It won't. Take the $200 you'll save with 12s, put it in your piggy bank to save up for subs. And don't say 'a sub'. You'll need two. As a rule of thumb the total box volume of your subs needs to be at least twice that of your tops. However, that can work in the opposite fashion as well. If all you need to meet your needs is a single 18 inch sub then all you'll need to go with it is a pair of 10 inch tops.
In my experience there is often little difference in the lowend output between a 12" and 15" box from the same product line but the 12" is significantly smaller and easier to handle. I have done small indoor house parties with just a pair of 12's and had a "too much bass" problem that produced complaints from neighbors, it's easy to forget that just about any PA speaker is capable of quite a bit more bass spl than what most people have for a home listening system.
For ultimate portability a system with 8" or 10" tops and a 15" sub would totally outclass a pair of 15" tops in terms of sound quality and low bass, but that system has to be used that way all the time and may cost more overall. There are always tradeoffs to make with gear purchases, 2 larger boxes is super simple but it won't give you that heavy/low bass sound that is so common in modern music genres, some DJs are fine with making that choice others want the best sound they can get.
I own mostly 12" tops but do have one set of Yamaha DXR15s, these are all used with 18" subs most of the time but occassionally with 15" subs. There is no comparing the amount of lowend produced by the DXRs to even a single 15" or 18" sub, it's not even close.
Last edited by conanski; 05-21-2022 at 12:39 PM.
what would your take be on using a 12" sub with 12" tops for certain gigs? would it be even able to add anything substantial to a setup being the same size? or would it be a waste of money (just trying to think of portable options , as the 18" that I have requires 2 people to lift it
would you be better off getting smaller tops in that case?
Last edited by DJ Matt; 05-22-2022 at 05:19 AM.
Google 'Hoffman's Iron Law'. Loud sounds at low frequencies do not come from small speakers.
Actually his name is spelled, Hofmann.
Josef Anton Hofmann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Anton_Hofmann
It is such a common mistake that even Google will ask, "Did you mean: Hoffman's Iron Law".
But the number of US Supreme Court judges was always 6.
Then it was 5, then 6, then 7, then 9, then 10, then 7, and then 9.
I knew him as Tony. He didn't mind people using the more common spelling of his name with two 'f', made familiar by Dustin Hoffman.
I use for parties up to 20+ a pair of LD System Maui 11. Sound is just incredibele
I think you will need a subwoofer for bigger parties so maybe the LD systems Maui 11 are a good choice ?
https://www.ld-systems.com/en/series...897/maui-11-g2
Dedicated subwoofers of any size will produce more low bass than a fullrange box, but low frequency reproduction is all about air displacement so a smaller driver has to work harder to produce the same SPL as a larger driver, and that means a 12" sub may not be capable of producing enough output to keep up with 12" tops all the way to full volume. If you don't need the full output of your current tops then there is potential in this strategy but it may still take a model that is further up the food chain, I have paired EV ZLX12's with an EKX18 or ETX15 sub for example and those combos were well balanced IMO.
I own the Icoa 15A and can`t be happier. All of my DJ friends were always very surprised by these speakers and audience included.
I play diverse mix of styles - from 70s-80s funk/disco, through italo disco, dark disco, indie dance through hip hop to bit of dnb and bass heavy half-steps and these speakers can handle all of them with ease.
Main features of Icoas are : horn-loaded and coaxial. Coaxial means that HF horn is placed directly over woofer, design with few advantages - they sound really nice from short distances - people dancing very close to them can still enjoy very clean and fused (in terms of LF and HF fusion) sound and this applies when using them as a monitor too. Then HF horn does not occupy volume of the box which can be used for the woofer. Although LD Systems says this is horn-loaded woofer it could be considered more of some hybrid design - specially shaped interior of the box with 4 bass reflexes. Bass output of such design is massive while low frequencies are still tight, articulated and not mushy at all.
Some more nice features of the design - dual tilt stand sockets (0 and 5 degrees), slight upward tilt when sitting on the table, i like it better when placed on DJ table opposed to speakers with no tilt on horizontal axis.
Controls - DSP in Icoa is more advanced than Yamaha`s - it has four presets and 3-band EQ so you can easily tweak the sound for the particular venue. Display shows levels of both inputs with peaking, which makes setting up the whole signal chain soooo easy.
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