User Speaker Recommendations Needed: JBL Eon - EV ZLX - Bose F1 812

[Ray&Paula]

Hi, I'm into both, DJing and Karaoke anywhere from small rooms (500 sq. ft.) and large hall venues. I've been Djing with a Numark MixDeck Quad, a pair of passive Yorkville YS115 15" speakers in stereo and a passive SP Subcompact 18" Peavey sub. Powering the speakers and sub with a couple Mackie M1400i FR series amps. I'm looking to upgrade my speakers to powered (active) ones. Like everything else, I'm trying to figure out what's currently the best affordable quality speakers out there at a decent price point. I would like some kind of a crossover built in for added protection, although in my DJ setup above, I haven't had any problems without one.... yet. I've been looking at the JBL EON6's and EV ZLX's in 12" & 15" and now there is a new EV ZLH with BT. Of course, I just had to come across the Bose F1 812's which looked interesting enough to check out. Quality, clean, hiss free at "all" volume levels, warm but, crisp sound for both Djing and vocals/singing is all I'm looking for...... LOL Seriously, I would like the aforementioned due them working out anywhere from very small rooms to your large hall venues. I would sincerely appreciate any input and/or experience that you may have, good or bad in regards to the above. In addition, if you have any other suggestions "please" feel free, I'm open. Thanks, Ray

[conanski]

Are you planning to buy sub/s and tops like your current system? It is certainly possible to get better overall performance with modern powered speakers and completely eliminate a separate rack of any type and also do it with a smaller package. Would something from the EV ELX200 series fit your budget? A pair of ELX200 10p's with an 18sp sub would be a great package. I own a bunch of EV ZLX12ps and an EKX package with 12's and 18's, all of these have been great.. no problems over hundreds of events. I like the ZLXs and you could get those but for a strictly recorded music system 10" tops are big enough. There is no need for 15" tops at all, 12's work but why not make you life easier and save the pack space too. Bluetooth is a neat feature but despite what they say it isn't as reliable as it needs to be and doesn't work reliably over large distances, it would be handy to have in your mixer or console.. not so much in the speakers.
I'm not a fan of Bose products, the new F1 series is decent performance wise but as with everything they make it's overpriced.

[Ray&Paula]

Are you planning to buy sub/s and tops like your current system? It is certainly possible to get better overall performance with modern powered speakers and completely eliminate a separate rack of any type and also do it with a smaller package. Would something from the EV ELX200 series fit your budget? A pair of ELX200 10p's with an 18sp sub would be a great package. I own a bunch of EV ZLX12ps and an EKX package with 12's and 18's, all of these have been great.. no problems over hundreds of events. I like the ZLXs and you could get those but for a strictly recorded music system 10" tops are big enough. There is no need for 15" tops at all, 12's work but why not make you life easier and save the pack space too. Bluetooth is a neat feature but despite what they say it isn't as reliable as it needs to be and doesn't work reliably over large distances, it would be handy to have in your mixer or console.. not so much in the speakers.
I'm not a fan of Bose products, the new F1 series is decent performance wise but as with everything they make it's overpriced.

Thanks for the help...... I usually only use one sub. As far as the speakers go, the ELX's are in the neighborhood fo the price point. I took a quick look at Sweetwater at them and noticed that there is only $50.00 apart between the 10's and the 12's. It sounds like you feel that the 10's have great volume near a 15" size. I run my lighting off sound and have been setting my speakers on stands near and behind my left and right light trees. How are the ELX's compared to the ZLX's in sound & quality? Are they quiet without hiss in all volume levels? I'm asking due to the big variety of room size venues I DJ and KJ in. One more question comes to mind; How about vocals/singing, warm & clean? I really appreciate your time in helping me out for an informed decision. Thank you, Ray

[conanski]

Thanks for the help...... I usually only use one sub. As far as the speakers go, the ELX's are in the neighborhood fo the price point. I took a quick look at Sweetwater at them and noticed that there is only $50.00 apart between the 10's and the 12's. It sounds like you feel that the 10's have great volume near a 15" size. I run my lighting off sound and have been setting my speakers on stands near and behind my left and right light trees. How are the ELX's compared to the ZLX's in sound & quality? Are they quiet without hiss in all volume levels? I'm asking due to the big variety of room size venues I DJ and KJ in. One more question comes to mind; How about vocals/singing, warm & clean? I really appreciate your time in helping me out for an informed decision. Thank you, Ray

The ZLX boxes are the best entry level powered box on the market IMO, I have used these for everything from solo singers, to DJ and full bands with subs of course, and sound quality is always good. Everything else in the EV lineup is a step up but it's mostly in SPL capability until you get to the ETX line, to my ear the ZLX and ELX lines sound very similar and they should.. I believe they use the same or only slightly different drivers. The EKX and ETX lines get wooden boxes instead of composite which helps maintain a tight sound at the higher output levels these can generate, but it also adds weight. These top two lines can get a lot louder than the entry level boxes and the ETX uses a larger compression driver for a noticeable improvement in vocal clarity, but you're going to pay handsomely for it. The ETX tops are capable of ridiculous output SPL, just to put this into perspective a local audio acquaintance uses a pair of ETX10p's with 4 ETX15SP subs to mix live bands and those 10's have no problem keeping up.
Residual noise is very low to non existent with these EVs and one of the better features of all these EV boxes are the DSP presets, you get all the crossover choices you may need plus some very effective presets for things like a floor monitor and one for vocals which helps with clarity while minimizing feedback.

