P-Audio G1251 for home use

[jondoe]

How good will it be for my home ?
http://p-audio.co.uk/products/db_pro..._11_g-1251.htm

Reasons for me picking it up over the competition (if any):
- 100dB;
- up to 10KHz so i can use a supertweeter, plus normal voice is all on 1 speaker (mostly);
- pretty cheap (~80$)

Cons:
Xmax seems kinda small - 0.75 mm, especially if used down to 100Hz

What i cannot tell is how good will it be (but then i can only get some Eminence's - cheap as hell , not - or visatons, just as cheap, some seleniums and, yeah, that's it , except junkospeako's).
Anyway it will be light years ahead of my current - cheap bad - ones.

It is planned to run on active crossover.

So, what do you think ?

PS
(oh, yeah, i know, it's guitar oriented. so what?)

[jondoe]

Oh, man ...
The silence is killing me ...

Just to spice up a little, here are the full T/S
G1251
PRO-SERIES HIGH POWER
Power Rating : 100 Watts
Nominal Chassis Diameter : 305 mm (12 in)
Nominal Impedance : 8 ohm
Sensitivity (1w/1m) : 100 dB
Magnet Weight : 1.41 Kg (49.7 oz)
Resonant Frequency Fs : 73 Hz
Impedance Re : 6.4 ohm
Electromagnetic Q Qes : 0.6
Mechanical Q Qms : 3.31
Total Q Qts : 0.5
Compliance Equivalent Volume VAS : 48.12 Litr
Surface Area of Cone Sd : 510 cm
Reference Efficiency µo : 3.11 %
Voice Coil Overhang Xmax : 0.75 mm
Excursion ( Xlim ) : +/- 18 mm before breaking
Diaphragm Mass inc Airload Mms : 35.72 Gram
Bl Product BL : 13.28 TM
Coil Inductance Le : 0.56 mH

[Dr. Photon]

Seems more like a Bass guitar speaker to me. Guitar speakers are typically designed to cut off around 4 or 5K since the instrument itslef does nothave much up there, and when heavily distorted (think an all valve Marshall at full blast), the higher frequency hamonics are "harsh" and not musical. Also, the speakers in many of the favorite classic guitar amps did not have much past 4K, so this became the widely known "electric guitar sound". I have never seen a guitar speaker with a whizzer cone. The speaker distortions and roller coaster frequency response are not a "bug" with Musical Instrument speakers, they're a feature. The amplifier and the associated speaker sytem are a part of the instrument. They are meant to CREATE a new sound, not accurately reproduce an existing sound.

bass guitar, on the other hand, is a fairly "HiFi" instrument with a reasonable bottom octave (sometimes shaved off in the name of "punch" or power handing. Too much low end can also sound like "waffle") and some pretty high harmonics. Modern playing styles, such as slap, are also quite trebbly. There seem to be two different "camps" in the Bass world, the ones after the "vintage sound" (basically using bigger guitar amplifiers), and those after the "modern sound", with full range cabinets and amplifiers with very powerful active semi-parametric EQ circuits. Some of the modern bass cabinets have adjustable compression tweeters. others have speakers with whizzer cones in them. Some people use Ampeg SVT cabinets with 8 10 incher drivers, others use cabinets with single 15s or 18s with horn tweets in them. The Bass is much more open to experimentation than the "vintage obsessed" electric guitar world.

I don't think that these speakers would be ideal for your needs in a domestic stereo system. i do not think that it would sound *horrible*, but I think you can get better sound for the money by going with value-oriented but still high quality components intended for Hi Fi usage. I have used ordinary "stereo system" woofers in guitar amps and it sounded quite bad (pretty "small" and "sick" and with "dull" trebble) until I replaced it with a quality guitar/small PA system speaker. These are truly different kinds of speakers for different applications alltogether.

[jondoe]

They are meant to CREATE a new sound, not accurately reproduce an existing sound.

I guess it's not that good then.

I don't think that these speakers would be ideal for your needs in a domestic stereo system. i do not think that it would sound *horrible*, but I think you can get better sound for the money by going with value-oriented but still high quality components intended for Hi Fi usage

What "value-oriented" "high quality" "intended for Hi Fi" ?
The Hi-Fi drivers i can get here are made by Visaton and have quite small power, most up to 100W (and remember, these are for bass, the mid ones are 30-40W), low SPL, around 90dB and high price.
If i spent 20-40% more i can get some P-Audio PA speakers that are in the 200-300W region and from 98dB upwards (all kinds not just guitar ones). So these have excellent power headroom and are very efficient too.

So basically now, i ask:
to Hi-Fi or to PA ?
Is there some major drawbacks for using PA speakers in the home versus Hi-Fi ones, especially if in the same price region ?

Do all of these PA speakers "improve the sound" ?

Sorry for asking "stupid" questions.

[jondoe]

I'll do my best to not ask some more stupid quetions next time.

C YA'