'The Box' loudspeakers. And 12's versus 15's.

JimiTime

Hi Guys. I'm looking for advice on the following.

I play in a band and on my own. The band consists of the common, bass, guitar drums, vocals. On my own, its just vox and acoustic, though sometimes joined by a Cajon.

So here's the question. I'm looking to buy some speakers, (Already have 1200 watt (8ohms) powered mixer by Peavey). Now, when I'm on my own will 12" full rangers do, or would 15"'s be much better? Later on, I will be looking at getting a sub, or bass bins, so with the band would the 12's also be fine once I had the bins?

Secondly, Thomann's brand of speaker 'The Box', has anyone used them? Would they be recommended? Or is there a better alternative?

Finally, does paying hundreads for some EV's really make that much difference? They are not in my price range now anyway, but are they really worth so much extra? What kind of difference will it give to my sound?

Anyway, I'd really appreciate your input guys.
Thanks,
Jimi.

PaulBrewer

Jimi.

As a rule 15s will always be preferable to 12s. You can expect more bass end out of a 15 in general.

With regard to quality , we've all heard the pub band with the snarly angry sound that pierces your ear.

Cheap speakers are often part of that.

A superior speaker will probably have a better quality cabinet, superior quality crossover components as well as 'better' sounding drivers.

With speakers, as with many other things, ya gets what ya pays for!

Best of Luck.

PMI

Hi, as Paul said a 15 will generate a bit more bottom end but, depending on what running through them the 12's might be better.

If you trying to mic a kit through a full range box dont bother all your doing is sucking up power and that size of speaker is not capable of it.

If its just a vocal PA then I would choose the 12's as you will find that naturally the 12 will give you a nicer resonant frequency and is ideal for the vocal range, synths, snares etc.. as you dont need that extra that the 15 gives.

However if you looking to possibly add subs later on you will be better with the 15's because if you added 18" subs to the 12's there will be a bit of a hole in the 130-500hz area of the PA, that cant be brought back by a graphic or anything its just a speaker thing

In regards to your question is it worth spending hundreds on boxes, I would say no as ive never heard boxes that cost hundreds sounding any good I would say though if hundreds is your budget then go for the best ya can, EV has a great name and I would say bring along a great sounding CD if you can get a demo of something and make sure you try them without eq and at different levels frequencies are boosted and attenuated within a room and within the speakers depending on volume.

To put it in perspective we use 4 of these http://www.thomann.de/ie/fohhn_xt_5.htm and 8 subs every night and a couple of these http://www.thomann.de/ie/powersoft_digam_k6.htm and thats just the boxes and amps. but its the biggest hifi ive ever heard truly amazing mid hi boxes

They do a lower range too and would recommend them over anything already mentioned, also look secondhand for the bigger brands

Good luck get back to us if you get stuck

madtheory

Here's a radical idea- most of the venues you play in will be 300 punters max, so you don't need to mic the kit. 1.2kW will give you the typical sound Paul describes if you use up all the headroom with bass. So get a pair of decent full rangers, no subs, dare to be different i.e. it's a vocal PA with a great back line, which equals great sound, unlike 99% of acts...

PaulBrewer

PMI wrote: »

naturally the 12 will give you a nicer resonant frequency

PMI if I was in a bad mood I'd say you were talking total bollox - "nicer resonant frequency" me whole !

But seeing as I'm going to try and make a hit with you Tuesday , I won't.

Get yer technical terms right ! ... or don't use them !!

PMI

haha... you can say total bollox if ya like Its the wrong terms I didnt re-read it ha, but hopefully ya know what I was getting at....