I purchased a Harbinger MLS1000 Speaker system

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There is no MAIN volume knob on the unit. However, They chose to to have a volume knob for each individual channel.

Next time you go to Guitar Center in your area. Ask to listen to both the MLS1000 and a Evolve 30M. You tell me if the EV Evolve 30M sounds a whole lot better. It really doesn't imo. Brighter, and the highs are maybe a bit more defined, but it has less bass.

I purchased the 3 year protection on the system. So if something happens to it in the next 3 years. I simply return it for a new one, or get store credit towards something else if I want a different speaker. And if nothing happens to it, I figure I will get my moneys worth out of it in 3 years time. If nothing happens to it and it still sounds great 5 years down the road then it was truly a great buy.

It seems to be built sturdy and the columns are pretty thick. I bet it holds up to mobile use just fine as far as the externals go. Only time will tell how it's internals handle.
I'm a high fan myself. I love highs. Bass is cool yet highs are needed to clearly identify vocals.
 
I do understand that everyone has budgets and different ideas of worth. For years, I bought cheap gear and got by. Once I made the nervous plunge to try top notch gear, I no longer had to hope and pray that everything would be ok at a wedding. I could look customers in the eye and tell them I’m only using top gear for their event and be extremely proud of what I’m using. Yes, I probably could have gotten by with cheaper gear and maybe no one would notice the difference. But I WANT people to notice the difference. Also, because of longevity and resale value, I don’t believe my total cost for use has been any higher than when I used cheap gear.

its why I’ve only used sennheiser EW series for years. Rock solid for what I do.

Great gear will never be more important than the talent but great gear will help make a great Dj’s performance better.
 
While I agree quality is important and and I would personally buy the EV over the Harbinger for a main system think about what it's mainly being used for..A ceremony/cocktail system. If you were banging away at this system every weekend and pushing it to it's limits every weekend you may notice the difference in quality/longevity in comparison but to go easy on it unless really bad on the inside there should really be no noticeable difference. In reality with the way they disperse sound he may be better off with this than the S1
 
What I find is name brand quality gear has reputation to keep up so people will keep buying their products. Those no name or lesser quality companies are just in it to make some money and quality is not their top priority. For example there's Pyle Professional. The stuff they make is stuff for beginners. Not true professional DJs. Those who know better wouldn't even look at buying anything from Pyle because their gear is a Pyle of junk.
 
Using it tomorrow for the first time at an event.

I had multiple inquiries for May 14th, but somehow I did not book anything. I believe I talked with one couple who ended up booking another DJ, and I had 5 other inquiries that did not pan out. I finally had a CEREMONY ONLY event come in. They have a band for the reception, and a strings trio for the ceremony music. All I am doing is providing microphones and a speaker for the ceremony. This seems like a great time to try out the new array speaker system. I am bringing the Bose S1 Pro as well, but may not set it up. I am outside on a terrace, so there should be power for me to plug into.

This is a 1 hour booking, but the ceremony is only suppose to be 30 minutes long. Outside of the drive down and back, this is going to be the easiest booking I have this year. Just supplying a lav Mic, and a mic stand with a wireless microphone, and speaker (maybe 2). The downside is that this is in D.C., and parking is limited at the nearby parking lot near this venue so I have to leave extra early to make sure I can get a parking spot. Nothing like leaving 3.5 hours before start time for just a ceremony gig. I plan to get dinner somewhere on the way home. Trying to think of places outside of my local area that I have not eaten at in a long, long time.

To add to this post: Something just dawned on me. They have a band. I think the band missed out on an opportunity to upsell PA service for the ceremony. Perhaps bands just don't care about that stuff, or don't think about any add on services they can provide to their clients at weddings. OR...perhaps the planner/couple don't think a band is the right vendor to ask for PA services for a wedding ceremony. Better to search out a DJ who typically provides this service for a wedding ceremony Either way, it's easy money in my pocket so I'm glad this came in.
 
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OR...perhaps the planner/couple don't think a band is the right vendor to ask for PA services for a wedding ceremony

Unless they have a dedicated sound man they would be right. most bands I have worked with don't know an equalizer from an airplane
 
The downside is that this is in D.C., and parking is limited at the nearby parking lot near this venue so I have to leave extra early to make sure I can get a parking spot. Nothing like leaving 3.5 hours before start time for just a ceremony gig.

Ricky, we appreciate you being the guinea pig on this system! :pillyes:Looking forward to a full event report.
 
Just got back from loading out into storage. Bought the Harbinger speaker home to play with it in my basement lol.

So I got to the venue super early today. I did a lot of waiting around. I had to wait to complete my set up while the bridal party took pictures. They did over 1 hour and 40 minutes of family and bridal party pictures on the terrace. This speaker stands 78 inches tall.

I used the harbinger along with the Bose S1 Pro on a stand on the other side of the terrace. I noticed that the channel when set to MIC is a bit sensitive. Not as bad as the American Audio ELS GO 8BT Mic channel, but it's definitely something you have to be careful turning the gain up on. I noticed that doing sound checks today.

This speaker has 4 "voicing" settings that you can select with push of a button. There is "Standard", "Live Band" "Dance" and "Speech". I put it into speech during the ceremony since I was only using a LAV microphone and no music. Ceremony went great! No signal issues. Sound was just right for a ceremony.

I moved the umbrella and bags for the actual ceremony. I did get some rain drops on my Shure Receiver box, and the speaker as a very light rain was coming down, and where I was set up wasn't really far enough under the roof. Space was limited.



