Agreed about shipping, which is why I try to get all my research done before hand (and visit various stores, talk to lots of people) .. I was stressed when I jumped into the active pool and for a period of time, I was dragging around an active system with a passive backup.Speakers are heavy and cost a lot to ship. Look at the category section in the upper left corner and type in the zip and millage to the nearest location.
Your best bet are DC stores and drive over and get them locally. Shipping can run as much or more then used speakers cost. You have to wait till the right speakers show up in your area so you don't have to have them shipped.
It took me several years to find good passive speakers, amps and other gear that were in my local area to save on shipping. The good thing about GC is you get 45 days to test and use them and you can return them for ANY reason no questions asked.
Completely agreed.I know a few guys that buy used gear locally, do gigs with them then return them and get there money back. There scum bags but that's what they do.
They got alot of stuff that they'll be getting rid of then.I also know a guy that works at GC and he said they were gonna stop selling used gear in the near future.
Oldschool, Have you not heard of Meyer? They make arguably the best pro audio speakers in the world, and they ONLY make powered.
The German made amps are solid as a rock. The new gen Q's are made in China and though I have 5 of them I still like the older German made ones. Yes the German 3 u's are heavier then the China made 2U's but the fans are quieter on the older ones and don't cycle on when the amps are idling. The China made ones will cycle the fans on and off even when idling and are nosierI was just trying to make a point that one of the most trusted names in the audio world is Meyer, and all they do is powered. There are many reasons for this, and yes I use Meyer 700hp subs for my big shows.
Oh, and I will agree I loved my EV amps when I was passive. I had two original Q66s. Speakers sounded better on the EV than my PLX.
I used to be proud of my ability to derail a Thread, but after following all this, it is painfully obvious I'm a total novice...but I did learn a lot about trucks! However, I already knew that the world does not need another pickup truck mentality fool driving a chipped Cummins, whose sole purpose in life is to Blacken as many cars as possible.
I got into DJ'ing late, after my children and their friend's had been married, and thus I had been to a lot of weddings as a guest. I vowed to NEVER produce the
horrible sound I had heard at too many of them. Therefore, I did a system approach. I needed the lightest (due to my age) system that would fit in the back seat and trunk of my car, that would produce the best sound possible - that meant running subs ALL the time. A strong electronics/audio background enabled me to cobble together what I've now been using for years. It is totally passive, primarily again due to weight. The only real change over time is I moved away from coupled subs w/tops on tripods to just tops over subs, mainly for looks. The heaviest thing I deal with is the Class A/B amp for the tops, but I don't have to lift that over my head! The subs are powered by a Class D amp that weighs 7 pounds!!
As already mentioned, the market place has spoken, Active is it. For a single speaker, like a Ceremony speaker, that's obviously best. However, once you are using multiple speakers, IMHO passive still has some advantages besides less weight. For example, I think everyone is familiar with "relative phase" between the left and right speakers, a problem more prevalent with passive speakers if you accidentally had the wiring reversed to one side. There is also "absolute phase".
If you look at an expanded waveform in Audacity, you can see that the leading edge of a bass hit is a positive pulse. For maximum visceral impact, your woofers should move out, not in, with that initial pulse. Unfortunately, that is often not the case, because if you followed the audio signal through the bazillion op-amps it goes through, many of which are often in an "inverting" configuration, it's a crap-shoot. No problem, I'll just move the phase inverting switch on both of my active subs. Excellent, but now how do you invert the phase on both of your active tops to match your subs, when the geniuses who designed them didn't put phase switches on the tops??
I used to be proud of my ability to derail a Thread, but after following all this, it is painfully obvious I'm a total novice...but I did learn a lot about trucks! However, I already knew that the world does not need another pickup truck mentality fool driving a chipped Cummins, whose sole purpose in life is to Blacken as many cars as possible.
I got into DJ'ing late, after my children and their friend's had been married, and thus I had been to a lot of weddings as a guest. I vowed to NEVER produce the
horrible sound I had heard at too many of them. Therefore, I did a system approach. I needed the lightest (due to my age) system that would fit in the back seat and trunk of my car, that would produce the best sound possible - that meant running subs ALL the time. A strong electronics/audio background enabled me to cobble together what I've now been using for years. It is totally passive, primarily again due to weight. The only real change over time is I moved away from coupled subs w/tops on tripods to just tops over subs, mainly for looks. The heaviest thing I deal with is the Class A/B amp for the tops, but I don't have to lift that over my head! The subs are powered by a Class D amp that weighs 7 pounds!!
As already mentioned, the market place has spoken, Active is it. For a single speaker, like a Ceremony speaker, that's obviously best. However, once you are using multiple speakers, IMHO passive still has some advantages besides less weight. For example, I think everyone is familiar with "relative phase" between the left and right speakers, a problem more prevalent with passive speakers if you accidentally had the wiring reversed to one side. There is also "absolute phase".
