The first thing that caught my eye when I looked at the Peavey Impulse 12D is that the enclosure sports a ribbon driver rather than the typical high compression driver. The ribbon driver is an exclusive Peavey design based on the ribbons used in the Peavey Versarray line arrays. Even if you don't know what a ribbon driver is, you can't help but notice that the horn section of this injection-molded enclosure is very different from what would be considered the norm.
What is less obvious when looking at this box is that it is loaded with a 12-inch Peavey loudspeaker with a dual voice coil and neodymium magnet and a 1,200W switching amp that incorporates Peavey's IPR power amp technology. I will not go deeply into IPR here, but basically it is a high efficiency Class D amp that offers excellent audio resolution. I have reviewed IPR amps in the past, and I can say that they sound very good and are very light in weight. As a matter of fact, the Peavey Impulse 12D weighs in at just 26 lbs. – really light.
Now that we know a little bit about what is inside the box, let's check out the back panel. The back side of the Peavey is fitted with two input channels, the DynaQ section and a Line Out section. Each channel has gain controls and mic/line switches. Channel one offers a combo XLR-1/4" and Phoenix connectors, and channel two features a combo XLR-1/4" and RCA connectors. The DynaQ section allows you to control your LED lights, turning them on or off for signal and/or power. The Bass Enhancer switch provides automatic equal loudness compensation. There is also a Music/Speech switch for optimum EQ of either source and a Contour switch for an additional EQ curve. The Line Out signal can exit through XLR, ¼" TRS and Phoenix outputs.
Additional bells and whistles include DDT anti-clipping speaker protection and Woofer Servo technology. The Woofer Servo circuit controls cone movement so that the cone mirrors the driving signal from the power amp. This results in low distortion, high power handling (1200W, remember) and solid bass attack.
The Peavey Impulse 12D can be pole-mounted or used as a monitor. Power comes through an IEC cable and an on/off switch. Once I had checked out all the features, the next question I had is, how good do these speakers sound?
Before I took the Peaveys out to a gig, I set them up in my studio. I wanted to check out the DynaQ section switches. The Bass Enhancer switch definitely pumped up the bass, but it also seemed as if it were an overall loudness switch. The Music/Speech switch had a nice EQ built into it and definitely enhanced the spoken word. The contour switch delivered a good EQ curve, especially for a singing voice. If I were to use the Impulse speakers as mains, I would engage the Bass Enhancement, Music and Contour switch. For monitor use, I would just bypass the Bass Enhancement. Okay, off to the first gig.
The Gigs
My first outing with the Peaveys was at an outdoor wedding. The Impulse 12Ds were set up as mains on stands and used as music and speech speakers. You can really service a lot of people with these speakers. They will deliver a lot of clean, loud, sound pressure. There were about 300 people attending, and everyone received plenty of decibels of music and speech. I set the DynaQ switches to the Speech and Bass Enhancement mode, even though I was also playing background music through the speakers. I figured the preacher's voice had priority for this event. Ultimately, the Peavey speakers performed very well. The entire audience could hear the newlyweds and preacher clearly. I could tell by the fact that there was hardly a dry eye in the crowd.
My next show was supplying sound reinforcement for an acoustic trio performing at a restaurant. The group included one acoustic guitar, one bass, a set of congas and two singers. To me, this was a perfect environment for the Impulse 12Ds. Every instrument and voice was amplified with absolute clarity and purity. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the ribbon drivers reproduced every frequency that passed through them. At one point during the show, I really cranked up the speaker volume, and I still could not get a harsh frequency out of them. Prior to the performance, I engaged the DynaQ Bass Enhancer, Music and Contour switches and added some of my own EQ. Setup took just a few minutes, which in itself is a very nice feature.
At one last gig, I used the Peavey Impulse 12Ds as monitors. Once again, the ribbon driver really shined here. The frequency response is so smooth, it is very easy to get a high SPL monitor without blowing the musicians ears out or getting into uncontrollable feedback. For the monitors, I engaged the DynaQ Music and Contour switches. I tried the Bass Enhancement, but it was a little much for my taste. However, it is nice to have it at hand. At any rate, the Peavey Impulse 12D performed very well as monitors.
The only thing I wasn't able to do was team up the Peavey 12Ds with a couple of Impulse powered subs, mainly because Peavey did not send me any subs to check out. That said, had I been able to team up some subs with the speakers, I am sure they would have been a very potent combination. Anyway, I may have to save that for another review. So, to sum the Peavey Impulse 12D speakers up I would say that they are powerful, lightweight and deliver clear, clean, smooth sound.
