Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Tim Weaver]

PM sent  

[Chris Gruber]

The 1/4" plugs say it all. The after-thought Speakon is a nice touch.

[Jerry Turnbow]

Chris Gruber wrote on Fri, 31 October 2008 00:36

The 1/4" plugs say it all. The after-thought Speakon is a nice touch.

Chris -

While it's easy to be glib in todays environment, with pro and pro-sumer gear in abundance, let me help put this in perspective for you.

This product was developed around 1995-96, and introduced at a time when very few manufacturers of MI grade audio gear were putting speak-ons on their products.  We were among the first US manufacturers to incorporate them into our Audio Centron, and Ampeg enclosures in the US.  Manufacturers in Europe, where the Speakon was developed, led the US manufacturers in this area.

Secondly, the speak-on connector on this unit is most definitely not an afterthought.  All the components on the jackplate are mounted on a wave-soldered PCB assembly, (the 07-733-01 to be exact), and the speak-on is an integral part of the circuit, along with the switch to go between full range and biamped, which would be completely unnecessary if we only designed it with 1/4" jacks.

At that time, speakons were expensive and relatively scarce in the US, unlike today where it almost seems like you can by a speakon cable at Walmart.  We had to wrestle with the product manager to get him to accept the additional cost that the speakon added to the unit, but in retrospect it seems like it was a pretty good idea.

Eleven years in the progress of pro audio is like dog years - the improvements and changes in standards have evolved almost exponentially.

You wouldn't make fun of a '57 Chevy because it didn't have cruise control, would you??

Sorry bro, but you hit a nerve here.  

Have a great day!

Jerry Turnbow

IT Manager, St. Louis Music div. of Loud Technologies
(formerly director of engineering, SLME - 1992-99)

[Jerry Turnbow]

Chris Gruber wrote on Fri, 31 October 2008 00:36

The 1/4" plugs say it all. The after-thought Speakon is a nice touch.

Chris -

I had forgotten about this until I looked at the manual, but apparently the flyable version was all speakons.  Hardly an afterthought.

Cheers!

- Jerry

[Chris Gruber]

Jerry,

Sorry about that. You are correct, It was just a generalization about your average prosumer gear and was not an attack on the Audio Centron stuff at all. Again, Sorry for the words.

[Jerry Turnbow]

Chris Gruber wrote on Sat, 01 November 2008 05:10

Jerry, Sorry about that. You are correct, It was just a generalization about your average prosumer gear and was not an attack on the Audio Centron stuff at all. Again, Sorry for the words.

No problem, Chris.  I was probably a bit cranky the other day.

The truth is, coming to SLM in 1992 after 17 years with a pro audio systems contractor, I found it frustrating that we didn't spend more engineering and marketing resources on developing the brand into a higher-end product.  It was designed and built in St. Louis by the same folks that designed and built the Ampeg and Crate products, and we had some pretty talented audio engineers, and some very dedicated and quality-conscious folks in production, but the company focused more on the core business of guitar and bass amps, along with the box mixer and "speakers on sticks" end of the business, which we had a large share of at that time with the Crate Audio brand.

And with a hokey name like "Audio Centron", I can easily see how it could be perceived as another "Lucky Golden Dragon Audio Company, LTD" outfit nowadays that offers complete line array systems for $9,999.00 to someone not familiar with MI audio history 101.  

Take care, and best wishes!

- Jerry

[Shaun Bohannon]

I know i'm resurrecting a rather old thread, but I wanted to see if Jerry was still watching this forum, or anyone else with information about Audio Centron.

I've recently added the title of chief AV tech, to my normal tech support duties at a college here in Georgia.  We have a lot of equipment that no one has made use of in 10 years, and I've found a set of 4 Audio Centron ACE-1's hanging in our gymnasium.  After finally tracking down the wiring I got them going with an old 600 watt amp and ran a few songs on them...very impressed I had to say, really filled the gym nicely and had great low end for just four 2-way boxes I felt.

Anyways, I was just wondering if you had any info on them, or if you knew of a place the manuals might be available.  We had considered replacing them when we just didn't know if they worked or not, but they definitely sound like keepers to us.  Thanks.  

[Tim Weaver]

I've found that the low end AC speakers were voiced very well. They sound good. But don't expect them to give you tons of output because you will start blowing stuff up.

When I bought my AC speakers they came with 4 of the 15/1" monitors that should be very similar to the ACE line that you have. They sound great, but I quit using them because I can't get enough SPL out of them to satisfy the bands without blowing the (pricey but good) EV compression driver.

I did buy that set of speakers from this thread and they have served me exceptionally well. However, I had to do quite a bit of repair work on them to get them up and going (because of the former owner/DJ running things too hard). This is still acceptable to me because of the price I bought them for. My mains are the CE36s subs and the tops are the CE17's. I have four stacks of this and easily provide audio for 500 people in most situations. My rig is triamped with a nice DSP crossover and limited well. I am using 2x the RMS power for this rig. I was caught out one show when 1000+ people turned up and I was railing on it all night. I wasn't happy bouncing off the limiters so much, and it was a fight to get the vocals up, but we made it through with no damage.


BTW, I bought 4 subs, 4 tops, and 4 monitors that were in serviceable condition (couple of blown diaphragms and crossover damage) for $750 total! These cabs have had the best ROI out of everything else I have. They really sound good too. And, before any naysayers come out with "you don't know what you're talking about" attitudes, I just got done with a couple shows flying Vertecs running V4, and an MH4 out front with a very sweet outboard rack. I can put on the big boy pants and work on any show out there. This is my personal rig that I use for the band I engineer for and I would rather have my rig than a ratted out JBL 47xx rig that everybody else is sporting around here. Yes, it may not get as loud, but loud is not really what I'm after....

[ThomasDameron]

Tim,

I'm glad the AC's are serving you well.  I just now found this thread, but wanted to add my 2c.  A single Ce34/side with no subs was the rig that I cut my teeth on.  I came into it powered by a single Ce1000 and with $0 I had to figure it out.  An experience any engineer should have to go through.  After awhile I got some real power behind these and grew to like them.  It's been years since I've been back on that rig, but it really took some significant abuse and kept on ticking.  Maybe time and nostalgia put them higher up on my scale than they deserve, but I would quickly take these 15 year old boxes over any of the current 2x12" main stream solutions.  Do they have some MI trappings? yep  Do they have Eminence drivers? yep  Do they sound better than a Yami club 2x15, Jbl 2x1X or Ev 2x1X?  On the internet whatever you own sounds better.

thomas d.