Budget/mid Price Speakers Vs "name" Brands

[spinner 0]

I'll be very interested to read peoples' opinions on this subject.

 

A while ago I read (elsewhere) of someone doing a comparison of a pair of Electrovoice SX300 cabinets and a pair of similarly specified Thomann "The Box". He said he couldn't detect any difference in sound quality yet there was a big difference in price.

 

I've read a review of the W-Audio PSR powered cabinets in which they were described as excellent and comparable to more expensive brands.

 

On the other hand I've read reviews of big name brands suggesting they performed disappointingly.

 

So can budget/mid price cabinets be as good as those costing substantially more? If not what's the difference?

 

Opinions please.

 

 

[Norfolk DJ 0]

 

I've seen and heard the W-Audio PSR powered 15'inch speakers and then compared to the mackie srm 450. To be honest, for the money, the W-Audio are an outstanding buy. they are a little bit heavy next to the mackie but i think less than half the price.

 

 

[spinner 0]

I've seen and heard the W-Audio PSR powered 15'inch speakers and then compared to the mackie srm 450. To be honest, for the money, the W-Audio are an outstanding buy. they are a little bit heavy next to the mackie but i think less than half the price.

 

Are you saying they're as good as the Mackies?

 

[buskersball 0]

I'll be very interested to read peoples' opinions on this subject.

 

A while ago I read (elsewhere) of someone doing a comparison of a pair of Electrovoice SX300 cabinets and a pair of similarly specified Thomann "The Box". He said he couldn't detect any difference in sound quality yet there was a big difference in price.

 

I've read a review of the W-Audio PSR powered cabinets in which they were described as excellent and comparable to more expensive brands.

 

On the other hand I've read reviews of big name brands suggesting they performed disappointingly.

 

So can budget/mid price cabinets be as good as those costing substantially more? If not what's the difference?

 

Opinions please.

 

I suspect if you can't hear the difference, there's something wrong with the input stage and the true sound of the quality speaker just isn't being shown.

I can't comment on W Audio, but over the years I've had speakers by Ohm, Fender, HZ, Carlsbro, JBL, Kudos, Bose, Peavey in fact just about all the affordable brands and they've all sounded different...and all I can say is you get what you pay for (although audiences may not notice). At the moment I run EV300s and HZ bins and for bigger gigs I run the 300s with my SX500s and they are just so smooth...it prevents listener fatigue.

To say there's no difference in sound between budget speakers and higher end ones is just wrong. Its like saying budget hifi speakers are as good as top end Quads (or whatever the top end speaker is these days)

To compare Evs and say Soundlabs is just ludicrous

 

[Dukesy 0]

To say there's no difference in sound between budget speakers and higher end ones is just wrong.

I do hope this thread doesn't spiral into an argument of brand 'x' is better than brand 'y'!!!!!

 

I've compared the Bose L1 to the EVs but not with the RCFs yet.

In practice, I found that the older guests at the back of the room have noticed the difference between the L1 and the EVs.....the younger guests closer to the L1s want me to turn it up whereas......

 

Have never had a problem with the sound of either the EVs or the RCFs with attending older guests at a gig, they walk in, look towards the disco and just head straight for the back of the room out of some kind of auto-pilot reaction?!

 

Perhaps they have attended too many discos and been sat at the front near the stage!

 

Are the speakers all worth their price tag? Still observing this and so far I'm nearly convinced!

 

Do they all sound the same? Ask the old dears at the back of the room!!!!! tongue out icon

[rictic 0]

all sound the same to me , better than mine!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol.

 

money alone does not a speaker a make imho.

different cabs are designed for different things. b&o home cabs can cost £000000's but wouldnt do a disco karaoke in a church hall or pub. on the other hand most pro p.a. cabs sound cat on a hi fi. we all know why.

 

vocal cabs differ from guitar cabs differ from leslie cabs differ from ...........etc etc etc.

speakers are voiced for different applications,use different technology costing vastly different amounts of money.

a small boozer near me uses soudlab 15" cabs and they do the job quite well in there. sound fine for the place.

