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[Debbie Dunkley]

I recently picked up the full set; DSR112 tops with matching DSR118W subs. I used them last weekend for a smallish (180 people) 40 year reunion party with a 5 piece rock band. It seemed as though most of the people in the audience had grey hair so, I couldn't really push the system for volume all that hard. It was a little loud, but you know, not ear splitting.

Anyway, the first complaint from me was with the recommended ASP1 subwoofer poles. The fit, into the pole cups, (at sub and top cab) is loose and sloppy allowing the whole works to just tilt and slouch whichever way it wants. The leaning stack reminded me of that thin and frail little Christmas tree in the Charlie Brown/Peanuts Christmas movie. The poles do have a built-in mechanism at the bottom which spreads three plastic fingers outward to increase the pole diameter, but it doesn't work very well. Even with the screw-on extension pieces installed, the whole assembly just failed to add any stability at all. I ended up stuffing home-made shims down into the pole cup to help straighten things up a bit. What a waste of $80 those poles were.

Finally under way, the next problem I had was a mysterious low-mid ring in the vocals. It was faint, but present. I just couldn't seem to EQ it out. In fact, I had trouble getting anything to sound really "natural". I was beginning to feel a little disappointed in the overall sound of this system. Finally, some 6 or 8 songs in, I decided (or remembered,) to check the switches on the back of the 112's. I found that one speaker had the HPF switch inadvertently turned OFF when it should have been ON. (I know, I should have checked this during setup, but I missed it. Besides, I could have sworn that I had them all turned on at home just before I left for the job.) Anyway, once the Highpass was enabled, the ring immediately went away. Wow! What a difference that made. Suddenly, the whole system was behaving itself and sounding much better. I mean waaaaay better, like day and night. I suppose the problem was causing very audible room modes at or below the crossover point. Those switches will definitely be on my set-up checklist from now on.

The rest of the night went very well and I am pleased as punch with my purchase. The system did exactly what I had asked of it, nothing more and nothing less.

As I've said, I have not really opened up those Yamaha subs yet, but so far, with a rock band at slightly restrained volume, they sounded plenty tight and punchy. Once the tops were properly highpassed, there was no noticeable dip or hype at the crossover point. They seemed to match those tops perfectly as far as sound quality.

I was in an old wooden military barracks type building. It was perhaps 40 feet wide and 150 feet deep with a high open-truss ceiling. At sound check, I had to actually turn back the sub level knobs to about the 11:00 o'clock position while the tops were set somewhere between 12:00 and 1:00 o'clock. That lined up the levels fairly well for that room. It's good to know that I have plenty of headroom in the subs for when I need it.

Well I am pleased you found the gremlin and that those subs are working for you!!

Cant comment on those poles although mine do a  similar leaning act. They did the same thing with my PRX's and my SRX's too.
I made some shims - with dozens of spares - from plastic milk cartons. If the lean is obvious, I push them up between the pole and top-hat. They work great and it takes 2 seconds.

I have a friend who has tripod stands that fit way tight in his Mackie Thumps. After every gig it is a fight to get them removed and I have seen 2 people on one side and 2 on the other trying doing a tug' a' war to pull them apart. I think I'd rather have mine!!

You need to get into the habit of checking those buttons at the back every single show. They get knocked easily and it is the last thing I check when the speakers are situated just before I connect them up.

Good news you like your new investment…..

[Jay Marr]

Why not turn the 728 upright.  I did a corporate even a few years ago at the local amusement park and the guy Raul sent out set up exactly like that.  Got the tops up where they needed to be.  Unfortunately we were set up under a corrugated metal overhead in a picnic area and the boom was unbearable.  I talked the guy into reversing the phase on one sub and that solved it while throwing the sound over towards where people were sitting and away from a residential neighborhood about a mile away.

That is what I do.  I have small (maybe 8") boxes as well that I put on the 728's, and then the 722's on top.  That bit of extra height puts them where I like them.
What I meant by my 728 comment is that I always need to bring 2 of them (one per side) when I use the 722's.  Sometimes that is overkill, and one 728 will do fine....but I can't do that because I need two 728's to put the 722's on.  If the 722's were pole mount...I could just bring one 728 sometimes.

[Jay Marr]

When it comes down to the amount of space something takes up, its not just the speaker size and shape…what about amp rack?? Thats the piece of the puzzle for me that makes the most difference in the van…

Fair question.

I have a single 10 space rack that goes with me to every gig.
It contains:
Behringer Xrack - 3 space
Patchbay with ALL my connections (xlr ins/outs, Speakon, Powercon)...everything plugs into the front. - 2 space
Router - 1 space
Crown iTech 4k (for my tops) - 2 space
Crown iTech 8k (for my subs) - 2 space

I can put that one rack in my SUV, no problem.

I have a Nissan Pathfinder, in which I can fit:
10 space rack (which has my mixer, amps, etc).
2 JBL SRX718's
2 JBL SRX722's
Small Cable Trunk/Case on wheels
3 small utility cases (mics, ipads,  guitar footpedal, etc.)
6 space rack, which is my guitar rig.
Back up mixer (Mackie DL1608 in a small case I made, with a router).
Small 8" boxes to elevate the 722's a little more.
Guitar, mic stand, guitar stand.
I still have my font seat if I needed to bring anything else.

