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[Brett Johnson]

Hello.  I have the chance to buy 2 - Madison 15'' PA DJ speakers but I've never heard of this brand. Does anyone here have and experience with it?

thanks,
brett

[Brett Johnson]

 Or how about these:

Electro-Voice (E-V) Eliminator ii Dual 15'' Passive PA Cabinet


any thoughts?

best,
brett

[Jeff Babcock]

I have not encountered that Madison speaker, however it doesn't look very exciting.  According to the specs the crossover point between the 15" drivers and the horn is 3500Hz.  There is absolutely no way that the 15" will perform well to that high of a frequency.  It will be beaming like crazy.  Yuck.

I have dealt with most of the EV eliminator series and while it might appear to be a step above Madison, I find that entire series very mediocre.

Honestly I would look elsewhere, do some reading here on these forums for a while to get a feel for what will work best for you.  Post in the lounge with what you are trying to do, what your budget is, the types of rooms you do, etc.  As much detail as possible.

Cheers
Jeff

[Evan F. Hunter]

Jeff Babcock wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 08:00

I have not encountered that Madison speaker, however it doesn't look very exciting.  According to the specs the crossover point between the 15" drivers and the horn is 3500Hz.  There is absolutely no way that the 15" will perform well to that high of a frequency.  It will be beaming like crazy.  Yuck. I have dealt with most of the EV eliminator series and while it might appear to be a step above Madison, I find that entire series very mediocre. Honestly I would look elsewhere, do some reading here on these forums for a while to get a feel for what will work best for you.  Post in the lounge with what you are trying to do, what your budget is, the types of rooms you do, etc.  As much detail as possible. Cheers Jeff

I agree with Jeff, the only time I ever recall seeing Madison was in package deals on ebay, which makes me kind of weary. Ev Eliminators seem to have mixed reviews. Some people LOVE them other say they are just alright. Do you have/want to stick with a dual 15?

[Jeff Babcock]

Evan Hunter wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:04

Ev Eliminators seem to have mixed reviews. Some people LOVE them other say they are just alright.

The ones who LOVE them just don't know any better.

[Daniel Nickleski]

Jeff Babcock wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:19

Evan Hunter wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:04  Ev Eliminators seem to have mixed reviews. Some people LOVE them other say they are just alright. The ones who LOVE them just don't know any better.

I beg to differ. For the point I think they are the best boxes you can get. Coming from a guy who has X Array and QRX I do know "better" and still feel it is the best warrior box you can buy. Of course it takes good equipment before the speakers to make the speakers perform well. If you are not looking to meet riders and if your only looking to do bars/ small clubs then the EV's will work great for you.

[Evan F. Hunter]

Daniel Nickleski wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 13:03

Jeff Babcock wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:19 Evan Hunter wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:04  Ev Eliminators seem to have mixed reviews. Some people LOVE them other say they are just alright. The ones who LOVE them just don't know any better. I beg to differ. For the point I think they are the best boxes you can get. Coming from a guy who has X Array and QRX I do know "better" and still feel it is the best warrior box you can buy. Of course it takes good equipment before the speakers to make the speakers perform well. If you are not looking to meet riders and if your only looking to do bars/ small clubs then the EV's will work great for you.

I agree, no speaker is going to sound GOOD without proper power and processing/setup.

[Tim A Perry]

Brett Johnson wrote on Sun, 16 November 2008 11:59

Hello.  I have the chance to buy 2 - Madison 15'' PA DJ speakers but I've never heard of this brand. Does anyone here have and experience with it? thanks, brett

I encountered them this summer. I was wearing my lighting hat at an outdoor show.

About the nicest thing I can think of to say about them was that sound came out... and they were low cost

[Jeff Babcock]

Daniel Nickleski wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 14:03

Jeff Babcock wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:19 Evan Hunter wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:04  Ev Eliminators seem to have mixed reviews. Some people LOVE them other say they are just alright. The ones who LOVE them just don't know any better. I beg to differ. For the point I think they are the best boxes you can get. Coming from a guy who has X Array and QRX I do know "better" and still feel it is the best warrior box you can buy. Of course it takes good equipment before the speakers to make the speakers perform well. If you are not looking to meet riders and if your only looking to do bars/ small clubs then the EV's will work great for you.

