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[Rob Spence]

On our QRX212 two per side we have the horns rotated so there is an outer and an inner. We have them marked on the back and still gap them in the front about a fist width.

I have mine with about a fist between the fronts too, biamped with tunings from EV for my DSP and normal horn position.

I used the SMAART Spectrograph outdoors with them elevated 4' and walked the mic back and forth 10' out and adjusted for the least damage.
No changes in over 10 years.

Biamping them made a huge improvement. Perhaps getting the EV processor would be even better?

To the OP, get the right processor (not an old discontinued bottom of the pro line) and power them per JBL. Don't try to fake it. You can't do it by ear.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[eric lenasbunt]

To the OP, get the right processor (not an old discontinued bottom of the pro line) and power them per JBL. Don't try to fake it. You can't do it by ear.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Spot on. V5 processing on the VRX is a completely different speaker. Zero chance you will get it close on your own. We own itech12k HD amps and the difference between the old presets and the v5 is like a major speaker upgrade. Especially with the VRX.

Grey box/black box processing is just at a point where if you use JBL you get far better sound out of v5. Likewise when we used EAW KF650's the difference between our dialed in processing and the UX8800 Grey box was like upgrading several levels on sound quality. The limiting alone can be worth the money in saving you blown speakers, but I have found BE's and rental clients are always happy with the rig on grey box settings.

[Paul Johnson]

I came across this old topic and thought that 6 years later I'd mention that my most successful system in one particular theatre just happens to be the VRX (passive version, as we had piles of amps already). I first came across the VRX when we flew out to Portugal and a VRX system was setup for the corporate show on a sort of desert island. I really loved the sound - it just sounded nice and clean and the small size of the boxes and the hardware intrigued me. Back home we look after a seasonal 1400 seater that does mainly 'light entertainment' and comedy, plus dance shows. No in-house gear so the kit goes in around June and by October it's out again. It is very wide, and very deep, but not at all tall - in front of the stage it's 6m to the ceiling but at the rear the ceiling is 2.5m. The snag with every system is that practically everyone ground stacks because typical line arrays take too long to rig for one-nighters. Also they all seemed to be too loud at the front and too quiet at the back. The low ceiling and width making delays too low, and a drop down follow spot box making them ineffective anyway. The JBLs are working freally well. The constant curvature design means that with the rear switches we get a counter to the drop off of HF with distance and the rake of the seating. a flown sub and 3 932's each side with a slight toe-in do the job nicely, and we have another ground stacked cluster of subs each side on the floor, with two more 932s aiming in to centre for the front rows. Apron edge fills would be better, but the one-nighters often make this placement impossible. The result is impressive. Our old system was an elderly EAW system and because the get-in is a bit of a box push, people would come in, look and then bring their own kit in. With the JBL, people ask to hear it, we play them a track, and they often leave their PA on the truck and just bring in monitors. The internet seems to really not like them, but my ears are very happy with them.

[Bob Stone]

I came across this old topic and thought that 6 years later I'd mention that my most successful system in one particular theatre just happens to be the VRX (passive version, as we had piles of amps already). I first came across the VRX when we flew out to Portugal and a VRX system was setup for the corporate show on a sort of desert island. I really loved the sound - it just sounded nice and clean and the small size of the boxes and the hardware intrigued me. Back home we look after a seasonal 1400 seater that does mainly 'light entertainment' and comedy, plus dance shows. No in-house gear so the kit goes in around June and by October it's out again. It is very wide, and very deep, but not at all tall - in front of the stage it's 6m to the ceiling but at the rear the ceiling is 2.5m. The snag with every system is that practically everyone ground stacks because typical line arrays take too long to rig for one-nighters. Also they all seemed to be too loud at the front and too quiet at the back. The low ceiling and width making delays too low, and a drop down follow spot box making them ineffective anyway. The JBLs are working freally well. The constant curvature design means that with the rear switches we get a counter to the drop off of HF with distance and the rake of the seating. a flown sub and 3 932's each side with a slight toe-in do the job nicely, and we have another ground stacked cluster of subs each side on the floor, with two more 932s aiming in to centre for the front rows. Apron edge fills would be better, but the one-nighters often make this placement impossible. The result is impressive. Our old system was an elderly EAW system and because the get-in is a bit of a box push, people would come in, look and then bring their own kit in. With the JBL, people ask to hear it, we play them a track, and they often leave their PA on the truck and just bring in monitors. The internet seems to really not like them, but my ears are very happy with them.

Long ago I realized that very rarely what people hype on the internet as "so much better" or "blows away such and such" or other typical line, is actually true. The differences are so minor and subjective, along with how they are setup and mixed, that it's just not worth buying into the hype. Sure a JBL JRX is going to suck compared to an SRX, but within comparable product levels the gap is small. Those who say the QSC's suck compared to Yamaha or JBL or whoever else is the flavour of the month, are just trying to justify their own purchases.

