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[Anastasio Guerra]

Looking for the best cab for the money. I am leaning toward the Peaveys. Is the extra cost on the JBLs and the EV's worth it? Need to purchase soon. Thanks

Peavey SP2
JBL MP 415
EV Zx4

[Chris Hinds]

Then I would suggest going to a local dealer and listening.  Buying speakers blind is the worst possible thing you can do.  Whether the JBL/EV are worth the extra money is highly subject to interpretation.  You also need to answer some questions:

1. How many people am I playing to?
2. What kind of material am I playing?
3. Do I need to be able to expand (array) into a larger system in the future?
4. Am I using subs and if so what kind of processing too?
5. What makes me feel I need to upgrade from the existing?

That's just for starters, there's a hundred and one other questions that can only be answered with the experience you have.  Failing that a search here will reveal that the MP series are generally well liked, the MP4xx more so than the MP2xx.

Hope the thoughts are of use

Regards

Chris

[Kemper Watson]

All three of these are great choices. I own two of your choices, the Peavy's and JBL's. Both sound pretty good. I believe the PV's are a little cheaper($100 maybe) If you get the Peavy's try running them bi-amped. You'll be supprised at the difference.

[Steve Oldridge]

I've running a pair of SP2's bi-amped for tops and what a difference when compared to full range. Horns were replaced with Selenium DT10i's, but kept the BW 15's...
They perform vey well.


STeve

[Austin Parker]

Chris Hinds wrote on Sun, 14 May 2006 06:35

Then I would suggest going to a local dealer and listening.  Buying speakers blind is the worst possible thing you can do.  Whether the JBL/EV are worth the extra money is highly subject to interpretation.

YES! never ever buy blind. only your ears will tell you what you like and don't like. Just because 100 people have peaveys and 10 have jbls (or visa-versa) doesn't mean the 'least popular' are of lesser quality.

[james page]

Austin Parker wrote on Mon, 15 May 2006 04:45

Chris Hinds wrote on Sun, 14 May 2006 06:35 Then I would suggest going to a local dealer and listening.  Buying speakers blind is the worst possible thing you can do.  Whether the JBL/EV are worth the extra money is highly subject to interpretation.   YES! never ever buy blind. only your ears will tell you what you like and don't like. Just because 100 people have peaveys and 10 have jbls (or visa-versa) doesn't mean the 'least popular' are of lesser quality.

This is great advice but it can really limit your choices. I live in a major metro area (SF) and i never see many of the speakers that are touted in this forum.
JP

[Tony Peaker]

Gotta agree with Austin and Chris.  Test drive your gear before you buy it.  Talk to the dealer and see if they can let you take the speakers to an actual gig and run them to test them in a real world situation.  As long as you are actually going to buy speakers from them and are not just looking for a free hire then most dealers shouldn't have a problem. If they won't let you test them (or at least listen to them side by side in the shop) then take your business elsewhere.

We auditioned 4 or 5 different companies systems at our venue before we bought our Martin line array.  Just because you are a smaller operator doesn't mean that you should do any less.

[Scott Kraft]

Having an A+B+C critical listening comparison seems to be the most advisable choice when purchasing cabinets at similiar price points. At this level, rider acceptability should be a non-issue, so brand name recognition, (hopefully) shouldn't persuade you in one direction or the other. Bottom line is, are YOU happy with the results that are obtained from one set of speakers over the others? My quick .02 is this... the SP2's are an excellent value and can take a severe beating. I used the earliest versions of them back in the mid 90's when they were loaded with the Scorpion driver, and I never had a failure driving them 5 hours a night/4 nights a week at full rated power. JBL's MP415 is a little overpriced IMO, but you can't argue with the quality of materials and construction used on those cabs-wonderful! (avoid the MP2xx series as they use the less expensive JRX components) I have no opinion on the EV's as I have never personally worked with them, but I suspect they are equal to the others in just about every respect regarding choice of components and material/build quality. Good luck!

[Dan Thompson]

Steve Oldridge wrote on Sun, 14 May 2006 23:30

I've running a pair of SP2's bi-amped for tops and what a difference when compared to full range. Horns were replaced with Selenium DT10i's, but kept the BW 15's... They perform vey well. STeve

I run older SP2G's and am interested in your comment about bi-amping vs full range. Can you qualify the "what a difference" comment? Describe the improvement. It sounds like it may be worth the trouble to pursue that option. I'll take input from anyone on this issue (fullrange vs bi-amping).

Dan

[Steve Oldridge]

Dan Thompson wrote on Mon, 15 May 2006 15:20

Steve Oldridge wrote on Sun, 14 May 2006 23:30 I've running a pair of SP2's bi-amped for tops and what a difference when compared to full range. Horns were replaced with Selenium DT10i's, but kept the BW 15's... They perform vey well. STeve I run older SP2G's and am interested in your comment about bi-amping vs full range. Can you qualify the "what a difference" comment? Describe the improvement. It sounds like it may be worth the trouble to pursue that option. I'll take input from anyone on this issue (fullrange vs bi-amping). Dan

Dan,
bi-amping [by default] will give better clarity and separation of the specific frequency ranges sent to the drivers due to the signal be split - at the crossover point - and amplified prior to getting to the driver vs. a passive split at speaker enclosure. I can't provide you all the 'tech' details, but it's probably due to crossover type (24 vs 12db slopes, active/passive, etc.). I do know that bi-amped will always sound better. Perhaps someone can give you the techincal explanation.

In my case, I'm running a [stereo] tri-amp system, thru a BDX 234XL x-over, so everything above the mono LF split (around 100Hz) goes into the SP2's.  The MF/HF split is set at 1.8Khz (per Peavey recommendation). So the Peavey BW 15" gets 100-1.8Khz and the Seleniums horns get the rest above 1.8K.
The SP2's have 2 NL4 Speakons, in parallel, on each box. Each SP4 has +1/-1 wired to the 15" and +2/-2 wired to the horn direct (or is it the other way around..?? I forget. Wired it up in standard manner some time ago).

I have a back plate on the amp rack with FOH L and R outs (NL4's) wired up from both amps. It's a quick hookup and it also allows different wiring if for some reason I need to run bridged or in some other config.

Steve