One of the other guys in the band brings a JBL SRX728 and a monitor for me (and one for himself).
So I will put one 728 on one side, and on the other side I will put two 718's.  It's a necessary compromise because I just can't fit my second 728 in my car (two 718's is easier)

That's the entire band PA, and guitar rigs....in two SUV's.
When I had a van, I could fit all of the gear...no issues.
I got rid of the van (because it needed a lot of repairs) and because we could fit it all in two SUV's.
Getting rid of the van saved me some cash obviously.

I love having that 10 space case because my system is scalable.
I can bring my EAW LA212's and a pair of SRX718's.  Use the same speakon patchbay connections (because the amp output is cut in half since they're 8ohm boxes)
I can bring my SRX722's and two Dual 18's per side.  Use the same speakon connections.
Cabling is super fast (one run per side since my cables are 4 conductor).
And since it's the same consistent cabling at every gig....the band members know how to help (and sometimes the actually do
Everyone plugs into the patch bay on the rack.  We all know how to run the speakons to each side of the stage...so whoever gets to it first, runs them.

I'm working on a second rig right now that will be used for smaller rooms with the DSR's.
This will be a 4 space rack with a Behringer XR18, a router and a DBX Xover.
And I'll have a 3 space rack with a Crown CE4000 (to run a single SRX728).

[Kevin Bayersdorfer]

What kind of subs do you have?  I'm guessing quality active boxes aren't going to take up any more loading space and will in fact eliminate the need for new sub amps.  i can tell you this, a single LS801P can't hang with those tops.  i don't know what kind of gigs you do but if it's loud, hard rock type stuff you're going to want a pair of good, hard hitting subs.

I am using Fearful designed and built by me 15"s. The driver is an Eminence 3015LF. I like them a lot have a decent punch, volume, and SQ, just need a good quality amp. My main reason for building them was size and they each come in at just about 40 pounds. They were a perfect match for my K10's, so a little more damping factor and headroom from a good amp will probably suffice for now. Like I said their size is of utmost importance right now as my gear all gets loaded into a Toyota Rav4. 2 subs, 2 DSRs, 2 K10s, and 3 Carvin PM12As plus all the cable bags, mic stands...Once I get a bigger vehicle, I will just probably build 2 more of them. For their size and weight they kick ass. 

[Mike Karseboom]

OK - I'm a convert now.  The problem I was having with one of the DSR112's was indeed pilot error.  I or my assistant inadvertently had the Deep switch engaged on the one speaker that was "buzzing" at high volumes.  That one speaker distorting was enough to contaminate the entire sound field and cause the "un-cleanliness".


So day 2 of the festival I fixed the problem but still started off cautiously with the suggested 120Hz.  It sounded clean and pretty good but subjectively to me a little thin.  This was with aux subs but I did put most inputs into the aux sub feed so I don't think lack of content was the problem.  I backed the crossover down to 90Hz again and got the subjective "power" I was missing .


So now I am a fan-boi and wanted to set the record straight.  I pushed this system pretty hard,  although still not seeing any clipping, and it sounded great.  I was measuring about 95dBA at FOH at 35 feet
' and seeing peaks in the 105 range.  The DSR112's kept up with the 2x 718's per side and definitely had nice clear high mids and great low mid capability without the previously reported distortion.   The low mid punch was very noticeable on snare hits.


Pretty amazing for a box this size and cost.  I agree with the other posters that it is not quite up to my 722's capability, but I also capitulate to Scott et. al. that they come close. 


My only complaint now is that the single top handle is really inconvenient for me.  I guess if these were used for stage monitors it would be OK. But I am using them on sticks and getting them up to head level by myself is a pia.  I feels like I could easily drop one since there is little to hold on to.  ( I know the trick to put them on the tri-pods and them tilt them up, but that really has never seemed to offer much advantage to me.  Plus, these were on distance rods above 2x subs.)

[Scott Bolt]

Hey, good luck!  I got to test mine for the first time today at "full throttle", or I should say as far as I could push them without getting some breakup.  This was an outdoor rock type event in an open downtown intersection closed off to traffic.  The coverage area was generally about 40' wide by 50' deep with a lot of spill left and right and straight back into vendor booths.


The system was 1x DSR112 over 2x SRX718s per side and processing was through a pair of DR260s in order to get stereo mains and aux fed subs.  I crossed them at 90Hz with a LR48 on both HPF for the tops and LPF for the subs.  No added gain at the crossover on any channels and no limiting on the tops from the processor.  No "deep" or filters engaged on the DSR112.  Each pair of SRX718 were run paralell (4 ohm) and each pair powered from a  bridged PLX3402 amp.  Mains EQ was mostly flat with a 2dB high shelf starting at about 4kHz that seemed to liven up the sound and bring it a little more forward.


At moderate volumes the system sounded great and the DSR112's were very clear and sounded good off axis.  This was at about 80-85 dbA at 35' from the stage.  Reducing the mono (aux subs) fader about 3-6 dB seemed to give a good sub to top ratio.  Very nice.