[Tim McCulloch]

I came across this old topic and thought that 6 years later I'd mention that my most successful system in one particular theatre just happens to be the VRX (passive version, as we had piles of amps already). I first came across the VRX when we flew out to Portugal and a VRX system was setup for the corporate show on a sort of desert island. I really loved the sound - it just sounded nice and clean and the small size of the boxes and the hardware intrigued me. Back home we look after a seasonal 1400 seater that does mainly 'light entertainment' and comedy, plus dance shows. No in-house gear so the kit goes in around June and by October it's out again. It is very wide, and very deep, but not at all tall - in front of the stage it's 6m to the ceiling but at the rear the ceiling is 2.5m. The snag with every system is that practically everyone ground stacks because typical line arrays take too long to rig for one-nighters. Also they all seemed to be too loud at the front and too quiet at the back. The low ceiling and width making delays too low, and a drop down follow spot box making them ineffective anyway. The JBLs are working freally well. The constant curvature design means that with the rear switches we get a counter to the drop off of HF with distance and the rake of the seating. a flown sub and 3 932's each side with a slight toe-in do the job nicely, and we have another ground stacked cluster of subs each side on the floor, with two more 932s aiming in to centre for the front rows. Apron edge fills would be better, but the one-nighters often make this placement impossible. The result is impressive. Our old system was an elderly EAW system and because the get-in is a bit of a box push, people would come in, look and then bring their own kit in. With the JBL, people ask to hear it, we play them a track, and they often leave their PA on the truck and just bring in monitors. The internet seems to really not like them, but my ears are very happy with them.

The VRX is a well thought out product *for what it is*.  I've mixed a bunch of corporate gigs on them.  What I do not like about them is what happens in the horizontal plane, and that characteristic is common to all products with the same format.  If I ignore that (like clients seem to do), I can mix on them as well as any other loudspeaker system of similar quality.

Certainly there are worse speaker systems out there (JBL makes a couple of those, too).  The VRX hits a particular price/feature/value point that other manufacturers also pursue, so there is a market for them regardless of perceived shortcomings.

[Doug Fowler]

The VRX is a well thought out product *for what it is*.  I've mixed a bunch of corporate gigs on them.  What I do not like about them is what happens in the horizontal plane, and that characteristic is common to all products with the same format.  If I ignore that (like clients seem to do), I can mix on them as well as any other loudspeaker system of similar quality.

Certainly there are worse speaker systems out there (JBL makes a couple of those, too).  The VRX hits a particular price/feature/value point that other manufacturers also pursue, so there is a market for them regardless of perceived shortcomings.

A former contributor here who now works for a manufacturer owns an AV company.  He bought truckloads of VRX, doing corporate events.  I think he would call it a lucrative investment. Say you need 60x boxes to cover a giant convention hall (mains plus delays) plus breakouts, etc.  While everyone knows the constant curvature won’t scale to a large crowd, there is VTX to handle that.   Sound quality?  Absolutely a non-issue.

On the sales call, “JBL” seals the deal.  That’s all that matters.  I visited one of his rigs in the convention center here in STL and it’s just as I described.  And it “sounded” fine.  Consistent coverage, good to go.

[Brian Jojade]

My next questions with the VRX 932s, In that system, we already have them bi-amped with 31 band EQs and active X over and compressors in addition to the X32 we use for FOH. My management wants to know if they REALLY need to buy a Drive Rack 260 for the JBL tunings for the VRX boxes or if I can tune them by ear with the 31 band eq and active x overs and compressors already in place in my signal chain. (If I don't use the cash for the driverack 260, they will buy some extra Senny E935s for bands)

Using a DriveRack (or other processor) can do many additional things over a simple EQ.  Delay timing, phase adjust, etc.  In reality, you could scrap the eqs and JUST use a DR260 if you wanted to.

The question is though, have they bought the boxes yet?  Do you need (or want) 4 per side?  These are not 'line array' boxes in the traditional sense that you get better pattern control with more boxes. They are a constant curvature array. More boxes simply means more vertical coverage.  Chances are with 4 boxes, you're going to start having a lot of spill to the floor or to the ceiling which makes things worse, not better.

If you cut down to 3 boxes a side, now you've freed up a big chunk of budget that you can use for processing, or to make it even easier, an iTech amplifier that already has processing built in so you don't need more bits and pieces.

Sell off the EQs and existing amps you have and put in a complete happy system.

[Goerge Thomas]

For what it is worth, YEARS later on this thread (2016) the VRX932 have been our main rig, convinced them to not buy Vertec w/o processing and the VRXs have been used and abused routinely for years without failure. Very heavy EQ applied and I have been pleased with them 3 a side with front fills for lots of shows. Not my favorite but they paid for themselves over and over.

With that being said, the QRX 212s are still hands down my favorite mid level boxes for being smooth as butter. Lots of MI grade powered boxes with FIR filters finally have caught up but the QRX212 will always be one of my favorites. They stay in storage for small shows and I'll probably have them for another 10-20 years (already 12+ years old).

-G

[Paul Mayer]

The VRXs are a money making box; I really like them.  As others have said they’re reliable, get loud, and can sound pretty good with the V5 presets.  Be ready to EQ a bit out around 1.5-3kHz, as they can be a bit bright in that area, but properly setup and RTAd they sound fine and get the job done.

With that being said, I wonder if this would be a lateral move for you.  I’m not sure how many riders the VRX would fill that your QRX would not.  As you know the VRX isn’t a true line array, which is both a good and a bad thing depending on the situation.  I like the VRXs for how light and easy to rig they are; they can be flown, put on a pole, or used as front fills all very easily.  This flexibility means they go out all the time in plenty of jobs.  But for a permanent install, I’d look at the JBL VT4886; it’s a better sounding box in my opinion, has a symmetrical coverage, and may satisfy more riders than the VRX.  If you’re not taking it up and down at the end of the night, those little boxes allow you to adjust the angle better than the VRX which is fixed angle.

For sound quality alone, I’d look at other options if you need an upgrade.  But if you want to be able to fly them, have that “line array” look, not block sight lines etc, I’m sure the VRXs would pay off.  Also, the matching VRX subs (active or passive) are fantastic in my opinion and get deeper than many other subs in that size.  They’re also incredibly small.

[ProSoundWeb Community]