 

but in general i suppose you get what you pay for, liquid cooled , titanium, solid cast this and that etc. quality always shines through in the end.

[Dream Catchers 0]

I think you would be hard pressed to notice the difference between cabs that have been built for the same purpose.

 

Jim

[rictic 0]

compare the 300w skytec to the 700w ev1 force and you will hear the diff jim i promise you.

[desperatedan 0]

Well as a proud owner of a pair of W-audio 15" all I can say is well chuffed for the money,

 

Nice sound in my opinion (all tho I know sounds is a very independant thing), Most of my gigs are weddings for 100 - 150 peeps and the pair of them work fine without subs etc.....

 

Even with them just postioned on the floor and not on stands there is enough volume to push out without them ever going near to clipping.

 

The only negative is the weight of them they are on the heavy side compared to some cabs ie the Mackies etc......

 

But Weight against cost the decision is yours ? Half the weight for the mackies but double the price.

[spinner 0]

Well as a proud owner of a pair of W-audio 15" all I can say is well chuffed for the money,

 

Nice sound in my opinion (all tho I know sounds is a very independant thing), Most of my gigs are weddings for 100 - 150 peeps and the pair of them work fine without subs etc.....

 

Even with them just postioned on the floor and not on stands there is enough volume to push out without them ever going near to clipping.

 

The only negative is the weight of them they are on the heavy side compared to some cabs ie the Mackies etc......

 

But Weight against cost the decision is yours ? Half the weight for the mackies but double the price.

 

 

That could be one way that the manufacturers keep the cost down. Do the Mackies boast Neodymium drivers? No doubt the cheaper cabs will have heavier units.

 

[Dream Catchers 0]

compare the 300w skytec to the 700w ev1 force and you will hear the diff jim i promise you.

I said built for the same purpose, one is built to push out 300w the other 700w, not quite the same.

 

 

Jim

[Norfolk DJ 0]

Are you saying they're as good as the Mackies?

 

no they are not quite as good, but for the money there is nothing in it. The mackies are lighter and have a slightly better sound, but you are paying more than double for that.

 

 

To say there's no difference in sound between budget speakers and higher end ones is just wrong. Its like saying budget hifi speakers are as good as top end Quads (or whatever the top end speaker is these days)

To compare Evs and say Soundlabs is just ludicrous

 

Don't agree with that, i've owned mackie, soundlab, speakers and denon, pioneer and soundlab cd players and i have to say for the cash, my soundlab speakers were excellent. As for the cd players, the denon is great but for the money, soundlab was better value.

 

Very little difference now in quality, but the item you want not just the badge.

 

[spinner 0]

Very little difference now in quality, but the item you want not just the badge.

 

Very interesting point.

 

Lots of gear is now made in China and not just budget stuff.

 

At one time Chinese made drivers were rather rough and so was the sound they produced but they have got progressively better.

 

I was looking at prices for a replacement B&C driver for one of my FBT cabinets the other day. By chance I saw that Studiospares were offering a complete cabinet for more or less the same price and it had a good review on the Sound on Sound website.

 

I'm not saying that the Studiospares cabinet would sound as good as the FBT and the latter would have a Neodymium unit as opposed to standard. Of course one is made in Italy, the other China and chinese production costs will be appreciably lower.

 

But with such a massive price difference it does make you wonder.

 

 

[rictic 0]

i bet tho that the average punter wouldnt know the difference in top of the range and cheapo's especially in a blind testing.

if kept within their limits they can all sound pretty good.

Edited September 26, 2007 by rictic

[Dream Catchers 0]

compare the 300w skytec to the 700w ev1 force and you will hear the diff jim i promise you.

i bet tho that the average punter wouldnt know the difference in top of the range and cheapo's especially in a blind testing.

if kept within their limits they can all sound pretty good.

 

Jim

[Norfolk DJ 0]

Very interesting point.

 

Lots of gear is now made in China and not just budget stuff.

 

At one time Chinese made drivers were rather rough and so was the sound they produced but they have got progressively better.

