Active fold back monitors

jesone

What would you recommend for "cost effective" floor wedges for a 5 piece rock covers band with 2 singers?

ICBM

I was going to say that robust, decent-sounding, cost-effective PA gear always starts with Peavey, but they don't seem to do any powered monitor smaller than the PV15PM now, which is a bit on the big and expensive side to be really called "cost effective"…

Laney do a couple, the CXP112 at about £200 and the smaller CXP110 for £135, although for a loud band a 65W 1x10" monitor might not be enough.

There's probably something from Behringer too, although I haven't seen any. Recent Behringer gear isn't too bad really.

I would avoid Wharfedale if you can, although they do some and they're cheap, I've seen a fair few blown ones of their powered PA cabs (though not any of the wedge monitors yet - but they will be the same construction).

John_A

We have one of the Alto SXM112A's which is really nice, compact, loud and clear and hasn't let us down

simonk

We use the Alto TX-8's. They're cheap, so when the inevitable beer gets spilt on them it's not such a bad thing, and loud.

jesone

The TX 8s are definitely attractive price wise. I'll have to see if I can pick one up to try.

Danny1969

Those little Alto TX8's are for vocals and guitar only, obviously they don't have the FR for bass and drum foldback. I've got a few bits of Alto kit and it's all pretty good for the money

jesone

Vocals & guitar is all we really need for now I reckon.

PolarityMan

Literally just pulled the trigger on a Behringer F1220D to use as fold back for the drummer, likely to be carrying guitars only. wish I had seen this thread though as I hadnt considered Alto.

Mind you I dunno if a 8 inch driver would be enough for our drummer, he plays stupidly loud

simonk

Danny1969;1077434" said:

Those little Alto TX8's are for vocals and guitar only, obviously they don't have the FR for bass and drum foldback. I've got a few bits of Alto kit and it's all pretty good for the money

Yep, that's exactly what we use them for! Christ, I don't need the bass and kit coming back at me on stage!! The fact they're a dinky little 8" speaker I see as a positive; we had a couple of 12" monitors before and they were just replicating a load of frequencies we really didn't care about.

simonk

PolarityMan;1077665" said:

Mind you I dunno if a 8 inch driver would be enough for our drummer, he plays stupidly loud

Our drumist uses a TX8 too and it's never not been loud enough.

PolarityMan

simonk said:

PolarityMan;1077665" said:

Mind you I dunno if a 8 inch driver would be enough for our drummer, he plays stupidly loud

Our drumist uses a TX8 too and it's never not been loud enough.

Yeah but you probably have a drummist who understands that there 2 different volumes

Cabicular

The wharfdalenfloor monitors are utterly bulletproof in my experience
I've seen old abused ones being used night after night
The PA stuff is a bit flakey but the monitors are solid

Cabicular

I gave one of mine to our drummer as a monitor
He keeps it in a shed and it runs like clockwork
I put a good whack of bass drum and snare through it for him as well so it's not exactly lightly used

Bloog

John_A said:

We have one of the Alto SXM112A's which is really nice, compact, loud and clear and hasn't let us down

I second the SXM-112a for size, weight and sound quality. The coaxial speaker is well focused. The small footprint and steepish angle of projection are ideal for pubs and crowded stages. I've never needed EQ. Downsides are the case isn't built for throwing around and the inputs, controls and fan are on the back, risking tampering and liquid ingress.

At around £234 it's not cheap, but skimping on monitors is a false economy. A clear and flattering sound improves performance.

Pete24v

John_A;1077371" said:

We have one of the Alto SXM112A's which is really nice, compact, loud and clear and hasn't let us down

I have a pair of these, great bits of kit.

As another chap has said, the controls and fan is at the the rear, and after a pretty raucous pub gig one of the fans in mine has stopped working due to spillage.

But the monitor still works fine. Easily over 100 gigs on them, in and out of van's and they still deliver.

ICBM

Cabicular said:

The wharfdalenfloor monitors are utterly bulletproof in my experience
I've seen old abused ones being used night after night
The PA stuff is a bit flakey but the monitors are solid

Cabicular said:

I gave one of mine to our drummer as a monitor
He keeps it in a shed and it runs like clockwork
I put a good whack of bass drum and snare through it for him as well so it's not exactly lightly used

That's interesting, but it does probably explain why I've never seen a dead monitor. I assumed they would be built more or less the same inside.

A lot of the failures on the powered speakers are caused by the way the PCB is supported, allowing it to vibrate and crack the power transistor pins. Perhaps the monitor power amps are done differently...

p90fool

I have a couple of Wharfedale powered cabs @ICBM , anything I can do to prevent future issues?

jesone

I'm now leaning towards the wharfdale ev x12m over the Alto tx8 and Thomann MA150. I'm worried that the Alto won't be loud or clear enough and the MA150 is feckin' heavy!! Any last thoughts before I pull the trigger on this?

John_A

I would choose the Alto SXM112A over the wharfdale the cab is ply rather than particle board and the dual concentric speaker rather than a separate horn means its more compact and less prone to feedback.  They crop up used for about £160, theres a few on ebay at the moment, but even paying the extra £80 for a new one really would be worth it IMO, buy cheap buy twice (I did)

ESBlonde

John_A said:

I would choose the Alto SXM112A over the wharfdale the cab is ply rather than particle board and the dual concentric speaker rather than a separate horn means its more compact and less prone to feedback.  They crop up used for about £160, theres a few on ebay at the moment, but even paying the extra £80 for a new one really would be worth it IMO, buy cheap buy twice (I did)

In practical terms a horn will disperse the treble more evenly and thus reduce the concentrated treble 'beam' effect of a cone. Of course a well designed crossover is required to avoid humps and bumps in the frequency, but rule of thumb suggests a proper horn wins over a dual concentric cone or a piezo tweeter. think about placing a mic in the sweet spot to hear the treble and it will be far more prone to feeding back with a cone. I have not witnessed the units in question so cannot comment further on the examples and YMMV.

maltingsaudio

Just to throw a curve ball in these are now back and available in the UK  http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug12/articles/galaxy-pa6s.htm   about £325 a pop