[Ray&Paula]

The ZLX boxes are the best entry level powered box on the market IMO, I have used these for everything from solo singers, to DJ and full bands with subs of course, and sound quality is always good. Everything else in the EV lineup is a step up but it's mostly in SPL capability until you get to the ETX line, to my ear the ZLX and ELX lines sound very similar and they should.. I believe they use the same or only slightly different drivers. The EKX and ETX lines get wooden boxes instead of composite which helps maintain a tight sound at the higher output levels these can generate, but it also adds weight. These top two lines can get a lot louder than the entry level boxes and the ETX uses a larger compression driver for a noticeable improvement in vocal clarity, but you're going to pay handsomely for it. The ETX tops are capable of ridiculous output SPL, just to put this into perspective a local audio acquaintance uses a pair of ETX10p's with 4 ETX15SP subs to mix live bands and those 10's have no problem keeping up.
Residual noise is very low to non existent with these EVs and one of the better features of all these EV boxes are the DSP presets, you get all the crossover choices you may need plus some very effective presets for things like a floor monitor and one for vocals which helps with clarity while minimizing feedback.

Thank you for all the great info. between the ZLX's & the ETX's. Really the price point betweeen the two are marginal. I'm a guy that wants to get it right the first time around, which as you know, is hard to do in todays throw away world. Quality seems to be the weak point therefore, maybe the ETX's are worth paying a little extra. It would be nice to know if there is amp difference in the quality end. I'm not familiar with powered speakers in regards to the differences in quality of the amps over independent ones. I've had my Mackie M1400i FR series amps for around 20 years. I'm sure most equipment is like everything else out there in which half that time would be pushing it really hard. You've certainly given me something to think about. I sincerely appreciate all your help and time in giving me this info. Thank you, Ray

[Ray&Paula]

Ahhh........ I made a mistake. I was comparing the ELX not the ETX in price comparisons. ETX is about double the cost of the ELX.......... Yeah, too much of a price difference for me. Now I got to check out the differences between the ZLX and the ELX.........

[conanski]

Audio sound quality has reached a sort of equilibrium these days, pretty much everything sounds really good when operated within it's capabilities, it's not until it's pushed that you get to see/hear who has put more engineering into their DSP processing. That is the thing with modern powered speakers, you're not just buying a passive speaker with a one size fits all generic amp module plugged in, you get a full suite of DSP that has been custom tailored to that box, it's crossovers, EQ, limiting, time alignment, thermal protection, driver over excursion protection, and more. These EVs can be pushed into limiting without any audible effects and they still live to work another day, can't tell you how many times somebody has unplugged an instrument or shut off the mixer or controller before the speakers were shut off sending a big thump through the system, yet there have been no driver failures.
I had 4 Mackie powered SRM speakers at one point and they all died... that's a 100% failure rate, these also sounded just fine but couldn't even survive normal use never mind abuse. Mackie has gone though several owners in the last 20 yrs and it shows, their powered speakers can't compete with most other pro brands.
I also own a set of Yamaha DXR's and these are really nice.. comparable to the EV EKX line. Yamaha has a new top shelf DZR line that is equivalent to the EV ETX series.. maybe even better.
There are a lot of good choices out there so I'd encourage you to get out and demo some, but I'd also suggest you listen to the speakers as they will be used.. with a sub and with the crossovers set appropriately. All of these tops gain output capability and mids/vocal clarity when properly high passed over subs, do not select a top box based on it's low frequency tone that is counter productive, with the crossover applied and the sub handling all the lows that 10" or 12" becomes a midrange driver so that is what you should listen to.

[Ray&Paula]

Totally agree with you....... You're so right about these companies changing hands consistently. I did take a look at the Yammy's a few days ago, yes indeed they are extremely impressive. I have Mackie equipment as you know but, never considered their speakers and subs. I did look at the Thumps but, wasn't really impressed. I'll keep checking into ebverything mentioned here. There surely is a lot to take into consideration. Thanks again, appreciate all your help. Ray

[conanski]

Mackie Thumps, JBL EON500's, Behringer Eurolive, Alto TX and a bunch more I would class as hobby PA speakers, good enough for a home owner to throw an occasional kids pool party but not for somebody that is looking for a level of professional performance, for that a Yamaha DBR or EV ZLX are just enough of a step up to make a difference, of course if you can afford to take another step up you will get into something you may never feel the need to upgrade.

[Ray&Paula]

Mackie Thumps, JBL EON500's, Behringer Eurolive, Alto TX and a bunch more I would class as hobby PA speakers, good enough for a home owner to throw an occasional kids pool party but not for somebody that is looking for a level of professional performance, for that a Yamaha DBR or EV ZLX are just enough of a step up to make a difference, of course if you can afford to take another step up you will get into something you may never feel the need to upgrade.

Without a doubt..... I'm feeling the same way as you. I'm going to take a good strong look at at the EV ZLX's along with the Yammy's as you suggested. I would like to climb more if I'm able to...... Thank You, you've been a fantastic help with pointing me in the right direction! Ray