess I'm having an annoying time with this because when we rent, we always have way more power and head room. But to keep up with the times and competition we need to get a smaller system of our own for the small concerts/festivals, which is trying to do more with less.

So you think the JBL PRX735 say 1 or 2 per side and 4 PRX718XLF subs (maybe more later) could handle the 800 people indoor (say your average high school auditorium that holds 700-800) and 300-500 in an outdoor field? If you don't think so we will probably just hold off an and keep renting as we are looking to spend a max of around $10k for mains, not really looking for $60k of FOH speakers - that's why we hire gear (and we aren't responsible for maintaining it), I'm just hoping we can get something in the $10k range for these smaller events.

« Last Edit: April 16, 2014, 08:25:54 PM by JasonFinnigan »
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jasonfinnigan

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2014, 12:02:48 PM »

Just an update. The EAW 850 are just so old at the point we are going to stay away from them. We may just buy some of the JBL PRX or SRX (unpowered) and use them and see how we can grow with it. Brand name is usually key so I'm going to stay away from the EVs as much as they look like good competitors for the small festival market, JBL is more well known and the lack of a fan on the EVs scares me.

We are pretty big on just renting mains, but it's not very cost effective for the small things. I think we may wait around til August or so to get moving on it.
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TJ (Tom) Cornish

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2014, 12:11:37 PM »

Just an update. The EAW 850 are just so old at the point we are going to stay away from them. We may just buy some of the JBL PRX or SRX (unpowered) and use them and see how we can grow with it. Brand name is usually key so I'm going to stay away from the EVs as much as they look like good competitors for the small festival market, JBL is more well known and the lack of a fan on the EVs scares me.

We are pretty big on just renting mains, but it's not very cost effective for the small things. I think we may wait around til August or so to get moving on it.
Passing on the KF850s is a good move - particularly non-Z versions.
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Brian Jones

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2014, 06:23:54 PM »

I have very little experience with them (rented once due to a free upgrade) but I really liked the pair of QRx 112.
I have K10s and like them for the size of event I normally do for DJing, but the QRx was really a big step up powered with the RMX2450.
If I were trying to cover that size crowd regularly, I would definitely consider them.

I thought I would put this out there for others who have used them week end and week out to comment on.
I also like the Phoenix on paper (never heard them) given the specs and the rotatable horn which makes it more versatile. 
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royaljenner

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #7 on: April 18, 2014, 08:52:55 AM »

Hi,
If you are considering passive tops, I suggest auditioning the JTR Speakers (jtrspeakers.com) Noesis Series 3TX or 2TX.

The 3TX was demonstrated at the Indianapolis speaker Shootout and was compared to many top cabs, incl. SRX722 and QRX212.  The 3TX was(is) stunningly clear (horn loading down to 450 hz) with incredible output, and better yet only 53 lbs.

I DJ (pre recorded Pop and EDM) and purchased the 2TX (1dB less output, horn down to 1khz) and love them for what I do.  If I were about live sound, I would definitely consider paying more for the 3TX.

P.S.  I can vouch for the ease of hauling and pole mounting the Noesis.

Regards,
Royal
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Benjamin Gingerich

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #8 on: April 18, 2014, 09:09:58 AM »

A dealer who has a set of the new EV tops to demo told me that they are pretty impressive, they utilize FIR filters in their processing and sound very natural, however they are not the 850's or Community 960s in terms of power, he compared the output to the Community sls920 only it goes down to about 95hz with no problems. 
With the 920's being one of my favorit small format speakers, it has my interest.
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Benjamin Gingerich
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Brent_Handy

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Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2014, 09:06:57 PM »

It's hard to tell with the ETX since it was recently announced at NAMM and it's not proven in the wild yet. Have you looked at the JBL (PRX735 on PRX718XLF) or QSC (KW153 on KW181) equivalents?

While you are correct, ETX is not really out yet, JBL PRX7 series is not really that tried and true either.  They fixed the fan in the amp module, but what about woofer reliability?

We have the whole ETX line in our shop and they sound great for the money.  The woofers sound better to me than KW181s.  I think QSC and JBL will be playing catch up.  The ETX is not as abrasive at loud volumes.  EV will sell a crap ton of them.

I don't think anything in this MI range is suitable for 1k people crowds, especially in the context of a rowdy church service.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2014, 09:09:29 PM by Brent_Handy »
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: EV ETX 35p & 18SP
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2014, 09:06:57 PM »


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