PA can mean, and often does mean screechy harsh midrange. But I've been totally sold on the old technology for years. My speakers have 3 drivers, two of them are 15"s, all of them have corrugated textile surrounds and none of them ever move more than 2mm. And 2mm is LOUD.🙂
I have always liked the great PA speakers for Hi-Fi, have a theory about them being more linear due to necesserity.... And there is no substitute for displacement * excursion when playing deep bass at high levels.
Have a set consisting of Fane Studio 15Bass, Studio 8M & ST-5022, built 25 years ago and still going strong despite plenty of abuse, including cat claws and being stored unheated. They're great for playing the music I like the best, Dire Straits, at the level I prefer, realistic....
But I will replace them soon with the best PA speakers I can find, NOS JBL 2235H bought on ebay years ago, NOS JBL 2404H from JBL's garage sale years ago and probably PHL 1660 mids, to be purchased soon.... Should then be good for the rest of my life 🙂
Soren
Have a set consisting of Fane Studio 15Bass, Studio 8M & ST-5022, built 25 years ago and still going strong despite plenty of abuse, including cat claws and being stored unheated. They're great for playing the music I like the best, Dire Straits, at the level I prefer, realistic....
But I will replace them soon with the best PA speakers I can find, NOS JBL 2235H bought on ebay years ago, NOS JBL 2404H from JBL's garage sale years ago and probably PHL 1660 mids, to be purchased soon.... Should then be good for the rest of my life 🙂
Soren
So true, so true. Unfortunate, but true. No matter what the drivers. Comes from trying to get too much volume out of the drivers. Yeah, OK, and bad design too.
But mostly over driving.
Ok, the JBL 2235H was more targeting studio monitors.... Maybe I should say PA/Studio speakers as they overlap. On my older days I don't need that high SPL anymore 🙂
Soren
Soren
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High Watt PA
These SP2's will take 300 W RMS each, (45V PP) but I would have to have someone push the start button on the CD player while I listened from the industrial park across the street before I listened to them at that level. I bought the CS800 amp with the speakers, am actually using the DJoffe modified ST120 at about 2v PP, maybe 5v on Joan Jett.(Do you want to *****? BOMP!!!!). If I had to reseat the input connector on the CS800 to get continuity with the power on it would blow my eardrums out. I'm really afraid to hook up the CS800. At these house power levels, I find the mid-range of the SP2 quite smooth, which is weird since it is done with a 2" horn driver and a 1200 Hz crossover. Good highs all over the room. Great easy listening vocals, great soft baroque music, belly shaking sound when I play R&R loud.
These SP2's will take 300 W RMS each, (45V PP) but I would have to have someone push the start button on the CD player while I listened from the industrial park across the street before I listened to them at that level. I bought the CS800 amp with the speakers, am actually using the DJoffe modified ST120 at about 2v PP, maybe 5v on Joan Jett.(Do you want to *****? BOMP!!!!). If I had to reseat the input connector on the CS800 to get continuity with the power on it would blow my eardrums out. I'm really afraid to hook up the CS800. At these house power levels, I find the mid-range of the SP2 quite smooth, which is weird since it is done with a 2" horn driver and a 1200 Hz crossover. Good highs all over the room. Great easy listening vocals, great soft baroque music, belly shaking sound when I play R&R loud.
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PA and studio speakers overlap?
I've been to a number of studios and none of them used PA speakers or drivers. The only time I noticed any overlap between the two was in the case of Tannoy but they overlap just as much with domestic speakers.
Court Audio (they provided the famed Pink Floyd PA) used Tannoy drivers, the same ones as were used for studio monitors and home hifi. Other than that I have never noticed any overlap for a long time ie since the early '80s at least.
Or even at lower levels. I do notice more ease in bass between running the 8 8" open baffles to the bottom or limit them to 70Hz and power on the 12 12" open baffle subwoofers for below 70Hz.
Even the soundstage seems a little wider and more enveloping.
Of course, the louder it gets the better the adrenaline rush as bass still sounds tight and clean. ;-)
JBL is currently using essentially the same compression drivers in sound reinforcement and high-end consumer audio. They are, however, taming the diaphragms with damping in the consumer product variants....
And JBLs range of studio monitors does not feature any compression drivers at all and hasn't for a long time.
So while there is an overlap between PA/Domestic there is no overlap between PA/Studio.
Which was exactly my point.
So while there is an overlap between PA/Domestic there is no overlap between PA/Studio.
Which was exactly my point.
Actually, there is/was at least one instance of studio crossing over to pa. Meyer's HD1 studio monitors became the UPL1 and 2. Exactly the same drivers and almost identical cabinets, but the UPL has rigging points.
I have a bunch for sale btw.🙂
I have a bunch for sale btw.🙂
I don't think it predates the powered Ultra Series, maybe very close to the beginning. Certainly not the unpowered UPA*A or C.
The amp and processing is pretty different. I think the ones we have are from ~1996
The amp and processing is pretty different. I think the ones we have are from ~1996
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Listening to a live recorded vinyl or cd that brings smile on your
face was recorded from PA speakers in the first place, wasnt-it?!!!.
face was recorded from PA speakers in the first place, wasnt-it?!!!.
I would have thought a live show was recorded through the desk, not the speakers.
Live recordings are made through a completely separate desk than the one the live sound engineer uses. Mobile recording units are effectively complete recording studios fitted into a truck and get a separate feed from the stage di boxes. It would be nearly impossible to get anything like decent sound quality recording either the pa or the live, Front-of-House console. Though at a push recording the pa usually sounds better than the FoH console. The live engineer has to take the spill from the back line into account and so vocals tend to be much too loud if recording the FoH mix.
Very true. There are a lot of Grateful Dead and other jam band live recordings around the web. They are often labeled as console feed or not. The feed off the console sounds very odd, for the reasons CD noted above. The mix will be all wrong.
There are some pretty good console + 2 mics live recordings out there. But mostly live stuff is done with a separate rig in the truck.
There are some pretty good console + 2 mics live recordings out there. But mostly live stuff is done with a separate rig in the truck.
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