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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB Lounge => Topic started by: jesseweiss on May 11, 2019, 12:10:10 PM
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When looking at powered speakers and subs in the typical $700-$1000 range for my band are there particular reasons to not mix brands beyond "ease of setup"?
I'm upgrading our mains to K12.2's from Mackie SRM550's, but I'm not loving the new KS subs in terms of price vs size, which is important, and specs. Our SRM1850 sub isn't bad but it's large and that's a pain. Was thinking a PRX815XLF.
We are two guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. Run XR18 and DBR10's and one ZLX12sp for monitors.
I was also considering getting 2 EV ELX200sp 12" subs rather than one 15", as we don't play big places very often (and aren't that loud), so one small sub would be good at pubs, and could use 2 at larger places and/or use one with my drum monitor or e-kit drum "stage PA" when I use those drums instead.
Thanks in advance.
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When looking at powered speakers and subs in the typical $700-$1000 range for my band are there particular reasons to not mix brands beyond "ease of setup"?
There is a possibility with some combos that you could end up missing some of the crossover processing which would then require an outboard processor. With digital mixers that isn't a big deal but it's something to consider.
What has led you to pick the QSC K12.2 over an EV EKX12p for example? Since you are considering the ELX-200 subs, one nice thing about all of EV's new lines is they include presets for all the other boxes so for example pairing ZLX12p's with EKX18sp's or EKX12p's with ETX15sp's just means selecting the correct preset.
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When looking at powered speakers and subs in the typical $700-$1000 range for my band are there particular reasons to not mix brands beyond "ease of setup"?
I'm upgrading our mains to K12.2's from Mackie SRM550's, but I'm not loving the new KS subs in terms of price vs size, which is important, and specs. Our SRM1850 sub isn't bad but it's large and that's a pain. Was thinking a PRX815XLF.
We are two guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. Run XR18 and DBR10's and one ZLX12sp for monitors.
I was also considering getting 2 EV ELX200sp 12" subs rather than one 15", as we don't play big places very often (and aren't that loud), so one small sub would be good at pubs, and could use 2 at larger places and/or use one with my drum monitor or e-kit drum "stage PA" when I use those drums instead.
Thanks in advance.
If going the PRX route, do yourself a favour and get the 18. I know someone, when they upgraded from the 60p series to 700 series, he went to the 15" subs from his previous 18" , and even in small venues, he would have been better to go with the 18's. The 15s would be fine for pre-recorded music playback, but the 18 is better for live sound.
Either way, the high pass outs are in the subs.
Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk
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Thanks for the response.
I had a ZLX12p for my electronic drum kit monitor for when we play really small pubs. It went in the fritz, and while I'm waiting for it to be repaired, under warranty, decided to get a K12.2 to see if I liked it as a possible mains upgrade.
So... I already have the 1 K12.2 and would just get another and a sub, as compared to buying two speakers and a sub, and keeping the K12.2 for my drums as it well outperforms the ZLX.
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The 18" is bigger than we want to handle in terms of fitting into cars, transport, etc...
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Mixing brands usually isn't a big deal - I've done it for quite some time. I like my QSC HPR152i tops but never cared for the HPR or KW subs so I've always used them with the Yorkville UCS1. I do the crossover with an external BBE DS24 unit, but any DSP should be able to handle the job. A highpass coming out of the subs might be more restrictive though. Aside from that and any marketing/rental/appearance considerations there's nothing wrong with going this route if you like the sound of it!
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Just curious why a HPF would he an issue?
PRX sub has crossover at 80hz. If I pass the HP signal to any speaker, and on K12.2 just set to 80hz as well, wouldn't that be fine?
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Just curious why a HPF would he an issue?
PRX sub has crossover at 80hz. If I pass the HP signal to any speaker, and on K12.2 just set to 80hz as well, wouldn't that be fine?
If you are relying on the internal HP filters (and/or DSP) with the subs/speakers, then the HP filter will matter -- if you are using all the same brand speaker.
Though, if you are managing the HP filter (and/or xover value, slope, type of slope), with an external unit (i.e. driverack, BSS, etc...) then it may not matter too much about maintaining the same brand of speakers, because you are able to control those values with an external DSP unit.
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Just curious why a HPF would he an issue?
PRX sub has crossover at 80hz. If I pass the HP signal to any speaker, and on K12.2 just set to 80hz as well, wouldn't that be fine?
Bob said it perfectly. While there is some degree of compatibility by doing what you suggest, there's more to a crossover than just frequency. Units that are all part of the same series are meant to work together (in the context of a sub to top with built-in processing/HPF combination), but beyond that your results will vary. I've had good luck with my QSC/Yorkville combination, but as mentioned I use a dedicated DSP to make it work. Hope this helps!