Daniel,
I don't want to get into an argument about something subjective like that with you, but I stand by my thoughts.  

When I said "those who LOVE them" I was referring to newbs who might think they are the greatest thing ever since they have no better frame of reference.

I like most of EV's products, but the Eliminator subs are pretty much useless as a sub IMHO. Users blowing them up trying to get the output they are after is well documented.  The 15" single and double tops are OK, certainly nothing special, and quite large IMHO considering their output.  There is nothing that makes them stand out to me.  In fact there is little in that price range that I would normally even recommend to end users.  IMO if you can't afford something reasonably good then buy used quality gear.  There is 20 year old pro gear that sounds better than this stuff.

I guess Guitar Center would never hire me as I'd never sell 90% of the gear they carry.

[RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS]

I did a gig a couple months ago where I provided the P.A. for the side stage where all the metal bands were playing.  I had a fairly good sized rig out there with 8 subs and 6 tops of all TCS stuff.  

The guy that was providing the rig for the main stage was going to use his "JBL" rig.....two MRX tops and two MRX subs.  He saw my rig, went home and brought out four Madison 2X15" mains and four Madison 18" folded horns.

He used them in addition to the MRX stuff so that affected the sound a bit due to the differences in the cabinets, etc.

HIS RIG SOUNDED LIKE THE MUSIC WAS COMING THROUGH A TIN CAN!  There was almost no bass and there was absolutely no impact to the rig at all.  Keep in mind that the mixed use of the Madisons and JBLs at the same time right next to each other was causing some major cancellations but I don't think he had any chance of getting a truely useable sound out of the gear for anything more than a typical bar band type of set up.  I wouldn't buy them after hearing that even knowing that the poor application probably had more to due with how they sounded there than anything else.  I think you can find a lot better sounding boxes out there for a good price.

[Tom Manchester]

Given my choice between the two I would definitely take the EV's. At least the name is recognizable and you don't have to scour the chinese countryside to get parts. There are certainly other options as well.

[Bob Leonard]

Jeff Babcock wrote on Wed, 19 November 2008 10:50

Daniel Nickleski wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 14:03 Jeff Babcock wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:19 Evan Hunter wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:04  Ev Eliminators seem to have mixed reviews. Some people LOVE them other say they are just alright. The ones who LOVE them just don't know any better. I beg to differ. For the point I think they are the best boxes you can get. Coming from a guy who has X Array and QRX I do know "better" and still feel it is the best warrior box you can buy. Of course it takes good equipment before the speakers to make the speakers perform well. If you are not looking to meet riders and if your only looking to do bars/ small clubs then the EV's will work great for you. Daniel, I don't want to get into an argument about something subjective like that with you, but I stand by my thoughts.   When I said "those who LOVE them" I was referring to newbs who might think they are the greatest thing ever since they have no better frame of reference. I like most of EV's products, but the Eliminator subs are pretty much useless as a sub IMHO. Users blowing them up trying to get the output they are after is well documented.  The 15" single and double tops are OK, certainly nothing special, and quite large IMHO considering their output.  There is nothing that makes them stand out to me.  In fact there is little in that price range that I would normally even recommend to end users.  IMO if you can't afford something reasonably good then buy used quality gear.  There is 20 year old pro gear that sounds better than this stuff. I guess Guitar Center would never hire me as I'd never sell 90% of the gear they carry.

The whole Eliminator line is dog shit. I loaned my Bag End side fills to a band and then had to borrow speakers for my own gig the next week. I ended up with Eliminators which I thought might do the job but low and behold they sounded like shit, were built like shit and couldn't do the same job I was doing with 12 year old Bag End TA15s. Save your money and pass on all the MI crap. You'll be much happier in the long run that you did.