PXL_20220514_211352228.MP.jpg

Here is a picture of the band. I saw them do sound checks, and practice a bit before the ceremony. They were using Two JBL JRX 18' Subs, and 4 OLD JBL EON Speakers. They were an old model prior to the EON 3 series. Probably 16+ year old speakers. The sound was fine though. They were also using two Alto TS312 speakers as monitors on the floor. They had plenty of sound for a 140 person wedding! The female singer up front had a very nice voice. PXL_20220514_204347754.MP.jpg

If I could do anything over again on this event...I probably would have arrived an hour later than I did. Too much down time for me waiting for them to get done with pictures, and the ceremony to start.
 
Funny that this thread popped back up. I bought a pair of these MLS1000s about 2 years ago and have been very pleased with them. They're clear and put out a lot of bass. A pair of these will keep up with most any live band. Now looking at the specs, these top out at 120db where the RCF 12s put out 130db. So far, these units have put out more than enough volume on any mobile gig I've done to date. They're also only 30lbs versus 75lbs for the RCF.
 
It appears that Yorkville just came out with Column Array Battery powered speakers that are 10" and I believe specs put them at 126 DB. I think EMX series.

I am satisfied with my MLS1000s. Will keep using them for the long run.
 
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It appears that Yorkville just came out with Column Array Battery powered speakers that are 10" and I believe specs put them at 126 DB. I think EMX series.

I am satisfied with my MLS1000s. Will keep using them for the long run.

I heard the Yorkville units they are nice. For what you are doing with it the Harbinger it's perfect. I wouldn't use it for a main system simply because I feel 108Db is a little light for my liking. The client for the most part pays no attention as long as there is sound coming at them
 
I heard the Yorkville units they are nice. For what you are doing with it the Harbinger it's perfect. I wouldn't use it for a main system simply because I feel 108Db is a little light for my liking. The client for the most part pays no attention as long as there is sound coming at them

The Harbinger is rated at 120db, not 108. It's had more than enough bump for anything I've used it for.
 
I actually get more SOUND out of the Harbinger MLS1000 pair than I do compared to my Alto TS312 pair, and those are rated higher.

The difference is that the Harbinger puts sound everywhere where as the Altos are more directed. The only downside to the MLS1000s is when a group of dancers are dancing right in front of one of the speakers. Alot of the sound gets gobbled up by the bodies near the speaker so the back of the dance floor sounds too light on volume. It only happened at two events so far. So putting my Altos on top of stands and the woofer at everybody's head level and I don't have this issue at all, so the conventional Alto Speakers are better for the dance floor when dancers are very close to the speakers. In an Open area, or under normal circumstances where the dancers are at least 8 feet or more away from the speakers, and the MLS1000s absolutely SHINE for me! :)

So I try to put that into consideration when choosing my speakers for the venue. If it's a smaller dancing area, or a narrow venue, I'm bringing my Altos. If it's a wider and spread out dancing area...I'm bringing the Harbingers. Overall, I really like the sound of the Harbinger MLS1000s. No need for additional Subwoofer. These things kick and move a lot of air for 10" woofers. I can use the Altos without a sub, but If I have over 90 guests, and a ceiling over 10' high I'm bringing the Sub along.
 
One of the things that really stands out to me is how little regard DJs actually pay to ceremony sound when in truth - it's the single most important sound of the event. The event is not a party that's being temporarily delayed by a short ceremony - the ceremony IS the THING that matters.

Choosing the right speakers and mics for this, and knowing how to best set that up will determine the level of professionalism people attach to your work. If our approach looks and sounds like a hack - then everything we do at the reception will be colored by that initial impression.

The ceremony is our best advertising moment because at the end of the party it's people who are drunk that tell us we're "great." But they'll have no trouble the next day remembering their sober experience at the ceremony. It's typically what we do before the bar opens that gets us noticed and referred.

This is why planners and decorators also put so much effort into that initial "reveal." There's a very short window for wedding vendors in which the "wow" factor can be achieved. DJs as providers of "quality sound" can't rely on uplighting to mask ineffective efforts that become obvious during an events signature moments. Whatever we buy and deploy - consider that whatever sound it makes (or fails to make) will define us from the first note.
 
The Harbinger is rated at 120db, not 108. It's had more than enough bump for anything I've used it for.

I was reading something this morning that said 108 I just looked at something else that says 123. Maybe program and peak?
 
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I was reading something this morning that said 108 I just looked at something else that says 123. Maybe program and peak?
The industry used to publish RMS, program and peak for passive speakers. RMS was how much heat the speaker could continuously dissipate without destruction. Program takes into account that music has a higher crest factor than the sine waves used to measure RMS levels. They typically added 3 dB to the RMS rating, Peak was another 3 dB higher but this rating was really a never-to-exceed rating where one could cause instantaneous damage to the speaker. So if something was 108 dBa RMS, its program rating would be 111 and peak would be 114 dBa. These ratings were useful in matching a power amp to a passive speaker. You typically wanted an amp that could cleanly produce the program power wattage.

This rating method has no real value with powered speakers as the amp is built in. The other big difference to consider is dispersion pattern. The speaker ratings are usually done at 1 meter. A horn speaker concentrates the power into a beam (e.g. 90 degrees wide x 40 degrees tall) where a tower speaker radiates in a wide pattern (e.g. 120-180 degrees wide by 20 degrees tall). Each is suited for different applications therefore comparing SPL specs is difficult.
 
I was reading something this morning that said 108 I just looked at something else that says 123. Maybe program and peak?

I dunno but I can tell you these boxes are plenty loud for anything I've thrown at them. They're certainly way more than 108, just by listening to them.
 
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