Toward the last act I started pushing levels up a sort of a test for the "big show" tomorrow night.  The subs seemed to have plenty more to give but I could definitely hear some breakup in the DSR112's on loud downbeats that were accompanied by kick and snare hits.  Now Scott and others have indicated these speakers sound pretty clean even with the limit light blinking.  Well I went and watched but never saw the limit light yet I was definitely hearing some uncleanliness!  It is possible one of the DSR112's has a problem as I was hearing some buzzing/rattling sort of distortion down around 120-150Hz or so on the bigger hits.  The other one didn't buzz but overall I felt I was hearing some distortion at these higher volumes.  Perhaps just the one speaker was causing the problem, hard to tell.


So I increased the crossover to 100Hz and mostly seemed to get rid of the buzzing.  But still it felt like the system sounded a little stressed.  Obviously it is hard to diagnose problems over the internet and so many things are subjective, but can anyone offer more comments on the DSR112 sounding good right up to the limit?  Does it seem like I might have a defective speaker?  Tomorrow I am going to remove the grill to see if that gets rid of the buzzing.  I did previously check all accessible screws for tightness prior to the gig.


You may recall I was asking how these might compare to a pair of SRX722's with "proper" power.  I used the 722's last weekend in a similar situation and I did run them louder than I ran the  DSR112's today with no complaints from me on sound quality.  Some  forum posters were suggesting the DSR112 would come close in clean output but so far my experience is that it does not.


So, again, I am wondering if it seems like I might be doing something wrong as I never saw a limit light on the DSR112 but felt they were well outside their comfort zone.

I have run my DSR's into hard limit (light continuously on) on one occasion (on accident) and heard no distortion.  I have run them several times where the limit light has come on intermittently and never heard any distortion or any "farting out" on the low end.  Of course, in both of these cases, the music was very loud.  It is possible that there was distortion that I wasn't hearing

As for the other discussions, I also share the opinion that it is unlikely that a single DSR112 can hang with an SRX722, but I think it gets close enough for nearly any inside gig I have ever played.  Outside .... maybe another story.... YMMV.

[Debbie Dunkley]

I agree with the handle position comment and it is one of 2 things I do NOT like about the DSR's. Yes - I said do NOT like.LOL….
It is very frustrating to only have a handle at the top when trying to drop the speaker on a stand or sub pole. Just one side handle would be enough...
Also, I am quite short and Yamaha decided to place the XLR inputs at the very top of the speaker so when it is on the sub pole and already quite high, I cannot reach it !!!
The PRX inputs were much lower and I never had a problem.

However, these problems fade into insignificance once these boxes fire up….

[Scott Bolt]

I agree with the handle position comment and it is one of 2 things I do NOT like about the DSR's. Yes - I said do NOT like.LOL….
It is very frustrating to only have a handle at the top when trying to drop the speaker on a stand or sub pole. Just one side handle would be enough...
Also, I am quite short and Yamaha decided to place the XLR inputs at the very top of the speaker so when it is on the sub pole and already quite high, I cannot reach it !!!
The PRX inputs were much lower and I never had a problem.

However, these problems fade into insignificance once these boxes fire up….

I forgot to comment on this as well.  Love the sound, but simply don't understand why there was no side handle in the design

The top handle is very convenient for carrying 2 of the speakers at once... but not so convenient for putting them up on poles.

I am 6' tall Debbie, so I don't have any difficulties reaching the XLR input   I do feel the pain on the handle though.

[James Paul]

Love the sound, but simply don't understand why there was no side handle in the design

Scott, my best guess why the no side handle design was for aesthetic concerns in floor monitor deployment.

My questions/concerns/criticisms are of the MDF cabinet construction and the inclusion of the mic/line switch. Why MDF and level switch ? Transport and connectivity concerns requires extra caution. Pre/post sales criticisms that the two aforementioned issues and inherent increased risks with such would reduce and/or eliminate the boxes for cold rental duty. Handle(s), MDF, level switch, not a deal breaker for my intended use.

I have to best guess as well that Yamaha engineering and sales had envisioned the primary target use of the DR112 as floor monitors, as opposed to the use as house/audience boxes as seems to be the predominant method as evidenced within this thread.

I too am enamored with the sound, as well as the 46lb compact, state of art engineered, reliable and versatile offering
with the accompanying seven year warranty from one of the eldest and experienced M.I./ Audio companies in the biz.

With all that, I very much want to have a listen to the JBL SRX800P line. It seemingly never stops. The urge. The need,
or perceived need. GAS strikes young and old alike, in any corner of the globe, regardless of political or religious affiliations or leanings. 

   

[Stephen Kirby]

Are these MDF?  I can't find anything on their web site about the kind of wood.  They made an effort to keep weight down on the single woofer boxes with neo magnets, I can't imagine they use MDF.  It doesn't have that low dead sound from a knuckle rap.  Sounds more like hard plywood to me.  I know their cheap speakers are MDF, but I doubt these are.

[ProSoundWeb Community]