Speakers For Heavy Metal ? What Matters ?

[blakkshepeaudio]

I'm no expert, GM is the man you wanna talk to, but a K15 with a pair of Altec/GPA 515 might just be what you want. Not that difficult. But speak to GM.

Deon

Well, I hope GM may express an opinion here.

Altecs and GPA's may be relatively common in the USA but they are all but unavailable in OZ and their weight makes overseas shipment unviable. I know there are Eminence based Karlson designs but the 'results unknown' factor is too great for me to take a chance with someone elses money.

Don't misunderstand, I really appreciate your idea. In a year, when I have some Karlson under the belt, I may be more willing to take a punt. I hope you are around with your suggestions then!

Kind regards,
potkettleblakk

 

[mondogenerator]

I would slightly disagree. Complex metal of the scandinavian variety can be played perfectly well on a well designed 2 way. If you need deafening volumes and really want to feel the double kick then a 2way will run out of steam.

 

[Joel Wesseling]

Not up on modern Metal but I remember recordings with a lot of Ambience and dynamic compression so I'd be thinking of a system that is smooth through the midrange and dosent become shouty and stays balanced with high volume..

Just my 2 cents, Joel

 

[tinitus]

..... I'd be thinking of a system that is smooth through the midrange and dosent become shouty and stays balanced with high volume..

Just my 2 cents, Joel

+1 to that...always
besides...the music itself distorts plenty enough on its own wont hurt one bit to take away a little of it

 

[Saturnus]

besides...the music itself distorts plenty enough on its own wont hurt one bit to take away a little of it

Wouldn't do any good either. Music is distortion.

 

[winslow]

I cant think of a serious metalhead who would be happy with a dome midrange and a planar. Would be good for some kinds of music, but go crank some Nile through it and see how happy it makes you.

And no, metal doesn't contain harpsicord or violins ...or keyboards.

 

[Charles Darwin]

I'd lean towards a 12"+horn 2 way or a 15"+6-8"+treble horn depending on budget and requirements myself and seriously consider going active.

Beyma has some good looking new (at least to me) drivers which are cheap here but some cost more than double on US sites.

 

[tinitus]

I'd lean towards a 12"+horn 2 way or a 15"+6-8"+treble horn

check out Faital's new small tweeter horn

http://www.faitalpro.com/products/files/FD371/8/FD371_datasheet_8.pdf

 

[Saturnus]

And no, metal doesn't contain harpsicord or violins ...or keyboards.

Certainly depends on what type of metal you refer to. Doom and folk metal use strings and keyboard a lot. A large chorus is also common on doom metal records.

Btw, my username is taken from Danish doom metal legends Saturnus.

http://www.myspace.com/saturnus

 

[Ahmad_tbp]

And no, metal doesn't contain harpsicord or violins ...or keyboards.

you should take a look at this :
FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE - The Violation

must metal genres doesn't contain classical instruments or anything other than guitars,bass and drums + vocals , but there are lots of them that contain ! even nile sometimes use some other instruments as well

 

[mortron]

you should take a look at this :
FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE - The Violation

must metal genres doesn't contain classical instruments or anything other than guitars,bass and drums + vocals , but there are lots of them that contain ! even nile sometimes use some other instruments as well

Nile apparently uses human bone flutes or did at some point... Whether or not folklore, it's a great tale.

 

[Saturnus]

you should take a look at this :
FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE - The Violation

Thanks for the link. Pretty cool.

 

[Charles Darwin]

Something like this:

http://profesional.beyma.com/ingles/pdf/15LX60V2.pdf

http://profesional.beyma.com/ingles/pdf/8P300Fe.pdf

http://profesional.beyma.com/pdf/CD10FeE.pdf

http://profesional.beyma.com/ingles/pdf/TD194.pdf

Would cost £130 + £56 + £36 + £30 =£252 +vat here in the UK (bluearan.co.uk) but
$326 + $170 + $150 + $100 = $746 (£462) (prices from usspeaker.com).

The UK prices seem a bargain, the US ones not so much. No idea what the Oz prices would be.
There seems to be quite a lot of good looking cheap drivers coming out recently from Beyma and Faital and may be others. Not sure how well the prices travel around the world though.

 

[dewardh]

Go to a metal concert (take earplugs). Look at the speakers the sound is coming from. That should be enough of a hint . . .

 

[zzzmonster]

Up your budget - get a Nao Note - Metal music is one of the more complex genres -

you need quick bass = active crossover

need clear mid bass = dipole mid bass

I got a Nao Note - totally no regrets - clear metal music and heavy rock no distortion even at low volumes

 

[Charles Darwin]

Go to a metal concert (take earplugs). Look at the speakers the sound is coming from. That should be enough of a hint . . .

Last time I looked it was the same ubiquitous line arrays where the sound of every other PA user comes from. Genre doesn't really matter any more, only the amount of cabs and amps varies a bit.

 

[nigelwright7557]

If it is very heavy metal you needs loads of bass.
Quite often heavy metal guitarist tune down their guitars to get lower notes and get a heavier sound.

 

[Saturnus]

If it is very heavy metal you needs loads of bass.
Quite often heavy metal guitarist tune down their guitars to get lower notes and get a heavier sound.

Yeah but guitars don't go that low even tuned down to C# (3 half notes down) as Black Sabbath and most doom and much death metal is. That's still only a 69.30Hz fundamental frequency. Almost no information at the fundamental anyways. Most is in harmonic distortion.

 

[tinitus]

dont forget you will have phase issues at rolloff
low end roll off is no different from any other crossover point in that respect

another point is you will probably use vented BR tuning
and maybe even high Q tuning
but you know what happens when hitting it with notes below the tuning frequncy

I dont expect you would quit everything above 8000hz
even if that would make more sense

I guess it will be no surprice when I suggest a closed box design, maybe apperiodic to have some venting

 

[dewardh]

Last time I looked it was the same ubiquitous line arrays where the sound of every other PA user comes from.

Ummm . . . yep . . . and what does that tell you (apart from that line arrays are replacing horn-and-reflex cabs almost everywhere)? Those line arrays are part of the sound. If you don't have them you don't have it.