 

I was looking at prices for a replacement B&C driver for one of my FBT cabinets the other day. By chance I saw that Studiospares were offering a complete cabinet for more or less the same price and it had a good review on the Sound on Sound website.

 

I'm not saying that the Studiospares cabinet would sound as good as the FBT and the latter would have a Neodymium unit as opposed to standard. Of course one is made in Italy, the other China and chinese production costs will be appreciably lower.

 

But with such a massive price difference it does make you wonder.

 

99% of the public don't care and are not interested in whether you have bose, mackie or denon

 

[Mattaious 0]

99% of the public don't care and are not interested in whether you have bose, mackie or denon

 

 

Very True

 

But - It helps if they sound good when on karaoke!

 

 

[Dukesy 0]

Slightly off topic but when we re-invest in our business knowing what sounds good to us say when compared to our last system or piece of kit, do you think that regardless of what we actually have or forked out for that its best to leave out when speaking to a client reference the comment:

99% of the public don't care and are not interested in whether you have bose, mackie or denon

[spinner 0]

99% of the public don't care and are not interested in whether you have bose, mackie or denon

 

 

Probably not. But they do care if the sound hurts their ears.

 

I've been a guest at only 2 weddings in the past 5 years, at hotels locally.

 

In both cases the DJ speakers were overdriven, were harsh, lacked bass and were distorted.

 

At one a guest asked me what was wrong with the speakers!!

[Norfolk DJ 0]

Problems are mainly due to very old overdriven speakers, rather than the newer ones.

[spinner 0]

Problems are mainly due to very old overdriven speakers, rather than the newer ones.

 

 

And, by the look of them, the ones in question most certainly were!

[Andy Westcott 0]

Quote rictic:

"i bet tho that the average punter wouldnt know the difference in top of the range and cheapo's"

 

I bet they would - it's the difference between hearing a nice, full-sounding system and hearing one which is too squawky and peaky.

 

And as Spinner so rightly said,

"But they do care if the sound hurts their ears."

That is what drives punters out of the doors and leaves you with nobody in the room to dance.

 

I would hazard a guess that cheap PA speakers are only really intended for voice work, which might explain why they sound pretty bad when fed with music. Maybe dealers are pushing out these cheap speakers to an unsuspecting buying public?

[norty303 0]

One of the issues overlooked by mobile jocks is the resale value. They buy cheap to save money and end up with valueless speakers at the end.

 

If you are running a proper business you are better off buying kit which will have residual value at the end of 3/4 years once its been written off, and then re-investing in another brand with good residual values.

 

Old Funktion 1, Turbosound, Martin Audio, EV, etc stuff from many years ago still fetches silly money because people know its kit worth owning. I'd hazard that you could buy a pair of Nexo PS15's with a controller 2nd hand this year and sell them on for at least 80% of purchase price in 3/4 years time.

[Norfolk DJ 0]

Quote rictic:

"i bet tho that the average punter wouldnt know the difference in top of the range and cheapo's"

 

I bet they would - it's the difference between hearing a nice, full-sounding system and hearing one which is too squawky and peaky.

 

And as Spinner so rightly said,

"But they do care if the sound hurts their ears."

That is what drives punters out of the doors and leaves you with nobody in the room to dance.

 

I would hazard a guess that cheap PA speakers are only really intended for voice work, which might explain why they sound pretty bad when fed with music. Maybe dealers are pushing out these cheap speakers to an unsuspecting buying public?

 

probably 20 years ago you would be right Andy, but differences are now much harder to spot. I use Mackie SRM 450's but recently I heard from warrior active speaker and they were very close to the mackies. I also used some KAM passive 15inch speakers and these are also very good, but not as good as the mackies but for general function use, difficult to fault.

 

[spinner 0]

I use Mackie SRM 450's but recently I heard from warrior active speaker and they were very close to the mackies.

 

 

Again, very interesting, bearing in mind that a pair of PSR 12A will cost the same as a single SRM450.

 

Can you quantify "very close"?

 

What was the difference - more detail or, perhaps, a sweeter sound from the Mackies?