If you look at an expanded waveform in Audacity, you can see that the leading edge of a bass hit is a positive pulse. For maximum visceral impact, your woofers should move out, not in, with that initial pulse. Unfortunately, that is often not the case, because if you followed the audio signal through the bazillion op-amps it goes through, many of which are often in an "inverting" configuration, it's a crap-shoot. No problem, I'll just move the phase inverting switch on both of my active subs. Excellent, but now how do you invert the phase on both of your active tops to match your subs, when the geniuses who designed them didn't put phase switches on the tops??
I used to be proud of my ability to derail a Thread, but after following all this, it is painfully obvious I'm a total novice...but I did learn a lot about trucks! However, I already knew that the world does not need another pickup truck mentality fool driving a chipped Cummins, whose sole purpose in life is to Blacken as many cars as possible.
I got into DJ'ing late, after my children and their friend's had been married, and thus I had been to a lot of weddings as a guest. I vowed to NEVER produce the
horrible sound I had heard at too many of them. Therefore, I did a system approach. I needed the lightest (due to my age) system that would fit in the back seat and trunk of my car, that would produce the best sound possible - that meant running subs ALL the time. A strong electronics/audio background enabled me to cobble together what I've now been using for years. It is totally passive, primarily again due to weight. The only real change over time is I moved away from coupled subs w/tops on tripods to just tops over subs, mainly for looks. The heaviest thing I deal with is the Class A/B amp for the tops, but I don't have to lift that over my head! The subs are powered by a Class D amp that weighs 7 pounds!!
As already mentioned, the market place has spoken, Active is it. For a single speaker, like a Ceremony speaker, that's obviously best. However, once you are using multiple speakers, IMHO passive still has some advantages besides less weight. For example, I think everyone is familiar with "relative phase" between the left and right speakers, a problem more prevalent with passive speakers if you accidentally had the wiring reversed to one side. There is also "absolute phase".
If you look at an expanded waveform in Audacity, you can see that the leading edge of a bass hit is a positive pulse. For maximum visceral impact, your woofers should move out, not in, with that initial pulse. Unfortunately, that is often not the case, because if you followed the audio signal through the bazillion op-amps it goes through, many of which are often in an "inverting" configuration, it's a crap-shoot. No problem, I'll just move the phase inverting switch on both of my active subs. Excellent, but now how do you invert the phase on both of your active tops to match your subs, when the geniuses who designed them didn't put phase switches on the tops??
I live in the Houston area in TX, about three hours away from San Antonio. Do those speakers hold up the same as Mackie, EV, or QSC I am researching and asking around to see if Mackie speakers sound anywhere near as good as the QSC or EV. For price I am thinking Mackie, but for quality people have told me that EV or QSZ are the best, but my budget is saying Mackie. Not sure yet. Now I am wanting to check put the speakers you mentioned. Thanks for the feedback.If you have the money, look at Bassboss in San Antonio. There powered speakers sound incredible. There double subs go down to 21 HZ
I went to there showroom and WOW you will book every gig no mater how much you charge. There subs are the bomb.
I live in the Houston area in TX, about three hours away from San Antonio. Do those speakers hold up the same as Mackie, EV, or QSC I am researching and asking around to see if Mackie speakers sound anywhere near as good as the QSC or EV. For price I am thinking Mackie, but for quality people have told me that EV or QSZ are the best, but my budget is saying Mackie. Not sure yet. Now I am wanting to check put the speakers you mentioned. Thanks for the feedback.
Actually, there is little difference in "throw" distance between horn loaded and front firing woofers. Horn loaded woofers tend to act like a slightly larger cone than the driving one (more air is coupled), and they "tend" to be a bit smoother, but typically don't get as low as a direct firing driver.I would add that there are pro's and con's to using horn loaded sub scoops vs front loaded subs. Front loaded subs tend to keep the lows limited to the front section of a dance floor and fall off the farther away you get from them. With horn loaded sub scoops they throw the lows all the way to the back wall and carry the lows much farther out. So application would dictate witch one you might consider.
Actually, there is little difference in "throw" distance between horn loaded and front firing woofers. Horn loaded woofers tend to act like a slightly larger cone than the driving one (more air is coupled), and they "tend" to be a bit smoother, but typically don't get as low as a direct firing driver.
The horn length needs to be adjusted for from a delay perspective (actually, the tops need to be delayed), but I prefer the smoother sound. I had a pair of Yorkville Unity subs with a 7' folded horn that took about 7ms of delay to the tops to match up.
Not boundary coupling, which you are referring to, but air coupling .. the tube of air that needs to be moved by a horn loaded driver.Yes coupling a system does increase the DB output but that all depends on the venue and how or what your using them for. For a rave I'll stack everything all together. Typically in a corner of the venue. But for a band I tend to put 2 subs and 2 tops on each side. But again It all depends on the venue and where the stage is set up.