[Daniel Nickleski]

Bob Leonard wrote on Wed, 19 November 2008 17:05

Jeff Babcock wrote on Wed, 19 November 2008 10:50 Daniel Nickleski wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 14:03 Jeff Babcock wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:19 Evan Hunter wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 10:04  Ev Eliminators seem to have mixed reviews. Some people LOVE them other say they are just alright. The ones who LOVE them just don't know any better. I beg to differ. For the point I think they are the best boxes you can get. Coming from a guy who has X Array and QRX I do know "better" and still feel it is the best warrior box you can buy. Of course it takes good equipment before the speakers to make the speakers perform well. If you are not looking to meet riders and if your only looking to do bars/ small clubs then the EV's will work great for you. Daniel, I don't want to get into an argument about something subjective like that with you, but I stand by my thoughts.   When I said "those who LOVE them" I was referring to newbs who might think they are the greatest thing ever since they have no better frame of reference. I like most of EV's products, but the Eliminator subs are pretty much useless as a sub IMHO. Users blowing them up trying to get the output they are after is well documented.  The 15" single and double tops are OK, certainly nothing special, and quite large IMHO considering their output.  There is nothing that makes them stand out to me.  In fact there is little in that price range that I would normally even recommend to end users.  IMO if you can't afford something reasonably good then buy used quality gear.  There is 20 year old pro gear that sounds better than this stuff. I guess Guitar Center would never hire me as I'd never sell 90% of the gear they carry. The whole Eliminator line is dog shit. I loaned my Bag End side fills to a band and then had to borrow speakers for my own gig the next week. I ended up with Eliminators which I thought might do the job but low and behold they sounded like shit, were built like shit and couldn't do the same job I was doing with 12 year old Bag End TA15s. Save your money and pass on all the MI crap. You'll be much happier in the long run that you did.

Don't know what series of the Elim cabs you have, but I have had the newer (ii) series for around 4 years and having seen over 500 shows they still are holding up great. For a BAR BAND RIG they are one of the best sounding speakers you can get IMO. I personally would never thing of taking speaker cabs that cost more than $600 into a bar though. A. Everyone is drunk and wouldn't know the difference between an Elim and Meyer and B. there is no money in that market for something better. The op asked for an opinion on the Elim and the Madison so I am guessing he is in the bar band/ DJ market. Based on that market I think the Elims are a good pick.

[David Hancock-Taylor]

Brett,

Oddly enough I've had the chance to A/B a similar scenario to what you're looking at. When I first entered the DJ world I bought a pair of Madison MAP115 and the 18 inch subs to match. The subs were great for what they were, but the tops required a lot of eq to get what I would deem a usable sound out of them. Not long after a friend of mine bought a pair of EV Eliminator's and we A/B'ed them in a few different places (mainly because I needed that much rig). The difference was huge! The EV's were way better, or so I thought, until I got my hands on some Yorkville E-series stuff. Which put both of those lines to shame.

It seems like there are much better choices out there whether new or used than either of these cabs. Keep looking because I've never looked back after unloading those Madisons and if you're on this site, you're probably well aware of what is pro and what isn't.

[Patrick Richards]

Best for the New Year,

I can give you a bit more personal insight to the Madison Speaker question. The three rules to purchasing these are application, application, and application.

IF you're looking at Madison, I would suggest the M3-215. The difference is the dual 6.5 mids. They simply sound much better. In my humble opinion, they keep the upper mids more where they should be and allow the 15's to soften-up and support the lower end freqs. I bought these more out of curiosity than anything else. I've owned JBL, Peavy, and some EV. They get used for Country and Southern Rock venues. They do take some EQ-ing, but once you get them dialed in, they are pretty decent sounding rigs. I have the matching subs as well. They provide adequate, but not heavy chest thumping bottom end for these applications. I've run these for a couple of pretty hefty jobs that I thought were really on the edge, but they performed well. I am using the QSC 2450's that came with them. If you're on a budget, and play to some upper limit, medium size rooms, these could be a viable option for you. They're tough with the exception of a slightly protruding toggle switch mounted on the rear panel. I made a protective piece to cover it. It's a wreck waiting to happen. No problems and lots of use. The best system I've ever owned, no. The best value for the sound? I'm leaning towards, I think so.

Pat